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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Queen Elizabeth held a reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday to mark the 50th anniversary of the investiture of her oldest son Charles as Prince of Wales.

Senior royals including Charles’s own sons William and Harry and their wives Kate and Meghan attended the party which the palace said paid tribute to the prince’s 50 years of service to Wales.

Charles was created Prince of Wales, the title traditionally held by the heir to the British throne, in July 1958 when he was nine. He was formally invested with the title at a televised ceremony at Caernarfon Castle in July 1969.

The regalia that Charles wore for the occasion, along with the coronet, sword and other regalia used in the ceremony, were on display at the reception.

Joining the royals were figures from the prince’s Welsh charities while there were musical performances by students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and a speech by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Charles, 70, has waited longer than any of his predecessors to become monarch and would be the oldest-ever king at the start of his reign when he succeeds his 92-year-old mother, who herself holds the record for the longest reign in British history.