Many will shrug their antipodean shoulders in indifference to a faraway monarch of an ancient kingdom. But even republicans, emotions aside, would have to note that 60 years is a long time to be in the one job.

Despite the ostentation of “the perks” of such a job, it would also be hard to deny it doesn’t come without the most onerous of obligations and highest of prices. The tide of pomp that beats upon the high shore of this world is ultimately little consolation for a 60-year life sentence with little freedom.

Considering this, one might forgive her the occasional scowl, still less forgetting to smile. For those who find it difficult to smile or be polite to strangers, this job would be six decades of torture.

Despite this, a seemingly inextinguishable sense of duty sends the Queen on her endless regal perambulations through the charity wards, theatres and schools of a nominal empire.

But the question worth asking is perhaps less about relevance than about a dignified work ethic. As crowds attested at last year’s Royal Tour, there are still many who think she is a rare model.

Perhaps even more revealing is how the Queen reacted to the news 60 years ago today that her father had died and the heavy duty of a throne awaited her. Coupled with the grief for a father there must have been the horrible revelation that her relatively carefree early life was over forever.

The primeval simplicity of the Kenyan jungle at dawn where she learnt the news must have mocked her woe with a provocative irony.

Young Australian secretary Commander Michael Parker described how an eagle hovered ominously over them at the time of the King’s death and later when he informed the Duke he related: “He looked as if you’d dropped half the world on him. He took [the Queen] up to the garden and they walked up and down the lawn while he talked and talked and talked to her.” She was not yet 26.

The Art Gallery of Ballarat is celebrating the milestone with a superb collection of Cecil Beaton photographs. These are mostly human portraits that fittingly celebrate a remarkable person.

Even the cynical should not begrudge the diamonds of this celebration, knowing the potential for unease for a head that has worn a crown so long.