Queen Elizabeth II on Monday visited a town hall and a school 60 years to the day since she ascended to the throne after the sudden death of her father George VI.

The low-key start to five months of diamond jubilee celebrations was played out in freezing temperatures and in front of a small but enthusiastic crowd in eastern England.

The monarch said in a message to her subjects that she wanted to "dedicate myself anew to your service", six decades after her father passed away on February 6, 1952 while the 25-year-old princess was visiting Kenya.

The queen also extended thanks for "the wonderful support and encouragement that you have given to me and Prince Philip over these years," a reference to her husband of 64 years, who recently underwent heart surgery.

In contrast to the lavish celebrations planned for the official jubilee in June, Monday's anniversary was business as usual for the 85-year-old queen.

About 100 well-wishers braved snow-covered streets to greet her as she visited King's Lynn in Norfolk, waving homemade signs saying "we love you ma'am".

The queen, dressed in a turquoise, grey and white wool coat and a matching turquoise hat, arrived in a black Range Rover to polite applause, before going inside the building with local officials.

"I think we are lucky to have her, I really do. She's rock solid," said Jean Garbutt, 77, who came from Yorkshire in northern England especially to see her.

The queen then visited a school in the nearby village of Dersingham, less than a mile from the gates of the queen's Sandringham estate.

In London, cannon were fired at Hyde Park and at the Tower of London to mark the occasion, while shots also rang out across the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

The Royal Navy fired a 21-gun salute at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, Hampshire, at the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour.

The queen's involvement in jubilee events in the coming months will be restricted to Britain, but other members of the royal family will criss-cross the Commonwealth in her place, from Canada to tiny Tuvalu in the Pacific.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the monarch had guided the country "with experience, dignity and quiet authority" and he dismissed suggestions she was "simply a glittering ornament".

"That misunderstands our constitution and it underestimates our queen. Always dedicated, always resolute and always respected, she is a source of wisdom and continuity," he said.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia, where the queen was greeted by cheering crowds last year, was the first overseas leader to congratulate her, saying the jubilee was a "truly remarkable event".

The celebrations in Britain will culminate in a four-day public holiday on June 2-5, the highlight of which will be a flotilla of 1,000 boats sailing up the River Thames on June 3.

In the message to her subjects, the queen said she and Philip had been "deeply moved" at all the kind messages marking her 60 years on the throne.

She reflected on the importance of family and friendship, and urged her subjects "to look forward to the future with a clear head and a warm heart".

One member of the royal family absent from the early stages of the celebrations is Prince William, who has started a six-week mission as a Royal Air Force search and rescue pilot in the Falkland Islands.