Four days of lavish celebrations are taking place across the United Kingdom in a special extended bank holiday weekend to celebrate the historic milestone of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee.
On February 6th Her Majesty became the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years of her reign.
Unprecedented anniversary events and initiatives which started earlier this year will culminate this weekend in a four day UK bank holiday from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th June.
The four days of non-stop celebrations will include public events and community activities, as well as national moments of reflection on The Queen’s 70 years of service.
The celebrations start on Thursday June 2nd with a special Trooping the Colour for The Queen’s Birthday Parade. More than 1200 officers and soldiers from the Household Division will put on a display of military pageantry on Horse Guards Parade, together with hundreds of Army musicians and around 240 horses. This annual event has now marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign for over 260 years.
On the same day, the Platinum Jubilee Beacons will be lit with over 1,500 of them throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and UK Overseas Territories.
The Principal beacon, involving The Tree of Trees (a 21m high ‘tree’ constructed of 350 smaller trees), will be lit in a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace on June 2nd.
A beacon chain, once used as a tool for communication, has now become a symbol of unity across towns, borders, countries and continents and is often the central point of focus for any outdoor gathering or celebration. In 1897, beacons were lit to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. In 1977, 2002 and 2012, beacons commemorated the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees of The Queen, and in 2016 Her Majesty’s 90th birthday.
A Service of Thanksgiving for The Queen’s reign will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday June 3rd during which ‘Great Paul’, the largest church bell in the UK, will be rung for the Service. It’s the first royal occasion that the bell will be rung since it was built in 1882. It fell silent in the 1970s due to a malfunction and was restored last year.
The partying starts in earnest on Saturday 4th June with the famous horse race, The Derby at Epsom Downs. Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by Members of the Royal Family, will attend.
Then in the evening, the Platinum Party hits high notes with famous faces from the world of entertainment coming on stage for a night of musical tributes to celebrate the Jubilee. 22,000 people will attend the event including 10,000 allocated in a public ballot and 5,000 tickets for key workers.
The partying continues on Sunday 5th June with the Big Jubilee Lunch.
Over 60,000 people have registered to host Big Jubilee Lunches on the Platinum celebration weekend, with events ranging from world record attempts for the longest street party to back garden barbecues and everything in between. Over 10 million people across the UK are expected to join the celebrations to share friendship, food and fun at Big Jubilee Lunches as part of this nationwide act of community friendship.
Another major event in the UK on Sunday June 5th is The Platinum Jubilee Pageant. It’s described as having all the excitement and spectacle of an international parade and carnival – awe-inspiring and filled with marvel and delight. The Pageant will combine street arts, theatre, music, circus, carnival and costume “to celebrate Her Majesty’s unwavering duty, love of the natural world and dedication to the Commonwealth”.
And that’s just for the events on the official UK programme for the Platinum Jubilee anniversary weekend. It’s clear that not even the predictably unpredictable British weather will stop any of these parties.
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