It’s 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II became a monarch.
But we’ll have to wait a little longer to celebrate the unprecedented Platinum Jubilee with a four-day weekend planned for the start of June.
Sunday, February 6 is the 70th anniversary of the date that the Queen acceded to the throne on the death of her father George VI in 1952. But, as with all her previous jubilees, official celebrations will wait until the summer, Wales Online reports.
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The festivities will centre on a four-day bank holiday weekend which begins on June 2.
The late May bank holiday has been moved to Thursday June 2, with an additional bank holiday added on Friday June 3 to create a four-day weekend.
Pub opening hours are being extended to 1am, while celebrations will include a live pop concert at Buckingham Palace, a carnival pageant on the streets of London, Jubilee lunches, and the lighting of beacons across the world.
A nationwide royal bake off competition to design a Platinum Pudding dedicated to the Queen is under way, while The Queen’s Green Canopy project was launched to plant thousands of commemorative trees.
On June 2, the traditional Trooping the Colour Parade for the Queen’s official birthday will take place on Horse Guards Parade to kick off the bank holiday.
The royals usually appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony and watch a flypast.
The Queen will mark her Accession Day in private, before celebrations later this year
(Image: PA)
Just over 1,500 beacons will be lit across the UK and in Commonwealth capital cities, and then, on the Friday, St Paul’s Cathedral will host a service of thanksgiving for the Queen’s reign.
It’s expected the monarch will attend the Epsom Derby on the Saturday.
That evening, the BBC Platinum Party at the Palace concert promises to feature some of the world’s biggest entertainment stars.
Sunday June 5 sees the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, where a dragon puppet larger than a double-decker bus, marching bands and circus acts will be seen on the streets of London.
Nicholas Coleridge, co-chairman of the pageant, called the Jubilee “something of a reopening ceremony for the United Kingdom, following a period of uncertainty and hardship, a catalysing moment of unity and fun”.
Meanwhile, more than 200,000 The Big Jubilee Lunches are expected to be staged across the UK.
The Jubilee celebrations have their own logo, a purple and platinum-coloured seal featuring a stylised crown, incorporating the number 70, created by university student Edward Roberts in a special competition.
Stamps, coins, souvenir chinaware and Royal Collection exhibitions will commemorate the occasion, while 39 towns are vying to win Jubilee city status.
A ‘Superbloom’ field of flowers will surround the Tower of London, with 20 million seeds being planted in the moat in the spring to be ready to bloom from June to September.
From May 12-15, more than 500 horses and 1,000 performers will stage a 90-minute piece of arena theatre called the Platinum Jubilee Celebration in Windsor.
Members of the armed forces, along with frontline police, fire, emergency services and prison service personnel will be awarded the Platinum Jubilee medal.
However, how much the public will see of the Queen during the celebrations has not yet been confirmed by Buckingham Palace. By then she’ll be 96, and it’s expected her family, in particular the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will take up most of the official duties.
Today, The Queen, who came to the throne when she was just 25, is spending her Accession Day privately on the Sandringham estate in remembrance of her father George VI, whose death marked the start of her reign.
This Jubilee is poignantly her first without her beloved husband of 73 years the Duke of Edinburgh, who died only 10 months ago.
The 95-year-old shared a written message to the nation setting out her hopes for her succession, saying: “I would like to express my thanks to you all for your support. I remain eternally grateful for, and humbled by, the loyalty and affection that you continue to give me.
“And when, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service.”
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https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/uk-news/jubilee-bank-holiday-dates-queen-23001784
