They partied
In the midst of a dark decade for Britain, the 25th anniversary of the Queen’s rule brought abundant joy.
If we can keep this spirit alive, life will become better for all of us
So successful were the Queen’s silver jubilee celebrations in 1977, they reportedly even took the monarch herself by surprise. In the midst of straitened times – with the mining strikes and three-day week – the public needed something to celebrate. It had been the same with her post-war wedding in 1947. An exhausted and downcast nation welcomed the opportunity to come together and celebrate a joyous occasion.
So, on June 7, 1977, more than one million people lined the streets of London to watch the Queen process to St Paul’s Cathedral in the Gold State Coach, the same one she had used for her coronation in 1953.
Street parties were held in the UK and Australia, and despite the Sex Pistols blasting their punk single God Save The Queen from a boat on the Thames, it didn’t stop the celebrations then, or on her Commonwealth tours, including here in Australia.
“I shall never forget the scene outside Buckingham Palace on Jubilee Day,” the Queen said in her Christmas speech that year. “The cheerful crowd was symbolic of the hundreds of thousands of people who greeted us wherever we went in this jubilee year – in 12 Commonwealth countries and 36 counties in the UK.
“The street parties and village fetes, the presents, the flowers from the children, the mile upon mile of decorated streets and houses; these things suggest that the real value and pleasure of the celebration was that we all shared in it together,” she said.
“The great resurgence of community spirit which has marked the celebrations has shown the value of the Christian ideal of loving our neighbours.
“If we can keep this spirit alive, life will become better for all of us.”
THE QUEEN