The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Platinum Jubilee plans are revealed
Buckingham Palace has unveiled the full programme of events to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Celebrations will include the 95-year-old monarch opening her private estates to the public, and some of the world’s biggest stars performing outside Buckingham Palace.
It is not clear which events the Queen will attend or take part in as she was ordered to rest by doctors in October last year following an overnight hospital stay for unspecified preliminary investigations.
The bulk of the jubilee duties are thought likely to be given to the rest of the royal family.
The Queen usually spends the anniversary of her accession privately at Sandringham.
Official jubilee celebrations were beginning today when Fortnum & Mason launched the Platinum Pudding Competition to find a dish to dedicate to the Queen’s 70 years on the throne. Recipes will be judged by an expert panel including
Dish to mark Queen’s reign will be judged by Mary Berry.
Dame Mary Berry. It is hoped it will serve as a long-lasting reminder of her reign, alongside the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative, which will continue to plant new trees to present to her at the end of the year.
From May 12 to 15, more than 500 horses and 1,000 performers are expected to take part in a show in the grounds of Windsor Castle, which will take the audience through history from Elizabeth I to the present day.
More ceremonies are to take place later in the year, starting on Thursday June
2, the first day of the special four-day bank holiday, when the Queen’s Birthday Parade (Trooping the Colour) will take place in Horse Guards Parade.
On the same day, the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and UK Overseas Territories will come together to light a beacon at the same time as the principal beacon at Buckingham Palace.
On Friday June 3, a Service of Thanksgiving for the Queen’s reign will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral, before the star-studded Platinum Party At The Palace on Saturday June 4.
Performers are yet to be named but it is being billed as bringing together some of the world’s biggest names in entertainment.
People across the country will sit down together for the Big Jubilee Lunch on Sunday June 5, the final day of the break.
Sandringham and Balmoral will also be open for residents and visitors to enjoy the celebrations across the long weekend.
Performers, dancers, musicians, military personnel, key workers and volunteers will tell the story of the Queen’s reign in the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, which will see a River Of Hope – made up of 200 silk flags – make its way along the Mall.
Schoolchildren across the country have been invited to create a picture of their hopes for the planet over the next 70 years, and some of their designs will be put on to the flags.
From July, three displays marking the Queen’s accession to the throne, the coronation and jubilees will be put on at the official royal residences.