Please don’t over-egg the Queen in the pageant, says Palace

Officials ask organisers to respect the sensibilities of republicans during the jewel in the jubilee crown

‘Regardless of your politics, there is something to respect’

‘The word pageant brings a lot of baggage – we’ve been working hard to soften it and to humanise it’

BUCKINGHAM Palace has asked the organisers of the Platinum Jubilee pageant not to “over-egg” the Queen and her family, out of consideration for antiroyalists.

Pageant planners have been instructed to avoid “over-glorifying or over-egging”, or excessive “aggrandising” during the Sunday grand finale, the director has said.

Saying republicans would be participating in the pageant alongside “strident royalists”, David Zolkwer said the final performance was designed “not to take itself quite so seriously”.

Asked how he had found working with Buckingham Palace for the pageant, which will be the final event of the four-day bank holiday, Mr Zolkwer said aides had been keen to make it about more than just the Queen herself.

“What’s interesting is that the feedback we’re getting is that if we’re overglorifying, or over-egging, or if anything looks too aggrandising – that’s what they’re not comfortable with,” he told Radio Times. “What they’re doing is ensuring that every reference to the Queen is appropriate.”

A Palace source confirmed the direction, explaining that the Queen and the wider Royal family did not believe the Jubilee should be just about them, but a chance for the monarchy to “thank the public” as they enjoy a bank holiday weekend. Mr Zolkwer described the pageant as combining tradition and nostalgia with eccentricity, irreverence and humour.

“The word pageant brings a lot of baggage and expectation and we’ve been working quite hard to soften it, to humanise it and not take itself quite so seriously,” he added. The pageant has already been accused of being too “woke” in its drive to include diverse communities of the Commonwealth, and of perpetuating an outdated reverence for the monarchy.

“By no means is everyone participating a strident royalist,” said Mr Zolkwer. “I’m sure there will be republicans in there. But there is a consensus of respect for this extraordinary woman.

“Almost anything significant that has happened in the world in the past 70 years she has touched in some way. And she has helped to keep the country sane through those stages. Regardless of your politics, there is something to respect.”

He added: “We are not presenting this show in subjugation to anyone. It’s just people expressing how they feel about the Queen and the woman who is the Queen.

“There is much, if not more, celebration of the woman than anything else, because she’s all the more remarkable for being a woman, a wife and a parent.”

The pageant will include more than 10,000 performers and crew, and it is expected to be watched by a worldwide audience of one billion. It will feature puppet corgis, a giant 3D wire bust of the Queen and the Gold State Coach screening footage of the Queen at her Coronation to appear as if she is riding inside.

The interview is available in the Platinum Jubilee issue of the Radio Times.