Glittering trail stretches across the globe for world’s ‘beacon of light’
From Windsor to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, night skies were lit up with fitting tributes
‘We love the Queen – she’s everyone’s mum, grandma and greatgrandma. She’s devoted her life to the service of the country’
As ceremonial moments go, it was a typically simple but powerful one. As the Queen stepped up and gently placed a gloved hand on a specially made glittering globe, a path of bright white lights flickered into action, racing along the Windsor Castle Quadrangle towards the Round Tower.
In London, her grandson, Prince William, was on hand, ready to light the Principal Beacon, a great “Tree of Trees” standing in front of Buckingham Palace.
To gasps from the crowds, the beacon – made up of 350 potted trees, all native to Britain, hanging from steel branches – began to sparkle, making it appear, as one onlooker noted, as if it was “shimmering in the wind”.
It was the perfect symbol – a chain of beacons charting a course from Windsor Castle all around the country and through the Commonwealth, lit one after another just after dusk, linking together the millions of people the Queen reigns over.
It had been a long day for Her Majesty, but she seemed determined to make this final appearance.
Resplendent in a jade green Stuart Pravin crepe coat, she walked gingerly down the red carpet, accompanied by her private secretary, Sir Edward Young, Lady-in-waiting Lady Susan Hussey and equerry Lt Colonel Tom White of the Royal Marines.
Some 130 members of the Windsor community watched on as the monarch approached the globe, placed on a podium by Yeoman Warders from the Tower of London, sitting inside a silver crown designed to represent the Queen’s previous jubilees, with silver, gold, diamond and platinum all present on the crown, as well as stones collected from the highest peaks in the United Kingdom to signify the coming together of the four nations.
Speaking before the lighting, beacon pageant master Bruno Peek said the point of the beacons was to reflect how the Queen has been “a beacon of light for not just the UK and Commonwealth but I personally believe she has been a beacon for the world”.
On hilltops and headlands across the country, crowds gathered to watch beacons light up the night sky as they often have during times of celebration.
Once used as a tool for communication, since the 19th century a beacon chain has been used to mark jubilees, weddings and coronations.
In 1897, they were lit to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. In 1977, 2002 and 2012, they commemorated our Queen’s Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees, and, in 2016, Her Majesty’s 90th birthday.
Yesterday, they were lit once more, with some crowding around modern gas-fired beacons, while others felt the glow from a roaring bonfire or old-fashioned brazier.
They lit up historical sites like the Tower of London, Windsor Great Park, Edinburgh Castle, and the Queen’s estates at Sandringham and Balmoral.
Meanwhile, flames blazed on the country’s four highest peaks, carried there – up Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Slieve Donard – by teams of ex-servicemen and women.
On lower ground, outside Buckingham Palace, the London Community Gospel Choir and singer Gregory Porter performed the official Beacons song.
Crowds lined Birdcage Walk hoping to catch a glimpse of the Tree of Trees, which is 70ft tall, and designed to celebrate the Queen’s Green Canopy, an initiative that has seen millions of trees planted across the country.
The tree itself, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, received mixed reviews. One onlooker called it an “impressive feat of engineering”. Another felt it was “like something you’d pick up at the hardware store”. Another that it resembled “a Christmas tree”.
Christian Ramscheidt, 28, from Houston, Texas, organised his family holiday around the Jubilee weekend. He loved the “mix of industry and nature” represented by the beacon, noting: “Every part of the celebrations has had meaning”.
Leah Jones, 40, who flew from Washington DC with her husband and son for the celebrations, thought the beacon was a “beautiful” symbol. “It’s poignant because it’s going to collect a lot of that British rain,” she added.
At Sandringham, 70 estate workers carrying flaming torches paraded them from the house to the beacon. Cheers went up as flames illuminated the night sky while the Sandringham Church Choir sang the Song of the Commonwealth and the Platinum Jubilee Anthem, ‘Majesty’.
“We couldn’t miss this,” said Sharon, 61, from Leicester. “We love the Queen – she’s everyone’s mum, grandma and great-grandma. She’s devoted her life to the service of the country.”
Around the Commonwealth, ceremonies had taken place throughout the day, in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia among others – the Commonwealth nations showing their deep connection to the Queen, despite any republican feelings that might be bubbling up under the surface.
Tonga and Samoa were first, then New Zealand, with a beacon on the steps of the Mount Victoria lookout in Wellington. Andy Foster, the Mayor of Wellington, who lit the beacon, told the crowds the Queen personified loyalty, dedication and a sense of duty to her people. “She has been Queen for most of our lifetimes and will become the second longest-reigning monarch or head of state ever, for any state. That is remarkable,” he said.
As the clock hit 9:15pm across the Commonwealth, it was the turn of Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Fiji, Kiribati and Nauru.
Then came Australia, where the new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, an avowed Republican, hailed the Queen’s “remarkable dedication and service” as he lit the beacon by Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra.