1,000 vessels form armada for Queen.
Diamond Jubilee celebrations on Thames include 1,000 vessels
LONDON – Delirium and a rousing, but somewhat damp, chorus of God Save the Queen greeted Elizabeth II Sunday as she set out from Battersea Park for the India Docks on a dazzling gilded royal barge, near the front of a flotilla made up more than 1,000 vessels of every shape and size.
Leading before the Queen were a swarm of small craft and a barge with church bells peeling to mark her Diamond Jubilee and the 60th anniversary of her reign.
On the day of her coronation 59 years ago Saturday, the weather was also frightful. But against all predictions, most of the rain held off on Sunday until the moment the royal barge passed through Tower Bridge after more than 10 kilometres cruising past landmarks such as Big Ben and Parliament.
As rain pelted down, the royal party stood on a long podium by the bridge, taking a salute from the passing parade, which included several small craft used to withdraw besieged British troops from Dunkirk during the Second World War.
The Queen chose to wear white so, it was said, the crowd could spot her among all the navy and air force uniforms worn by her blue-blooded male kin. Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, who charmed Canadians last year after her marriage to Prince William, wore a bright red ensemble.
More than one million spectators lined the procession route, standing 40 or 50 deep for six hours or more at popular lookouts such as Chelsea Bridge and the Embankment, waving their Union Jacks madly when they caught a brief glimpse of the royal party.
Queen Elizabeth is Canada’s monarch, too, of course, and there were citizens from her senior Dominion about, waving their telltale Maple Leaf flags. But there weren’t a lot of them.
“My mother was a huge monarchist and we got up early for Diana’s funeral,” said Lynmara Hingston of Regina, who lives in London. “I feel compelled to cheer. I don’t know whether you are allowed to say this, but I think the Queen is adorable. If you find a job you like and you’re good at it, why not do it for 60 years?”
There were several Canadian flags in evidence among the flotilla vessels.
Among Canadian participants were a group of breast cancer survivors from British Columbia in a Dragon Boat, native Canadians in a war canoe and French Canadians in traditional period dress from the days during Queen Victoria’s reign when coureurs de bois helped the British open up Western Canada.
“I am not much of a follower of the royals but for me this is as much about being British as celebrating the Queen,” said Maryanne Carnell, who drove in from Hampshire with her partner. “I am surprised at the size of the crowd because everything they said on television about a million people and rain would put anyone off. Still, after we cooked breakfast this morning we decided to come. Such pageantry is great because it unifies us.”
“Britain is better for having the royals,” said Rob Hunter, who had previously lived in Canada and parts of what were once British Africa. “The Queen’s depth of experience must be very important to Commonwealth leaders. All of that is invaluable.”
Other than American and Asian tourists, most of those who witnessed Sunday’s maritime pageant were from what might be described as Old Britain. The city’s vibrant Caribbean and Asian communities were under-represented. Few of the large number of eastern Europeans and southern Europeans, whose cheap labour keeps London going, were in attendance; either, perhaps, because most of them had to work on a day when few Britons did. Support for the monarchy is running at about 80 per cent at the moment, but there is a republican movement in Britain that would like this monarch to be the last. Several dozen protesters gathered in the rain near Tower Bridge to protest the Diamond Jubilee, but they were good-naturedly jeered down by royalists.
But there was no sense of anti-royal sentiment on the streets of London.
Despite the rain, a huge street party continued to take place around Tower Bridge long after Queen Elizabeth was back at Buckingham Palace.