SEND IN THE CROWNS
How to have a smashing good time at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
YOU don’t buy too many balloons when you’re organizing an anniversary bash for a nonagenarian — even if, at age 96, your celebrator is a chipper gal still in amazingly good health (despite a recent brush with COVID, mobility issues and major stress from familial bad behavior). You just never know. Tomorrow is not a given.
Which is why it feels as if everyone in Britain is holding their breath for the upcoming platinum jubilee for Queen Elizabeth II.
On June 2, Her Maj will have been the reigning monarch for 70 years, beating out Queen Victoria by 12 years and moving her up into third place on the monarch longevity leader board of all time. (France’s Louis XIV heads the pack at 72 years, 110 days. Watch your back, Lou, Liz is coming in for the title.)
Everyone likes two extra days off work though, so with June 2 and 3 being added to the weekend for the main celebrations, bashes are busting out all over, from pop up exhibitions at the Victoria & Albert Museum to drag queen bingo, plus there will be picnics and beacon bonfire lighting all over the country.
So dust off your Union Jack T-shirt, grab your oversized tea mug, peep VisitBritain.com and head over the pond.
A good bet
Celebrations kick off on June 2 with the annual Trooping of the Colour horseback parade down the Mall to Horse Guards Parade, followed by RAF flyovers and Palace balcony appearances by the royal family.
That’s followed by a thanksgiving for the queen’s service at St. Paul’s Cathedral on June 3, but the celebrations get off to the races, literally, on June 4. Epsom Downs racecourse in Surrey, 13 miles from London, draws huge crowds every first Saturday in June for the annual Derby Day (you pronounce it “darby”).
This 243rd running of the Derby — “the world’s greatest flat race” (take that, Kentucky!) — is probably your best bet to see the queen IRL.
There’s been a lot of speculation about how much of the jubilee weekend the queen will attend in person because of, well, age — most notably those aforementioned mobility issues — but this is one event she is said to be determined to attend, and staff are allegedly “moving heaven and earth” to make it happen.
Grandstand tickets start at $31; there’s also a family-friendly jubilee enclosure outside the course with big screens showing the action for $25. Entrance to the Hill at the center of the racecourse, which has a fun fair and picnic sites, is free.
Throw me a parade
The seat of the monarchy, Buckingham Palace, which sits at the end of the Mall in Westminster, will be the focus for the main event on June 5, namely the Platinum Pageant.
This day-long “people’s pageant” is being billed as “carnival, May day, mela, fiesta and Mardi Gras all in one” — to which you could also add the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade and any Olympic ceremony ever.
Action takes place along the mall and around Buckingham Palace, essentially following the route of the 1953 coronation, with 10,000 people involved in the parade from across the commonwealth. The parade itself is divided into four acts: Act one is “for queen and country,” and essentially a military parade. That’s followed by “the time of our lives” highlighting the seven decades of the queen’s reign. Iconic cars from Bond movies will check off the mandatory 007 references, along with a roll-by of Daleks. (That’s worth every cent of your transatlantic airfare, right there.)
There will also be an appearance by Sir Cliff Richard — we don’t think he’s missed a royal bash yet.
Act three is “let’s celebrate” and features the main parade performers. The crowning glory (ahem) will be an aerialist artist under a huge helium balloon bearing the queen’s image.
The finale, “happy and glorious” will be a big old singsong held around the Queen Victoria Memorial, including a rendition of “God Save The Queen” from the Royal Marines band, all led by, well, Ed Sheeran. Of course.
Elsewhere on June 5, the whole country is staging the Big Jubilee Lunch, in which everyone is encouraged to dust off the picnic tables, hang up the red, white and blue bunting and have exuberant street parties, complete with sausage rolls, cake, and lashings of ginger beer (not to mention plenty of actual beer and a fair bit of fizz).
Where to stay
You’ll feel like a local — albeit a very privileged one — at the Rosewood London, centrally located in High Holborn. The 1914 Edwardian Grade II listed Beaux Arts building once housed an insurance company, but there’s nothing staid about it. Instead, it gives the air of arriving at your own grand pied-à-terre.
The soothing 263 guest rooms and 45 suites offer subtle yet rich Asian flair created by Tony Chi. Don’t miss their jubileethemed afternoon tea where exquisite work-of-art cakes, inspired by the Tate Modern, look almost too good to eat ($81).
You can also combo the party with a Rosewood royalty room package for two, which gets you a night’s stay plus party tickets, full English breakfast and a jubilee-themed gift, all for $1,550.
Room rates start at $1,000, suites $1,708; RosewoodHotels.com
For even posher digs, head over to Cliveden House, 10 miles north of Windsor Castle.
This Grade I Italianite villa set in 376 acres of manicured grounds was built in 1851 for the second Duke of Sutherland, and in its illustrious history it has grandly hosted dignitaries and royalty, from Queen Victoria to the Duchess of Sussex and Meghan Markle, who stayed here on her wedding night in 2018.
The house entered its most glamorous phase after American millionaire William Waldorf Astor bought it in 1893, for $1.2 million.
In the 1920s and 30s, as the home of Viscountess Nancy Astor, Britain’s first woman member of parliament, it was the seat of the so-called “Cliveden set” of actors, politicians and intellectuals. Weekend party goers could mingle with the likes of Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Mahatma Gandhi and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Today, the National Trust runs the gardens, which are public, along with certain parts of the house. Tickets start at $20.
In 1985. the house became a hotel, and Iconic Luxury Hotels now operates the five-star Relais & Châteaux hotel and spa.
Even if you don’t stay the night, stop by for afternoon tea. Executive Chef Christopher Hannon has curated a platinum jubilee special ($56), featuring Victoria sponge and the queen’s favorite, chocolate biscuit cake.
The 47 rooms and suites are lushly decorated as befitting a mansion, with four poster beds and velvet couches, with floral wallpaper and tasseled curtains that open to expansive views.
There’s also the divine three bedroom Spring Cottage, privately nestled away on the banks of the Thames. Take one of the restored vintage boats for a private champagne cruise along the Thames to make it really special (from $310). Rooms start at $555; suites at $1,912, Spring Cottage at $2,802. ClivedenHouse.co.uk
High castle
The queen recently decamped from the formal (and draughty) workplace “Buck House” and moved full time to her cozier apartments within the walls of Windsor Castle in suburban Berkshire town, which is serving as a second celebration hub.
Built in 1070 by William the Conqueror, it’s been expanded, fortified, improved, rebuilt (after a devastating fire in 1992) and generally lived in by the kings and queens of England ever since.
The Queens Guard (they of the immovable faces, red coats and bearskin busbys) preside over the roped off private quarters, but the rest of the art-laden rooms are open to the public.
You can also see St. George’s Chapel, where Harry and Meghan were married and where the queen famously sat alone at the funeral of her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip.
From July 7 through Sept. 26, Windsor Castle will host a jubilee exhibition focused on the queen’s coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1953, featuring her grand ceremonial coronation dress, designed by Norman Hartnell. Normally kept in storage in preservation mode, it’s a rare chance to see the elaborate embroidery that includes gold beads and pearls. This is part of a trio of jubilee specials from the Royal Collection Trust that includes Buckingham Palace and Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, where more coronation artifacts, outfits and images are on display.
Outside, Windsor Great Park, will be the center of the town festivities on June 5, when the locals hope to create the longest picnic table in the world (a 1,600footer) beating out the record set in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2019. Take that, colonies!
Tickets for Windsor Castle start at $34. Entry to the Great Park is free.