LONDON
Buckingham Palace on Monday unveiled the full program to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
A platinum jubilee marks a monarch’s 70th anniversary on the throne; no other British monarch has reached this milestone. The queen, 95, is already the longest-reigning monarch in British history – Queen Victoria ruled for 63 years.
Elizabeth will officially mark her jubilee on Feb. 6, the day in 1952 when her father King George VI died and she acceded to the throne.
Most of the festivities, however, will take place later in the year in spring and summer when the weather is better.
June will see a four-day bank holiday weekend from Thursday, June 2 to Sunday, June 5.
It is still not clear which events the queen will attend personally, having been instructed by doctors near the end of last year to limit herself to light duties.
The rest of the royal family, including heir to the throne Charles, prince of Wales, and William and Kate, the duke and duchess of Cambridge, are expected to play a large part in the proceedings.
1,500 cities, 53 Commonwealth countries
Fortnum & Mason department store kicked off the jubilee celebrations today, launching the Platinum Pudding Competition, which aims to find a new pudding to dedicate to the queen, with celebrity judges.
Tens of thousands of trees will also be planted as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy that began last October.
Over three days in May, over 500 horses and 1,000 performers take part in the Platinum Jubilee Celebration. The event will be broadcast live on TV from the queen’s Windsor estate.
Over the four-day Bank Holiday, the queen’s private estates at Sandringham and Balmoral will be open for visitors.
That period will also see the Trooping of the Colour, which is the Queen’s traditional birthday parade, and on the same day beacons being lit at the same time across over 1,500 UK towns and cities, as well as the capitals of the 53 Commonwealth countries, in addition to the principal beacon at Buckingham Palace.
The extended June bank holiday will also see a Service of Thanksgiving for the queen’s reign at St. Paul’s Cathedral followed by a live concert by stars and celebrities from across the world on June 4.
There will be a Platinum Jubilee Pageant that will have performers, dancers and musicians tell the story of the queen’s reign in London. It will include a “River Of Hope” made up of 200 silk flags along the Mall, the giant red road stretching from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square.
