For the monarch of records It will be a Jubilee not only of Platinum, but a record, the one that Elizabeth II will celebrate this year for the 70 years of his reign, started on February 6, 1952, the first without Prince Philip at his side. Among the long list of events, parades, concerts and religious functions that Buckingham Palace has planned, there is also the mega picninc which will be organized in Windsor for June 5th and that promises to be the largest ever, with a table at least 500 meters long, 100 more than the previous record set in Memphis, Tennessee in 2019, which will host approximately 1,600 subjects of Her Majesty.
With Covid no longer appearing to be such a concern as to force the country into forced closures and the repressed desire for sociability that will finally find an outlet in the summer, the event aims to “encourage people to stay together to thank the queen but also the their neighbors, friends and all the people who have made a difference over the past two years, “Windsor Big Lunch organizer Lisa Hunter told British media. Not surprisingly, the chosen date, Sunday 5 June, was officially named ‘National Thank You Day‘and it was already celebrated last year to thank those who spent their time during the pandemic emergency.
But before June – Elizabeth was crowned on June 2, 1953 – there will be another date for the queen to commemorate. It was on February 6, 1952 that George VI, Elizabeth’s father, died, determining the accession to the throne of the eldest daughter. The queen, as per tradition, will spend the ”Accession Day‘privately, on the royal estate of Sandringham, although public appearances are not excluded at the moment.
For the occasion, a new national holiday has been established
Such will be the importance of Platinum Jubilee, which already in 2020 it was decided to move the national holiday of the last Monday of May 2022 (‘Bank Holiday’) to June 2 and to establish an additional holiday for June 3, to create a long ‘bridge’ lasting four days until Sunday 5th June. The decision made the (few) detractors of the monarchy turn up their noses, who calculated the possible losses that would result to the economy from an additional holiday. Losses that will likely be offset by the induced that will be generated by celebrations across the UK.
Even before June, however, the program developed by Buckingham Palace foresees, from 12 to 15 May, a mega event at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, which will be attended by over 500 horses and 1,000 horsemen, actors, artists, musicians, dancers and soldiers, who will give life to a show lasting an hour and a half. The show will retrace the stages of British history that led from Elizabeth I to the present day. Actress Helen Mirren (Oscar for Best Actress in 2007 for ‘The Queen’) and Stephen Fry were called in to promote the event. There ‘Gallop in History’, this show’s nime will be used to raise funds for charities and for the National Health Service.
The Platinum Jubilee celebrations will kick off on Thursday 2 June, when in London Elizabeth will take part in the military parade ‘Trooping the Color‘, which traditionally marks the Queen’s official birthday. For the occasion, over 1,400 military in parade uniforms, dancers and musicians, with 500 horses, will parade from Buckingham Palace along the Mall, to Horse Guard’s Parade, together with members of the Royal Family on horseback or in royal carriages.
On June 3 mega show at Buckingham Palace with the stars of international music
The event will be concluded by the passage of a RAF patrol that will dart over Buckingham Palace, while from the balcony the queen and the rest of the Royal Family they will greet the crowd. On the same day, they will be turned on over 1,500 torches across the UK and Commonwealth capitals. The main torch will be lit during a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
For Friday 3 June instead, the religious function of ‘Service of Thanksgiving’ in St Paul’s Cathedral. The next day, Saturday 4th June, Queen Elizabeth will be able to dedicate herself to one of her passions, horses. The monarch, accompanied by members of the Royal Family, will be at Epsom racecourse for the traditional Derby. That of Epsom is the only Classic that the queen has never won with one of her horses and we are already betting on the possibility that on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee, Elizabeth can finally win the trophy.
Following, on the evening of June 3, the ‘Platinum Party’ is scheduled at Buckingham Palace, which promises to be one of the most important musical events of recent years. The names of the participants have not yet been announced, but it has been anticipated that they will be “some of the main ones international stars gathered to celebrate the happiest and most significant moments of the Queen’s seven-decade long reign. ”The event will be broadcast live by the BBC. Tickets will be distributed through a lottery, reserved for UK residents.
On the streets of London a great costume parade
In the end, Sunday 5th June, all of Elizabeth’s subjects will be invited to organize picnics in the parks and on the street, to ideally join the ‘Big Jubilee Lunch ‘of Windsor, the picnic of records. At the end of the long weekend of celebrations, the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, a large costume parade through the streets of London, where a huge dragon-shaped puppet, bigger than a ‘double-decker’, the famous double-decker buses of the British capital, will also parade.
The organizers have announced that the event, funded by private individuals with a budget that fluctuates between 10 and 15 million pounds, will be one of the largest celebratory parades in history. For the occasion, there will also be an exhibition of a trapeze artist hanging from a huge balloon on which Elisabetta’s face will be printed. “Saòà a kind of reopening ceremony for the United Kingdom, after a period of difficulty and uncertainty, a moment that catalyses unity and fun”, assure the organizers. Everything, in the name of ‘God Save the Queen’.
Source-www.adnkronos.com