The Queen's Platinum Jubilee: An unforgettable four days that brought the nation together
Britain became a sea of red, white and blue – and purple – during a four-day festival celebrating the Queen’s unprecedented Platinum Jubilee in June this year.
Worries about parties in Downing Street and a faltering economy were forgotten as the nation partied in the parks, packed the streets with trestle tables, and lit beacons to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s remarkable reign.
To mark the occasion, an extra bank holiday was created on June 3, while the traditional spring bank holiday was moved to June 2 to coincide with the Trooping the Colour and the Queen’s official birthday celebrations.
But while the country celebrated, one person was conspicuously absent from many of the festivities – the Queen herself.
Alarm bells were raised when the Queen announced she would not be attending the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral after experiencing “some discomfort” at the opening day’s celebrations.
The next day, she also missed the famous Derby horse race at Epsom Downs, which she had been scheduled to attend.
The celebrations began on June 2, and Her Majesty thrilled crowds when she appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch a flypast by the Red Arrows. Earlier on, more than 1,200 officers and soldiers from the Household Division put on a display of military pageantry in Horse Guards Parade, together with hundreds of Army musicians and horses.
But even this fleeting appearance seemed to have taken its toll on the increasingly frail monarch, and she would only make one further appearance during the four-day party.
The end of the opening day’s celebrations closed with more than 3,500 fires been lit across the UK and overseas territories, including beacons at Dudley and Ludlow castles, at Shrewsbury, Telford, Barr Beacon in Walsall, Stafford and Wolverhampton.
The celebrations continued on June 3 with the Party at the Palace, an evening of rock and pop music featuring acts as diverse as Duran Duran, Sir Rod Stewart and Diana Ross.
The event opened with a pre-recorded comic sketch in which the Queen chatted with Paddington Bear. But, again, she was unable to attend the concert itself, her place being taken by Prince Charles who closed the proceedings with a moving tribute thanking his mother for her ‘lifetime of selfless service’.
He added: “You have met us and talked with us. You laugh and cry with us and, most importantly, you have been there for us, for these 70 years.
“You pledged to serve your whole life – you continue to deliver. That is why we are here. That is what we celebrate tonight.”
The event was attended by 22,000 people, with 5,000 tickets being given for key workers who served the nation during the pandemic.
On the final day of the celebrations, an estimated 10 million people took part in Big Jubilee Lunch events around the UK, ahead of the Platinum Jubilee Pageant which marked the end of the festivities.
The massive parade, which recalled important moments from the Queen’s long reign, saw 10,000 people take part, including the military, national treasures and famous figures from music, film, sport and the arts as well as more than 6,000 volunteers, key workers and 2,500 members of the general public. The parade began with the regal gold state carriage which she used for her coronation in 1953.
The predictably unpredictable British weather failed to put a damper on the celebrations, with millions braving the rain just as they had done for the Diamond Jubilee 10 years earlier.
There was only one thing the procession lacked – and this omission was rectified when the Queen made a surprise appearance on the balcony at the end of four days that the nation will never forget.
