Five days of partying across the UK, street celebrations, concerts, parades, and even an invitation to subjects to make a pudding the Queen would love. Buckingham Palace has announced the program of events that will celebrate Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee this year, the milestone of 70 years of reign that no British ruler has ever touched before.
85 per cent of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom had no other ruler than Elizabeth. His photo was already hanging in public buildings when most of the current citizens were born. She was Regina when Winston Churchill was prime minister, when Yuri Gagarin made the first flight of a human into space, when John Kennedy became president, when the first James Bond movie was released, acting in his name.
In these 70 years he has never made a false step, he has never disappointed his subjects who have appreciated over the decades his dedication, commitment, sense of duty, balance, extraordinary composure and ability to to emerge unscathed from the most complicated situations that his long reign, and also his family, have created. In Britain, people think that the example has to come from above, and they are grateful to them for always setting it in the best way.
It is logical that everyone now wants to celebrate this historic milestone, achieved thanks to an iron temper that still allows Elisabetta, at 95, to fulfill her duties. The anniversary falls on February 6, the day in 1952 on which she was proclaimed Queen at the age of 26 after the death of her father, George VI. The coronation took place a year later, on 2 June. Even if there is global warming, it is not possible in the UK to celebrate anything on the street in February: it gets cold and rainy most days. The celebrations are therefore scheduled for the first week of June in which a long four-day weekend has been created by moving the spring festival at the end of May to Thursday 2 June and declaring a one-off holiday on Friday 3 June, days to which the normal weekend.
But there will still be events throughout the year. The first will be next Monday, when all citizens will be invited to participate in a competition to create a sweet pudding that the Sovereign will like. The finalists will be judged by a jury made up of two Masterchef stars, Dame Mary Berry and Monica Galetti. The winning recipe will be made available to all and the pudding will be enjoyed at the official Jubilee lunches in June. The Queen is known to have a soft spot for chocolate, which will surely be the most used ingredient.
It is not known in which and how many events Elisabetta will be able to participate. Doctors have forced her in recent months to give up many commitments and there is always the fear that Covid could hit her, even if she was vaccinated when it was the turn of people her age. Most of the events will be attended by his family: Carlo with Camilla, William with Kate, Princess Anna, the fourth child Edward with his wife Sophia. Andrea is out of court for his legal troubles and his acquaintances with Jeffrey Epstein’s lolitas. Harry will be missed, a little less that of his wife Meghan, who is not at all popular in the UK. For the Queen it will be the first Jubilee without Philip, who died last April.
In Great Britain, when there is an anniversary, they tend to do what has been done in previous years, but there is no precedent for Elizabeth’s 70th reign. Queen Victoria stopped at 63 years of reign, Louis XIV arrived at 72, but there is no need to be inspired by the French. During the festivities, the Sandringham and Balmoral residences will be open to visitors. The Mall, the long avenue leading to Buckingham Palace, will be transformed into the "River of Hope", made up of 200 silk flags decorated with images drawn by children. All citizens have been invited to plant a tree, and even if not all will, the space covered by greenery will increase throughout the country thanks to the Jubilee. From 12 to 15 May, more than 500 horses and 1,000 artists will take part in a show at Windsor Castle that will travel a long journey through history, from Elizabeth I to the present day.
The Trooping the Color will take place on 2 June, the long military parade that usually celebrates the Queen’s birthday and which will involve 1400 soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians in the bands of the various regiments. On the same day, bonfires will be lit in more than 1,500 locations across the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and overseas territories.
A Thanksgiving Service will be held in St Paul’s Cathedral on 3 June. June 4 will be the day of the Platinum party at Buckingham Palace, with a live concert that will bring together dozens of world stars representing Elizabeth’s 70 years of reign. The ticket hunt will begin in February. On Sunday 5th June, people across the country will be invited to come together for the Big Jubilee Lunch, with street parties organized by the inhabitants of each neighborhood and village. Everyone will participate, raising a glass for their magnificent sovereign, the last great queen in history.
