The Queen’s four-day Platinum Jubilee celebrations are about to begin, with Her Majesty’s Birthday Parade, a Royal gun salute, and the Jubilee Beacons starting off the festivities after 70 years on the throne.
The nation, along with millions of others around the world, will be watching London this morning as the Queen makes two appearances on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
The world is watching Great Britain today as we honor a record-breaking monarch, who, along with the rest of the royal family, will witness the Trooping of the Colour, which will start off a series of big ceremonies honoring the Queen.
Thousands of people are expected to line the Mall as the flag is trooped by the 1st Battalion Irish Guards along with more than 1,500 officers and soldiers from the Household Division.
The procession will include at least 250 horses, hundreds of military musicians and members of the royal family will go on horseback during the parade.
Typically, the Queen takes the salute and inspects the troops for the Birthday Parade, but after months of mobility trouble, has passed the responsibility to her son and first-in-line to the throne, Prince Charles. He will be accompanied on horseback by Prince William and Anne, Princess Royal.
Later on today, the Queen’s second appearance on Buckingham Palace balcony will be for the RAF flypast, whichwill see some 71 aircraft soar over The Mall in a historic display featuring Spitfires, Red Arrow Hawks and a Lancaster bomber.
The jaw-dropping show will feature more than three times the number of aircraft which took part in the Queen’s last birthday parade flypast in central London in 2019.
They will take off from military bases around the UK before joining holding patterns around the south-east of England.
They will then fly directly down the length of The Mall before the first batch reach Buckingham Palace at 1pm.
Some 18 royal family members will be watching on from the balcony including: The Queen; Charles and Camilla; William and Kate with George, Charlotte and Louis; Edward and Sophie and their children Louise and James; Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence; the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra.
This morning, the Queen sent a car and security detail to collect the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, along with their two young children, Archie, three, and Lilibet, who will turn one on Saturday, after their private jet landed at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire from on Wednesday
Her Majesty’s Land Rover greeted the family, who live in California, and their children before taking them on a 40-minute drive to their UK home, Frogmore Cottage, just a stone’s throw away from Windsor Castle.
Harry and Meghan will reportedly take part in the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday 3 June after Trooping the Colour on Thursday 2 June – but will not appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony with senior working members of the Royal family. Prince Andrew will also not make an appearance on the balcony.
After today’s events, the monarch is also hoping to be able attend the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday, with her wider family including – it is expected – Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Prince Andrew.
Outdoor parties will also take place on Sunday as part of the Big Jubilee Lunch, while there will be a televised concert on the BBC from Buckingham Palace the day before.
It is also expected that she will appear again on the balcony after the Pageant parade finale on Sunday.
The Queen, 96, is also set to spend time with the Sussexes, who are bringing their children Archie and Lilibet over from the US – and could meet Lili for the first time as she celebrates her first birthday on Saturday.
On Sunday, thousands of people will gather across the country as more than 85,000 Big Jubilee Lunches and street parties are staged in celebration of the Queen’s record-breaking 70 year reign.
Royal Family members will also visit every corner of the UK over the weekend for official engagements – with William and Kate going to Wales; Edward and Sophie travelling to Northern Ireland; and Anne to Scotland.
Here, MailOnline looks at the programme of events over the four-day bank holiday weekend from today:
- 10am: Trooping the Colour begins, snaking down The Mall to Horse Guards Parade
- 10.30am: Members of the Royal Family on horseback and in carriages join parade
- 12.52am: Royal Gun Salute, 82 rounds in Hyde Park
- 1pm: Royal Gun Salute, 124 rounds at the Tower of London
- 1pm: Buckingham Palace balcony 70-aircraft RAF flypast
- 9.25pm: Lighting of the Platinum Jubilee beacons, Queen at Windsor