The Queen was photographed returning to London from Scotland today, ahead of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The 96-year-old monarch was seen arriving at Aberdeen Airport this afternoon ahead of a trip back to London for the four-day celebration, which will mark her 70th year on the throne.
The Queen has spent the last few days in Balmoral, her Scottish estate.
She’s been on a private visit to the home, which is considered to be one of her favorite spots, since Thursday.
Her Majesty frequently visits Scotland at this time of year.
It comes as royal superfans have already begun camping out to get a prime spot on The Mall for the Jubilee despite the start of the celebrations with Trooping the Colour not taking place for another two days.
The four-day celebrations will start on Thursday with a special Trooping of the Colour, followed by a service of Thanksgiving on Friday.
The Epsom Derby, a particular favourite of the Queen’s, will take place on Saturday – though the Queen is reportedly ‘unlikely to attend’ at this stage in order to ‘pace herself’ for the rest of the weekend.
A special Jubilee Pageant will then take place on Sunday through the streets of London to wrap up the four-day celebrations.
In a surprise twist, the Queen could also meet her great-granddaughter Lillibet for the first time on Saturday – when she turns one – with Harry and Meghan jetting into London from California to take part in the four-day celebrations.
However the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, along with Prince Andrew, will not appear on the Royal Balcony when the Queen is set to delight royal fans by making an appearance during Trooping the Colour.
She will instead be flanked by her other three children, including her eldest son, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla, as well as grandson Prince William and wife Kate, along with their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Additionally, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra, and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence will appear.
Director David Zolkwer said the pageant was intended to ‘not take itself quite so seriously’ and that republicans would be considered alongside ‘strident royalists’ amid concerns ‘the word pageant brings a lot of baggage’.
He said royal aides wanted to avoid making the day just about the Queen, telling the Radio Times: ‘The feedback we’re getting is that if we’re over-glorifying, or over-egging, or if anything looks too aggrandising – that’s what they’re not comfortable with.
‘What they’re doing is ensuring that every reference to the Queen is appropriate.’
A royal source confirmed to the Daily Telegraph that this was the intention, saying that the Queen and other members of the Royal Family wanted to ensure the Jubilee was a chance for the monarch to ‘thank the public’.
The Gold State Coach, which was built in 1762 and is the third oldest coach in the UK, will be taken outside the Royal Mews for the first time since the Golden Jubilee.
It is made of giltwood – a thin layer of gold leaf over wood.
The coach is 23 feet long and 12 feet tall, and weighs four tons.
Because of its weight and suspension, it is only ever used at a walking pace – and it is said to be the most uncomfortable carriage the Queen owns.
Drawn by eight Windsor Grey horses, it will be led by the Mounted Band of the Household Cavalry, heralding a riotous celebration of the Queen’s life, her favourite things and the diversity of her reign.
Adrian Evans, the Pageant Master, said: ‘Everywhere you look, in the golden sculptures and painted panels, in the uniforms of the postilions, grooms, footmen, attendants and mounted guards, there is rich tradition and history.
‘It will be a unique spectacle that we are privileged to be opening the Pageant with.
‘It will set the tone for the very many spectacular sights to come.’
The elaborate coach features above each wheel a massive triton figure in gilded walnut wood to represent the spreading of the news of good government.
The main body is carved to represent palm trees framing the doors and windows.
It features paintings of Roman gods and goddesses representing human skill and endeavour.
These include the arts, sciences, virtue, security, and the harvest goddess Ceres setting light to weapons in a sign of peace and prosperity overcoming war.
The front panel includes a figure of Britannia sitting on the banks of the Thames in London, with the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral just visible.
On the roof is a giltwood carving of the British imperial crown being held by three putti, or cherubs, representing England, Scotland and Ireland.
Some 205 vehicles will appear as part of the parade, including 11 Morris Minors, seven Land Rovers, 20 vintage Minis including one in the shape of an Outspan Orange and seven original James Bond vehicles.
Ice cream vans, JCBs, Del-Boy’s Only Fools And Horses three-wheeled Reliant Regal Supervan III, 15 Sinclair C5s, and seven open-top double-decker buses decorated in images of the decade they represent will also head down The Mall and past the palace.
Set to be watched by up to a billion people across the globe, more than 10,000 people have been involved in staging the £15million event which will process through the streets in four acts, as the finale of the weekend.
Close to 200 national treasures will take to the stage to serenade the Queen by singing the national anthem at the grand finale of the Platinum Jubilee festivities.
Stars including Sir David Jason, Harry Redknapp, Sir Cliff Richard, Sandie Shaw, Felicity Kendal, Joe Wicks and Holly Willoughby will join Ed Sheeran in a mass rendition of God Save The Queen outside Buckingham Palace at the end of the pageant on Sunday.
The monarch is expected to appear on the balcony – the second of her planned appearances on the famous frontage over the weekend – to bring the national commemorations to a close.
Celebrities from theatre, film, television, sport, the sciences, music, business, literature and well-known figures from public life will converge on the pop stage to form a ‘national treasures choir’ to mark the end of the four-day bank holiday weekend.
Actor Jason Watkins, campaigner Baroness Lawrence, singer Marc Almond, presenter Dame Prue Leith, actresses Dame Joan Collins and Dame Sheila Hancock and composer Lord Lloyd-Webber will be among them.
The Royal Marines Band will provide the musical accompaniment, as the crowds of well-wishers gathered in front of the palace and along The Mall are invited to join in the patriotic sing-song.
Some 10,000 people including a cast of 6,000 performers are involved in staging the carnival procession from Horse Guards, along Whitehall to Admiralty Arch, and down The Mall to Buckingham Palace.
Sheeran will also perform his love song Perfect in tribute to the Queen and her beloved late husband the Duke of Edinburgh, with a montage of footage of the couple playing on the screens as he sings.
Up to one billion people across the globe are expected to tune in to watch the parade, with organisers estimating some 100,000 will line the route.
The ambitious £15 million pageant is split into four acts: For Queen and Country with a military parade; The Time of Our Lives progressing through seven decades of culture, music and fashion; Let’s Celebrate telling the story of the Queen’s life in 12 chapters with corgi puppets and carnival creations; and the Happy and Glorious musical spectacle.
Celebrities will travel in decorated open top double decker buses for the decade-by-decade celebrations.
For the 1990s, actor Idris Elba, singer Courtney Love, actress Patsy Kensit, supermodel Erin O’Connor and All Saints singers Natalie and Nicole Appleton will take to the top of one of the vehicles.
Other well-known faces for the eras will include actress siblings Hayley and Juliet Mills, Gloria Hunniford and Sir Cliff on the 1950s bus, Alan Titchmarsh, Basil Brush and Kate Garraway for the 1960s, and Slade’s Noddy Holder and Dynasty actress Stephanie Beacham for the 1970s.
Actor Anthony Head, singer Tony Hadley, children’s presenter Timmy Mallett and sports presenter Gary Lineker will represent the 1980s, Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Mo Farah will be part of the 2000 crew, and rapper Professor Green and DJ and producer Naughty Boy will join Joe Wicks on the 2010 bus.
Seven celebrated dames – Dame Floella Benjamin, Dame Darcey Bussell, Dame Joan, Dame Lesley ‘Twiggy’ Lawson, Dame Prue, Dame Arlene Foster and Dame Zandra Rhodes – will be driven down The Mall in seven vintage convertible Jaguars.
The dames’ appearances form one of several special segues interspersed throughout the parade.
Characters from seven decades of children’s television, including the four Teletubbies – Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po – the Gruffalo, six Wombles, In The Night Garden’s Iggle Piggle, Wallace & Gromit, Paddington Bear, Peter Rabbit and Tiny and Small from The Clangers, and Peppa Pig, George Pig, Daddy Pig and Mummy Pig, will take to a float.
Organisers initially planned for the characters to parade down the route, but arrangements had to be altered due to practical concerns.
Mr Zolkwer, the show’s director, said: ‘We realised that none of them can actually walk. They’re great at hugging and waving but not great at walking 3km.’
One of the Queen’s own Land Rovers will feature in a seven decades of Land Rovers section.
The dark green A444 RYV Land Rover 110 Station V8 Wagon belongs to the monarch and is kept in the Royal Garages at Windsor Castle.
Another – King George VI’s Series 1, which was used at Balmoral until 1966 – was found in a garage many years later by the Prince of Wales and restored with the help of Land Rover.
There will also be the Bronze Green Family Defender, which resides at Gaydon Museum; a 1948 Amsterdam launch car, which is the oldest Land Rover in existence; a vehicle owned by Land Rover founder Spencer Wilks; the final L316 Defender 90 built in 2016; and a new modern blue Defender 90.
Land Rovers were chosen because of their affiliation with the royal family, with the rural-loving Windsors driving a range over the decades, and the Duke of Edinburgh specially designing and commissioning a Land Rover hearse in preparation for his own funeral.
Another segue will focus on JCBs – including one from the year of the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, others manufactured in jubilee years and a new 2022 backhoe powered by hydrogen.
Ten James Bond vehicles used in the 007 movies will also delight the crowds, including the Triumph motorcycle and Land Rover Series III from No Time To Die, an amphibious Lotus Esprit S1 known as Wet Nellie from the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me and the Aston Martin V8 from 1987’s The Living Daylights.
A peloton of 300 cyclists, riding vintage bikes from across the seven decades of her reign, is to travel down The Mall led by Sir Chris Hoy and cycling golden couple Dame Laura and Sir Jason Kenny.
Olympic champions Sir Chris, Dame Laura and Sir Jason will be among six ‘hero cyclists’ who race towards Buckingham Palace ready to complete a 360-degree circuit of the Queen Victoria Memorial on Sunday.
The pageant is split into four acts:
- For Queen and Country with a military parade;
- The Time of Our Lives progressing through seven decades of culture, music and fashion;
- Let’s Celebrate telling the story of the Queen’s life in 12 chapters with corgi puppets and carnival creations; and
- Happy and Glorious musical spectacle starring Ed Sheeran and close to 200 celebrities.
It is hoped the Queen will be able to make the balcony appearance, despite facing mobility issues.
It has emerged that she is no longer planning to attend the Epsom Derby on Saturday – one of her favourite events of the year – in order to pace herself for the busy run of national occasions.
The weekend’s celebrations will begin this Thursday with the Trooping the Colour parade, which has marked the official birthday of the British sovereign for 260 years, and will end with the Royal Family on the Buckingham Palace balcony and a spectacular flypast.
Beacons will also be lit through the UK and Commonwealth, with a special ceremony held at Buckingham Palace.
A towering, living sculpture of trees will be lit and projections cast on to the front of Buckingham Palace to highlight the Royal Family’s long history of championing environmental causes.
On Friday, a service of thanksgiving will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral, which the Queen plans to attend.
Arrangements have been tailored for her comfort, however. There will be no ceremonial journey from the palace, while the monarch, who is facing mobility issues, will use a different entrance so she does not have to scale the steep steps. Great Paul, the largest Church bell in the country, will be rung for the service.
It was made in 1882 but fell silent in the 1970s due to a broken mechanism. This is the first time it will have been rung for a royal occasion since it was restored in 2021.
On Saturday, the Queen intends to attend the Epsom Derby, and in the evening attention will turn again to Buckingham Palace for the Platinum Party at the Palace. Stars of stage, screen and pop and rock will perform in front of a crowd of 22,000 people.
On the final day of celebrations, on Sunday, 60,000 Big Jubilee Lunches will be held across the country and the Commonwealth – ranging from world record attempts for the longest street party to simple back garden barbecues – to encourage community-led events.
Final decisions on the Queen’s appearances across the weekend are not likely to be announced until the day they are due, Buckingham Palace said.