The UK will mark the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth on the throne this week with four days of celebrations – from military parades and church service to street parties and a pop concert outside Buckingham Palace.
Elizabeth, 96, has been on the throne since the age of 25, a figure always present in the United Kingdom and one of the most recognizable faces in the world.
Here’s a look at the decorations, royal fans and special events leading up to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations starting on Thursday.
Outside Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus
People gather in the mall looking at Buckingham Palace and the Queen Victoria Memorial Statue on Tuesday in London. The road is surrounded by Union Jacks and is closed to traffic before the Platinum Jubilee.
(Matt Dunham / The Associated Press)
Royal fan John Loughrey poses on Tuesday with a clipping of Queen Elizabeth in a tent he has camped in front of Buckingham Palace for platinum jubilee celebrations.
(Henry Nicholls / Reuters)
People are taking pictures of the Piccadilly Circus screen while showing a countdown to the platinum jubilee, with two photos of the Queen, in London on May 27th.
(Alberto Pezzali / The Associated Press)
Sightings of Queen Elizabeth
Keith Weed, President of the Royal Horticultural Society, pays a visit to Elizabeth for the flower shows at her Chelsea Flower Show in London on 23 May.
(Paul Grover / Reuters)
The Queen is shown how to buy a ticket while she unveiled a plaque to mark the completion of the London Crossrail project at Paddington Station in London on 17 May.
(Andrew Matthews / Reuters)
Elizabeth and guests watch the Royal Windsor Horse Show platinum jubilee at Windsor Castle in Windsor, UK, on May 15th.
(Henry Nicholls / Reuters)
The queen talks to a worker when she arrives to watch the horses compete on the second day of the horse show in Windsor on May 13th.
(Toby Melville / Reuters)
Exhibitions with Elizabeth
Staff members have Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, painted by Andy Warhol in 1985, as part of an exhibition at Sotheby’s in London on 27 May.
(Alberto Pezzali / The Associated Press)
Sotheby’s exhibitions celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee opened in London on 28 May, free to the public until 15 July. You can see The Queen (2022) by Oluwole Omofemi.
(Tristan Fewings / Sotheby’s / Getty Images)
Chris Levine’s Lightness of Being (2022) can also be seen at Sotheby’s. The exhibition brings together important loans from aristocratic tiaras and royal portraits of each of Britain’s seven queens.
(Tristan Fewings / Sotheby’s / Getty Images)
At Madame Tussauds in London, the studio’s artists are tweaking wax models of the British royal family with a new group and dresses, ahead of the platinum jubilee celebrations on 25 May.
(Toby Melville / Reuters)
(Toby Melville / Reuters)
The queen at Legoland
Legoland model Freya Groom poses Tuesday for a photo while placing a Queen Elizabeth model in a vehicle near a mock-up of Buckingham Palace in Legoland in Windsor.
(Peter Nicholls / Reuters)
A mock-up of the red arrows is shown flying over a mock-up of London.
(Peter Nicholls / Reuters)
A model of Elizabeth in a vehicle is shown near a model of the Admiralty Arch landmark in the mall.
(Peter Nicholls / Reuters)
Other public exhibitions
Flower Tower, an exhibition of more than 4,300 handmade knitted and crocheted flowers, is on display at All Saints’ Church, before the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, in Middleton Cheney, UK, on May 26th.
(Andrew Boyers / Reuters)
A Queen Elizabeth thread with a corgi and accompanying guards is displayed on top of a mailbox in Hangleton, near Hove, East Sussex, on Tuesday.
(Glyn Kirk / AFP / Getty Images)
A crochet scene of Elizabeth standing inside a castle is seen on top of a mailbox in New Brighton, UK, on May 9th.
(Phil Noble / Reuters)
Royal fans and their memories
Royal superfan Margaret Tyler poses for a photograph with her collection of royal memorabilia in her “jubilee room” at her home in London on Monday. His collection fills the ground floor of his house.
(Adrian Dennis / AFP / Getty Images)
The collector of souvenirs of the royal family Jan Hugo is near a life-size figure of the queen, surrounded by her collection of more than 10,000 pieces, in Nulkaba, Australia, on May 4 . Hugo’s is the largest collection of royal memorabilia in Australia.
(Stefica Nicol Bikes / Reuters)