There were always two goals for the Platinum Jubilee, one easy and one more complex.
The easy thing is to applaud the queen. With just four days to go before the start of the great Jubilee weekend, the feeling of excitement and patriotism is here for everyone.
Thousands of street parties have been organized, from village greens to city centers, the main streets are full of Union flags, flowers and flags.
If you want to assess the popularity of the queen, look around. His Majesty must be the single most popular world leader today, 70 years after taking office, the day he began. Presidents and prime ministers are lucky if they stay popular for seven months.
She is already the longest serving monarch in the history of our islands, and her reign spans one of the most remarkable and transformative periods in history.
And here lies the most complex challenge. How to tell the story of the UK during the seven decades of the Queen’s reign from post-war deprivations in the 1950s to flower power and landings on the moon, punks and yuppies, to our digital age?
How to invoke memories with which all parts of the nation can identify and fall behind, when we have gone from being a country of hats and umbrellas to a complete multicultural experience, with dozens of different ethnicities reflecting their British in different ways?
Next Sunday will be the Platinum Jubilee Contest, of which I am co-chair: the culmination of the celebrations, the largest and most inclusive.
From the beginning, both the Palace and the Government have seen it as a unifying event, a tribute to the life and times of the Queen, but also to our own nation; a joyful post-pandemic celebration, an opportunity to remember what we all have in common, our unity and diversity magnified through the prism of the sovereign.
At the time of the coronation, could the queen, anyone? – Possibly we had predicted the changes that await in our country? Almost everything is different: the shape of our cars and buses, our holiday aspirations (only the very rich traveled abroad in 1953), our diets (who would have guessed that Thai curry and chicken tikka masala would replace them like the shepherd’s cake?). Not having a flat screen TV and a laptop have become indicators of modern poverty.
Ahead of the platinum jubilee next weekend, Nicholas Coleridge looks forward to the 70th anniversary event that will amaze millions of viewers (archive photo)
The team that choreographed the Coronation didn’t need to think for a moment about Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and the rest, but modern national events take months to plan for social media. Extraordinary to remember that the British public saw the Coronation on the only channel available, the BBC, in black and white, with many families buying their first TV in particular, or renting a set for the occasion.
There had been considerable debate in the cabinet as to whether it was quite appropriate to film Her Majesty at Westminster Abbey, with Prime Minister Winston Churchill firmly opposed to the idea. The young queen turned down her advice and an average of 17 people were hooked on every TV across the country, crammed into the front rooms.
I very much hope that, for the Platinum Jubilee, families will see together at least some of the events that take place as a community activity. Or will we see the parades and the pageant only in our rooms, with iPhones and iPads? That would be sad.
If any fortune teller had warned the queen in 1952: “Your Majesty, during your reign I see punks with sharp hair, glam rockers and new romantics,” I suspect he might have been suspicious. But these subgroups, and many more, are represented at the pageant, all of them volunteer subjects of the Queen.
Thousands of street parties have been organized, from village greens to city centers, the main streets are full of Union flags, flowers and flags. In the photo of Westminster Abbey in London
Although it is staged in London on the streets around the Mall leading to the Victory Monument and Buckingham Palace, the cast of players at the event is national. When Queen Victoria celebrated her famous Diamond Jubilee in 1897, the pageant consisted mainly of troops from across the British Empire, who sailed to England to pay homage to their Queen Empress.
The platinum jubilee pageant for Queen Elizabeth II includes 2,000 military and military mounted and running British and much of the Commonwealth armed services as well. But in addition, there will be twice that number of citizens, from all parts of the UK: from the Midlands, the North East and North West of England, the Scottish Highlands to the farthest reaches of Cornwall and Derry.
Some of the participants have rarely, or never, visited London before. The logistical challenge of bringing so many thousands to the city from Glasgow and Cardiff, Plymouth and the Isle of Wight, Coventry, Thurrock and Nottingham is extraordinarily complex.
But each of these groups has spent months creating and rehearsing spectacular living paintings in honor of the Queen: giant sculptures, the height of three-story houses, depicting the heraldic beasts of the Kingdom. There will be giant Tolkien-style oaks and sticks in May, wired dragons and puppets of Her Majesty’s corgis puppets.
And at the heart of it all, of course, is the Royal Mews’ eight-horse-drawn state golden coach, originally built for King George III, and completely renovated for this unique day. With clever digital art, the young queen’s film recognizing the crowds on their way to her coronation in 1953 will be projected from inside the coach, so it will seem to greet the crowd from the windows on both sides of the vehicle.
A striking aspect of the event has been the eagerness of participation of different ethnic groups. If you need proof of the effectiveness of the Queen’s hundreds of trips abroad and her thousands of visits to different communities at home, that’s all. Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Christian groups in the Caribbean, Buddhists: all have said yes, all seeing the sense of honoring the queen, all feeling a connection.
All kinds of music will feature in the parade: multiple bagpipes and various metal bands, samba reggae, battle drums, gospel choirs, disco, punk, punjabi bhangra, jazz and steel bands, the Household Cavalry mounted band. If anything reminds you of the richness of the British music scene, here it is.
Buckingham Palace has been adept at designing a jubilee weekend that covers all the bases. If you’re a traditionalist, you have Trooping the Color, with all its military precision and splendor, and the worthy Thanksgiving Service that will be held at St. Paul’s. If you have an eco-friendly mindset, there’s Queen’s Green Canopy, a great tree planting initiative that also makes 70 ancient forests and 70 ancient trees part of the celebration.
Bake Off devotees have had the big Jubilee pudding contest, won by Jemma Melvin of Southport with her Swiss lemon roll and her amaretti trifle. The crazy ponies have had the Royal Windsor Horse Show. For the community, there are beacon lighting and great lunch. For retro-ravers, the rock concert with Diana Ross, Queen and Elton John.
And as a grand finale: the mix of military tradition, nostalgia, looking to the future, genius, multiculturalism and multiple surprises of the platinum contest.
At my East Sussex High School, where we sang the national anthem obsessively, I must have sung the words “Long to reign over us” hundreds of times, without thinking twice. At that time, the queen had barely ruled over us for a dozen years.
The process of helping to organize the Jubilee has given these lyrics a special touch. Serving as our noble, kind, and glorious Queen for 70 years is an amazing achievement. If anyone deserves a celebration, it is His Majesty.
Nicholas Coleridge is co-chair of the Platinum Jubilee Pageant with Sir Michael Lockett.
Now we start the party … Our guide shows what four spectacular days will be like.
By Kate Mansey
Britain had never seen one before … and it may never do so again. So take out the flag and get ready to celebrate this year’s historic platinum jubilee. More than a billion viewers around the world are expected to tune in to see the festivities, and more than 16,000 street parties are planned across the UK. The celebrations begin with two holidays, Thursday and Friday, and culminate on Sunday with an exciting and starry performance of the national anthem. Here is a summary of a four-day weekend that promises to be happy and glorious …
Thursday, June 2nd
Queen’s birthday parade
The festivities begin at 10 a.m. with a special Trooping the Color parade. It will include military personnel and members of the royal family on horseback and in carriages.
The best of British pomp and spectacle will be on display, as the Color, a flag of the regiment, is led by the Irish Guards, who have Prince William as their colonel.
A flyover of more than 70 Royal Air Force, Army and Royal Navy aircraft will follow the parade, which has marked the official anniversary of the British sovereign for more than 260 years.
Diana Ross and Sir Rod Stewart will lead Platinum Party At The Palace
Diana Ross and Sir Rod Stewart are among the headliners of the Platinum Party At The Palace, which promises to be a highlight of the celebrations.
Opera stars in pop music will appear on three major stages and Sir Elton John will pre-record a special performance.
The BBC’s live broadcast begins at 8pm on Saturday with a performance by Queen, with singer Adam Lambert, who organizers say will “recall memories of Brian May’s historic appearance on the roof of the Palace at the Jubilee Concert Or “.
Other performers include Elbow, Alicia Keys, George Ezra, Hans …