Queen Elizabeth II
Official Diamond Jubilee Portrait
[from UK Telegraph]
This is the weekend of the Diamond Jubilee Celebration of the 60-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
Her coronation was on June 2, 1953, when she was just 26 years old. How many young people that age do you know who could step into the kind of responsibility that faced young Elizabeth upon the death of her father, King George VI.
From
Royal.gov.uk:
The Central Weekend to celebrate The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee takes place from Saturday 2 June to Tuesday 5 June 2012, with celebratory activities throughout the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth.
The Jubilee Weekend features an extra Bank Holiday for the Diamond Jubilee, with the late May Bank Holiday moved one week later, thereby making a 4-day long weekend. The government announced the extra Bank Holiday for the Diamond Jubilee on 5 January 2010.
The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Emblem
The itinerary for family visits to all parts of the Commonwealth is also on that page.
From the UK Guardian:
The Queen
begins her jubilee weekend in one of her favourite places, the royal
box at Epsom racecourse, for the Derby on Saturday, where the popular
mezzo soprano Katherine Jenkins will sing the national anthem.
'The
Thames diamond jubilee river pageant will make history on Sunday, with
an ambitious flotilla of 1,000 ships recreating royal pageants of old.
More than 20,000 people will be on the boats, some of which were
beginning to muster in advance on Friday.
Over a million
spectators are expected to line the banks and bridges as it sets off at
2.30pm with the last of the vessels expected to sail under Tower Bridge
by 5.30pm.
(and wouldn't it be fun to be there for that!)
Up to 50 large viewing screens have been placed along
the river, bringing central London to a standstill with some roads and
bridges closed. Family festivals in Battersea Park and Hyde Park are
also expected to attract large crowds.
Sunday will also see
thousands of street parties as the jubilee coincides with the Big Lunch.
More than 9,500 applications for road closures have been approved
across the UK – almost twice as many as for last year's royal wedding of
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.'
So how many of you are planning to be in England for the Diamond Jubilee celebration?
Be sure to 'ring me up.'
or is it now 'ring me.' ??
I'm never sure if I should try using British slang. Who knows when the definitions might change into something I'll wish I hadn't said!
