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JUBILEE PARTY PLANS
(continued)
Sunday, June 2 is a day of reflection throughout the country, with church services and bell ringing marking the occasion, and the Queen attending a private service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, with other members of the royal family.
The pop concert on Monday, June 3, also attended by 12,000 lottery winners, will include the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, Sir Cliff Richard, Aretha Franklin, Ricky Martin, Tom Jones, Ozzy Osbourne, and newer pop favorites, such as S Club 7 and Atomic Kitten. The theme song of the day is the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love," which Sir Paul will be performing.
The concert will be relayed on 24 huge sound systems and giant screens along the Mall and the parks near Buckingham Palace, after which the Queen will light the beacon in front of the Queen Victoria Memorial. A 40-foot ball of fire should then erupt, signaling the start of the fireworks display.
On Tuesday, June 4, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will travel in the gold coach to the City of London and St. Paul's Cathedral for the Thanksgiving Service. This procession is the most traditional part of the celebrations, with the pageantry of exchanging swords and seven fanfares -- composed by Elgar Howarth -- that should recapture the medieval relationship between the monarchy and the City of London.
After the service and a special luncheon in the historic Guildhall, the Queen will return to Buckingham Palace, where 20,000 performers of all ages and abilities will entertain her in a parade incorporating a cavalcade of moving structures intended to encapsulate 50 years of British cultural and social history. This festival on Tuesday afternoon is the main party of the whole weekend. Eighteen floats will move down the Mall accompanied by a variety of vehicles, from the buses of the 1950s to the scooters of today. The participants will include bikers (led by a Hell's Angel called SNOB), skateboarders, drivers, and dancers, all evoking changing styles in music, fashion, children's toys, and technology.
The current mood of the British people is more sympathetic toward the royal family, partly because of the dawning realization of how dignified and discreet the Queen has been throughout her reign, and also because of her recent bereavements. Princess Margaret, her younger sister, died after a long illness in March, and then the Queen Mother, the most loved member, perhaps, of all the royal family, died peacefully in April at the grand age of 101, eliciting a storm of hosannas and eulogies in the national press. All of this helped assuage the feeling that the royal family had misjudged the mood of the nation over the death of Princess Diana.
Top banner photos: Her Majesty The Queen
(photo provided by British Information Services), and a panoramic
view of Buckingham Palace. |
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The Queen inspects the royal bodyguards,
the Yeomen of the Guard (photo provided by British Information
Services). |
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Buckingham Palace, the famous home of the British monarch (photo by Stuart M. Mitchell). |
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This program is available on DVD. |
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