Planning for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee continues along, with new details about the Platinum Pageant released this week.
As the news trickles out, let’s take a look at what we know so far.
The Platinum Pageant
Earlier this week, we learned details about the Platinum Pageant, the final celebration of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend.
On Sunday 5 June, the Platinum Pageant will feature 5,000 participants from the UK and the Commonwealth on the streets of London outside Buckingham Palace, all of whom will celebrate The Queen’s reign and the culture of the UK. Per Buckingham Palace, this will involve street artists, theatre, music, circus, carnival and costume.
We learned this week that the Platinum Pageant will be broken down into three acts and focus on every decade of The Queen’s reign.
The first act will feature ceremonial aspects, like marching bands, troops and military ceremonial marching down The Mall and other iconic streets of London, showcasing the “military precision and ceremony for which we as a nation are rightly famous,” according to the Platinum Pageant website.
The second act will feature sensory performances that harnesses the “creativity, ingenuity, humour and community spirit” of the Commonwealth with theatre, dance, carnival and street arts. The Platinum Pageant website states that this mash of Carnival, May Day, Mela, Fiesta and Mardi Gras” will draw on the traditions and unite everyone to celebrate The Queen’s reign.
The third act is still a tightly-guarded secret, with details to be announced next year.
Pageant co-chair Nicholas David Coleridge said that the Platinum Pageant will be “something of a reopening ceremony for the United Kingdom, following a period of uncertainty and hardship”.
“Through the fusion of ceremonial and pageantry with razzmatazz and festival, we intend to create a spectacle that is at once energising and memorable and a fitting tribute to the Queen.”
The Duke of Edinburgh will be featured in the Platinum Pageant, the pageant master announced earlier this week. The late Prince Philip’s legacy will be “sprinkled” throughout the event, according to Adrian Evans.
The Platinum Jubilee Emblem Competition
Buckingham Palace announced on 21 June that the Victoria & Albert Museum has spearheaded a Platinum Jubilee emblem design competition for young people between the ages of 13-25.
The emblem will be historic by virtue of the fact that no other British monarch has celebrated a Platinum Jubilee, and will be prominently featured throughout the year-long celebration on official Palace communications, merchandise, official social media accounts, and in many other applications.
The winner will also be invited to the Platinum Party at the Palace, and the top 10 designs will be featured in a display at the V&A Museum next June.
The stipulations are limited: a royal crown must be featured, it must be hand-designed or drawn on a computer, it must be a totally original design that doesn’t feature any personal details about the artist, and it must not use a likeness of The Queen.
Submissions close in July, with the winner due to be announced this summer as well.
Plant a Tree for the Jubilee
One of the earliest initiatives announced was The Queen’s Green Canopy, which was officially launched by The Prince of Wales this spring. The plan is to plant as many trees as possible from October of this year through to 2022, with the urging to ‘plant a tree for the jubilee.’
Additional plans for The Queen’s Green Canopy include identifying 70 ancient trees to mark 70 years of The Queen’s reign and dedicating a network of 70 ancient woodlands in the UK in Her Majesty’s honour.
Platinum Jubilee Weekend
The main event of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee will take place from 2-5 June next year, with an extra-long bank holiday weekend to give people a chance to celebrate this historic occasion.
Buckingham Palace has previously announced that the kick-off will be The Queen’s official birthday, Trooping the Colour, on 2 June. Platinum Jubilee Beacons will be lit across the UK and the Commonwealth to mark the occasion.
A Service of Thanksgiving for Her Majesty’s reign at St. Paul’s Cathedral is also planned, as is a family outing to the Derby at Epsom Downs, and a Platinum Party at the Palace will be broadcast by the BBC outside Buckingham Palace. On the final day of the Jubilee weekend, a Big Jubilee Lunch is planned, culminating in the Platinum Pageant.
The Queen and members of the Royal Family will also travel around the UK throughout the year to celebrate her jubilee. Any overseas visits to Commonwealth nations will likely be announced later, as travel restrictions ease throughout the year.
Stay tuned to Royal Central for all the latest news on The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
