Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee: Britain Celebrates Platinum Jubilee for Elizabeth II, but She Will Miss Events on Friday (Published 2022) (2024)

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Britain celebrates Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne.

Three heirs to the throne stood alongside her: her eldest son, Prince Charles; his eldest son, Prince William; and William’s eldest son, Prince George. But William’s younger brother, Prince Harry, was missing, having withdrawn from royal duties and moved to Southern California with his wife, Meghan, the result of a messy rupture with Buckingham Palace in 2020.

Also missing was the queen’s second son, Prince Andrew, all but banished from public life because of his association with Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier and convicted sex offender. On Thursday, the palace said Andrew had tested positive for the coronavirus and would miss a thanksgiving service on Friday.

Still, on Thursday, the dysfunction of the royal family was pushed temporarily offstage by a joyful celebration of its 96-year-old matriarch — a queen whose reign has been an anchor for her storm-tossed country and whose recent health troubles seem only to have deepened her people’s affection for her.

Tributes poured in from world leaders, past and present; some sounded like fanboys in their awe-struck admiration.

“You are the golden thread that binds our two countries, the proof of the unwavering friendship between our nations,” said President Emmanuel Macron of France, speaking in English in a videotaped greeting.

Former President Barack Obama, who visited the queen in Buckingham Palace with his wife, Michelle, in 2011, declared, “Your life has been a gift, not just to the United Kingdom, but to the world.”

“Vivat Regina Elizabetha!” wrote Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a tweet, drawing on the Latin of his days at Eton. “God Save The Queen!”

It was only the first of four days of festivities, known collectively as the queen’s Platinum Jubilee. But it was perhaps the grandest, featuring a military parade with 1,200 officers and soldiers from the Household Division, hundreds of Army musicians, 240 horses, a 41-gun salute and a 70-aircraft flyover.

But all that activity appeared to take its toll on the aging monarch: On Thursday evening, the palace announced she would skip the national thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, after experiencing some discomfort.

The ostensible purpose of all the pageantry was to celebrate the queen’s birthday, which was in April. But the show of military grandeur, known as Trooping the Color, also symbolizes Elizabeth’s role as commander in chief of the armed forces. That link has been sacred to her since she served in the auxiliary service as a driver and truck mechanic during World War II, when she was a young princess.

In the ensuing decades, the queen has become an irreplaceable figure in Britain, central to its self-identity. To many, her stoicism embodies the British instinct to get on with it, and her sensible manner reflects the sang-froid that many Britons admire.

The queen did not take part in the day’s opening ceremony at the Horse Guards Parade, a concession to her frail condition and the problems she has had walking recently. But the palace had left little doubt that she intended to turn up on the balcony, the ultimate royal photo opportunity.

Just after noon, Elizabeth emerged unexpectedly, walking stick in hand, to inspect the troops marching beneath her. Standing next to her cousin, the Duke of Kent, she looked alert and engaged, wearing a dusky dove blue dress with a pearl and diamanté trim cascading down the front of the coat. She re-emerged later for her scheduled appearance with other members of the royal family.

She also led the lighting of the Platinum Jubilee Beacon on Thursday evening from Windsor Castle, in a dual ceremony with her grandson Prince William.

That the queen made it to this Platinum Jubilee at all was far from given. She contracted the coronavirus in February and has talked about how the ordeal left her exhausted. She lost her husband, Prince Philip, last year, and her fragile health has forced her to cancel multiple public appearances, including two major events on the royal calendar: a remembrance service for the war dead and the state opening of Parliament.

Those were heavy blows for a monarch who lives by the maxim that she has to be “seen to be believed.” But she looked spry on Thursday, and at recent appearances at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, the Chelsea Flower Show and the opening of a new London rail line named for her — all of which has made the jubilee more a joyful commemoration rather than a wistful twilight.

Among the crowds in London, there was ample evidence of the kind of devotion the royal family commands not just with Britons, but also with people from around the world.

“I like democracies, but I have a fascination with monarchical displays of power,” said Nichola Persic, an Italian exchange student who left his college in Canterbury, England, at dawn to stake out a position along the parade route. “And it’s nice to be a part of something people will remember.”

Phil Mason and Jan Favager, who traveled to London from outside Liverpool, planned their trip a year ago to make sure they could get an affordable hotel room. “She’s done such a great, wonderful job,” Mr. Mason said. “I think she’s a lovely lady.”

Strictly speaking, Elizabeth has not yet set the longevity record for any monarch. Louis XIV of France, Johann II of Liechtenstein and Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand were all on the throne for more than 70 years. But she is the longest-reigning British monarch, surpassing Queen Victoria, who ruled for almost 64 years, and the longest-reigning queen of any country.

There were, inevitably, a few discordant notes. Graham Smith, who runs Republic, a group that favors abolishing the monarchy, said he planned to mark the jubilee with an anti-monarchy conference this weekend.

“I certainly don’t view her with any kind of admiration,” Mr. Smith said, drinking coffee in the town of Reading, west of London, where he now lives. “There is no achievement in what she’s done.”

That, however, seemed to be a minority opinion among the tens of thousands of spectators who lined the Mall on a sunny late-spring day in London. Most were good-natured — the government gave people two days off for jubilee — though the police said they arrested several people for trying to breach the parade route.

The Trooping the Color military pageantry has been used to mark the birthday of the British sovereign for more than 260 years, so there were no surprises on Thursday, apart from the queen’s initial, unscheduled, appearance on the balcony.

Buckingham Palace sought to head off weeks of press speculation by disclosing last month that she would be joined at the palace by a streamlined version of the royal family. The thinner ranks are in keeping with a longtime strategy by Prince Charles to reduce the number of working royals — a concession to changing times and growing public resistance to the cost of supporting the royals.

Even with the smaller cast on the balcony, the royals managed a few star turns. The queen, sensible as ever, protected herself from the sun with stylish sunglasses, while Prince Louis, the 4-year-old second son of William and his wife, Catherine, clapped his hands over his ears and howled with displeasure when the jets roared overhead.

Stephen Castle, Megan Specia and Saskia Solomon contributed reporting.

The queen and Prince William lead beacon lightings as communities in Britain and beyond honor her.

The queen led the lighting of the principal beacon at Windsor Castle, and her grandson Prince William lit the beacon outside Buckingham Palace as towns, villages and cities renewed a tradition that traces its history to the chains of signal fires once used as tools of communication.

Organizers estimated that more than 1,500 beacons were being lit throughout Britain, in all 54 Commonwealth nations and in overseas territories.

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Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, officiates at a rural Jubilee event.

The parish has three villages with a combined population of some 2,700 — Burwash, Burwash Weald and Burwash Common. Between them, they offered a dizzying array of royal tributes and contests.

There was, for instance, the Royal Scarecrow competition, part of a centuries-old tradition of building scarecrows on significant occasions. There was a royal pudding contest, too, along with a community picnic, a bouncy castle and a sports show. Beacons were lit, as in many parts of Britain and its former colonies. One Burwash resident adorned a door with a full-size, avatar-like image of the queen.

But the opening of a newly-built Jubilee footpath around the Burwash Weald and Common playing field exceeded the fanfare of the other festivities by claiming the most prominent local icon — Roger Daltrey, the lead singer of The Who, who established the Lakedown Trout Fishery in Burwash in 1981. His job was to declare the footpath formally open.

He had, he said, just returned from performing at Madison Square Garden in New York. “But I wouldn’t have missed this,” he said.

“The queen is a wonderful person,” he said. “We are lucky to have her.”

Having met the queen, he said, “She would love this community and would love to be at something like this.”

Prince Andrew will miss a jubilee event after testing positive for the coronavirus.

It was not clear whether Andrew, 62, was vaccinated. The palace did not say whether he was experiencing symptoms.

A palace official said Andrew had seen the queen in recent days, but not since he received a positive result on a test that the official described as routine.

Queen Elizabeth, 96, contracted the virus in February and has said the illness left her feeling exhausted. Other recent health issues prompted her to miss some public appearances.

On Thursday evening, Buckingham Palace said the queen was also skipping the service at St. Paul’s, citing discomfort during the first day of festivities.

Andrew’s brother, Prince Charles, has been infected twice.

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Queen Elizabeth will skip Friday’s church service after ‘discomfort’ during the jubilee’s first day.

“Taking into account the journey and activity required to participate in tomorrow’s National Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Her Majesty with great reluctance has concluded she will not attend,” the palace said in a statement.

The queen, who appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace twice on Thursday, experienced some mobility issues during the festivities, according to a palace official. She has complained of trouble walking in the past, and has canceled several other public engagements, including the state opening of Parliament last month.

As the world watches the Platinum Jubilee, some cherish even an obstructed view.

Elizabeth Brown wasn’t expecting to have to stand on a railing on the side of the Mall, near Clarence House, Prince Charles’ city residence. She had traveled to London with her mother, Judy, on the 5:30 a.m. train from Preston, Lancashire, with two coveted grandstand tickets. They secured their seats through the British Legion ballot — a lottery for military veterans and their families — on their eighteenth attempt, but on arrival they were told there was no longer space.

“Then we got to the Mall, only to be told there’s no room here either,” Judy Brown said. “It’s all a big mess.”

But they remained in high spirits. “It’s amazing how many people are here,” said the younger Ms. Brown. “I’m just so happy to be here.”

Daniel Dunphy also had to think creatively. He managed to find a narrow stack of concrete blocks to stand on with his son, granting them a remarkably good view over the crowds, with Buckingham Palace just visible through the leaves of the trees lining the Mall.

“We’ve never done this sort of thing before, but we wanted to do it this time” said Mr. Dunphy, who came from West London. “The queen has served this country really well, and we wanted to show her our support.”

Mr. Dunphy said they had made a day of it, treating themselves to a “posh breakfast” on Regent’s Street featuring avocado and a frappé. “Not our usual fry-up,” he said.

Tourist kiosks that would normally sell London-themed souvenirs had pivoted to stocking mostly Jubilee-specific memorabilia: ponchos, hats, shirts and, of course, flags.

Jyoti Mistry, who arrived from Rugby, Warwickshire, at 5 a.m., marveled at witnessing the jubilee in person, after watching the others on television. “It’s so real,” she said.

A sense of wanting to be a part of history seemed to fuel many attendees, particularly those for whom London is more than a mere train ride away.

“Everybody is having a fiesta,” said Vexy Valdez, who booked her flight from the Dominican Republic months ago.

“At home we grew up on stories about the royal family,” she said. “As a result I’m rather intrigued by the crown. We never had a monarchy in our country, so it’s fascinating to us.”

For others, attending a royal event was a matter of keeping up tradition.

“I remember coming here as a child to watch the wedding of Charles and Diana,” said Graham Paskell, of Buckinghamshire. “So it’s wonderful to be back for the Jubilee.”

Sharn Kent and her family decided months ago to travel from Devon, where her village’s plans weren’t shaping up quickly enough for their tastes.

“We wanted to be at the epicenter of things,” she said.

Ms. Kent said the Jubilee was an emotional event, a moment of British solidarity.

“The queen has been a constant through everything,” she said. “Whether you’re patriotic or not, she’s always been there. She’s our stability.”

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‘She’s everyone’s queen’: Americans visit London for the jubilee’s pomp and pageantry.

She joins a group of other dedicated royal lovers from the United States whose fondness for the House of Windsor has driven them to pack their suitcases and head across the pond for the chance to celebrate the monarch’s seven-decade reign.

Ms. Watts, who flew on Tuesday with her mother, Robbin Farley, 65, had visited in 2018 for an official parade to mark the queen’s birthday. She said she fell in love with London during that trip, but has also followed Britain’s royal family closely for the last decade and is particularly interested in their philanthropy.

She blogs about both the royal family’s fashion and the charities they patronize, and has begun supporting some of those charities herself.

“I think a lot of us are just trying to go and enjoy this moment and be a part of history,” Ms. Watts said.

Carol LaRue and Andi Libuser, who live in California, came to the jubilee with several friends and family members from the United States, France and Britain.

“I came for Kate and Will’s wedding, and it was such a nice event, and the energy was so fun, so I brought my daughter and her friend so they could experience this,” Ms. LaRue said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

The group had arrived at the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace early Thursday to secure a prime location to view the Trooping the Color parade.

“It’s very festive,” Ms. Libuser said. “We are all very happy to support the queen.”

For Heidi Schmidt, of California, it’s the pageantry of the jubilee and the traditions around the royal family that are captivating. As a theologian, she said she was interested in ceremony and sacred rites, and the British monarchy — with its constitutional and symbolic functions — intrigues her.

“They are sort of a keeper of cultural identity in a way that as Americans, we don’t have sort of a central, unifying cultural institution,” Ms. Schmidt said, adding, “She’s everyone’s queen.”

No one does pageantry as well as the British, said Ms. Schmidt, who traveled to London with her husband on Tuesday, after a few days in Germany indulging his interest in Formula 1 racing. Her fellow Americans, she said, had a fondness for another British sensibility: “They also love that, as a country, they have a good sense of humor about themselves.”

Much like Ms. Watts, Ms. Schmidt expressed a deep fondness for Queen Elizabeth, whose life of duty and service she admires.

“This is certainly the last Platinum Jubilee that any of us will see in our lifetimes,” Ms. Schmidt said. “So it’s just important for me to be there to sing ‘God Save the Queen’ in person.”

Toasting tradition and a celebration ‘dripping with culture.’

“Wow,” Ms. Evans said as the queen, who is 96, appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony. “She looks good for her age, doesn’t she?”

Ms. Evans said she was not a monarchist and thought the royal family had far too much money. “But then it gives you stuff like this,” she said, pointing at the horses parading in front of the palace. “This is dripping with culture, and heritage and history.”

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For some onlookers, the jubilee is reminiscent of the queen’s coronation in 1953.

Yet, according to the BBC, the viewership in 1953 reached 20 million, outnumbering the radio audience for the first time.

The event, it said, “did more than any other to make television a mainstream medium.”

Announcing ‘a piece of history,’ 200 town criers proclaim the queen’s jubilee.

“We’re never going to see another Platinum Jubilee — certainly not in my lifetime,” said Jane Smith, a town crier for the coastal town Bognor Regis who wrote the jubilee proclamation at the request of the event’s organizers. “It was just an absolute honor to be able to do something like that,” she said, adding, “It’s a piece of history.”

With a new coat for the occasion and her bell polished by her son to a high sheen, Ms. Smith was one of at least 200 town criers clearing their throats to deliver the celebratory news on Thursday.

“How apt that this should be the Platinum anniversary of her accession,” the proclamation reads. “Platinum — that most noble of metals, more precious even than gold.”

“Let it be known, in proclaiming this tribute to Her Majesty the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee, that we are one nation and one Commonwealth,” it adds.

Ms. Smith said that the proclamation had been approved by Buckingham Palace representatives and that each crier had a distinct delivery style. She planned to share it at a restored Victorian bandstand overlooking the sea.

“It is a British ancient tradition that like-minded people want to keep going,” she said. “We are news givers, we are messengers. People still like to hear messages and news given in that way.”

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Looking back: At Charles and Camilla’s marriage, an understated nod of affection.

Now the eldest, 56-year-old Prince Charles, was planning another wedding — to the woman widely blamed for the breakdown of his first marriage, to Diana, Princess of Wales. Public opinion, which mostly had fallen on Diana’s side anyway, hardened against Charles and Camilla when, post-divorce, Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris in 1997.

Would crowds of well-wishers, who had flocked by the hundreds of thousands to line the streets for Charles and Diana’s wedding, stay away this time — or, even worse, come only to jeer (the also-divorced) Camilla, 57? How would the queen, who had had to manage the disruptions brought by her son’s marital disaster and Diana’s death, behave at the wedding? Would she even come?

The air was thick with portents of doom. Among other things, both the venue and the date had to be changed late in the planning. The queen and her husband, Prince Philip, pointedly stayed away from the civil part of the ceremony — Charles and Camilla’s official marriage in the Guildhall, in front of a small number of guests — though they did join about 800 guests for the subsequent religious blessing at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.

I covered the wedding while standing outside among the crowds gathered there, interviewing people about how they felt about this late-in-life second marriage. (Happy, it turned out.) I was struck that when Camilla and Charles came out of the church for photographs, neither of his parents appeared to want to stand next to them.

But I was also struck by Elizabeth’s ability to rise to an occasion, evidenced by her behavior at the subsequent reception, which I, obviously, was not invited to.

A horse owner herself who adores going to the races, she was keenly following the progress of the Grand National steeplechase race, which happened to be held that day. And while the queen is not an emotional woman, at least not in public settings, her toast to the couple showed her understated sense of humor, her gift for equine metaphor and her understanding of what this marriage, and this moment, meant to her son.

She began by saying that she had two announcements to make. The first was that the National had been won by a horse called Hedgehunter. The second was that Charles and Camilla had finally reached “the winner’s circle.”

“Despite Becher’s Brook and The Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles, my son has come through and I’m very proud and wish them well,” the queen said, referring to some of the harder jumps on the race.

“My son is home and dry with the woman he loves.”

Looking back: Silence, then a telling gesture, after Diana’s death.

A few days earlier, Diana, Princess of Wales — the “people’s princess” as Prime Minister Tony Blair cleverly described her — had died in a senseless car crash in Paris.

There was talk of conspiracy, an ill-defined and never-substantiated plot to erase an immensely popular challenger to royal stuffiness, privilege and intrigue. There was an outpouring of grief that awoke Britons to feelings of loss that many had not even thought they had. The malaise inspired doubt and questionings.

And, as many people succumbed to this headline-driven collective sadness that doubters dismissed as mawkishness, there was one very notable standout: Queen Elizabeth II.

For days, she remained sequestered at her Scottish estate, denying the clamor for a sign, a token of her own mourning. For once in an already long reign whose remarkable endurance over 70 years is being honored with four days of celebrations this week, she had failed to intuit and respond to the public mood. (“Your People Are Suffering, Speak to Us, Ma’am,” The Daily Mirror said.)

The dissonance between her sense of stiff-upper-lip stoicism and the nation’s tremulous disbelief was laid bare. At a moment of acute loss, she seemed remote, almost unfeeling, even though the stated aim of her seclusion was the equally urgent need to nurture and support the royal princes — William and Harry — whose mother had just died, as she had lived, in a pyrotechnic explosion of ghoulish publicity.

Queen Elizabeth, of course, does not wear her heart on her regal sleeve. The monarchy’s aloofness is the wellspring of its sustaining mystique, a token of its continuity, its DNA.

But, equally, she displays a fine-tuned sense of the telling gesture, the public ability to conjure a weighty message with sparing words and telling emblems. So it was in September 1997.

She returned from her estate in Balmoral. She addressed the nation on television. In a break with hallowed protocol, she allowed the union flag to be flown at half staff over Buckingham Palace.

And most telling of all, on the day of Diana’s funeral, as the coffin was borne on a gun-carriage past the gates of Buckingham Palace, the queen descended to the street level — like so many other Britons lining the route of the funeral cortège — and bowed her head, a simple enough display of respect that was nonetheless redolent of so much more.

People, after all, bow to the queen, not vice versa.

Yet, with that brief nod, the monarchy had signaled its steely determination to adapt, however subtly, in the interests of its own survival. The royal descent toward a nadir of public hostility had begun to be turned around.

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The queen’s balcony appearance brings together four generations of Britain’s royal family.

Overhead, 70 aircraft — helicopters, vintage planes and fighter jets — roared past in waves, a powerful reminder of the queen’s role as the commander in chief of Britain’s armed forces. In the finale of the flyby, a tight formation of jets, known as the Red Arrows, streaked past, leaving red, white and blue contrails in the skies over London.

The queen, wearing sunglasses, gazed upward. She was joined by three heirs to the British throne: her eldest son, Prince Charles; his eldest son, Prince William; and William’s eldest son, Prince George. Also on the balcony were two of the queen’s other children, Princess Anne and Prince Edward.

It was a more streamlined assembly of royals than in previous jubilee years, with Prince Andrew, the queen’s second son, and her grandson Prince Harry missing from the balcony. Buckingham Palace announced the lineup well in advance, seeking to avert weeks of speculation about whether they would be invited.

Harry and his wife, Meghan, withdrew from royal duties in 2020 and moved to Southern California. Andrew, scarred by his association with Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier and convicted sex offender, has been sent into a form of internal exile.

The queen had made a surprise appearance on the balcony earlier to inspect the troops. She was joined for that by the Duke of Kent, who is familiar to television audiences for his annual appearances at the Wimbledon tennis tournament. (He has since stepped down as president of the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.)

The queen appeared alert and robust, which will be a source of deep reassurance to the British public, after a long stretch in which illness and mobility issues forced her to cancel multiple public engagements.

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As the royals emerge on the Buckingham Palace balcony, it’s the ultimate photo op.

This is, after all, a celebration marking the longest reign of a British monarch ever. That makes the balcony shot one for the record books.

Despite the missing family members (Prince Philip, who died last year; Prince Andrew, relieved of his official roles because of his association with Jeffrey Epstein; Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, who are in London for the celebrations along with their children but have not yet appeared in public because they are not working royals), four generations of Windsors filled the balcony, like a summer bouquet in many shades of blue, white and red, blooming around the queen herself.

It was a visual statement about coordination, solidarity and continuity that was impossible to miss. And if it wasn’t quite as obviously patriotic as some of the Union Jack outfits in the crowd, the colors painted a picture that was fully on-theme.

At the heart of it: the queen, in a powder-blue coat, dress and matching hat and gloves, with white laurel leaf trim in diamanté and pearls (plus some cool tinted sunglasses). The outfit was designed by Angela Kelly, her longtime personal assistant and senior dresser.

Matching her was Camilla, duch*ess of Cornwall, in her own mint blue hat and blue-and-white striped dress. Not to mention the queen’s great-grandchildren, with George in a navy suit and cornflower tie that matched Charlotte’s cornflower dress and Louis’s sailor suit — which itself echoed the navy and white of Catherine’s Philip Treacy hat. All of which made for an effective image of serenity and soft-power contrast with the heavily decorated bright red military dress of Prince Charles, Prince William and the Duke of Kent, and Princess Anne’s navy (also a calculated balance, given the current war being waged in Ukraine).

Yet for all the traditionalism and pageantry, there were also indications that the royals were adapting to the future.

Perhaps best embodied by Catherine, duch*ess of Cambridge, who was wearing sapphire and diamond earrings that had belonged to her mother-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, as well as a white Alexander McQueen coat dress that was as stripped-down as many suggest the future working royal family should be.

It was a choice to support a British brand, of course: The McQueen designer, Sarah Burton, was responsible for Catherine’s wedding dress and has also been behind many of her most public outfits. But it was also recycled from Catherine’s previous appearance at a 2021 Group of 7 reception.

A reminder, perhaps, that the monarchy hopes to be sustainable, in all meanings of that word.

The day’s military theme comes as Britain is supporting Ukraine in its war.

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The queen makes a rare public appearance.

She was joined on the balcony by the Duke of Kent, who is familiar to television audiences for his regular appearances at the Wimbledon tennis tournament. (He has since stepped down as president of the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club).

Later, the queen will be joined on the balcony by other members of the royal family, though not Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan.