The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign began in front of a Union Jack jubilee, marked by the Trooping the Color parade. The 96-year-old queen is waiting on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, while the court has released a new smiling portrait of her, with a video message in which she evokes her “happy memories” of her not without scrutinizing the future. And addressing the subjects she says: “I continue to be inspired by your good will towards me and I hope these days will give us the opportunity to reflect on all that we have achieved in the last 70 years, while we look to the future with confidence and enthusiasm”.
The Pope sent Queen Elizabeth a message for the national holiday and the Platinum Jubilee. “On this joyful occasion” the Pontiff sends his “cordial greetings” and assures his prayers – reads the telegram – so that “Almighty God may grant you, the members of the royal family and all the people of your nation blessings of unity, prosperity and peace “.
The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II’s 70th anniversary on the throne: an unprecedented milestone whose celebration – in what the registry suggests could be (but who knows) the last great jubilee of His Majesty – comes alive in the context of the 4 extra days of national holiday proclaimed by the government of Boris Johnson in across the UK from 2 to 5 June.
Preceded at dawn by the spectacular projection of holograms of historical images of the queen on the famous stones of the primitive site of Stonehenge (and yesterday by a shower of royal decorations and honors), today opens at 10 am (11 am in Italy) with a special edition of Trooping the Color, the great military parade, destined to last almost three hours, which is usually held every year for the public celebration of the 96-year-old sovereign’s birthday, after the private one of 21 April, her real date of birth. As per tradition – suspended only during the Covid pandemic – Elizabeth is waiting on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to follow the procession and the flyover of the RAF acrobatic team, and greet the crowd that has already begun to gather in the area in a riot of Union Jack. Next to her, the presence of only the “active service members” of the Royal Family is announced: Prince Charles, 73-year-old heir, with his wife Camilla; the eldest son of these William, second in line of succession, with Kate and the princes George, Charlotte and Louis; as well as two other children of the queen, the second, Anna, and the fourth, Edoardo, with family.
There will instead be Prince Andrew, Her Majesty’s second son, apparently excluded from all today’s events against the backdrop of his involvement in the Epstein sex scandal; while the rebellious nephew Harry, who arrived last night from the US with his wife Meghan and the little ones Archie and Lilibet Diana (in his UK debut where he will turn one year old on Saturday), will not go up on the balcony after being torn from the senior representative role of the following dynasty to the transfer overseas on the balcony, but will still be present at the palace.
In the evening, the queen is expected to reappear to turn on the highest spotlight in Buckingham Palace park, placed on the Tree of Trees monument at 21 meters high, simultaneously with a global light show that will see 3000 lighthouses illuminate throughout the Country and Commonwealth Nations. Tomorrow will therefore be the turn of a religious liturgy of thanksgiving for the long reign of Elizabeth II in the London Cathedral of St. Paul. While on Saturday there will be the Epson Derby horse race tribute and the artistic-musical one of the Platinum Party, animated by a parade of attractions and then by a mega concert of British and international stars. Finally, Sunday 5, the “popular” closing of the celebration will be entrusted to the Big Jubilee Lunches, with parties and banquets offered to subjects and guests in various public places of the Kingdom, including the parks of various royal residences.
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