Huge crowds yesterday cheered Queen Elizabeth II for the first of four days of celebrations to mark her historic platinum jubilee, in what could be the last major public event of her long reign.
Tens of thousands of people converged on central London in bright sunshine to witness the centuries-old Trooping the Colour military parade.
The 96-year-old monarch’s appearance at the festivities for her record-breaking 70 years on the throne had been in doubt due to illness and recent mobility problems.
Photo: Reuters
However, dressed in dove blue, her hands clasped on a walking stick, she took a salute from mounted troops from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, under the fluttering royal standard.
The Mall below was awash with red, white and blue union flags, with some die-hard royal fans having camped for days to be in prime position for the display of pomp and pageantry.
Recognition of the queen’s unprecedented reign saw tributes from political and religious leaders from across the world, including the leader of pro-Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland.
Photo: AFP
Michelle O’Neill’s message, praising the queen’s “significant” contribution to the peace process, would have been unthinkable before the 1998 peace deal that ended years of violence over British rule.
Sinn Fein was the political wing of the Irish Republican Army paramilitary group, which killed the queen’s cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, in an explosion in 1979.
The queen, a keen horsewoman, has previously taken the salute in person at Horseguards Parade, the site a short ride down The Mall where king Henry VIII once jousted. This year, her 73-year-old son and heir, Prince Charles, stepped in, in the latest public sign of his future role as king.
Photo: Reuters
Joining him at the parade of the color or regimental flag of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards was his sister Princess Anne, 71, and his eldest son, Prince William, 39, both in ceremonial uniform.
Senior royals watching included Charles’ younger son, Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan, on a rare visit from California.
The queen was to make a second appearance on the balcony later to watch a six-minute flypast of more than 70 military aircraft, including iconic models from World War II.
At nightfall, the queen was to be at Windsor Castle to take part in a ceremony to light more than 3,000 beacons across the country and the Commonwealth of 54 nations that she heads.
The queen on Wednesday thanked everyone involved in organizing community events in Britain and around the world, and said she was “inspired by the goodwill” shown to her.
“[I] hope that the coming days will provide an opportunity to reflect on all that has been achieved during the last 70 years, as we look to the future with confidence and enthusiasm,” she said.
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