Parades, concerts and pudding contests: Buckingham Palace unveiled Monday, January 10 the content of the festivities scheduled from June 2 to 5 to celebrate the platinum jubilee – 70 years of reign – of Queen Elizabeth II. On February 6, 1952, Elizabeth II became Queen at the age of 25, after the death of her father George VI. On the same date in 2022, the 95-year-old sovereign will become the first British monarch to reach 70 years of reign at the head of the United Kingdom, but also of fourteen Commonwealth countries and fourteen overseas territories.
To celebrate “This unprecedented anniversary”, Buckingham Palace has planned four days – including two holidays for the occasion – of“Public events and activities” from June 2, the anniversary of the coronation in 1953 at Westminster Abbey.
The festivities will start on Thursday with a military parade, then 1,500 towns in the UK, the Channel Islands and the British Overseas Territories as well as the capitals of the Commonwealth countries will light a torch “To mark the jubilee”. On Friday, a ceremony will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral in central London. A huge concert, bringing together “The biggest stars in the world to celebrate some of the most important moments of the queen’s reign”, will take place the next day at Buckingham Palace.
Green canopy and pudding contest
Sunday, more than 1,400 “Big jubilee lunches” organized by volunteers are already planned across the country. To close the festivities, a huge parade combining “Theater, circus, music, street arts” will take place in London. “Artists, dancers, musicians, soldiers, key workers and volunteers”, came from “All parts of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth”, “Will unite to tell the story of the 70 years of the queen’s reign in an impressive festival of creativity”, promised the palace.
Other initiatives “Will permanently recall the jubilee”, added Buckingham, as the “Jubilee green canopy” – which provides for the planting in 2022 of 60,000 trees across the country – but also a national pastry competition “To find a brand new pudding dedicated to the queen”.
The five finalists of the competition, open to all cooks from the age of 8, will make their recipe in front of a jury, including the head chef of the palace. The winning recipe will then be made available to the public to be reproduced during the “Big jubilee lunches”, but also later “By the generations to come”.
