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Weekend Weekend

Charles and Camilla marry. The Queen does not attend the civil ceremony but is present for the church blessing at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, which incorporates an act of penitence.

In the 200th anniversary year of the Battle of Trafalgar, the Queen hosts the International Fleet Review on the Solent, with more than 167 ships from the Royal Navy and 30 other nations.

Her first state visit to the Republic of Ireland – and the Queen charms our nearest neighbours. At the State

Dinner she wears a white silk dress embroidered with 2,091 shamrocks and her speech, which begins in perfectly pronounced Gaelic, causes President Mary Mcaleese to say, ‘Wow!’

f the decade that preceded her Golden Jubilee had been tough, the one that followed was a particularly happy one for the Queen and her family. In 2005, the Prince of Wales finally married Camilla Parker Bowles, who became the Duchess of Cornwall, only to be followed by his eldest son in 2011. After a long courtship that had begun during their university days, Prince William and Catherine Middleton were married amid the full pomp of a royal spectacular at Westminster Abbey.

The Queen had seen plenty of comings and goings elsewhere as

THE MODEL’S UNDERWEAR WAS VISIBLE BUT THE QUEEN TOOK IT IN HER STRIDE

Tony Blair gave way to Gordon Brown, followed by David Cameron and the first coalition government of her reign. She also spoke for the entire nation after the banking crisis of 2008 when she asked, ‘Why did no one see this coming?’ By then, she had celebrated her 80th birthday and was showing precious little sign of slowing down. In 2011 she made a historic state visit to her neighbour, Ireland, but also flew to the other side of the world to meet Commonwealth leaders in Australia.

Come 2012, she would share the limelight with another colossal event which also brought the nation together. Rightly so, given that she had played a key part in it. For when the organisers of the bid to bring the 2012 Olympics to London were trying to persuade the International Olympic Committee that the UK knew how to throw a world-class party, they merely had to replay the scenes from the Golden Jubilee. The bid helped London pip archrivals Paris to the prize, and Britain began preparing for a sporting fortnight that would cost £9.3 billion. The Queen would end up playing a starring role herself in what was unquestionably the non-sporting highlight of the Games – her appearance, with

James Bond, in a spoof video at the opening ceremony.

YOUNG APPRENTICE LEARNS FROM THE OLD HANDS

Before that could happen though, Britain was digging out its bunting yet again to mark only the second Diamond Jubilee in British history.

From the outset, Palace staff were conscious that a Queen in her ninth decade could not be expected to replicate previous Jubilee globetrotting schedules. She would delegate the overseas tours to the younger genera

THE QUEEN INVITED 26 FELLOW SOVEREIGNS TO A SPECIAL LUNCHEON

tions, starting with the Ear l and Countess of Wessex who would carry her Jubilee best wishes to the Caribbean in February. The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall would make the big trip to Australia and New Zealand while the newlywed Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would be despatched to Asia and the tiniest of all the Queen’s realms, Tuvalu (population: 10,400).

For the Queen, the Jubilee began in earnest in March when she travelled to one of Britain’s most multicultural cities on a scheduled train – the 10.15 from St Pancras to Leicester. She was accompanied not just by the Duke of Edinburgh but also the Duchess of Cambridge. Prince William was overseas, doing a stint as a search and rescue pilot in the Falklands, and here was a perfect opportunity for the wise old experts to pass on a few tips to the new apprentice.

They started at the city’s De Montfort University where Bollywood dancers and a gospel choir lined up with Army veterans to welcome the royal party. The hosts had laid on a fashion show for the two royal ladies, which proved more of a novelty for the Queen than for the Duchess (who first met her husband while sashayin gdownaca twalk at aun iversity fashion show). Among the first outfits on show was a dress of silk georgette so flimsy that the model’s underwear was clearly visible. The Queen took it all in her stride. A church service and a civic lunch were followed by a city centre walkabout where a group of anti-monarchists were staging a rally. At the start of the day, I counted them up and the total came to five. By close of play, their ranks had swollen to six.

There were similar awaydays across the country, with crowds on a par with previous jubilees. There were a series of engagements with an emphasis on fun and youth appeal. For example, she toured Liverpool’s Albert Dock in a Duckmobile and, during her visit to Chester, met a rhi

no at the zoo. As part of the celebrations, the Queen would confer city status on Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph while Armagh became a Lord Mayoralty. There was a magnificent Diamond Jubilee equestrian pageant at Windsor, featuring 550 horses. The Queen also invited her fellow sovereigns from all over the world – 26 in all – to a special luncheon. It was certainly the ultimate challenge for the

Palace protocol team since who was supposed to bow to whom?

A WET WEEKEND FOR A RIVER PAGEANT

The main focus, as ever, was on the weekend where the most spectacular element would be a giant river parade, involving a 1,000-strong flotilla which sailed from Putney Bridge to

Canary Wharf. It included a magnificent replica medieval rowbarge, the Gloriana, commissioned by boat-loving philanthropist Lord Sterling, and a fleet of ‘little ships’ from Dunkirk. All the Royal Family, assorted VIPS

and celebrities were scattered across various boats while the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were in pride of place on the Spirit Of Chartwell.

More than a million people lined the banks to see this delightfully eccentric tableau chug downstream, though the weather gradually shifted from grey to grim to appalling. The Queen refused to go below, her only concession to the cold being the thick pashmina she tied around her neck. By the end, more than 20 people had to be hospitalised with hypothermia. They were joined later by the Duke of Edinburgh who, despite his obvious

enjoyment of the maritime pageantry, had contracted a bladder infection. It meant the Queen was without her ‘strength and stay’ for the rest of the long weekend.

Given the state of the Palace garden after her Golden Jubilee concerts, it was decided to hold the pop concert for the Diamond affair out at the front. There was a certain amount of déjà vu as the greats of pop lined up once again, most of them veterans of the 2002 gig. By now, the majority had been decorated by the Queen at some point –

Sir Paul Mccartney, Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Elton John, Sir Tom Jones and so on.

The whole show had been masterminded by former Take That star Gary Barlow. This time, it was not Brian May but 80s band Madness on the Palace roof. At the end, there were great fireworks and an appearance on stage by the Queen and Prince Charles. Once again, he prefaced his remarks with, ‘Your Majesty... Mummy!’

The Jubilee concluded with another service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s and a scaled-back balcony

THE WEATHER WENT FROM GREY TO GRIM BUT SHE REFUSED TO GO BELOW

appearance at the Palace: jus tthe Queen, plus the Prince of Wales and Prince William, their wives and Prince Harry. If it all felt familiar, it was all the better for it. That is the thing about Jubilees. They don’t need to change much. We loyal subjects tend to like things very much as they are. It was interesting to note that the appetite for street parties had not waned. Indeed, it had almost doubled since 2002 with 9,500 applications to shut down roads. It helped that the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles (very much a sausage roll and cake kind of chap) had urged councils to lighten up on the red tape, telling the House of Commons, ‘The bunting police have gone.’

With three months to go before t he J ubilee weekend, the most patriotic county in Britain was Hertfordshire with 61 road closure applications, ahead of Nottinghamshire with 45 and Hampshire with 20. Many more would follow suit in the run-up to the big event.

‘We have a very straightforward application form. You don’t have to go wading through lots of paperwork,’ said a spokesman for Richmond Borough Council in southwest London, which ended up holding more street parties than any other borough in the capital. ‘That seems to do the trick.’

Amen to that. We can but hope that the architects of the Platinum Jubilee take note.

he last decade has been a discontented one for the Queen. She enjoyed the euphoria surrounding her 90th birthday, the arrival of more great-grandchildren – including a future King George – plus the marriage of Prince Harry to US television star Meghan Markle. She also had to endure a series of major setbacks. Her country was split by one referendum over Scottish independence and then by another over leaving the EU. In private, she has suffered greater sadness. In April 2021, she lost her ‘liege man’, the other half of one of the greatest and longest partnerships in royal history. The Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral – with a Covid-compliant congregation of just 30 – was a desperately sad and poignant affair.

It came amid the unhappiness and mud-slinging that followed the departure of Harry and Meghan, now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, plus the mounting embarrassment heaped on the monarchy by the Duke of York’s

HER MAJESTY IS GOING TO ENJOY IT AS MUCH AS ALL THOSE OTHER JUBILEES

friendship with convicted (and now dead) paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. After one of Epstein’s victims launched a civil action against the duke – strenuously denied by the duke, it must be said – it was clear that the Platinum Jubilee would come with distractions.

Yet, as history has shown us time and again, the Queen and her people have a very straightforward relationship. It is one based on mutual affection, respect, love and admiration. And every few years, we jolly well want to make that very clear. It is why, whatever the noises off, Her Majesty is going to enjoy her 70th anniversary as much as all those other Jubilees. The ingredients are lined up already: an official birthday parade, a pageant, a pop concert, lots of flags and street parties galore.

All we need now is some decent weather. After all, it could hardly be any worse than it was all those years ago as the world sat openmouthed watching a 27-year-old Queen riding to the Abbey in her Cinderella coach...

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