Trooping ceremony to kick-start Platinum Jubilee celebrations

The Queen’s four-day Platinum Jubilee celebrations will begin with the pomp and pageantry of the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

After 70 years of service for the country and Commonwealth, thousands of well-wishers will take to the streets over the extended bank holiday weekend to mark the monarch’s milestone.

The once in a lifetime event will see members of the monarchy, celebrities from the UK and across the globe, and people from all parts of the UK gather to recognise the Queen’s legacy.

Princess Eugenie has already paid a moving personal tribute to her “grannie” the Queen in an article for The Spectator magazine.

She hoped her one-year-old son August would grow to have the Queen’s “patience, her calmness and her kindness while always being able to laugh at himself and keep a twinkle in his eye”.

Trooping the Colour will begin the festivities and see the Prince of Wales deputise for the Queen, taking the salute and inspecting the troops as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex join the Duchess of Cambridge and other royals to watch the spectacle.

After the ceremony, the Queen will acknowledge the salute of the returning Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment from Buckingham Palace’s balcony before she later joins working royals on the balcony to watch the traditional fly-past of aircraft.

In the evening, more than 3,000 beacons will be set ablaze across the UK and the Commonwealth in tribute to the Queen, who will lead the lighting of the principal Jubilee beacon in a special ceremony at Windsor Castle that evening.

The armed forces will pay an unusual tribute to the Queen, firing a double gun salute to mark the Platinum Jubilee and the 69th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation in 1953.

The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, named by the monarch’s father King George VI, 75 years ago this year, will fire an 82-gun salute from Hyde Park beginning just before 1pm.

While 124 volleys will be fired from the Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company – an extra 42 for the City of London – from the stroke of one o’clock.

On Friday there will be no ceremonial journey to the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral for the Queen who has mobility problems, and the monarch, if she attends, will use a different entrance rather than scaling the steep steps.

And the Queen’s planned visit to Epsom for the Derby on Saturday is off, with members of the royal family attending on her behalf.

Saturday is also the first birthday of Harry and Meghan’s daughter Lilibet, and there is speculation the Queen will get to meet her namesake for the first time and possibly attend her christening.

In the evening, the BBC’s Party at the Palace – set on three stages in front of Buckingham Palace – will entertain a live crowd of 22,000 people and a television audience of millions.

The line-up includes Diana Ross, Queen + Adam Lambert, Alicia Keys, Nile Rodgers, Andrea Bocelli, Duran Duran, Bond composer Hans Zimmer, Ella Eyre, Craig David, Mabel, Elbow and George Ezra.

Charles and William are preparing to deliver public tributes at the concert to the Queen, who is due to be watching on television from Windsor.

On Sunday, millions will gather for patriotic street parties, picnics and barbecues, with more than 85,000 Big Jubilee Lunches being held across the UK.

The finale is the Jubilee Pageant through the streets of London, with a cast of 6,000 performers and close to 200 celebrities joining the carnival procession.

It is hoped the monarch will make a final appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony to round off the weekend and see Ed Sheeran singing the national anthem with a choir made up of Britain’s “national treasures”.