Next weekend sees the centrepiece of Britain’s diamond jubilee celebrations, marking Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th anniversary on the throne, and there’s nothing quite like a British establishment knees-up.
William and Kate’s nuptials last year will seem positively modest by comparison with events next weekend, when a 10km flotilla of 1,000 boats, including a barge bearing the queen, sails down the Thames on the afternoon of Sunday, June 3rd. A series of street parties in towns across the UK will take part in the Big Lunch – basically, afternoon tea on a national scale. And just to remind everyone that the sun never sets on the old empire, a chain of 3,800 beacons will be set alight in former British territories, beginning in Tonga.
Diamond jubilees used to mark 75th anniversaries, but a change made for Queen Victoria in 1897 linked them instead to 60th anniversaries. As the monarch was getting on in years, it was decided to bring forward her jamboree by 15 years. The current queen gets to enjoy the same treatment.
Davin O’Dwyer
