How will the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee be celebrated in 2022?
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Plans are already being set in motion to mark the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee.
With the Queen about to reach the 69th anniversary of her accession, how exactly will the sovereign’s 70 years on the throne be celebrated in 2022?
– Extra bank holiday
The public will get an extra day off as part of a “blockbuster” four-day weekend of celebrations from June 2-5 2022.
The May spring bank holiday will be moved to June 2 and an additional bank holiday added on June 3.
– Traditional pageantry and state of the art displays
The celebrations will feature a busy programme of events which have yet to be announced and are dependent on how the coronavirus pandemic progresses.
The commemorations will mix British ceremonial splendour and pageantry with cutting edge artistic and technological displays.
– But not on the River Thames
For the Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the rest of the royal family endured an extremely wet and windy trip down the Thames as part of a river pageant.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden appeared to rule out any further river-related activities for the monarch after the previous experience.
“The one thing I might resist committing to given our experience of 2012 and the Diamond Jubilee is doing anything on the River Thames again,” he told MPs.
Philip was admitted to hospital with a bladder infection the day after the pageant and missed the majority of the Jubilee festivities.
– Street parties
Street parties are synonymous with royal jubilees.
The nation will be encouraged to join – coronavirus permitting – with their neighbours for street gatherings across the UK.
– Trees
People across the UK are to be invited to plant a tree for the Platinum Jubilee.
The campaign, known as The Queen’s Green Canopy, will launch in May.
The project, led by the Cool Earth charity in partnership with the Government and The Woodland Trust, will see communities, charities and schools plant trees across the four nations of the UK, with an encouragement to plant healthy native trees likely to thrive in their environments.
During her reign, the Queen has planted more than 1,500 trees all over the world.
– Funding
How the celebrations will be paid for and how much they cost will be a key issue amid the Covid-19 crisis.
SNP MP Steven Bonnar has warned against “spending excessively on ceremonies, pageantry and celebrations” to mark the occasion.
Mr Dowden said both he and the Royal Household will ensure that money is spent “very wisely”.
– Security
The Treasury will also have to decide on how to foot the security bill for any mass-scale events.
– Jubilee visits
Members of the royal family are expected to take part in the celebrations over the extended weekend and in the run-up to the four-day extravaganza.
Senior royals – particularly the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – are likely to be carrying out country-wide visits, in keeping with previous jubilees.
– A present for the Queen
Politicians are having a whip-round to pay for a gift for the Queen.
A cross-party board with members from both Houses of Parliament has reportedly picked a lamp-post as the gift and is said to be inviting sculptors and artists to submit their designs.
The money will come from MPs and peers’ personal donations, rather than public funds.
Solicitor General Michael Ellis, who organised the Diamond Jubilee gift of a stained glass window in Westminster Hall, is leading the project.
Other past presents have included a fountain in the Palace of Westminster’s New Palace Yard for the Silver Jubilee, and a sundial in Old Palace Yard for the Golden Jubilee.
– Jubilee Medal
In keeping with tradition, a Platinum Jubilee medal will be awarded to people who work in public service including representatives of the Armed Forces, the emergency services and the prison services.
– Memorabilia
Mementoes, ranging from chinaware to stamps and coins, will be expected to be produced to commemorate the royal anniversary.
