An estimated one million spectators are expected to line the banks of the the Thames on Sunday afternoon to watch a flotilla of 1,000 boats taking part in the diamond jubilee pageant celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the British throne.
Bollywood hits are expected to be played by one of the 10 music barges that make up the flotilla. So also is the theme tune from the James Bond films, which will be played as the boats sail past the MI6 secret service headquarters on Vauxhall Bridge.
The river procession, costing £10.5 million, is the high point of four days of pomp, pageantry and revelry and is in keeping with the UK’s famous naval traditions that have served the British royal family for several generations.
Everything has been planned down to the smallest detail. Even the weather is expected to conform to long established tradition with temperatures ranging from a shivering 10 degrees to slightly warmer 17 degrees. None of this is expected to deter the spectators or the organisers of several thousand parties planned for the weekend. One popular super market chain said it expects to sell some 200,000 bottles of champagne, nearly three million sponge cakes and two million small boxes of strawberries.
Most Indian families will be starting to think of their evening meal when the first boats of the royal flotilla pass under London’s Battersea Bridge at 2.25 pm UK local time. They will be headed by a 12-tonne floating belfry, a bell ship, that will be ringing out its bells as church bells along the river bank chime back in response as it passes by.
The lead boat behind the belfry is the gilded barge, Gloriana, commissioned for the occasion and rowed by nine pairs of oarsmen and women, including Olympic gold medallists Mathew Pinsent and Sir Steve Redgrave.
The Queen herself, accompanied by Prince Philip and her grandson, Prince William - second in line to the throne - with his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, will be on the Spirit of Chartwell that has been decked out in a red and gold colour scheme to resemble royal boats of the 17th and 18th centuries. The last of the boats, the Symphony, will carry members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir playing patriotic music.
On Monday night Buckingham Palace in London will be the site of a pop music concert featuring Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, Sir Cliff Richard Sir Tom Jones, Kylie Minogue, Stevie Wonder, Robbie Williams and others. A Diamond Jubilee song written by Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber, entitled ‘Sing’, will be performed by Gareth Malone and the Military Wives Choir, supported by musicians from across the Commonwealth.
Soon after the concert begins a network of 4,200 beacons will be across the UK to link up with a chain across the Commonwealth.
On Tuesday, military personnel will line the streets of London as the Queen and other members of the royal family travel in open coaches through the capital and against the backdrop of a 60-gun salute. At mid-afternoon on Tuesday, the Queen and members of her family assemble on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch an RAD flypast.
As tributes poured in from all over the world this weekend, public opinion polls indicated that public support for the monarch is at an all time high with 80 per cent in favour of keeping the royals, compared with only 13 per cent who say they prefer a republic.
British PM David Cameron described the Queen as “brilliant, enduring and resilient”, Prince Charles called her his “wonderful mama” and the Archbishop of Canterbury said in his tribute that she is an “exceptional gift” to the nation. Senior politicians led by Prime Minister Cameron have backed a proposal to rename London’s famous Big Ben clocktower in honour of the Queen. If they have their way, Big Ben will soon be known as the Elizabeth Tower.