Diamond Jubilee Round Up!

Tuesday was the last day of the 4 day extravaganza which was the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, for many, it meant 2 extra days off all the stresses of life – work, school and general life. Let’s take a moment to look back at the festivities.
The first day of the celebrations was Sunday, that saw the 1000 piece strong flotilla of boats proceed down the River Thames, the Royal Barge was the onlooker of the show and the centre of attention. Every water vessel from row boats to narrow boats to dragon boats to historical boats, every boat you could think of, it was most likely there, there was even a special section of Row boats that were comprised of the Commonwealth countries.
The first boat in the flotilla was the Bell boat, that had ringing bells, that rang on the dot of 3pm. The last boat to go past was the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, playing out to the national anthem, the weather stank, it really did, so much so that the final boats singers were drenched but they kept calm and sang for the Queen!
Monday, had the Jubilee Concert, unfortunately about 2 hours before the nights entertainment kicked off, the Duke of Edinburgh was rushed to hospital due to a Bladder infection, so that meant he had to miss out on the concert, it also meant that the Queen was about one and a half hours late, but she had a good reason, the mood was still uplifted, even if the Queen did have a slight look of worry to her face. The whole thing was planned by the wonderful Gary Barlow (who I think should be knighted soon), he even recorded a special song with Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Gareth Malone, that features vocals from all the Commonwealth countries and representing the United Kingdom are the patriotic sounds of the Military wives, the song simply entitled ‘Sing’ is beautifully composed and if you don’t well up at least, well then you sir, have a heart of steel! Other performances belonged to Dame Shirley Bassey, Kylie Minogue, Sir Tom Jones, Stevie Wonder and Madness. I’m not really a fan of Sir Paul McCartney, but I approve that he sang Live and Let Die (one of my favourite Bond songs). I think that Hey Jude could have been sung at the end by all the performers, but alas that didn’t materialise. There were many other singers, but the ones I mentioned are the ones that are memorable for all the right reasons! The night ended with the Queen sticking the diamond shaped Crystal into the podium to light the Jubilee beacon, then after that there were some spectacular fireworks lasting for four minutes, a recital of the national anthem and that was it!
Tuesday had a more formal feel to the occasion. With the Duke of Edinburgh still in hospital, but getting better, the Queen headed to St Paul’s Cathedral minus her husband. They had a service marking the Queens dedication and duty to our fine country, after the service had ended, the Queen then made her way to the House of Parliament for the thanksgiving dinner in Westminster Hall (which I thought looked an awful lot like the grand hall at Hogwarts). Then after about an hour or so afterwards, the Queen made her way back to Buckingham Palace in her carriage, this time sitting next to the Duchess of Cornwall, with Prince Charles opposite them both. Once they got inside the Palace, they then appeared on that famous balcony to watch another Royal Flypast, although this time not as grand as the one at Windsor, nevertheless though, she enjoyed it as you could see the beaming smile from one ear to another. Later in the evening, the Queen gave a special address to the country, taking time out to thank the many millions of people who turned out for this prestigious event and that she was humbled by their loyalty.
In a decades time, we will be celebrating the Platinum Jubilee, I really hope that Elizabeth II is there to see it and for many more years after that.
Her majesty is the one constant the world has, in ever changing times, she has never betrayed or scolded our country and she only deserves to have nothing but love, appreciation, admiration and dedication shown to her.
To her family though, she is more than just ma’am, she’s Mum, Granny, Aunty and Cousin.
Prime Ministers, Celebrities and many other notable people have come and gone, but the Queen has remained the Queen.

National Anthem:
God save our gracious Queen
Long live our noble Queen
God save the Queen
Send her victorious
Happy and glorious
Long to reign over us
God save the Queen!♥

Diamond Jubilee Flyover

Yesterday, I was privileged to watch the Royal Diamond Jubilee flyover go past my house! Personally I think I had the best view, as I live just outside of Windsor, so all I had to do was stick my head out my window and there was my airshow, in direct path. No crammed or invaded personal space and no parking/public transport dilemmas!
I took as many photo’s as I could, I was a bit gutted over the big planes, as they had to turn early because they aren’t as fast as their upgrades, so I didn’t get any great close ups of them, but luckily, the ‘EIIR’ and ’60’ stayed in formation and I was one of the last houses to see it formation, later that day I was goofing around saying that 70 years on, Lancaster Bomber planes are still flying over our house, which is technically true because my house is pre WWII.
I felt so proud to be British, we have a fantastic monarchy and a happy Queen, we will be hosts to the greatest show on Earth in under 68 days, I know times are tough, be we as a country can pull through!
I know that I saw something that I will quite possibly (unless they create a potion for invincibility) never see another Diamond Jubilee celebration ever again, but I know that once is enough, because our Queen looked so happy.
I posted the album on Photobucket, so I hope you all enjoy! Unfortunately you’ll have to copy & paste the link in to your http bar because I still haven’t figured out how to add links that actually go somewhere!
http://s1172.photobucket.com/albums/r564/LeilaniDiana/Diamond%20Jubilee%20flypast/
If you want to use any of the photos please contact me before you reproduce them, as copyright belongs to me.