Diary of Events
May 15 South London
May 16-17 North-west England
June 2-5 Central weekend
June 13-14 East Midlands and East Anglia
June 25 and July 25 South-east England
July 2-6 Scotland (Holyrood Week)
July 11-12 West Midlands
July 18-19 North-east England
April 27 to September 9
‘Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames’
The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
May 4 to October 7
‘Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist’
The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace
May 10, 11, 13
The Diamond Jubilee Pageant will take place in the private grounds of Windsor Castle on the evenings of May 10, 11 and 13 during the Horse Show with displays and horses from around the world (www.diamond-jubilee-pageant.com)
May 17 to October 21
‘The Queen: Art and Image’
The National Portrait Gallery and touring
Picture courtesy of the National Maritime Museum
Central weekend, June 2-5
June 2
The Investec Epsom Derby
June 3
The Big Jubilee Lunch
Lunch parties, picnics and street parties will be encouraged to bring communities together. The event is being organised by the Big Lunch (www.thebiglunch.com)
The Thames Diamond
Jubilee Pageant
Up to 1,000 boats from around the world will form a flotilla and travel down the Thames from Putney to Tower Bridge led by The Queen travelling in the Royal Barge-The Spirit of Chartwell -decked out as a 17th-/18th-century royal galley. The procession will be accompanied by the ringing of church bells, fireworks and music. The event is being organised by The Diamond Jubilee Foundation (www.thamesdiamond
jubileepageant.org)
Diamond Jubilee Bank Holiday
June 4
The BBC Concert at Buckingham Palace will be televised and tickets are available to UK resi-dents by public ballot. The programme will feature musicians from Britain and the Commonwealth
Jubilee Beacons
Across the country, 2012 beacons will be lit and there will be others in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and across the Commonwealth. The Queen will light the National Beacon as she did in 2002 and there will be Church Tower beacons on the battlements of the Tower of London, St James’s Palace, London and at The Palace of Holyrood-house, Edinburgh, and Killyleagh Castle, Northern Ireland, among many others.
June 5
Service of thanksgiving
A service of thanksgiving is to be held at St Paul’s Cathedral, with a formal carriage procession by The Queen
July 31 to September 30
‘Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration’
The Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace, with additional dates
* Subscribe to Country Life and save up to 41%
