What a remarkable weekend; the Diamond Jubilee celebrations were something else.
For me, it started with the airshow on Saturday, which was brilliant.
The sun came out eventually and there were thousands of people there. Something hilarious was that, every time we were waiting for the next act, you’d catch sight of a wing and look round expectantly – only to see a seagull doing its best to take part. No offence, Mr Gull but you just ain’t as impressive as the Red Arrows. Sorry.
On Sunday, I watched some of the pageant on the Thames which was beautiful.
So many boats together like that, a bigger flotilla than has been on the Thames for some 300 years - was stunning; I loved the tiny ones with Commonwealth flags, and it was brilliant to see so many of the Little Ships of Dunkirk. Operation Dynamo has to be the biggest – and most important – military evacuation in history, as well as being something so completely British, and it was fitting that those who made it happen were commemorated this weekend.
What was also amazing was to see the Queen and Prince Philip, at the age of 86 and 90, on their feet throughout, in what was the best of British summer weather, ie pouring with rain and freezing cold. Bless them, they’re brilliant.
On Monday, we went to the party in the village where I live, which was a great day, despite the crap picture. And although it was grey and did rain a bit, it wasn’t too bad.
It was lovely that to mark the last Diamond Jubilee – Queen Victoria’s in 1897 – there were parties and games in the park, and that’s exactly what happened again, 115 years later.
Although I don’t know whether stiltwalkers like that were around in Queen Victoria’s day…
It ended with the lighting of the ceremonial beacon in the evening, one of the thousands across the country, then home to watch the end of the Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace.
The whole thing, the organisation and effort that went into it all, the thousands upon thousands of people waving Union Flags and just glad to be part of something so special, the scale of it all – it was truly amazing and a fitting tribute to a diamond occasion.
It made me feel really proud to be English, proud to be British – God Save The Queen.
This gave me chills, Elle! Unfortunately, I didn’t see ANY of the celebrations on TV. I need to search on line. I’m sure they’re hiding there somewhere. You sound so proud as well you should!!
Thank you so much! It was such a lovely weekend – have a look on BBC iPlayer if you can get that in America; there are highlights of the pageant and the concert, as well as the more state events of Tuesday – all so beautiful
Seriously so jealous you got to participate in all those events! I would love to just visit Great Britain
You should; I’m obviously biased but if you do ever come, you should go somewhere really rural as well as London or wherever, the countryside is so beautful, especially at this time of year – February’s not such a good time to come…
Sounds like a great time, all these pictures are beautiful
Thank you, I was especially pleased about the plane/seagull picture!
Looks like a really fun time!
It was brilliant, thank you and so different, which was the best thing
Just reading this post has made me very proud to be British! Looks like a fantastic weekend, I think we have been so lucky to celebrate something like that
The whole weekend made me feel like that, I loved it! And yes, I think we’ve been really lucky, especially coming in the Olympic year – lots going on this summer
Looks like you had such an amazing Jubilee weekend!
It was lovely, thank you… I loved reading all the coverage too
We got some footage of the Jubilee here and I was very jealous watching it! Here in the US, we celebrate independence every year, but that’s really just another thing that means time off work and bbq’s and stuff like that – we don’t have anything truly special that we only celebrate once or anything like that really.
That was the nicest thing really, that it was a once-in-a-lifetime event so everything – the pageant, the concert, the state events – was itself a one-off; that made it really special.
I see what you mean about Independence Day but then we don’t normally have anything patriotic like this so I suppose maybe it balances out? I’d love to be in America for the fourth of July one year
How beautiful! What a touching ceremony/celebration of patriotism. Love that the gulls wanted to participate, too
The seagulls were hilarious; I was so pleased I got that picture, by accident! The whole weekend was lovely; British attitude in general isn’t as overly patriotic as some countries, I don’t think, so it was brilliant to see so many people so proud of their country
I LOVE this post. I watched all the hoopla from here in Canada, and I longed to be in the UK last weekend! I LOVE the Royals and the whole grandeur of it all. We had PIMS cocktails to celebrate! Know what? I’m DYING to have an occasion to go to that I could wear a facinator. They’re not worn over here at ALL….but I want one. I was just little when my parents moved from England to Canada, but I guess you can take the girl out of England, but never take England or a facinator out of the girl!!!
Have a lovely weekend!!!
Fascinators are brilliant; I was the same and I was so glad to have a couple of weddings to go to a couple of years ago so I cold buy one! Funny that they’re not common over there but I love the comment about taking the girl out of England
It was brilliant, so lovely to see that the Queen enjoyed it all and so many people there for her – and drinking Pimm’s is the perfect way to be British.
Can I just say that I love the post title. I think I say that to you a lot, but it is brilliant!
Thank you! It’s a shame it was so wet – but I suppose it had to be British weather