I just wanted to share a couple of events that have occurred this month leading up to the main Diamond Jubilee festivities this weekend for Queen Elizabeth II.
On May 18th, various heads of states and nations gathered at Windsor Castle before the opening festivities for the Diamond Jubilee which I reported on in my last post. To see the slideshow at the BBC Online, click on this:
In pictures: Monarchs at Windsor for Diamond Jubilee
On May 23rd, the Queen met with members of the arts for a Diamond Jubilee reception in London. There are photos and videos on the BBC Online article about the gathering here:
Diamond Jubilee: Arts A-listers gather for the Queen
This was taken by a friend and sent to me of a portrait of the Queen made of LEGO in a London shop window.
Sir Richard Branson & Virgin Airways got into the act with a contest to win a street party for your block.
So that brings us to the Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant which willbe on June 3rd. Here is an artist's depiction of the Royal Barge Gloriana:
The BBC has had some spectacular coverage of the barge.
Click here for a fascinating video on the decorations being carved for the barge:
Diamond Jubilee: Decorating the Royal river pageant barge
A great video of the launch of the barge:
Diamond Jubilee: Royal Rowbarge will be lowered onto Thames
I can hardly wait to see it and the flotilla on the Thames!
I will be covering more of the festivities later in the week. We still have a few of our Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee English bone china mugs at Time Was Antiques, and we are having a Diamond Jubilee sale!
Honouring Queen Elizabeth II on her 60 year reign! Use code DIAMOND for a 15% Discount on any order over $50.00 through June 6th to honour the Diamond Jubilee!
