LONDON (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth joined a spectacular armada of 1,000 vessels on Sunday for the most dazzling display of British pageantry seen on London's River Thames for 350 years, watched by cheering crowds celebrating her 60th year on the throne.
Pealing bells
greeted the flotilla as the queen's gilded royal barge sailed alongside a
colorful and eclectic array of boats from leisure cruisers and yachts
to a Hawaiian war canoe and Venetian gondolas.
Typically inclement
British weather failed to dampen enthusiasm, with hundreds of thousands
of onlookers, waving "Union Jack" flags, massed on the riverbanks to
catch a glimpse of the procession along the seven mile (11 km route).
The queen, wearing a
silver and white dress with a matching coat, smiled broadly and waved
to the crowds from the royal barge, "The Spirit of Chartwell", alongside
her 90-year-old husband Prince Philip.
They were accompanied on the barge by heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, his eldest son Prince William and new wife Kate, a global fashion trendsetter who wore a vivid red Alexander McQueen dress and matching hat.
Up and down the
country, organizers said millions of people attended diamond jubilee
street parties in honor of the 86-year-old sovereign, the only British
monarch after Queen Victoria to have sat on the throne for 60 years.
"We're English, we
know what the weather is like. We really don't care if we get wet you
know - it's the jubilee, it's the queen, so it's nice to come up and
celebrate it," said Jackie, a 39-year-old sales consultant who travelled
across southern England to watch the Thames pageant.
From New Zealand
Maoris who paddled their canoe wearing traditional cloaks to sailors and
people dressed as pirates, the flotilla boasted a colorful array of
participants from every corner of the planet.
There were even vessels from the 1940 evacuation of
British and Allied troops from Dunkirk in northern France - a famous
rescue performed by crafts of all shapes and sizes and a celebrated
piece of British history.
Organizers said
Sunday's river pageant, reminiscent of a Canaletto canvas from the 18th
century, was the largest of its kind since a similar spectacle was held
for King Charles II and his consort Catherine of Braganza in 1662.
©Reuters/Pool Photos
No comments:
Post a Comment