Monday, June 4, 2012

Queen, royals to attend jubilee thanksgiving service













Queen marks diamond jubilee




STORY HIGHLIGHTS



  • Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee celebrations reach a climax Wednesday

  • Royal family will attend a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral

  • Carriage procession and Buckingham Palace flypast will mark the end of four days of festivities

  • Queen's husband Prince Philip will not attend events, after being hospitalized with bladder infection





London (CNN) -- Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee celebrations will reach a climax Tuesday -- but the monarch's elderly husband, Prince Philip, will not take part in the final festivities after he was hospitalized with a bladder infection.

The royal family will attend a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral on Tuesday morning, before taking part in a carriage procession through the streets of London and watching a flypast over Buckingham Palace in the afternoon.

But events commemorating the Queen's 60 years on the throne, which have been months in the planning, were dealt a blow on Monday evening, when the palace announced that 90-year-old Prince Philip had been taken ill.

He has been taken to King Edward VII Hospital, where he is expected to remain under observation for several days. "He is, understandably, disappointed," the Queen's press secretary said in a statement.

The Duke of Edinburgh had been at the Queen's side throughout the lengthy jubilee pageant on the Thames on Sunday, as heavy rain lashed the seven-mile flotilla along the river, from Putney to Tower Bridge.

His illness meant he was not able to attend last night's pop concert at Buckingham Palace.

Tuesday's events begin with a service at St Paul's Cathedral -- site of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding in 1981 -- led by the Dean of St Paul's and with a sermon preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Dean, the Very Reverend David Ison, is expected to give thanks "for the prosperous reign of the Queen" and for her decades of "loyal service and commitment."

The Queen, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will attend the service, alongside other royals.

British Prime Minister David Cameron will give a reading, and several new pieces of music, specially commissioned for the jubilee, will make their public debut.

Following the service, members of the royal family will attend a receptions in the City of London, and a lunch at Westminster Hall, before taking part in a procession from Westminster to Buckingham Palace.

Members of the three armed services, military bands and huge crowds of well-wishers are expected to line the route as the royals make their way through the city.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had been expected to travel together in the 1902 State Landau, the horse-drawn open-top carriage used by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge following their wedding at Westminster Abbey last year. It is not clear who will accompany the Queen in Prince Philip's absence.

Once back at the Palace, the royal family will appear on the balcony to watch a flypast by aircraft from the Battle of Britain -- including a Dakota, a Lancaster bomber, Spitfires and a Hurricane -- and the Red Arrows display team.

Squadron Leader Ian Smith, the officer in command of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, said the group was honored to be taking part in the jubilee event.

"As a service, the RAF is enormously proud of its heritage, and the opportunity to fly over Buckingham Palace for Her Majesty with the nation's aviation heritage is something that will remain with us for the rest of our lives," he said.


Source & Image : CNN World

No comments:

Post a Comment