Ahead of Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in the UK, Britons are rejoicing this historic moment, marking it in their own unique way. Many Asian community members have come forward to embrace the yellow rose in honour of John Ystumllyn, the eighteenth-century gardener who was one of Britain’s first black gardeners, others are bringing back old recipes for the crown, and creating art to honour the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee under ‘Queen’s Jayanti’ celebrations. Some esteemed members of the British Asian community have also shared their messages on the occasion with Asian Voice. Lord Karan Bilimoria, Lord Dolar Popat, Lord Raj Loomba CBE, Lord Rami Ranger CBE, Hitan Mehta of British Asian Trust and Dr Nik Kotecha have expressed their thoughts on this historic event.
Practising Bollywood dance moves at his school gym in central England, 12-year-old Momin Rashid is excited to be one of the 10,000 performers who will take part in a pageant to honour Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne. “I am feeling a bit nervous because 10,000 people is a lot and I could get the dance moves wrong,” said Rashid told Indian Express. Rashid is of Pakistani heritage and was born in Birmingham, and is looking forward to dancing in front of Buckingham Palace, and says the Queen loves her people, the monarchy itself is a somewhat distant concept.
Mandira Sarkar of Mandira’s Kitchen told Asian Voice about the traditional coronation curry (see P16) and Harsha Wadhwani Basu who is working closely with the community to mark the ‘Queen’s Jayantee’ shared the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Colouring Page for our readers. She’s working with Community Youth Ventures where people can create Mandala umbrellas which will be used to decorate the Beaconsfield Library for the Jayantee Jubilee project exhibition. Basu has also produced artwork with kids exploring the queens and kings inside of us.
Arunima Kumar, Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Bismillah Khan Yuva Puruskar awardee and the students of her dance company will be performing at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at Westminster Abbey on 1st June. Kumar is an expert in the Kuchipudi dance form and an acclaimed South Asian dancer based in London. This is not the first time she’ll be performing for the Royals. She has performed at Buckingham Palace in the past.
Pizza Hut is bringing back 'Crown Crust Pizza' for Queen's Platinum Jubilee weekend. The special stuffed crust was last available in 2012 for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. At the same time, Buckinghamshire Council has waived the temporary street closure fee for Jubilee street parties over the Bank Holiday weekend and is delighted that more than 90 groups have taken advantage of this offer.
On 6th February this year Her Majesty The Queen became the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and the Commonwealth.
To celebrate this unprecedented anniversary, events and initiatives will take place throughout the year, culminating in a four-day UK bank holiday weekend from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th June. The four days of celebrations will include public events and community activities, as well as national moments of reflection on The Queen’s 70 years of service.
Thursday 2nd June | Trooping the Colour
According to the Royal website, the Queen’s Birthday Parade will be held on Thursday 2nd June 2022 starting at 11 am. The colour will be trooped by the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards, and more than 1200 officers and soldiers from the Household Division will put on a display of military pageantry on Horse Guards Parade, together with hundreds of Army musicians and around 240 horses. This annual event has now marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign for over 260 years.
During the Queen’s birthday parade A Royal Gun Salute will be fired.
Once the parade has ended and the Royal Procession has returned to Buckingham Palace, the Royal Family’s balcony appearance will happen as in previous years. There will be an impressive Flypast to coincide with the Royal Family’s balcony appearance.
Platinum Jubilee Beacons: The United Kingdom’s long tradition of celebrating Royal Jubilees, Weddings and Coronations with the lighting of beacons will continue for the Platinum Jubilee. Over 1,500 beacons will be lit throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and UK Overseas Territories. The Principal beacon, involving The Tree of Trees (a 21m high 'tree' constructed of 350 smaller trees), will be lit in a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace at 9 pm.
Friday 3rd June | Service of Thanksgiving
A Service of Thanksgiving for The Queen’s reign will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral. Great Paul, the largest church bell in the country, will be rung for the Service. It was made in 1882 but fell silent in the 1970s due to a broken mechanism. It was restored in 2021 and has been rung on 8 occasions since, but this is the 1st royal occasion it will be rung.
Saturday 4th June | The Derby at Epsom Downs
Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by Members of the Royal Family, will attend the Derby at Epsom Downs. The celebration will see famous faces from the world of entertainment brought together to perform for a night of musical tributes to celebrate the Jubilee. 22,000 people will attend the event including 10,000 allocated in a public ballot and 5,000 tickets for key workers.
Sunday 5th June | The Big Jubilee Lunch
Over 60k people have registered to host Big Jubilee Lunches on the Platinum celebration weekend, with events ranging from world record attempts for the longest street party to back garden BBQ’s and everything in between. Over ten million people across the UK are expected to be joining the celebrations to share friendship, food and fun at Big Jubilee Lunches as part of this nationwide act of community friendship.
The Platinum Jubilee Pageant
The Gold State Carriage, led by The Sovereign’s Escort, will lead the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, embracing the latest in digital technology to evoke the excitement and majesty of her journey to be crowned 70 years ago. The Pageant will serve as an opportunity to gather and pay tribute to Her Majesty. 10,000 people are involved, including the military, over 6,000 volunteers, performers, key workers and 2,500 members of the general public.
Other events
Cultural events at South Bank Centre will be starting early on Wednesday, June 1 and running across the whole weekend.
Sotheby’s will be hosting a Jubilee Arts Festival from May 28 to June 15 with an absolutely packed calendar of events. There’s going to be an opening weekend (May 28-29) series of talks and debates that will explore the women who have “served as custodians of our cultural legacy” — including discussions on Queen Elizabeth I, Victoria and Margaret Thatcher.
Opening on June 1, and running until September 18, the Tower of London is celebrating the Platinum Jubilee with a colourful moat filled with flowers. In spring 2022, over 20 million seeds will be planted in the moat, with the idea that visitors can then enjoy the blooming flowers over the following months. Visitors will also be able to grab a mat and slide down into the moat on the special ‘Superbloom slide’. Then there will be a route through the display.
To celebrate the Jubilee the British Museum will be opening a new exhibition about Mary Gillick, who designed the first coinage featuring our present Queen, exactly 70 years ago. It will open on June 2 and run until July 31. It’s going to include archival newspaper cuttings, sketches and plaster models.
