A number of formal celebrations will be held in June, to mark the Queen's official birthday. On 10 June she will attend a national service of thanksgiving, along with the Duke of Edinburgh, at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
The following day, on 11 June - the Queen's official birthday - the annual Trooping the Colour will be held on Horse Guards Parade. The birthday parade will end with members of the Royal Family making their annual appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, where they will see a flypast by the Royal Air Force.
On Sunday 12 June, the Queen will then host a street party for some 10,000 people at the Patron's Lunch - a celebration of her patronage of more than 600 organisations in the UK and around the Commonwealth. The Mall, in St James's Park, will be lined with picnic tables for the street party, during which guests will enjoy a hamper-style lunch, organisers say. The event will be the culmination of a weekend of national events, with the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William and Prince Harry due to attend the party.
The celebrations will see The Queen lead a walkabout along the Mall with the Duke of Edinburgh, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Behind the Royal party will be a 1,500 volunteers representing more than 600 organisations with which the Queen is closely associated, including ex-servicemen; animal welfare; health and children’s charities.
Leading the parade will be the model of the Britannia, six metre long by four metres high, made of lightweight kite-like material and held aloft on poles. The Queen once said of the yacht, “Britannia is the one place I can truly relax”, and its de-commissioning of the yacht in 1997 is widely thought to have soured relations between the Royal family and Tony Blair and his then chancellor Gordon Brown.
There was even speculation that their decision may have been the reason neither political leader was invited to the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, despite Mr Blair’s predecessors Baroness Thatcher and John Major being on the guest list.
The yacht’s inclusion in the parade is no accident. Indeed, say the organisers, it is intended to symbolise a key element of her reign - the many tours of the Commonwealth on which the Britannia took the Queen.
Her eldest grandson Peter Phillips, who is organising the parade as part of the festivities to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday, said: “At the heart of the parade is a reflection of the organisations of which the Queen is a patron and there is always a personal connection between her and the organisations. We felt it was a nice touch to add the yacht into it and make it a meaningful part of the parade.
“We were thinking about the Commonwealth element of her reign, the Royal tours of the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies. The yacht took her on those tours and projected Britishness around the Commonwealth. It’s something the Queen and the Duke were immensely proud of. They have very fond memories of those tours.”
The parade, designed by Ala Lloyd - who was involved in the production of the 2012 London Olympics opening and closing ceremonies - is being divided thematically into the decades of the Queen’s reign, with clothes, designs, dances and music from each period evoking the spirit of the era, from the Fifties up to the Millennium. It will climax with a yet to be revealed finale – though the emphasis will be very much on the organisations supported by the Queen, which include Cancer Research UK, the British Red Cross and Barnardo’s, rather than on the appearance of any celebrities.
Meanwhile many councils throughout the country are poised to hold their own street parties in celebration of this special occasion.
