The 96-year-old queen is Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and the first to reach the milestone of seven decades on the throne.
Four days of celebrations honoring Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne kicked off Thursday with a display of British military traditions stretching from the days of horse and cannon to the jet age.
Formal celebrations for the Platinum Jubilee began with Trooping the Color, an annual military review that has marked the sovereign’s official birthday since 1760. The queen took a salute on the balcony of Buckingham Palace and joined the working members of her family for a military flypast.
Thousands of people, some of whom camped overnight, lined the parade route — many of them sporting Union Jack flags, party hats or plastic tiaras. Carly Martin, who caught a late-night bus from south London with her daughter, said she had come “to make memories.”
You’re never going to see this again in your lifetime,” she said. “At least not in mine, maybe not in my daughter’s. … 70 years — it is all I have ever known.”
The 96-year-old queen is Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and the first to reach the milestone of seven decades on the throne. Elizabeth smiled broadly Thursday as she spoke with her great-grandchildren and looked up as the British military aircraft roared over the palace. The six-minute display included Typhoon jets flying in a formation spelling out the number “70.”
The jubilee is being commemorated with a four-day holiday weekend. The celebration of Elizabeth’s reign includes a service of thanksgiving on Friday at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, a concert at Buckingham Palace on Saturday and a pageant staged by thousands of performers drawn from schools and community groups around the country on Sunday. Thousands of street parties are planned around the country, repeating a tradition that began with the queen’s coronation in 1953.
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