Queen leads lighting of jubilee beacons but will
miss St Paul’s service
Monarch attended event at Windsor Castle after pulling
out of Friday’s thanksgiving ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral
Caroline Davies
Thu 2 Jun
2022 22.38 BST
The Queen
symbolically led the lighting of thousands of platinum jubilee beacons as it
was announced she would no longer be attending the national service of
thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral after experiencing “some discomfort” during
trooping the colour.
Buckingham
Palace said the monarch, 96, was missing the service on Friday “with great
reluctance” having experienced episodic mobility problems throughout the day on
Thursday at the start of her jubilee celebrations.
But she was
able to perform the fanfare lighting of the beacon chain, comprising more than
3000 beacons across the UK and Commonwealth, during a ceremony at Windsor
Castle at dusk on Thursday.
A
Buckingham Palace statement on Thursday evening said: “The Queen greatly
enjoyed today’s Birthday Parade and flypast but did experience some discomfort.
Taking into account the journey and activity required to participate in
tomorrow’s national service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, Her Majesty
with great reluctance has concluded that she will not attend.
“The Queen
is looking forward to participating in tonight’s beacon lighting event at
Windsor Castle and would like to thank all those who made today such a
memorable occasion.”
It means
the Prince of Wales will now officially represent his mother at the service.
With no Queen procession, the timings of the royal party will have to be
adjusted, with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge, arriving 10 minutes later than previously planned.
The
decision to cancel was seen as regrettable but sensible, given the journey from
Windsor Castle to St Paul’s and the physical demands a service at the cathedral
inevitably involves. It is understood that it was always the Queen’s hope to
attend rather than a firm commitment.
The Duke of
York is also unable to attend, having tested positive for Covid.
As dusk
fell on the first of four days of jubilee celebrations, the Queen symbolically
led the lighting of the principal jubilee beacon by touching the Commonwealth
Globe of Nations, created for the beacons project, in the quadrangle at Windsor
Castle.
That was
the signal for Prince William, 22 miles away at Buckingham Palace, to convey
the Queen’s command to illuminate the 3,500 lights on the beacon centrepiece, a
21-metre Tree of Trees sculpture.
The
ceremony, part of a long tradition of celebrating jubilees, weddings and
coronations with the lighting of beacons, dates back hundreds of years when
beacon chains were used as communication tools. Today, they symbolise
togetherness at key moments of national significance.
On mountain
and cliff tops, on village greens and town squares, a chain of more than 3,000
beacons were set ablaze across the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and UK
overseas territories. For the first time beacons were lit in all 54
Commonwealth capitals.
Sites
included the Tower of London, Hillsborough Castle and the Queen’s estates of
Sandringham and Balmoral, and on top of the UK’s four highest peaks.
The first beacons to be lit were in
Tonga and Samoa in the South Pacific, and the final one in the Central American
country of Belize.
Tameside
and Glossop Integrated Care NHS foundation trust’s sustainable beacon has been
made of old and broken hospital beds which have been melded into a crown shape.
It will be illuminated in a light
display.
Several
English cathedrals – Durham, Ely, Lichfield, Peterborough and Rochester – will
light up in red, white and blue, while London’s BT Tower will also be
celebrating the occasion.
Scouts and
Girlguiding are each starting at least 70 beacons in tribute to their patron,
the Queen.
Walking With The Wounded will light the beacons on top of the four
highest peaks of the UK – Ben Nevis,
Scafell Pike, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) and Slieve Donard.
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