The Diamond Jubilee!

Rob and I spent the whole weekend, more or less, in front of the 'telly'. Not for sport (although we did loudly cheer the Stormers win over the Blue Bulls ha ha!), but to watch Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Although she became Queen on 2 February 1952, the actual Coronation took place the following year on 2 June 1953.

The Royal Family (Thanks to Wikipedia)

A reign of 60 years, and I remember Coronation Day!

Look at the BBC camera!

In the words of an Elton John song, 'I was born in England.......' in 1947, so I have a somewhat hazy recollection of the day. It was a Tuesday (I looked it up, my memory isn't that good!), but I remember the day had been proclaimed a Bank Holiday. My dad was a plain clothes fingerprint detective with the CID at Scotland Yard, and although he was off duty, I am pretty sure that he was on standby. I think that my granny and aunty were there too, so there must have been six of us crowded round our tiny 12" black and white 'telly' for the first ever televised coronation. Yesterday I picked my sister’s brain as she was nine at the time and her memory is a lot better than mine and she remembers jelly and sandwiches!

I am not a rampant royalist, but I love to watch the pomp and ceremony that only Britain can achieve. I listened to Princess Anne's wedding on the radio as South Africa did not have television in 1973, and I  watched the weddings of both Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, waiting to see the dresses of their brides and The Kiss on the balcony, and I spent the day of Di's funeral watching and crying with millions around the world.

And of course, last year we sat for the whole day as William and Kate tied the knot. I made sausage rolls and Rob made cucumber sandwiches, thinly sliced with the crusts trimmed and just the right amount of black pepper to give them a bite!

So, back to the present! On Saturday we watched the Queen at Epsom and saw the preparations for the 1000 boat pageant on the River Thames, and I cooked a Jubilee lunch of sausage and mash, green beans and Yorkshire puddings, very British, but I decided against mushy peas!

Our Jubilee Lunch!

Typically the weather turned on Sunday and the rain and drizzle tried to dampen the spirits of the people waiting and watching along the Thames, just to catch a glimpse of the Queen and Prince Philip. It didn't seem to matter though and the crowds simply did the British Stiff Upper Lip and huddled under umbrellas telling each other that it was definitely clearing up and the sun would be out soon. And what a wonderful sight it was, all those boats in loose formation. I can imagine the sore muscles today after the rowers rowed 8 miles along the river, followed by a multitude of powered boats, some old and some very old, and some used in the evacuation at Dunkirk.

Part of the 1000 boats in the pageant.

So much has been planned, concerts and parades, street parties and fetes, and in Perth, Scotland an 8km run took place to break the world record for the number of people running wearing a kilt! Interestingly the record was held by Perth, Canada with 1089 people taking part, so Perth, Scotland was determined to break the record and bring fame back to Scotland where it rightly belongs!

Look, we were represented, there's our flag!

And here in South Africa? Not sure about inland, but in Cape Town plans were made for a smaller regatta and street parties at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, with big screen T.V's showing live coverage from the U.K.

What an amazing person she is.

 I am sure that the Queen will enjoy each and every moment of the celebrations, and I wish her many more years on the throne, but I often wonder whether she can ever relax like we do. Does she kick off her shoes and put her feet on the coffee table and say 'Thank goodness that's over, I could kill for a cuppa!'

I bet she does! And at 86 she deserves to!