5 June 2012 Last updated at 09:46 GMT
Diamond Jubilee: Queen attends St Paul's service
Members of the Royal family passed cheering crowds as they left Buckingham Palace
The
Queen is taking part in a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's
Cathedral on the final day of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The day will conclude with a glittering carriage procession, and RAF flypast.The Queen's consort was absent from her side as she entered the cathedral; Prince Philip remains in hospital with a bladder infection.
Crowds cheered as the Queen and royal family members drove from Buckingham Palace for the service.
On Monday the Queen recorded a message of thanks for the nation's support ahead of a star-studded concert at Buckingham Palace.
The two-minute message, filmed in her private apartments at the palace, will be broadcast at 1800 BST on radio and television in the UK and across the Commonwealth.
More formal Crowds started to build up in the early morning outside St Paul's and Buckingham Palace, which the Queen in her state Bentley, accompanied by one of her ladies in waiting, Diana Marion, The Lady Farnham.
There was a fanfare as the Queen, wearing an mint green outfit of fine silk tulle, embroidered with tiny star-shaped flowers, arrived at St Paul's for the service at 10:30 BST and the crowds chanted "God save the Queen".
Guests, including leading politicians, military personnel and members of the royal household, had already taken their seats inside the cathedral ahead of the service.
Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha arrived about 40 minutes before the start, followed a short while later by the Princess Royal's daughter Zara Phillips and her rugby-playing husband Mike Tindall, the Duke of York and his daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and the Earl and Countess and Wessex.
Prince Charles, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, arrived at St Paul's 10:22 BST in a fleet of cars from Clarence House.
The fourth day of celebrations will be a more formal affair, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, giving a sermon in front of the Royal Family and leading national figures.
Mr Cameron will lead the large representation from the government at St Paul's alongside diplomats and foreign leaders.
After the service, the Queen will attend a reception at Mansion House - the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London. The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will attend a similar event at the Guildhall.
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A day of celebration which has been planned for years will now
have to be tinkered with at the last moment, because of the absence of
one of the key participants.
Prince Philip has spent the night in hospital. It's the second time he's been admitted in six months.
While he continues to be treated, a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's and a lunch in Westminster Hall will go ahead.
Then the Queen will travel by carriage back to Buckingham Palace for an appearance on the balcony with those who represent the future of an institution she has nourished - Charles, Camilla, William, Catherine and Harry. It doesn't do any harm that at a time of austerity it'll be an image of just six royals which will be beamed around the world.
The woman who wasn't born to be queen has now reigned for 60 years. It's a landmark achievement and now possibly also a bitter-sweet occasion as well.
Prince Philip has spent the night in hospital. It's the second time he's been admitted in six months.
While he continues to be treated, a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's and a lunch in Westminster Hall will go ahead.
Then the Queen will travel by carriage back to Buckingham Palace for an appearance on the balcony with those who represent the future of an institution she has nourished - Charles, Camilla, William, Catherine and Harry. It doesn't do any harm that at a time of austerity it'll be an image of just six royals which will be beamed around the world.
The woman who wasn't born to be queen has now reigned for 60 years. It's a landmark achievement and now possibly also a bitter-sweet occasion as well.
A City of London Livery companies
lunch at Westminster Hall will follow where guests will dine on salmon,
followed by Welsh lamb, grilled Isle of Wight asparagus, Jersey Royal
potatoes and chocolate delice, bread and butter pudding and berry
compote with apple sauce.
The Queen and royals, including Prince Charles, the Duchess
of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, will
then take part in a carriage procession through Whitehall.Personnel from all three armed services will line the streets for the procession, and the King's Troop will fire a 60-gun salute.
As the procession arrives in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, there will be a guard of honour. The royals will then gather on the balcony to watch a flypast of World War II aircraft and a display by the Red Arrows.
Forecasters say the weather in central London will be cloudy and dry at first, with a top temperature of 14C, but there may be outbreaks of rain in the afternoon.
Prince Philip, 90, will remain under observation at King Edward VII Hospital in London, where he was taken on Monday as a "precautionary measure".
In December, he was treated at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge for a blocked coronary artery.
Paul McCartney, with a bass guitar specially-made for the occasion, brought the concert to a close
But he added there was a disappointing edge to the night. "The only sad thing about this evening is that my father couldn't be with us because, unfortunately, he was taken ill," he said.
Continue reading the main story
11:30 The Queen is driven to Mansion House reception
12:45 Livery hosts Diamond Jubilee Lunch at Westminster Hall
14:20 Carriage procession begins
14:40 Royal Family arrives at Buckingham Palace
15:30 Royal Family appears on Palace balcony and watches RAF fly-past; Queen's Guard performs Feu de Joie
All timings in British Summer Time (GMT +1)
Tuesday 5 June - key times
10:30 St Paul's service begins11:30 The Queen is driven to Mansion House reception
12:45 Livery hosts Diamond Jubilee Lunch at Westminster Hall
14:20 Carriage procession begins
14:40 Royal Family arrives at Buckingham Palace
15:30 Royal Family appears on Palace balcony and watches RAF fly-past; Queen's Guard performs Feu de Joie
All timings in British Summer Time (GMT +1)
Performers included Kylie
Minogue, Robbie Williams, Sir Elton John, Shirley Bassey, Jessie J, Sir
Tom Jones, Madness, Stevie Wonder and Sir Cliff Richard. The concert was
brought to a close by Sir Paul McCartney with a rendition of Live and
Let Die, complete with fireworks and pyrotechnics.
After the show, the Queen came on to the stage accompanied by
Prince Charles and Take That star Gary Barlow, who helped organise much
of the concert, to press a diamond-shaped crystal into a pod, igniting a
beacon in The Mall to mark her 60 years on the throne. It was one of
more than 4,000 lit across the UK and the Commonwealth.BBC Big Screens will broadcast the service, carriage procession and balcony appearance live in 22 locations around the UK, from 09:15 BST.
See all the latest Diamond Jubilee news and features at bbc.co.uk/diamondjubilee
Diamond Jubilee: Thousands of beacons are lit around UK
The
Queen's Diamond Jubilee festivities are continuing with thousands of
beacons lit across the UK as a concert at Buckingham Palace comes to an
end.
The Queen will light the final beacon, at about 22:30 BST, from the concert stage after the performance.More than 4,000 beacons are being lit across the Commonwealth.
Beacons in Tonga and New Zealand were the first to be lit and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard set off the fire in Canberra.
Across the UK, beacons are being lit on landmarks and hills - including the peaks of Ben Nevis in Scotland, Snowdonia in Wales, Scafell Pike in England and Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland.
The Queen is set to light the UK's last beacon - the National Beacon - before a firework display at Buckingham Palace.
Fireworks and music The Queen will trigger the lighting of the final beacon by placing a huge crystal into a specially designed pod.
The Duke of Edinburgh was not able to attend the concert celebrations after he was taken to hospital with a bladder infection.
Windmill Hill residents get a beacon ready in Gravesend, Kent
Commanding Officer Captain Guy Robinson, led his ship's company in sending congratulations to the Queen.
More than 600 church tower beacons are marking the occasion.
Many communities around the country organised special events around their beacon lighting, with fireworks and music.
At Abbey Park, in Leicester, a lantern parade with fire sculptures has been on display with a beacon lit at 22:15.
A 30ft (9.1m) wooden sculpture of Britannia was also set alight at 22:15, in East Hoathly, in East Sussex.
Three weeks of work and three lorry loads of wood have gone into making the female warrior, complete with trident, shield and helmet.
In Nottingham civil engineering students tested their skills by making and installing a beacon.
The beacon was manufactured at New College Nottingham and put up in Sneinton where it was lit.
In the Yorkshire Dales, an Army helicopter was called in to transport wood to build beacons.
Humber flotilla Soldiers from the Army Air Corps used a Lynx helicopter to carry loads of timber to hilltops in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire.
Kent will see more beacons lit than any other county, with 182 applications made to the event organisers.
The Humber Estuary will be the scene of a Jubilee flotilla at 18:00, more than 115 years after the venue hosted a similar event to celebrate 60 years of Queen Victoria's reign.
The parade of sail will feature a vessel for each year since the Queen's accession to the throne.
At 22:00 BST beacons were lit across the Humber Bridge.
Hadrian's Wall, the north west frontier of the Roman Empire, were lit up simultaneously at 22:12 by 60 beacons which will be hosted by communities across the World Heritage Site, from South Shields to Ravenglass.
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Diamond Jubilee beacons
- About 4,500 beacons are being lit in the UK, Commonwealth and overseas territories
- Beacons in the UK and British dependencies are being lit in stages between 22:00 and 22:30
- The Queen will light the National Beacon near Buckingham Palace at 22:30
- Overseas beacons have been lit at 22:00 local time in countries including Canada, Australia and Kenya
- Two types of beacons are used: Bonfires and the church tower beacon fuelled by bottled gas
- Beacons were lit on Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in and for 1977's Silver Jubilee
In Manchester a "green beacon" was lit in a hospital car park.
The University Hospital of South Manchester commissioned a
sculptor to produce a beacon made of recycled hospital beds which
resembles a giant stylised crown measuring 5ft wide, with towering
spikes more than 12ft high.A green flame devised by TV special effects experts will light up the beacon.
Religious buildings lighting beacons have included the Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) Hindu Temple, in Oldbury, in the West Midlands, and St Mary's Parish Church, an Anglican church in Moseley, Birmingham.
Representatives from charity Cancer Research UK have scaled England's tallest mountain Scafell Pike to light a beacon.
In Worcestershire, the Great Malvern Jubilee Picnic has taken place before a beacon was lit on top of the Malvern Hills by 77-year-old Tony Cotgreave who as a teenage Scout lit the bonfire built to celebrate the Queen's Coronation in 1953.
In Kent the South Foreland Lighthouse, which used to warn ships away from a treacherous stretch of coast, has been lit for the first time in more than 20 years.
Bidding to have the highest beacons was Somerset where six hot air balloons provided a sound and light show from Solsbury Hill, in Batheaston.
The southernmost beacon in the British Isles is being lit at Jersey's Elizabeth Castle.
Beacons have been lit on the Channel Islands of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm, Brecqhou, Jethou and Lihou.
The Queen's Pageantmaster, Bruno Peek, said he had been "overwhelmed" by the response to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Beacons event.
He said: "Our aim was to light 2,012 beacons because 2,012 have never been lit before, but by the end of the night we will have over 4,000 - that's truly amazing.
"The beacons will be lit from around the world from Tonga to the Falkland Islands and Malta to Kenya."
See all the latest Diamond Jubilee news and features at bbc.co.uk/diamondjubilee
Are you celebrating the
Queen's Diamond Jubilee? Will you be going to a lighting of a beacon?
Send us your pictures of beacons being lit around the world.
Flotilla
A royal pageant the likes of which haven’t been seen for 350 years marked her 60th year on the throne.
| Posted Sunday, June 3, 2012, at 4:42 PM ET
The Queen's rowbarge "Gloriana" travels ahead of the rowing boats during the Diamond Jubilee PageantPhoto by PAUL ELLIS/AFP/GettyImages
More than a million cheering spectators didn’t let a little rain stop them from celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee Sunday. In what the BBC calls the “highlight of the Jubilee weekend,” Queen Elizabeth II led a flotilla of more than 1,000 vessels down the Thames. It amounted to “the most dazzling display of pageantry seen on London’s River Thames for 350 years,” notes Reuters.
Considering all those that likely stayed indoors and were watching at
home, some commentators rushed to say that Sunday’s celebrations were
nothing short of “the greatest public spectacle of the queen’s reign,”
writes the New York Times.
The 86-year-old queen traveled with her husband, Prince Philip, down
the Thames for several hours, recalling a time when river processions
were common in London, points out the Associated Press.
On Monday, thousands are expected to attend an outdoor concert next to
Buckingham Palace that will include several big-name stars, including
Paul McCartney and Elton John.
An anti-monarchy group gathered along the riverbank to protest but
were quickly booed and their chants were drowned out by royal supporters
that began singing God Save the Queen, reports the Guardian.
Leicester Square
i/ˈlɛstər/ is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street , to the north; Charing Cross Road,
to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the
west. The park at the centre of the Square is bound by Cranbourn Street,
to the north; Leicester Street, to the east; Irving Street, to the
south; and a section of road designated simply as Leicester Square, to
the west. It is within the City of Westminster, and about equal distances (about 400 yards / 370 metres) north of Trafalgar Square, east of Piccadilly Circus, west of Covent Garden, and south of Cambridge Circus.
〔中央社〕有「英國好萊塢」之稱的倫敦列斯特廣場，在投資1530萬英鎊、整建17個月後，以亮麗面貌趕在女王伊麗莎白二世登基60週年慶典及倫敦奧運登場前，向全球各地旅客開放。
列斯特廣場（Leicester Square）每天約有24萬名旅客造訪，是倫敦極受歡迎的觀光景點，附近有多家電影院、旅館和商店，每年在這裡舉行約50場電影首映，包括哈利波特、007系列電影等，電影巨星都在這裡走紅地毯與粉絲見面。
新的列斯特廣場採用超過1萬1000平方公尺的花崗岩，正中間的知名莎士比亞雕像旁並有定點噴泉，廣場的圍欄及進出口，使用有鏡面效果的不�鋼柱，創造特別的視覺效果，廣場內的草地也重新種植耐磨品種，地面下的公共廁所全新整修，夜間並可以配合不同活動，安排各式燈光。
倫敦市長強生（Boris Johnson）說，列斯特廣場不僅是全球電影首映的燈塔、巨星匯聚的地點，整建工程也為倫敦創造新的就業與貿易機會，這個世界級的景點，再次向世人展示倫敦持續求新求變、與時俱進的努力，相信會受到民眾熱烈歡迎。
列斯特廣場緊鄰倫敦中國城（China Town），知名的M&M巧克力公司全球旗艦店位在列斯特廣場旁，每天吸引眾多消費者，創造170個就業機會；2011年五星級飯店W在列斯特廣場附近開幕，創造200個就業機會。
廣場旁歷史悠久的Hippodrome大樓，在投資1500萬英鎊整建後，6月份將轉型為大型賭場及休閒中心，並將雇用500名員工，吸引更多訪客。
倫敦商會Heart of London總裁高德弗里（Andy Godfrey）告訴中央社記者，早在10年前就計劃要整建列斯特廣場，這個廣場位在倫敦商業區心臟地點，極為重要，需要有21世紀的新面貌，配合倫敦奧 運以永續經營為主題，工程如期完工啟用，相信一定能為倫敦帶來更多龐大的商機。
今天倫敦艷陽高照，列斯特廣場湧入大批民眾，大家對嶄新的廣場都十分喜愛，許多人坐在廣場旁的座位上享受難得的陽光。（本文附照片）
History
The area was developed in the 1670s. It was initially fashionable and Leicester House was once residence of Frederick, Prince of Wales but by the late 18th century, the Square was no longer a smart address and began to serve as a venue for popular entertainments. Leicester House became home of a museum of natural curiosities called the Holophusikon in the 1780s and was demolished about 1791–1792.[1]
In 1848, Leicester Square was the subject of the land-law case of Tulk v. Moxhay. The plot's previous owner had agreed upon a covenant not to erect buildings. However, the law would not allow purchasers who were not 'privy' to the initial contract to be bound by subsequent promises. The judge, Lord Cottenham, decided that future owners could be bound by promises to abstain from activity. Otherwise, a buyer could sell land to himself to undermine an initial promise.[2] Arguments continued about the fate of the garden, with Charles Augustus Tulk's heirs erecting a wooden hoarding around the property in 1873. Finally, in 1874 the flamboyant Albert Grant (1830–1899) purchased the outstanding freeholds and donated the garden to the Metropolitan Board of Works, laying out a garden at his own expense. The title passed to the succeeding public bodies and is now in the ownership of the City of Westminster.[3]
By the 19th century, Leicester Square was known as an entertainment venue, with many amusements peculiar to the era, including Wyld's Great Globe, which was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and housed a giant scale map of the Earth.[4] Several hotels grew up around the square, making it popular with visitors to London. The Alhambra, a large theatre built in 1854, dominated the site,[5] to be joined in 1884 by the Empire Theatre of Varieties. The square remains the heart of the West End entertainment district today.
During the Labour government's 1979 Winter of Discontent, refuse collectors went on strike. Leicester Square was used as an overflow dump, earning it the nickname of "Fester Square".[6]
Features
Gardens
Entertainment
The Square is also the home for tkts, formerly known as the Official London Half-Price Theatre Ticket Booth. This booth is jointly operated by TKTS and LondonTown.com. Tickets for theatre performances taking place around the West End that day are sold from the booth for about half the usual price. The popularity of the booth has given rise to many other booths and stores around the Square that advertise half-price tickets for West End shows. It is claimed that at least some of these booths operate fraudulently. Despite having names like 'Official Half-Price Ticket Booth', they are not official and they do not always advertise the booking fees which commonly come with purchasing tickets.
The Square is home to several nightclubs, making it often very busy, particularly on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Major cinemas
- Odeon Leicester Square, which dominates the east side of the square, had the first digital projector in Europe (1999), hosting most premieres with capacity for 1683 people, arranged in circle and stalls.
- The adjacent Odeon Mezzanine has five smaller auditoria (capacities of 50–60 each).
- Empire, on the north of the Square, is the next-largest cinema, with 1,330 seats in the main screen, as well as eight smaller screens, with 349, 96, 58, 49, 48, 42 and 23 seats. Eight of the screens are digital. The main screen and one smaller one can also play 3D films. Many premieres are hosted here.
- Odeon West End, on the south side, contains two screens, which can seat 1,000 altogether. Screen 1 holds 400 people and Screen 2 holds 600. It is used for smaller premieres.
- Vue, on the north side, near the north east corner, was previously the Warner Brothers Village, a multiplex that hosted only Warner Bros. film premieres. Together with the rest of the Warner Village chain, it was bought out by Vue in 2004.
Other cinemas
- A short distance from the west of the Square, on the south side of Panton Street, is the Odeon Panton Street, another four-screen Odeon cinema.
- Just to the North of the square, Prince Charles Cinema is a cheap-ticket second-run and cult cinema famed for its regular showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and a sing-along version of The Sound of Music.
- Cineworld is a short distance down Coventry Street in the Trocadero Centre.
Clubs, bars, restaurants
Just off Leicester Square- Hippodrome, London
- The Venue Leicester Square (West End theatre)
Media
Global Radio has its headquarters on the east side of Leicester Square, close to the Odeon Leicester Square. The building houses the radio stations Capital, Classic FM, Choice FM, Gold, Heart, LBC and Xfm London.In what was formerly Home (a seven-floor superclub launched in 1999, which went into receivership[12] after having its licence revoked by police for one month[13] in March 2001 because of drugs issues, and at which Paul Oakenfold was a resident D.J.), is now an MTV UK television studio, used for the UK version of Total Request Live and the Russell Brand–fronted show 1 Leicester Square. It was also used for the first series of BBC Saturday morning show TMi.
Leicester Square is mentioned in the song "Emit Remmus" on the Californication album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Other attractions
