London celebrates Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee

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The United Kingdom gives, this Thursday, June 2, the kickoff of four days of festivities. The Platinum Jubilee, the 70-year reign of Elizabeth II, begins at 11 a.m. Paris time with the military parade. RFI immersed itself in the impatient bubbling of preparations in the capital.

With our correspondent in London, Emeline Wine

Parks around Buckingham have been fenced off. Not enough to start the impatience of James, who lives very close to the palace.

It’s going to be something unprecedented. London is covered with Union Jacks, flags everywhere, for a week there have been rehearsals with the army and horse-drawn carriages. It doesn’t happen very often: every 70 years… That’s something.

Tourists gradually invade the city. The jubilee could bring a billion and a half euros to the British economy. Some Londoners, like Hanka, prefer to slip away.

I have to go abroad for work, and I’m happy to run away from all the crowds. But I’ve seen all the preparations since May, it’s going to be spectacular, that’s for sure.


Along The Mall in London, Wednesday June 1, 2022, before the start of the Queen's Jubilee weekend.

The small streets are already starting to clog. Francis Cleverton runs a bookshop on Piccadilly, one of London’s main avenues.

It’s a bit complicated, for some little things. For example, it’s impossible to park right now. On the other hand, there are so many visitors from all over the world there in Piccadilly! And then, we really had a great time preparing the store, finding good books. We put confetti everywhere, flags, what do I know?

Twelve million revelers are expected to celebrate the Jubilee across the country until Sunday.

On their Twitter account, the royal family has posted one image per day of the Queen for the past 70 days – each representing a year in the reign of Elizabeth II.

►Read again: “Historic moment” in the United Kingdom: Charles replaces Elizabeth II for the throne speech



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