How Britons are celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend

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From a life-sized cake to scarecrows and from knitted models to Lego displays, Britons are coming up with a variety of unusual ways to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee ahead of the four-day weekend.

Baker Lara Mason from Cake Anything unveiled the 5ft 3in at Buzz Bingo in Birmingham after making it with 400 eggs, 24kg of flour and 24kg of butter, with the edible creation set to serve more than 200 people.

Elsewhere a life-size knitted Queen and a pet corgi were installed in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, at the weekend – and villagers have been stopping to pose for pictures with Her Majesty ahead of the celebrations.

And postbox toppers have been appearing elsewhere – including one of the Queen and Windsor Castle in New Brighton on the Wirral – while in Belle Vale, Liverpool, a postbox has been topped with a crown.

Meanwhile at Legoland Windsor, model makers have been busy creating depictions of the Queen on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, celebrations on The Mall, a Red Arrows flypast and garden parties at Windsor Castle. The full Platinum Jubilee display includes about 18,000 bricks and took around 280 hours.

Over in Norfolk, a group of knitters including Lois Gill and Penny Evans created a life-size knitted model of the Queen using more than 1,000 balls of wool over six months, which has been moved into a church in Caston.

And in West Sussex, the town of Steyning is laying claim to be Britain’s most patriotic place – with the High Street covered in bunting and a Union flag seen in almost every shop window ahead of a big party on Sunday.

Here, take a look at some of the ways people around Britain have been marking the Platinum Jubilee already:

Is this the most patriotic town in Britain? Steyning in Sussex suffers major bunting shortage as shops deck out storefronts ahead of Jubilee weekend 

By JAYA NARAIN FOR MAILONLINE

With the High Street festooned in bunting and a Union Jack in almost every shop window, the town of Steyning in West Sussex is laying claim to be the country’s most patriotic place.

Butchers, bakers, gift shops, clothing boutiques, a traditional sweet shop, charity shops, solicitors and even the estate agents have dug out the bunting and flags in time for the Royal weekend celebrations.

So enthusiastic has been the response to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee that the town is suffering a major bunting shortage.

Almost all of the 150 businesses lining the High Street have created elaborate window displays in time for the celebrations.

For the Platinum Jubilee the whole town, which is also hosting the annual Steyning Festival, is also shutting the High Street for a huge street party on Sunday.

Recognising the sterling work of all the shopkeepers, Steyning Festival organisers have awarded first prize for the ‘Best Window Display’ to The Green Room a gift boutique.

Katrina Boulton, owner and manager of The Green Room, said: ‘We’re over the moon to have won the award. It’s amazing.

‘Nearly every business in Steyning has made the effort to help celebrate the jubilee and there is a real sense of people coming together in this community and I really like it.

‘We have got all sorts in our window display from Union Jack aprons to handmade bunting and Queen’s Guard matches. We’re all looking forward to the weekend.’

Helen Hitchcock, manager of Sakala – an ethnic boutique – won second prize in the competition. Her display of a giant crown with regal purple inlay has prompted many comments from admirers.

She said: ‘A friend of mine did it and it looks absolutely fabulous. It’s made with forages twigs and sticks and coat hangers and it looks very impressive.

‘The response of people in Steyning to the jubilee has been great. Everyone is really looking forward to it.’

Julie Andrews of St Barnabas House charity shop said: ‘Everyone keeps coming in to praise the window displays and we’re delighted with the response.

‘We wanted to make the effort for the jubilee. Lots of businesses have taken part and there is a real sense of community about it.’

The shop, which raises money for the hospice, has had to replace much of their display as customers have bought many items that were part of the original creation.

Ms Andrews said: ‘It’s been really good for business and it’s been a lot of fun doing the window display.’

The Truffles Bakery has created a whole selection of Jubilee-themed bakes including a red, white and blue Jubilee gateau, a Queen’s biscuit tray bake and assorted cup cakes.

Lisa Corkill, the manager, and her two assistants, Narise Carey and Sammie Martin, spent hours creating the window display and helping devise the special edible treats.

Ms Corkill said: ‘It’s really great the way the whole town has come together for the Jubilee and we wanted to do our bit.

‘We’ve all sorts of lovely treats to make sure people really get into the party spirit and we’re really looking forward to it.

Jess Bason, at the Old Sweet Shop, said: ‘After the last couple of years with Covid and everything I think people are really up for having a bit of fun this weekend and all the businesses in Steyning are really going for it.

‘We stock all sorts of sweets and we’re staying open all weekend to help people celebrate. It’s going to be great fun and the sense of community here is fabulous and we’re proud to take part.’

Amanda Wilson, who runs the gift boutique, Flicker Rose, said: ‘We had great fun decorating the window and nearly everyone in the town is looking forward to it.

‘It help that the annual Steyning Festival is on at the same time as everyone always mucks in with that.’

The town, which sits at the foot of the South Downs and dates back to 750AD, is a quintessential English market town is rich in history.

With scores of timber-framed buildings lining the ancient High Street, it also claims an historic Royal connection.

King Alfred the Great’s father, AEthelwulf, was buried in the local St Andrew and St Cuthman Church before being exhumed and moved to Westminster Abbey.

It was also a highly-valued prize in Norman times as a port and strategic centre of trade.

Today it hosts a monthly farmers’ market and is a destination for walkers from across the UK who want to explore the South Downs National Park.

** What are you doing to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee? Please email: mark.duell@mailonline.co.uk ** 

How the nation will mark Queen’s 70 years on the throne: Days of joyous Jubilee celebrations will start with birthday parade, see royals visit EVERY corner of UK and end with 200,000 street parties… so how will YOU celebrate?

People across the UK are preparing to mark the Queen‘s Platinum Jubilee over the four-day weekend from this Thursday, with a series of major events scheduled – from Trooping the Colour to a special Pageant.

Britons will also be able to celebrate the nation’s longest-reigning monarch with a series of outdoor parties on Sunday, while there will be a televised concert on the BBC from Buckingham Palace the day before.

The Queen is expected to delight crowds with a double appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony – at the start of celebrations after Trooping the Colour on Thursday, and after the Pageant parade finale on Sunday.

The monarch is also hoping to be able attend the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday, with her wider family including –  it is expected – Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Prince Andrew.

The Queen, 96, is also set to spend time with the Sussexes, who are bringing their children Archie and Lilibet over from the US – and could meet Lili for the first time as she celebrates her first birthday on Saturday.

On Sunday, thousands of people will gather across the country as more than 85,000 Big Jubilee Lunches and street parties are staged in celebration of the Queen’s record-breaking 70 year reign.

Royal Family members will also visit every corner of the UK over the weekend for official engagements – with William and Kate going to Wales; Edward and Sophie travelling to Northern Ireland; and Anne to Scotland. 

Here, MailOnline looks at the programme of events over the four-day bank holiday weekend from Thursday: 

TODAY AND TOMORROW

No official celebrations planned, but hundreds of ongoing events are being held across the UK by museums, art galleries and hotels to mark the Jubilee – with a full list of 652 public events before Thursday available here.

The Tower of London’s Superbloom – 20 million seeds planted in the moat to create a spectacular meadow – opens from Wednesday until September and features a family-friendly slide for visitors to shoot down into the attraction. 

THURSDAY 

Trooping the Colour (from 10am, flypast at 1pm)

The official programme for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee begins with the Trooping the Colour military spectacle this Thursday, which is due to begin at around 10am at Buckingham Palace.

More than 1,500 officers and soldiers and 350 horses from the Household Division will stage the display on Horse Guards Parade in London, with the colour trooped by the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards.

Some 400 musicians from 10 military bands and corps of drums will march amid pomp and pageantry.

The Royal Family will travel from Buckingham Palace along The Mall to the parade ground in carriages at about 10.30am, with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and the Princess Royal on horseback.

Plans are said to be in place either for the Queen briefly to inspect the troops on the parade ground or from the balcony with the Duke of Kent, or to only appear on the balcony with the royal family for a special flypast afterwards.

If the Queen does delegate her salute duties at Trooping to another family member, it will be the first time she has done so in her 70-year reign.

Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, William and the Duchess of Cambridge, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Anne, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence will be on the balcony for the flypast which is due to take place at about 1pm.

The Queen limited the numbers to working royals, meaning the Duke of York and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be there.

But her Cambridge great-grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and her two youngest grandchildren, the Wessexes’ children Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, will be present.

A six-minute display by more than 70 aircraft will include the Red Arrows and the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Platinum Jubilee Beacons (from 9.25pm)

On Thursday evening, more than 3,000 beacons will be set ablaze across the UK and the Commonwealth in tribute to the Queen.

The network of flaming tributes will stretch throughout the country, with beacons at sites including the Tower of London, Windsor Great Park, Hillsborough Castle and the Queen’s estates of Sandringham and Balmoral, and on top of the UK’s four highest peaks.

The first beacons will be lit in Tonga and Samoa in the South Pacific, and the final one in the central American country of Belize.

The principal beacon outside the Palace – a 21-metre tall Tree of Trees sculpture for the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative – will be illuminated by a senior member of the royal family, and images will be projected on to the Palace.

FRIDAY 

Service of Thanksgiving (from 11am)

A traditional service of thanksgiving will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London from 11am on Friday.

There will be no ceremonial journey to the cathedral and the Queen, if she attends, will use a different entrance to aid her comfort rather than the steep main steps.

Wider members of the family are expected to be present including possibly Harry, Meghan and Andrew, and the service will be followed by a Guildhall reception for members of the royal family.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss the service. The Archbishop of York, the Most Revd Stephen Cottrell, will give the sermon instead.

Justin Welby was diagnosed with mild pneumonia last Thursday and was continuing to work, but after developing symptoms over the weekend he tested for coronavirus.

SATURDAY 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit Cardiff Castle to meet performers and crew involved in the special Platinum Jubilee Celebration Concert taking place in the castle grounds later that afternoon, Buckingham Palace has announced.

During their visit, William and Kate will view rehearsals and meet some of the acts taking part in the celebrations, including Bonnie Tyler and Owain Wynn Evans.

Hosted by Aled Jones and Shan Cothi, the concert at Cardiff Castle will feature live performances from some of Wales’ best-known singers and entertainers, alongside choirs, bands and orchestras.

During the extended bank holiday weekend, the Earl and Countess of Wessex will carry out two engagements in Northern Ireland while the Princess Royal, accompanied by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, will visit Edinburgh. 

Epsom Derby (from 4pm)

The Queen is no longer planning to attend the Epsom Derby during her Platinum Jubilee weekend. 

The 96-year-old monarch is said to want to pace herself during her milestone celebrations, with her daughter the Princess Royal representing her at the racecourse instead, The Sunday Times reported.

The Derby on Saturday June 4 was to be a personal highlight for the Queen during the four days of Jubilee festivities.

The head of state, a passionate horse owner and breeder, was due to be greeted on the course with a special guard of honour including up to 40 of her past and present jockeys.

But the newspaper revealed the monarch is now ‘increasingly unlikely’ to head to Epsom. However the Queen will still have a runner – Just Fine, in the penultimate race of the afternoon.

Lilibet’s birthday 

Saturday is also the first birthday of Harry and Meghan’s daughter Lilibet, amid speculation the youngster could spend the day with her namesake great-grandmother.

The Sussexes are flying over from the US with Lili, who has never met the Queen in person before, and her older brother Archie.

It could be the first time Harry and Meghan have been seen alongside the Windsor clan since Megxit and since they accused an unnamed senior royal of racism during their controversial Oprah Winfrey interview. 

Party At The Palace (from 7.30pm)

In the evening, the BBC’s Party at the Palace – set on three stages in front of Buckingham Palace – will entertain a live crowd of 22,000 people and a television audience of millions.

The line-up includes Diana Ross, Queen + Adam Lambert, Alicia Keys, Nile Rodgers, Andrea Bocelli, Duran Duran, Bond composer Hans Zimmer, Ella Eyre, Craig David, Mabel, Elbow and George Ezra.

The show will also feature appearances from stars including Sir David Attenborough, Emma Raducanu, David Beckham, Stephen Fry and Dame Julie Andrews.

Charles and William are preparing to deliver public tributes at the concert to the Queen, who will be watching on television from Windsor.

SUNDAY 

Big Jubilee Lunch

Millions of people are expected to sit down with their neighbours at street parties, picnics and barbecues, with more than 200,000 Big Jubilee Lunches being held across the UK on the Sunday afternoon,

Camilla, patron of the Big Lunch, will join Charles at a flagship feast at The Oval cricket ground in south London, while the Earl and Countess of Wessex will meet people creating the ‘Long Table’ down on The Long Walk leading up to Windsor Castle.

The celebration also coincides with this year’s Thank You Day –  originally set up to pay tribute to those who helped people through the pandemic.

Celebrities Ross Kemp, Gareth Southgate, Prue Leith and Ellie Simmonds have urged people to throw the biggest thank you party for the Queen.

The Platinum Pudding, Scotch eggs and fruit platters will feature on a six-metre felt creation by artist Lucy Sparrow which is to be viewed by Charles and Camilla at The Oval. It will be given pride of place in the Grand Entrance of Buckingham Palace later this year.

Members of the local community, 70 volunteers who have been recognised as Platinum Champions through the Royal Voluntary Service’s Platinum Champions Awards, celebrity ambassadors and various charity representatives will be among the guests at the cricket ground.

The royal couple will also present the Platinum Champions with certificates and pins, before cutting a Big Jubilee Lunch cake.

More than 600 international Big Jubilee Lunches are being planned throughout the Commonwealth and beyond – from Canada to Brazil, New Zealand to Japan and South Africa to Switzerland.

Edward and Sophie will join Berkshire residents for their special lunch on the Long Walk, not far from Windsor Castle.

The Long Walk is being reinvented to create ‘the Long Table’ in celebration of the jubilee. This royal pair are also set to meet groups of street performers.

Charles and Camilla will also celebrate with the residents of Albert Square in an EastEnders special. They will be seen attending a Big Lunch in a June 2 episode of the BBC soap.

The Big Lunch is an annual event aimed at celebrating community connections.

Jubilee Pageant (from 2.30pm)

The finale on June 5 is the Jubilee Pageant through the streets of London.

Set to be watched by up to a billion people across the globe, more than 10,000 people have been involved in staging the £15million procession.

Puppet corgis, a giant 3D wire bust of the Queen and the Gold State Coach are just some of the sights set to feature in the 1.8-mile (3km) parade.

Stars including Idris Elba, Sir Cliff Richard, Courtney Love and Slade’s Noddy Holder will take to open-top buses in a through-the-ages tribute to the culture and music of the 70 years of the Queen’s reign.

A peloton of 300 cyclists, riding vintage bikes from across the seven decades of her reign, is to travel down The Mall led by Sir Chris Hoy and cycling golden couple Dame Laura and Sir Jason Kenny.

Olympic champions Sir Chris, Dame Laura and Sir Jason will be among six ‘hero cyclists’ who race towards Buckingham Palace ready to complete a 360-degree circuit of the Queen Victoria Memorial on Sunday.

Some 205 vehicles will appear as part of the parade, including 11 Morris Minors, seven Land Rovers, 20 vintage Minis including one in the shape of an Outspan Orange and seven original James Bond vehicles.

Ice cream vans, JCBs, Del-Boy’s Only Fools And Horses three-wheeled Reliant Regal Supervan III, 15 Sinclair C5s, and seven open-top double-decker buses decorated in images of the decade they represent will also head down The Mall and past the palace.

It is hoped the monarch will make a final appearance on the Palace balcony to round off the weekend to see a musical finale of Ed Sheeran singing the national anthem with a choir made up of nearly 200 celebrities.

The pageant is split into four acts: 

For Queen and Country with a military parade; The Time of Our Lives progressing through seven decades of culture, music and fashion; Let’s Celebrate telling the story of the Queen’s life in 12 chapters with corgi puppets and carnival creations; andHappy and Glorious musical spectacle starring Ed Sheeran and close to 200 celebrities.