Diamond Jubilee: Over one million people flock to river spectacular

COATED in gold leaf and carved on the bow of the Royal Barge, Old Father Thames had never seen such a sight. A vast armada, scornful of wind and rain and buoyed by a tide of goodwill, sailed, chugged and rowed into the Queen’s heart.

Queen Elizabeth II watched yesterday as more than 1,000 vessels of every age, shape and hue formed a people’s pageant in thanks for 60 years of dutiful service and produced, on a gloomy day, the brightest of royal smiles.

Grey skies and heavy rain failed to deter more than a million people from lining the banks of the Thames in London as the Diamond Jubilee Pageant, a flotilla of more than 1,000 boats, celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation. It was as if two rivers ran through London yesterday, the Thames and the sway and ripple of hundreds of thousands of red, white and blue flags waved by well-wishers on the banks.

“Spectacular,” the Queen told the Duke of Edinburgh as she watched the vast array of ships, later adding to the her son, the Prince of Wales: “So nice, so impressive.”

Tugs, steamers, pleasure cruisers, kayaks and dragon boats took part in the most spectacular nautical display in London for 350 years.

In 1662, Charles II introduced the nation to his queen, Catherine of Braganza with an aquatic display of fireworks, music and cannon fire, which Samuel Pepys described as “the most magnificent triumph that ever floated on the Thames”.

Until yesterday, that is, when the Royal Jubilee Bells, a floating belfry whose eight bells are each named after a member of the Royal Family – the largest, Elizabeth weighs half a ton – rang out to begin a display three years in the planning and staged at a cost of £10.5 million.

Around the country, 10,000 church bells pealed in reply, while on the river the first of nine sections of boats, the man-powered craft, set off from Battersea Bridge. Leading the way, and setting the pace of 4 knots per hour, was the Gloriana, a 90ft gilded royal rowbarge, powered by 18 oarsmen led by Steve Redgrave, the five-time Olympic gold medalist.

The Queen and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh joined the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry on the Spirit of Chartwell, a luxury cruising ship which had been transformed into a Royal Barge by Joseph Bennett, a film production designer. Decorated with 10,000 flowers and furnished below deck like the Orient Express, the vessel sported an ornate, gilded prow of Old Father Thames, a pair of classical dolphins, symbols of the river, and the royal cipher at the centre. The barge was also equipped with two red thrones, but such was the Queen’s apparent delight with the day that she never once sat, preferring to stand and wave to the crowds.

The Queen was as resplendent as her vessel, dressed in an ivory white bouclé dress and coat, braided with silk ribbon with a silk organza frill. The Duchess of Cambridge, meanwhile, offered stiff competition to her mother-in-law, wearing a striking red dress by Alexander McQueen.

Behind the rowing boats, which included a Venetian black gondola and a Maori canoe from New Zealand, came a flotilla of small boats each crewed by sea cadets and flying the flags of the 54 Commonwealth nations.

After passing by, the Royal Barge slipped into its proper place in the flotilla and was quickly followed by 50 boats that had taken part in the evacuation of 338,000 men in Dunkirk in 1940.

The flotilla included historic boats such as the 441, a rescue craft which played a key role on D-Day, working boats such as the hovercraft, leisure boats and the narrowboats of the nation’s canals.

The soundtrack to the day, apart from the persistent tattoo of raindrops on umbrellas, was provided by ten musical barges, carrying a range of military bands and national orchestras.

One orchestra began to play the James Bond theme tune as they sailed past the headquarters of MI6 at Vauxhall, while others, unsurprisingly, broke into a medley of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head and Singing In The Rain.

On the river banks, the weather was endured in good spirits, although there were reports of cases of hypothermia. Karen Chen, 32 and David Ip, 31, from Streatham in South London, told reporters that the weather had not put them off rising early to secure a good spot on a bench by Battersea Bridge. “We got here just after 7:30. It would have been earlier if we thought we would have more competition. The rain actually works to our advantage,” said Mr Ip.

“We are wrapped up warmly and have waterproof sheets to shelter under. We have got a picnic of marmalade and cheese and pickle sandwiches, and Mr Kipling cakes.”

Ms Chen said: “Today is a spectacular event, nothing would have stopped us from coming to see the boats. It will only happen once in our lifetime.”

During the 75 minutes it took the Royal Barge to sail down to Tower Bridge, the Queen was treated to a variety of displays.

From the roof of the Royal Festival Hall, a team sent a goodwill message in semaphore. “What does it mean?” a BBC commentator asked his nautical guest. “I don’t have a bloody clue,” came the surprising reply.

The display on the roof of the Royal Festival Theatre was clearer: Joey the puppet horse from the hit stage play War Horse, of which the Queen was said to be an ardent fan, “galloped” on to the roof and performed an appropriate bow.

Meanwhile, on Sea Containers House, the world’s largest photograph of the Royal Family, taken during the Queen’s silver jubilee, was on display.

The largest salute in the world was up next, when Tower Bridge, raised its great arms to allow the Royal Barge through to the “Avenue of Sail”, where a fleet of great masted sailing vessels too tall to pass under the many bridges along the Thames were at anchor as an honour guard.

By then the rain was pelting down. Pageant Master Adrian Evans said: “We in Britain are experts at not letting the weather spoil our fun. There is some rain around, but it has not dampened our spirits.” It did, however, lead to the cancellation of a final tribute, a display by Royal Navy helicopters, which had planned to fly in a diamond formation over Tower Bridge.

Yet the public did not depart disappointed. The spirit was summed up by Jim, a veteran of the Russian convoys, who had watched the pageant from HMS Belfast, his old ship, and said of the Queen: “She is our diamond.”