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By David Wilkes for the Daily Mail
Britain will get an extra Bank Holiday in 2022 to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Friday, June 3 has been picked as the additional day off. The late May Bank Holiday will also be put back to Thursday, June 2 to create a special four-day weekend.
A blockbuster programme of celebrations is being developed to mark the historic milestone when Her Majesty will become the first British monarch to have reigned for 70 years.
The extra bank holiday sits at the centre of a blockbuster programme of celebrations is being developed to mark the historic milestone when Her Majesty will become the first British monarch to have reigned for 70 years
Organisers say that it will mix traditional pageantry and ceremonial splendour with cutting edge artistic and technological displays.
Plans are in place to stage a series of events across four days, from June 2-5 in 2022, which will reflect the Queen’s reign and her impact on the UK and the world since her accession to the throne in 1952.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘The Platinum Jubilee offers an opportunity for the Queen to express her thanks for the support and loyalty Her Majesty has received throughout her reign.
‘The Queen hopes that as many people as possible will have the opportunity to join the celebrations.’
At 94, the Queen is already the longest-living monarch in British history.
She surpassed her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria as Britain’s longest-serving ruler five years ago.
In 2017 the Queen became the first British monarch to reach their Sapphire Jubilee – 65 years on the throne.
The Queen came to the throne on February 6, 1952, at the age of 25, following the sudden death of her father, George VI. However, her Coronation did not take place until June 2, 1953.
The Royal Household and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport are jointly arranging the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: ‘Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee will be a truly historic moment – and one that deserves a celebration to remember.
Crowds throng The Mall during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012
Friday, June 3 has been picked as the additional day off. The late May Bank Holiday will also be put back to Thursday, June 2 to create a special four-day weekend
‘We can all look forward to a special, four-day Jubilee weekend, when we will put on a spectacular, once-in-a-generation show that mixes the best of British ceremonial splendour with cutting edge art and technology.
‘It will bring the entire nation and the Commonwealth together in a fitting tribute to Her Majesty’s reign.’
The Royal Household and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) are organising the commemorations which are being developed with some of the UK’s leading creative minds, event organisers and world class digital design companies.
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012 saw the Diamond Jubilee River Thames pageant staged alongside a concert featuring Stevie Wonder, Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney.
The pageant, which involved a 1,000-boat flotilla sailing down the Thames, saw the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton and Prince Harry wave from the top deck of the royal barge to assembled crowds.
At the subsequent concert, Prince Charles gave an emotional speech in which he paid tribute to ‘Your Majesty… mummy’, thanking her for ‘making us proud to be British.’
The Royal Family then attended a special service at St Paul’s Cathedral before watching from the balcony of Buckingham Palace as the Red Arrows flew past.
Street parties were also held around the country.
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