The Diamond Jubilee Service of Thanksgiving and Carriage Procession: June 5, 2012


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
The next generation,that makes sense.

Yes :)! It's been a celebration of a reign of sixty years and it
makes sense to focus on the next two generations. Continuity!
IMO this is not a snub of the other performing members of the
royal family; it was a celebration of a particular monarch and the monarchy as well. Bringing the entire family on the Chartwell and
in carriages could easily have tipped the delicate balance, which
BP has obviously operated with!

From my vantage point on the other side of the North Sea: It's
been a brilliant four days and there's every reason to congratulate
HM and the British people on a wonderful jubilee:flowers::flowers::flowers:. As mentioned on a different thread: IMO the only eyesore - and HM
sore??- was the OTT rigging of The spirit of Charwell.

Viv
 
Spletnik -The Jubilee Service
Thanks for the photos and updates!
It is great to see Prince and Princess Michael attending the event with Lord and Lady Frederic. It is sad that Lady Gabriella did not attends.
 
Yes and I just hope he does not let the decision become a drag. I think we all tend to root for Prince William to be happy - not only because of what he has faced in life so far but because of the large tasks ahead of him.
Plus - he's just so handsome! :))
 
I thought William and Harry looked terribly exposed and uncomfortable on the balcony. I think the enormity of their future roles seemed to dawn on them today and I thought they seemed a bit intimidated. Charles may be puting too much pressure on them if he really intends to exclude his brothers and sister when he becomes King.

On a more family related note I firmly beleive that all of the Queen's family and grandchildren should have joined her on the balcony on such an historic day. They could have arranged such an appearance and then a second appearance with just Charles and his family afterwards.
 
Last edited:
Look at the rain falling now in London!
 
looking at the highlights again on the news. there were six members of the Royal Family on the Balcony. One For Every Decade Of Her Reign..
 
I'm so gutted that Ella Windsor wasn't there. Where is she these days AAARRGH!
 
I throughly enjoyed watching the festivities on television this morning. How happy everyone looked. :)
 
My friend and I thoroughly enjoyed the balcony appearance and fly past. I can understand the imagery of the future generations however for me today was not the day for that imagery. Today should have been about the Queen with her children and grandchildren. She wouldn't be who she is without them! The monarchy's children and grandchildren are the royal family. When she passes away Charles' children and grandchildren will be the focus.
 
Its been a glorious weekend and everything seemed to go off pretty much without any problems. I think a lot of us that weren't able to attend the festivities really felt drawn into them though via the different coverages that were provided. It kind of reminded me of the celebrations here in the States for St. Patrick's Day... everyone is proud to be Irish regardless of ethnic background. Everyone felt British for a weekend and were immensely proud of the Diamond Queen.

It really had to be a tiring weekend for everyone especially HM but as she has for 60 years, she carried herself regally with grace and remarkable stamina. One thing I noticed that amplifies this was during the Thanksgiving Service. The entire congregation was standing during a hymn. As the cameras panned over the crowd, you could see the people visibly moving. Side to side, rubbing a nose, touching a hat here and there. Then they zoom in on the Queen. She didn't move a muscle. She stood ramrod straight. That to me is true regal!

All that is left now is the Queen's speech which I hope to see.
 
Sorry to disapoint you, I to was Waiting to see the Queen's Speech and it was alas only 1 minute long!!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It is a shame that the rest of the family did not get an appearance, however i like that Philip got to watch the appearance with his youngest grandchildren.
 
Can anyone tell me what the purple poppies or little flowers were that William, Harry and Charles had in their lapels? I didn't see anyone else wearing them.
 
Does it even matter if the other grandchildren are there? If the other children are there? You see them most of the time, you saw them at the service. I don't get the big deal with not having a hundred people or so on the balcony lol .
 
Does it even matter if the other grandchildren are there? If the other children are there? You see them most of the time, you saw them at the service. I don't get the big deal with not having a hundred people or so on the balcony lol .


When you think about it, William And Harry are classed Senior Royals Along With Their Father Stepmother and Catherine.
 
Does it even matter if the other grandchildren are there? If the other children are there? You see them most of the time, you saw them at the service. I don't get the big deal with not having a hundred people or so on the balcony lol .

I think it was well played out the way it was. Perhaps it'll take a while to sink in but I do think that this was gently done to point to the next King and Queen and their heirs. I really do think its time that the Queen and the DoE really start to slow down and more of the burden of duties are passed to the next in line. We've seen Philip hospitalized twice since December and he's definitely not going to be getting any younger nor is HM. They both deserve time to enjoy their sunset years together.

I think the other children and grandchildren understand this very well and were certainly not miffed or upset at the way things were done. They do what they do because they love and support their parents and "Granny" and are certainly not in it for the prestige of standing on a balcony to soak in adulation and they will continue to do what they can to ease the load off of the Queen and the DoE in years to come.
 
I personally thought it was odd that there were hundreds of people dining in Westminster Hall and the Queen's own children were not among them.

And I also thought the balcony looked terribly empty. When you look back on every celebration in the last few decades there always were lots of people on the balcony, filling it completely and displaying the picture of a big and cheerful family.
The way it was played out today, the DoE's absence was felt even more, with just those few people standing up there.

And following the logic of "presenting" the next kings up there, what was Harry doing there then? I mean I really like the fellow, but once William and Kate have children, it'll be as probable for him to become king as it is now for the DoY.

Furthermore, all the Queen's children and also her cousins carry out engagements on her behalf. Much more so than the DoC and Prince Harry actually. So they represent the monarchy often and do so quite well imho. They should have been up there. It would have presented a much more joyous picture.

(And they won't cost the taxpayers less just because they don't appear on the balcony if that should have been a reason)
 
Last edited:
Perhaps this is just how the Queen wanted it. The next generation of the core royal family. It will be Charles, William, Harry and their spouses and eventually William and Harry's children. I am sure the Queen had final say in every aspect of this celebration and if she wanted the whole family on the balcony they would have been there. I get the sense that the last few months of celebrations have almost been a farewell tour for the Queen and Duke. They will continue to carry many engagements but they must surely be feeling their age besides we don't know if they have any health issues not made public.

We will surely see Charles increasing his engagements on behalf of the Queen. It is simply unreasonable to expect the Queen and Duke to continue the pace they have had for the last 60 years.
 
The rest of the Royal Family were nearly all at the Service of Thanksgiving earlier and we got to see them all then.They were nearly all present at the various events over the past few days,maybe they were glad to get a few hours off :D
 
EIIR said:
Who would've guessed at the Golden Jubilee in 2002 that Camilla would be sitting beside the Queen during the carriage procession for her Diamond Jubilee? How far we've all come.

DM actually reported a very good article on this issue yesterday, I posted it in the marriage thread :)

RoyalistRiley said:
Can someone provide some source of this? I've only heard if this "Royal Family lite" concept in connection to Charles's accession. I simply think that on such a grand occasion such as this it was a tiny bit of a let down to see six of them on the balcony, that's all.

Buckingham Palace was quoted in a Daily Mail article, and several news outlets posted the same information.
 
suze2801 said:
Why were so few of the royals on the balcony - would have thought that this would have been a perfect opportunity to see the children and grandchildren? What was the reason for choosing only 1 son and 2 grandchildren. I'm confused and a bit disappointed

It was a decision to focus on the next generations. This was mainly reflected in today's procession and balcony appearance.
 
I have spent some time thinking about the paring down of the balcony appearance. At first I was miffed, but after thinking about it without emotion, I have come to the conclusion that this is the way it should have been. It was a day full of symbolic passing of the scepter. Camilla, the next queen consort, arriving with the current Queen. The balcony holding only those who are in immediate line to the throne. It was time for HM's immediate heir and his family to be presented as the "new" senior royals. It was time for this to happen.
 
I liked the balcony scene. I think it's pretty clear that William will not extend his time with the RAF. He and his wife had a much more prominent role and with the DoE's deteriorating health it seems needed.
 
And following the logic of "presenting" the next kings up there, what was Harry doing there then? I mean I really like the fellow, but once William and Kate have children, it'll be as probable for him to become king as it is now for the DoY.

Hm.. as long as the Cambridges don't have any children Prince Harry is still pretty high up in the succession line :)! I don't know whether it counts in HM's considerations, but being a son on the heir apparent he's still high up in the royal pecking order!

viv
 
I do agree with a slimmed down monarchy but I am not understanding today's balcony. How can the children of the FUTURE monarch be seen as being more worthy of being on the balcony than the children of the EXISTING monarch on HER jubilee? If we are going to talk about this being strictly about the succession then it should have been the Queen, Charles and William but Harry was there too . Also, as I have said before, we could have had an initial balcony appearance with all of the children and grandchildren and a secondary appearance with the family of the POW.
 
Last edited:
This will have been a decision made by the Queen and I'm certainly not going to question her - certainly not on her Diamond Jubilee.
 
Back
Top Bottom