The Queen will stand on the Buckingham Palace balcony alongside her three heirs, princes Charles, William and George, for the finale of her Platinum Jubilee weekend, it can be revealed.
Royal sources say the 96-year-old monarch “wants the world to see the heartbeat of her family and the future of the monarchy”, as they close the People’s Pageant next Sunday.
Plans are in place for the family to appear on the balcony at around 5pm in front of a 10,000-strong crowd gathered on The Mall, with millions more watching on TV around the country.
Future queens Camilla and Kate are set to join their husbands Charles and William on the balcony.
As well as their son Prince George, eight, William and Kate’s other children, Princess Charlotte, seven, and four-year-old Prince Louis, may also appear, but that will not be confirmed until the day, it is understood.
Other members of the Royal Family, including Princess Anne, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their children, Louise, 18, and James, 14, and Prince Andrew’s daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, are expected to watch from the royal box in the grandstand at the The Queen Victoria Memorial outside the palace.
Buckingham Palace remained tight-lipped about the plans but a royal source said: “Her Majesty believes it will send a strong message to the world, that despite the family’s trials and tribulations over the past few years, those at the very top are united in getting on with the job, sharing her sense of duty and dedication to serving the people of this country and the Commonwealth.”
On Thursday, the Queen travelled to her Balmoral estate in Scotland by helicopter for a short break before the celebrations begin.
Although for some the fun has already started, with Big Jubilee Lunches being held across the country. Kids and parents at Duncombe Primary School in North London had theirs yesterday amid an explosion of red, white and blue.
Sotheby’s in London today marked the Jubilee with an exhibition that includes a 1985 portrait of the Queen by Andy Warhol.
But the official Jubilee celebrations start at 10am on Thursday with Trooping the Colour.
It will close with the RAF fly-past, watched by the Royal Family from the Buckingham Palace balcony.
The Queen has ruled that only working royals will join her, meaning Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, and the disgraced Prince Andrew will be absent.
Her Majesty will be joined by Prince Charles and Camilla, Prince William and Kate, Prince Edward and wife Sophie, Princess Anne, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra. The Cambridge and Wessex children are also expected to appear, as is Anne’s husband Tim Laurence.
On Friday, the Queen is to attend a Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, while on Saturday she hopes to go to the Epsom Derby with her family. She is likely to miss the Saturday evening Buckingham Palace concert in her honour, but other family members will attend.
The Jubilee Pageant next Sunday will feature giant puppets, corgi dolls and an enormous 3D wire bust of the Queen. Thousands will join the 3km parade through London, including military personnel, hundreds of performers and key workers, and 6,000 volunteers.
The £15million pageant promises to be a “once-in-a-lifetime experience, made by the people for the people”. It will be in four acts: For Queen and Country; The Time of Our Lives; Let’s Celebrate; and Happy and Glorious.
Organisers have spent months creating a “wave of nostalgia” featuring Sinclair C5 electric vehicles from the 1980s, and seven double-decker buses carrying celebrities from each of the seven decades of the Queen’s reign.
The Time of Our Lives section involves 2,500 performers charting cultural changes in the last 70 years, a collection of Space Hoppers and Doctor Who Daleks and a procession of seven different James Bond Aston Martin cars and seven Land Rovers.
In a tribute to the Queen’s late husband Prince Philip and his passion for British engineering, seven JCB diggers will also join the procession.
The Let’s Celebrate section will feature 2,500 performers acting out 12 “chapters” of the Queen’s life, with a nod to her love of horses and corgis.
The pageant will follow the route of the Coronation procession, moving from Parliament Square up to Trafalgar Square, then down The Mall to Buckingham Palace.
The Platinum Jubilee Pageant will end with a rousing rendition of the National Anthem, led by Ed Sheeran and the London Community Gospel Choir and watched by the Queen on the balcony of the palace.
The Mirror understands that if she is unable to make the balcony appearance due to ill health, the rest of the family would be “unlikely” to appear.
But a palace insider said: “The Queen is looking in magnificent form and is very much looking forward to the Jubilee celebrations.
“So much planning and effort has gone into it to make sure this is a fitting tribute to the Queen’s incredible contribution to public life.”
