More than 1,500 beacons are to be lit to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee this weekend, with these torches of light stretching all the way from Tonga and Samoa in the South Pacific, all the way across the globe to Belize in Central America.
The beacons are to stretch the length and breadth of the UK, with flames being lit on the four tallest peaks in each country by armed forces charity Walking With The Wounded – Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England, Mount Snowdon in Wales, and Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland.
The Scouts, with the Queen as their patron, are also getting involved in the initiative, with plans to erect some 70 beacons around the UK. Girlguiding also hopes to put up a similar number, with charities around the country lending a hand to celebrate 70 years on the throne for an incredible monarch.
Read more: Platinum Jubilee: Where are the beacons being lit in Wales for the jubilee?
The principal beacon will be lit outside Buckingham Palace by a yet to be named member of the royal family, and consists of a 21-metre tall Tree of Trees sculpture that was created for the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative.
Some of the more iconic locations for the lighting of the beacons around the UK include:
Buckingham Palace
Tower of London
Windsor Great Park
Hillsborough Castle
Queen’s estates of Sandringham and Balmoral
Cardiff Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Bangor Castle
Outside the Titanic Belfast building
At St Macartin’s Cathedral and Enniskillen Castle
Dover Castle
Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, Cape le Ferne
Isle of Man
Channel Islands
When will the beacons be lit?
The ceremony for lighting the beacons will begin at 2pm on Thursday June 2, with town criers announcing a ‘Proclamation’ to light said beacons later that evening. At 9.35pm, local bands or pipers will be encouraged to perform ‘Diu Regnare’, a special song written for the Queen’s Jubilee by Stuart Liddell.
At 9.40pm, bugle and cornet players have been asked to deliver a special call to herald the beginning of the lighting ceremony of the beacons. Then, at 9.45pm, the beacons will be officially lit around the UK to celebrate the Jubilee.
