Queen's Platinum Jubilee Weekend: Trooping The Colour To Begin 2022 Celebrations

In 2022, the Queen will become the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, 70 years of service, with celebrations starting with Trooping The Colour on 2 June.

There will be a year of Platinum Jubilee celebrations across the UK, including an extended bank holiday from Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 June 2022.

Trooping the Colour, an annual event that has marked the sovereign's official birthday for two-and-a-half centuries, will take place at the start of the weekend, featuring more than 1,400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians.

The Queen's official birthday is usually held on the second Saturday in June.

The 2021 Trooping the Colour has been cancelled in its "traditional form" due to the coronavirus pandemic, the second year in a row such measures have been taken for the event.

Details on this year's celebration are yet to be formally announced, although Buckingham Palace said in March options for "an alternative parade, in the quadrangle at Windsor Castle" were being considered.

If the "alternative" arrangements do take place, there could be similarities to the Queen's official birthday celebrations in 2020, when the Welsh Guards led events at Windsor Castle.

The brief ceremony was held behind closed doors and followed social distancing rules.

The 2022 Trooping the Colour is set to begin at Buckingham Palace, with the parade moving down The Mall to Horse Guards Parade, with members of the Royal Family joining on horseback and in carriages.

The parade will close with the traditional RAF fly-past, with the Queen and other royals watching from Buckingham Palace's balcony.

As well as the parade, the UK's tradition of celebrating Royal Jubilees, weddings and coronations with the lighting of beacons will be continued, with beacons lit across the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and UK Overseas Territories.

Additionally, beacons will also be lit in the capital cities of the Commonwealth countries for the first time to celebrate the Jubilee.

Following on from Thursday's celebrations, a Service of Thanksgiving will take place at St Paul's Cathedral on Friday 3 June.

On Saturday 4 June, the Queen and members of the Royal Family will attend the Derby at Epsom Downs Racecourse, and the BBC will stage and broadcast a special live concert from Buckingham Palace.

The weekend's celebrations will conclude with The Big Jubilee Lunch and the Platinum Jubilee Pageant - featuring more than 5,000 people from across the UK and Commonwealth.

Combining street arts, theatre, music, circus, carnival and costume, the pageant will celebrate the service of the Queen's reign, as well as honour the service of people across the country.

Later this month, details of a Jubilee emblem competition will be released, with the winning entry becoming the official emblem for the 2022 celebrations.

Cover image: Trooping the Colour in 2018 (Picture: MOD).