The Coronation 60th Anniversary Service of HM Queen Elizabeth II

Pope Pays Tribute to Queen Elizabeth on Her Diamond Jubilee

The Vatican released today a message from Pope Benedict XVI to Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of  her Diamond Jubilee.  The English-language text bears the date of 23 May.

"I write to offer my warmest congratulations to Your Majesty on the happy occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of your reign. During the past sixty years you have offered to your subjects and to the whole world an inspiring example of dedication to duty and a commitment to maintaining the principles of freedom, justice and democracy, in keeping with a noble vision of the role of a Christian monarch.

"I retain warm memories of the gracious welcome accorded to me by Your Majesty at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh at the beginning of my apostolic visit to the United Kingdom in September 2010, and I renew my thanks for the hospitality that I received throughout those four days. Your personal commitment to cooperation and mutual respect between the followers of different religious traditions has contributed in no small measure to improving ecumenical and inter-religious relations throughout your realms.

"Commending Your Majesty and all the royal family to the protection of Almighty God, I renew my heartfelt good wishes on this joyful occasion and I assure you of my prayers for your continuing health and prosperity".

Queen's Diamond Jubilee: National Service of Thanksgiving

Full Text of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Thanksgiving Sermon

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Some words from St Paul: 'Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.'

There will be other occasions to remember the splendour and the drama of the Coronation; today's focus is different. What we remember is the simple statement of commitment made by a very young woman, away from home, suddenly and devastatingly bereaved, a statement that she would be there for those she governed, that she was dedicating herself to them.

Dedication' is a word that has come to mean rather less than it used to. Those of us who belong to the same generation as Her Majesty's older children will recall a sixties song about a 'dedicated follower of fashion' - as though to be 'dedicated' just meant to be very enthusiastic. But in the deep background of the word is the way it is used in classical and biblical language: in this context, to be 'dedicated' is to be absolutely removed from other uses, being completely available to God.

And so to be dedicated to the good of a community - in this case both a national and an international community - is to say, 'I have no goals that are not the goals of this community; I have no well-being, no happiness, that is not the well-being of the community. What will make me content or happy is what makes for the good of this particular part of the human family'.

It is an ambitious, even an audacious thing to aim at. It is, of course, no more so than the ideals set before all Christians who try to model their lives on what St Paul says about life in the Body of Christ. That doesn't make it any easier to grasp or to live out; but the way St Paul approaches it should help us see that we're not being encouraged to develop a self-punishing attitude, relentlessly denying our own goals or our own flourishing for the sake of others. What's put before us is a genuine embrace of those others, a willingness to be made happy by the well-being of our neighbours.

'Outdo one another in showing honour', says St Paul. Compete with each other only in the generous respect you show to one and all; because in learning that respect you will find delight in one another. You will begin to discover that the other person is a source of nourishment, excitement, pleasure, growth and challenge.

And if we broaden this out to an entire community, a nation, a commonwealth, it means discovering that it is always in an ever-widening set of relations that we become properly ourselves. Dedication to the service of a community certainly involves that biblical sense of an absolute purge of selfish goals, but it is also the opening of a door into shared riches.

I don't think it's at all fanciful to say that, in all her public engagements, our Queen has shown a quality of joy in the happiness of others; she has responded with just the generosity St Paul speaks of in showing honour to countless local communities and individuals of every background and class and race. She has made her 'public' happy and all the signs are that she is herself happy, fulfilled and at home in these encounters.

The same, of course, can manifestly be said of Prince Philip; and our prayers and thoughts are very much with him this morning.

To declare a lifelong dedication is to take a huge risk, to embark on a costly venture. But it is also to respond to the promise of a vision that brings joy.

And perhaps that is the challenge that this jubilee sets before us in nation and Commonwealth. St Paul implies that we should be so overwhelmed by the promise of a shared joy far greater than narrow individual fulfilment, that we find the strength to take the risks and make the sacrifices - even if this seems to reduce our individual hopes of secure enjoyment.

Moralists (archbishops included) can thunder away as much as they like; but they'll make no difference unless and until people see that there is something transforming and exhilarating about the prospect of a whole community rejoicing together - being glad of each other's happiness and safety. This alone is what will save us from the traps of ludicrous financial greed, of environmental recklessness, of collective fear of strangers and collective contempt for the unsuccessful and marginal - and many more things that we see far too much of, around us and within us.

One crucial aspect of discovering such a vision - and many still do discover it in their service of others, despite everything - is to have the stories and examples available that show it's possible. Thank God, there are many wonderful instances lived out unobtrusively throughout the country and the Commonwealth.

But we are marking today the anniversary of one historic and very public act of dedication - a dedication that has endured faithfully, calmly and generously through most of the adult lives of most of us here. We are marking six decades of living proof that public service is possible and that it is a place where happiness can be found.

To seek one's own good and one's own well-being in the health of the community is sacrificially hard work - but it is this search that is truly natural to the human heart. That's why it is not a matter of tight-lipped duty or grudging compliance with someone else's demands. Jesus himself says 'My food is to do the will of him who sent me', and that's what is at the heart of real dedication.

This year has already seen a variety of jubilee creations and projects. But its most lasting memorial would be the rebirth of an energetic, generous spirit of dedication to the common good and the public service, the rebirth of a recognition that we live less than human lives if we think just of our own individual good.

Listen again for a moment to St Paul. 'We have gifts that differ according to the grace given us - the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. Outdo one another in showing honour, extend hospitality to strangers, rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, live in harmony with one another; take thought for what is noble in the sight of all'.

Dedication to the health and well-being of a community is all this and more. May we be given the grace to rediscover this as we give thanks today for Her Majesty's sixty years of utterly demanding yet deeply joyful service.

Queen Gives Thanks for 'Humbling' Jubilee Celebrations

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Concert Finale

The following is the concluding 15 minutes of the Diamond Jubilee Concert which took place at Buckingham Palace this evening.  It is a glorious, historic and fitting tribute to Her Majesty the Queen for sixty years of service to Great Britain and the Commonwealth Realms.  We will post the full concert when quality video becomes available, along with tomorrow's Service of Thanksgiving and the Royal Procession on the Mall.

Queen's Diamond Jubilee: Beacons Lit Around the World

The small Pacific island nation of Tonga claims the honor of lighting the first of more than 4,200 beacons to be set alight in Britain and abroad to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen Elizabeth II. 

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The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant with Flotilla of 1000 Boats

Diamond Jubilee Preparations

The Diamond Queen, Episode 1

Episode 1, Parts 2, 3 and 4

Diamond Jubilee March-past in Windsor Castle

Parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Brtish Armed Forces mounted a special Parade and Muster at Windsor in honor of The Queen's 60 year reign on Saturday, May 19.

Troops representing the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force paraded through Windsor Castle and town before Her Majesty and The Duke of Edinburgh. This was followed by a muster in the Castle grounds for a unique event before an audience of more than 3,000 Armed Forces personnel, their families, and veterans. An impressive, tri-Service flypast of current and historic aircraft concluded the celebrations.

The Queen Welcomes Monarchs to Diamond Jubilee Lunch

The Queen and Prince Philip were joined today by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in welcoming royal families from all over the world to a lunch in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee.

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Queen Praises British Virtues in Diamond Jubilee Address to Parliament

The Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee today by paying tribute to the British virtues of "resilience, ingenuity and tolerance", and to the Duke of Edinburgh, her "constant strength and guide" over the decades. 

From The Telegraph

In a landmark address to both Houses of Parliament the monarch repeated her vow made on Accession Day in February to "rededicate myself to the service of our great country".

In the ancient Westminster Hall the monarch stood to give her address, telling MPs and peers that since she came to the throne she has been a regular visitor to the Palace of Westminster.

She added: "During these years as your Queen, the support of my family has, across the generations, been beyond measure.

"Prince Philip is, I believe, well-known for declining compliments of any kind. But throughout he has been a constant strength and guide."

This was the monarch's sixth address to both Houses of Parliament. She gave similar speeches in celebration of her Golden Jubilee in 2002 and Silver Jubilee 25 years earlier in 1977.

The window has been paid for personally by members of both Houses and designed by British artist John Reyntiens. It will be presented in a display case and installed above the North Door of Westminster Hall later this year.

In her 2002 address, the Queen spoke about "50 unforgettable years" on the throne, telling MPs and peers: "I would like above all to declare my resolve to continue, with the support of my family, to serve the people of this great nation of ours to the best of my ability through the changing times ahead."

The monarch's speech to both houses to mark her 1977 silver jubilee reflected on the historic events of the first 25 years of her reign, which had seen the final break-up of the British Empire.

She said: "No longer an imperial power, we have been coming to terms with what this means for ourselves and for our relations with the rest of the world."

The Sixtieth Anniversary of the Accession of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

A Diamond Jubilee Tribute

"I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her till I die."

 -- Sir Robert Menzies quoting Elizabethan poet Thomas Ford in Parliament House, Canberra, 1963
 

Part One, The King's Death:

Part Two, The Queen's Accession:

Part Three, the Coronation:

On her twenty-first birthday, April 21, 1947, Princess Elizabeth was with her parents and younger sister touring South Africa. It was also the occasion on which she made a solemn vow, "with a whole Empire listening," to dedicate her whole life in service to the people of that great family of nations, the Commonwealth.  It is a vow she has faithfully, dutifully and nobly kept across a span of more than sixty years. 

"On my twenty-first birthday I welcome the opportunity to speak to all the peoples of the British Commonwealth and Empire, wherever they live, whatever race they come from, and whatever language they speak.

Let me begin by saying 'thank you' to all the thousands of kind people who have sent me messages of good will. This is a happy day for me; but it is also one that brings serious thoughts, thoughts of life looming ahead with all its challenges and with all its opportunity.

At such a time it is a great help to know that there are multitudes of friends all round the world who are thinking of me and who wish me well. I am grateful and I am deeply moved.

As I speak to you today from Cape Town I am six thousand miles from the country where I was born. But I am certainly not six thousand miles from home. Everywhere I have travelled in these lovely lands of South Africa and Rhodesia my parents, my sister and I have been taken to the heart of their people and made to feel that we are just as much at home here as if we had lived among them all our lives.

That is the great privilege belonging to our place in the world-wide commonwealth - that there are homes ready to welcome us in every continent of the earth. Before I am much older I hope I shall come to know many of them.

Although there is none of my father's subjects from the oldest to the youngest whom I do not wish to greet, I am thinking especially today of all the young men and women who were born about the same time as myself and have grown up like me in terrible and glorious years of the second world war.

Will you, the youth of the British family of nations, let me speak on my birthday as your representative? Now that we are coming to manhood and womanhood it is surely a great joy to us all to think that we shall be able to take some of the burden off the shoulders of our elders who have fought and worked and suffered to protect our childhood.

We must not be daunted by the anxieties and hardships that the war has left behind for every nation of our commonwealth. We know that these things are the price we cheerfully undertook to pay for the high honour of standing alone, seven years ago, in defence of the liberty of the world. Let us say with Rupert Brooke: "Now God be thanked who has matched us with this hour".

I am sure that you will see our difficulties, in the light that I see them, as the great opportunity for you and me. Most of you have read in the history books the proud saying of William Pitt that England had saved herself by her exertions and would save Europe by her example. But in our time we may say that the British Empire has saved the world first, and has now to save itself after the battle is won.

I think that is an even finer thing than was done in the days of Pitt; and it is for us, who have grown up in these years of danger and glory, to see that it is accomplished in the long years of peace that we all hope stretch ahead.

If we all go forward together with an unwavering faith, a high courage, and a quiet heart, we shall be able to make of this ancient commonwealth, which we all love so dearly, an even grander thing - more free, more prosperous, more happy and a more powerful influence for good in the world - than it has been in the greatest days of our forefathers.

To accomplish that we must give nothing less than the whole of ourselves. There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors - a noble motto, "I serve". Those words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the Throne when they made their knightly dedication as they came to manhood. I cannot do quite as they did.

But through the inventions of science I can do what was not possible for any of them. I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now. It is very simple.

I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.

But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do: I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it."

Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Marked with Seven-Mile Long Flotilla

Celebrations marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will include a seven-mile long flotilla of 1,000 boats along the River Thames, it has been revealed. 

From The Telegraph

By James Orr

How the royal barge, The Spirit of Chartwell, will look as it passes under Tower Bridge   Photo: EPA

Organisers of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant said the “unique spectacle” would travel under 14 bridges and take 90 minutes to pass any given point.

It will include a total of nine separate sections of differing vessels, from Dutch barges and steam boats to row boats and even kayaks.

The flotilla will be led by Gloriana, a hand-built, 88-foot rowbarge, while the second section will see boats carrying the flags of Commonwealth nations. 

Lord Salisbury, Chairman of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation, said: “Our aspirations for this wonderful tribute to The Queen are coming together very well.

“We are delighted that The Prince of Wales has agreed to be our Patron. This is a hugely ambitious project and it is gathering momentum day by day.”

The event to celebrate the Queen’s 60 years as monarch will take place on Sunday, June 3, between Putney and Tower Bridge.