The celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of Elizabeth II, which ended on Sunday June 5, were the occasion for a rare moment of national communion.
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Thousands of “Street Parties”, the surprise visit of the Paddington bear in Buckingham Palace, two smiles on the balcony, tributes in abundance: the United Kingdom has just lived four days in weightlessness, entirely devoted to jubilee platinum celebrating 70 years of reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
The festivities have represented a rare moment of national communion, barely disturbed by the gloomy weather, family stories between Windsor or politics. They ended in apotheosis Sunday, June 5, with a gigantic parade between Westminster and Buckingham Palace retracing the life of the most enduring sovereign that the country has ever known, and mixing with the military pump, humor and a very British eccentricity.
During these celebrations, the queen had only three appearances, including two at the Buckingham Palace balcony, on June 2 at the end of the Trooping the Color and Sunday at the end of the parade. We also saw her light up torches at the castle of Windsor. But his relative absence did not disturb the party; She even added to popular emotion, the British aware that this jubilee will probably be the last of Elizabeth II. At the top of her popularity, the 96 -year -old sovereign has hardly been in public since fall, due to “mobility problems” according to Buckingham Palace.
His absence was most strongly felt on Friday during the religious ceremony in Saint Paul cathedral, which the sovereign was very much, according to royal commentators. The queen is a woman of faith but also the supreme governor of the Church of England. Bishop Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, who celebrated the ceremony, found an elegant way of greeting the sovereign, referring to his passion for horses: “Your Majesty, we are sorry that you are not with us this morning, but we are so happy that you are always in the saddle. And we are all happy that there is even more to come. “
” We will never have such a queen “
Sunday, to compensate for its absence, the organizers of the Grande Parade projected its hologram on the curtains of the Gold State Coach, the golden coach used for the Crownings, exceptionally out of exit. The queen also made a surprise and funny appearance in a video broadcast during the concert at Buckingham Palace on Saturday. She takes tea there with another national icon, the Paddington bear, and reveals that like him, she hides “for later” a jam sandwich in the black handbag that never leaves her. “You laugh and cry with us and, above all, it’s been 70 years that you are there for us,” said Prince Charles, his eldest son and future king, during a speech on Saturday, mixing tribute to his mother And to the sovereign, which many consider the “grandmother” of the nation.
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