How the UK Is Celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee This Weekend

The world's longest-serving monarch is marking 70 years on the throne this weekend—here's how Britain is set to celebrate

Cheese rolling, Morris dancing and welly wanging (a game involving throwing waterproof shoes in a field)––the British are as well known for their eccentric traditions as they are for their love of fish and chips and talking about the weather. With June 2022 marking Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, the seventieth anniversary of her ascension to the throne in 1952, the country is coming out in force to celebrate this weekend. From corgi-themed events and tea parties to cake making contests, here are just a few ways the UK is celebrating the Platinum Jubilee.

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Corgi Crazy

Above Queen Elizabeth pictured with a pet corgi in 1970. (Photo: Getty Images)

Above Queen Elizabeth meets corgis in Australia in 2002. (Photo: Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth has owned over 30 corgis in her lifetime. So it’s perhaps no surprise that her four-legged companions feature throughout the celebrations. The UK has gone corgi-mad, with an art-themed corgi trail in Central London, a Corgi "Grand National" race and shops filled with corgi-themed souvenirs, including English tea bags and corgi-shaped cakes.

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Flora and Fauna

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With Britain’s summer in full swing, brands are using Her Majesty’s love of the great outdoors as inspiration for their celebrations. British fashion retailer Burberry will honour the monarch with a giant floral display at the iconic Tower of London and a “zero-waste meadow” built on a barge floating on the Thames. Over 20 million wildflower seeds have been used in the installations.

A Right Old Yarn

Above A knitted Queen and corgi in Cheshire, England. (Photo: Getty Images)

Above A knitted crown, created by the "Knitting Banksy". (Photo: Syston Town News)

The country’s craft enthusiasts have picked up their knitting needles to create displays to celebrate Queen Elizabeth and her most iconic emblems. In Holmes Chapel in Cheshire, England, a life-sized Queen and corgi have appeared on the church lawn. Meanwhile, in Leicestershire, England, a mystery knitter dubbed the “Knitting Banksy” has adorned their village’s postboxes with reproductions of the Queen’s crown. The knitted items appear in the town overnight, with their elusive creator preferring to remain anonymous.

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Dancing In The Street

Above A street party held to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

Above The Churchill Arms pub in London decorated for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

With two extra public holidays in the UK for the Jubilee, homes up and down the country are decorated with bunting and flags as Britain hosts its biggest ever tea party––as they have for previous jubilee celebrations. Designed to help communities connect and celebrate the nation’s longest-reigning monarch in its history, over 6,000 party applications have been made from all four corners of the British Isles.

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Just Desserts

Above The winning dessert in the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pudding contest. (Photo: Getty Images)

Ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s official coronation ceremony in June 1953, a competition was held to find a new dish to celebrate. Coronation chicken––a salad composed of cold chicken, curry cream sauce and sultanas––has been a fixture on party tables and in picnic hampers ever since. This year tea-party goers will be tucking into The Jubilee Pudding, a brand new dessert created by home baker Jemma Melvin. Inspired by the dessert served at Queen Elizabeth and the late Prince Philip’s wedding, Melvin’s pudding beat 5,000 other entries in the competition to find the country’s newest celebratory dish.

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royal family queen elizabeth ii queen elizabeth uk britain platinum jubilee

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