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A BO A BOAT FIT FOR A QUEEN AT FIT FOR A QUEEN 1,000 “T


Tower Bridge, then through an Avenue of Sail, made up of hundreds of traditional Thames sailing boats, oyster smacks, square riggers, naval vessels and other impressive ships. Boats


BOAT PAGEANT


Led by the Queen aboard Spirit of Chartwell, the gathering on the Thames is the largest for many centuries and promises to be a royal spectacle


he most magnificent triumph that ever floated on the Thames,” wrote the diarist John Evelyn in August 1662. His words referred then to the marriage of King


Charles II to Catherine of Braganza, but they might do equally noble service as a description of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June. More than 1,000 boats of every size, shape and description will be watched by a million cheering onlookers lining the banks of the River Thames between Battersea Bridge to Tower Bridge. It is expected to be one of the largest ever gatherings of craft on the river – certainly the biggest in centuries – and probably the most spectacular. All in honour of Queen Elizabeth II reaching her 60th year on the throne – a feat only equalled by Queen Victoria in the last century.


The Queen will lead the flotilla downstream in a seven-mile procession aboard the Spirit of Chartwell, a Thames passenger boat that has been specially decked out for royal duty. The sumptuously ornate rowing barge Gloriana (see opposite) acts as vanguard, and a bevy of Royal Naval vessels are escorts for the royal party. The Pageant will weave through the heart of London to


will process in a strict order, beginning with the sort of rowed boats that have been plying the Thames for centuries (see opposite). We British have a talent for assembling impromptu fleets of boats. It’s something that probably stems from before the establishment of the Royal Navy in the 16th century, when the monarch of the day had to commandeer merchantmen, from the Cinque Ports and elesewhere, to defend the realm or make war on its enemies. Whether for military purposes, as in the evacuation of Dunkirk in the last war, or ceremonial, it’s a challenge that we relish as a seafaring nation.


And as much as it is a salute to the Queen, the Pageant is also very much a celebration of the Thames, the great river that runs, much as the monarchy itself does, like a silver thread through our history and our capital.


Previous pages: Geoff Hunt’s painting of how the Pageant could look Above right: First trials for Gloriana Below: Artist’s impression of the River Thames


JOSHUA KNOWLES


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