Queen Elizabeth Leads Huge Thames Flotilla

More than a million cheering spectators didn’t let a little rain stop them from celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee Sunday. In what the BBC calls the “highlight of the Jubilee weekend,” Queen Elizabeth II led a flotilla of more than 1,000 vessels down the Thames. It amounted to “the most dazzling display of pageantry seen on London’s River Thames for 350 years,” notes Reuters.

Considering all those that likely stayed indoors and were watching at home, some commentators rushed to say that Sunday’s celebrations were nothing short of “the greatest public spectacle of the queen’s reign,” writes the New York Times.

The 86-year-old queen traveled with her husband, Prince Philip, down the Thames for several hours, recalling a time when river processions were common in London, points out the Associated Press. On Monday, thousands are expected to attend an outdoor concert next to Buckingham Palace that will include several big-name stars, including Paul McCartney and Elton John.

An anti-monarchy group gathered along the riverbank to protest but were quickly booed and their chants were drowned out by royal supporters that began singing God Save the Queen, reports the Guardian.