The Queen showed clear emotion today as she looked down from the balcony of Buckingham Palace at a tide of well-wishers who joined her on the final day of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The monarch also cast her eyes skyward at an RAF flypast ending with a trail of red, white and blue from the Red Arrows that formally wrapped up four days of festivities.
The flypast began with a Douglas DC3 Dakota and included a Lancaster bomber and Spitfire and Hurricane fighters – aircraft that the Queen would have remembered on their earlier outings in the Second World War.
But she appeared far more interested – transfixed even – by the cheering crowds who filled every spare inch of The Mall for the second time in 24 hours after last night’s triumphant Jubilee Concert.
The only element missing was the Duke of Edinburgh, whom the Queen famously described as her “strength and stay” on her golden wedding anniversary in 1997. Prince Philip was admitted to a London hospital yesterday suffering from a bladder infection and played no part in today’s full day of celebrations.
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The Prince’s youngest son, the Duke of Wessex, said today that his father was already “getting better”, but the absence of her consort must have been a blow to the monarch on a full day of Jubilee engagements.
Instead the Queen was joined on Britain’s most famous balcony by the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.
Since 1851, when Queen Victoria made the first recorded balcony appearance during the opening of the Great Exhibition, it has been the place where monarchs have appeared during important national events to acknowledge the people.
Below the members of the Royal Family were spectators who earlier had watched them travel down The Mall in a glittering carriage procession in which Prince Philip’s place in the 1902 State Landau was taken by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.
The crowds cheered wildly at the sight of a woman who had never expected to be Queen but accepted the job without complaint 60 years ago and, in the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury, had offered a “lifelong dedication” to her country and the Commonwealth.
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Union Jacks covered their hats, clothes, posters and flags, with many wearing paper crowns in good-humoured homage to the Queen. One banner summed up the mood of the crowds and simply read - “Elizabeth the Great, she’s a diamond”.
The rain began to fall just before the Royal Family appeared but did not put off the well-wishers, many of whom simply put up Union Jack umbrellas. In any event, the rainfall was insignificant compared to the downpour during Sunday’s 1,000-boat river pageant and failed to affect the flypast.
The aerial parade began with a Dakota flanked by two King Airs, a Lancaster, four Spitfires and a Hurricane from the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, followed by the full complement of Red Arrows, trailing plumes of red, white and blue smoke.
A feu de joie, a fusillade of shots, was then fired by members of the Buckingham Palace Guard of Honour, the 1st Battalion Irish Guard – who then further delighted the Queen with three rousing cheers.
As each cheer rang out, it was echoed by the tens of thousands of well-wishers who had earlier thundered out God Save the Queen.
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Norma Meakin, from Liverpool, and June O’Neil, from St Helens, said that they began planning their trip to London for the jubilee festivities in January 2011 and knitted matching red, white and blue cardigans for the occasion.
Ms Meakin said: “We arrived on Saturday by coach, which we booked in January last year, and we started knitting our cardies soon after. We want to send a big cuddle and a cheer to Philip, our hearts broke when we saw the Queen on her own today.”
The day began with a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s, where the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, paid tribute to the Queen’s selflessness and also remembered the Duke, saying: “Our prayers and thoughts are very much with him this morning.”
Addressing the 2,000-strong congregation he said: “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.
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“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.”
The Queen’s day began with changes to her plans to accommodate her missing consort, who has been by her side throughout her six decades on the throne.
During the service she did not sit by herself at the head of the congregation, but was joined by the Prince of Wales, who sat on her right.
Many members of the Royal Family were present and the Queen spent the rest of the morning at a Mansion House reception where she met members of the congregation.
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Other senior royals attended a similar event at Guildhall and the Queen was reunited with Charles and Camilla, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry for a Diamond Jubilee lunch with members of the City of London livery companies.
Many of the 700 guests were ordinary people from across the country whose trade or profession was represented by the livery companies taking part – including plumbers, carpenters, goldsmiths and clockmakers.
Today was to end with a televised address from the Queen, her first such broadcast since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.
The speech, lasting just over two minutes, was recorded in the Presence Room in Buckingham Palace yesterday before the Jubilee Concert.
For the final day of the Diamond Jubilee weekend the Queen wore an Angela Kelly outfit of fine silk tulle, embroidered with tiny mint green star-shaped flowers embellished with silver thread.
It featured a mint green chiffon drape, scattered with Swarovski crystals on the shoulders. The crown of the hat was covered in the same tulle and was also draped in mint green chiffon and Swarovski crystals.