The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee next year will be marked by the largest pageant on the Thames in 350 years, with a flotilla of 1,000 boats inspired by great waterborne celebrations from history.
Vessels of all shapes and sizes, from across Britain and the Commonwealth, will take part in a procession that will stretch for more than seven miles and be headed by the Queen in a specially created royal barge. Spectators may even be afforded a view of Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, paddling behind the convoy in a coracle.
The Diamond Jubilee River Pageant has been inspired by Tudor and Stuart spectacles, including Anne Boleyn’s Coronation in 1533 and a pageant for Charles II in 1662 to celebrate the Restoration and his marriage to Catherine of Braganza.
Mr Johnson also cited more recent history, suggesting that the spectacle will be of “an endless array of little ships. It’s going to be a joyful, successful version of Dunkirk.”
As part of a four-day Bank Holiday Jubilee weekend in June next year, the Queen will depart from Putney in a sailing barge that will be stripped of its masts and fitted with adornments to make it look like an 18th-century ceremonial state barge.
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At Tower Bridge she will take the salute from the flotilla, which will include vessels belonging to the Armed Forces, working boats and pleasure craft. Barges will carry fireworks, a flame-spitting mechanical dragon, church bells, water jets and musicians. Members of the public can apply to participate in their own boats.
“There will be skiffs and rowers and gondolas and lighters and schooners and scows and sampans,” the mayor said. “There will be dhows and dinghies and dragon boats. There will be everything, with the possible exception of the Ark Royal.”
Adrian Evans, the newly appointed pageant master, said that the event would seek to reclaim the River with the sort of event that was familiar several hundred years ago.
When the Queen ascended the throne, the Thames was so polluted that fish could not survive in it and much of its frontage was industrial and bleak, he said. “From being a dingy backwater it has reclaimed a place in the heart of London.”
The pageant, which will be funded by private donations, was proposed by Mr Johnson to Buckingham Palace last year. When the Queen agreed to take part, the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation was set up, chaired by Lord Salisbury. It also hopes to raise £100 million for youth sporting activities in Britain and the Commonwealth.
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The mayor said that Lord Salisbury’s ancestor, Sir Robert Cecil, was involved in similar celebrations in Tudor times. “There is liquid history flowing through our city and next year we are going to make the most of it,” he said.
Asked what vessel he would be sailing in, Mr Johnson said that it depended on the results of the mayoral election the previous month, as he might not be in office by then. “It very much depends what status Captain Johnson occupies. It is quite possible that I will be in a coracle.”
Whatever the outcome, he hoped to see many people “on the River or on the banks of the River — which I think I can say, without fear of contradiction, are the most popular banks in London”.
• The Royal Collection is to launch a “Royal App” that will tell the story of seven royal weddings, from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, through key objects. These include the sapphire and diamond brooch given to Victoria by Albert on their wedding day and the Norman Hartnell wedding dress worn by the Queen. The app will be available to download for Apple and Android from April 18.