Crowds cheer queen at historic jubilee celebrations

LONDON, UK

Tens of thousands of people cheered Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday as she appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the first day of celebrations marking the British monarch's 70 years on the throne.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (R) stands with Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales to watch a special flypast from Buckingham Palace balcony following the Queen's Birthday Parade, the Trooping the Colour, as part of Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee celebrations, in London on June 2, 2022. PHOTOS/ AFP

The 96-year-old queen's appearance at the Platinum Jubilee, a milestone never previously reached by any British monarch, had been in doubt due to illness and recent mobility problems.

But dressed in dove blue, her hands clasped on a walking stick, she took a salute from the centuries old Trooping the Colour military parade in central London as the royal standard fluttered in bright sunshine.

After gun salutes and a fly-past of military aircraft, she made a second appearance with her immediate heirs, princes Charles, William and George, and close family members.

The Mall below was awash with red, white and blue union flags, with some die-hard royal fans camping for days to be in prime position for the display of pomp and pageantry.

But many acknowledged the coming end of an era in what some feel could be the last major public event of her long reign.

"We know it's a special occasion because it might be the last day we'll see Her Majesty in a public event," ambulance service worker Gilbert Falconer, 65, told AFP after travelling from Scotland.

Recognition of the queen's unprecedented reign saw tributes from political and religious leaders from across the world, including the leader of pro-Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland.

Michelle O'Neill's message, praising the queen's "significant" contribution to the peace process would have been unthinkable before the 1998 peace deal that ended years of violence over British rule.

Sinn Fein was the political wing of the Irish Republican Army paramilitary group, which blew up the queen's cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, in 1979.

The queen, a keen horsewoman, has previously taken the salute in person at Horse Guards Parade, the site a short ride down The Mall where king Henry VIII once jousted.

But her 73-year-old son and heir Prince Charles stepped in this year, in the latest public sign of his future role as king.

Joining him at the parade of the colour or regimental flag of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards was his sister Princess Anne, 71, and his eldest son, Prince William, 39, both in ceremonial uniform.

Senior royals watching included Charles' younger son, Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan, on a rare visit from California.

They kept a low profile and the queen's disgraced second son, Prince Andrew, 62, did not join them. - AFP