Queen's Platinum Jubilee to include extra bank holiday

The Queen is Britain's longest reigning monarch and the longest reigning living monarch in the world

A "once-in-a-generation show" over a four-day bank holiday weekend will mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

The Queen, 94, hopes as many people as possible across the UK will have the opportunity to join the celebrations, Buckingham Palace said.

She will have reigned for 70 years on 6 February 2022 but plans are in place to stage a series of events from 2-5 June.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said it would be a "truly historic moment" and deserved a "celebration to remember".

He added it would "bring the entire nation and the Commonwealth together."

The events will reflect the Queen's reign, the longest of any British sovereign, and her impact on the UK and the world since her accession to the throne in 1952.

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To create the four-day weekend in June 2022, the late May Spring Bank Holiday that year will be moved to Thursday 2 June and an additional Bank Holiday on Friday 3 June will be created.

Mr Dowden told MPs that ministers were working with the Royal Household, the devolved administrations and "leading creative minds" to make this a "jubilee weekend to remember - one that mixes the best of British ceremonial splendour and pageantry with cutting edge artistic and technological display".

He added there were also plans to plant trees across the UK to commemorate the occasion.

Past holidays for royal celebrations

2 June 1953 - The Queen's coronation

14 November 1973 - The wedding of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips

7 June 1977 - The Queen's Silver Jubilee

29 July 1981 - The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer

3 June 2002 - The Queen's Golden Jubilee

29 April 2011 - The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton

5 June 2012 - The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Members of the Royal Family are expected to take part in the celebrations over the extended weekend and in the run-up to it.

In keeping with tradition established with previous royal milestones, a Platinum Jubilee medal will be awarded to people who work in public service, including representatives of the Armed Forces, the emergency services and the prison services.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle announced plans to commemorate the anniversary in Parliament.

A stained-glass window was placed in the Palace of Westminster as a gift to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and a sundial was built in parliamentary grounds for the Golden Jubilee.

MPs and peers will be invited to fund the gift at their own discretion, Sir Lindsay said.

The Queen toured the country for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "The Platinum Jubilee offers an opportunity for the Queen to express her thanks for the support and loyalty Her Majesty has received throughout her reign.

"The Queen hopes that as many people as possible will have the opportunity to join the celebrations."

Like for the Queen's Golden and Diamond Jubilees, the first week in June has been chosen for the celebratory weekend, with the summer offering a better chance of good weather than February.

The Queen also became monarch on the day of the death of her father King George VI and and is known not to want to celebrate on the specific day of his anniversary.

The Queen marked her Golden Jubilee in 2002

The Royal Household and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) are organising the commemorations.

The DCMS has said "spectacular" moments in London and other major cities will be complemented by events in communities across the UK and the Commonwealth.

For the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012 a river pageant took place on the Thames

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