Queen celebrates Diamond Jubilee with Commonwealth leaders

04 June 2012
News

Commonwealth Heads of Government will present HM Queen Elizabeth II with a commemorative gift to mark her 60 years as Head of the Commonwealth

HM Queen Elizabeth II will be joined by Commonwealth Heads of Government in celebrating her 60 years as Head of the Commonwealth at a lunch at the Commonwealth Secretariat’s headquarters on Wednesday, 6 June 2012.

The lunch is hosted by Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma at Marlborough House in London, UK, where Heads of Government will present the Queen with a commemorative gift.

High Commissioners, Heads of Commonwealth organisations and former Commonwealth Secretaries-General will also attend the event.

During the day, the Queen and guests will be entertained by the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and British singer Laura Wright, who will perform ‘Stronger as One.’

The song was written to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and focuses on the Commonwealth.

Photos of the event will be available from 1330 hrs GMT on Flickr.

Video footage will be available at 1550 hrs at http://comseccpad.livedrive.com/

A video package will be available at the end of the day via our website: www.thecommonwealth.org and YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/commonwealthtube

The lunch follows four days of Diamond Jubilee festivities including events celebrating the Commonwealth.

On 2 and 3 June 2012 acts from across the Commonwealth performed on the Commonwealth Stage at the Jubilee Family Festival at Hyde Park, London.

On 3 June up to 1,000 boats from the UK and Commonwealth countries escorted the Queen, travelling on a royal barge with Mr Sharma, down the River Thames in London for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.

‘Stronger as One’ was cited by Her Majesty in her Commonwealth Day message this year as supporting this year’s Commonwealth theme ‘Connecting Cultures’.

Recording label Decca Records will donate a minimum of 50p from every digital single to The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust.

And on 4 June a network of over 4,000 beacons were lit by communities throughout the Commonwealth and UK Overseas Territories in the Diamond Jubilee Beacons.

We welcome your Diamond Jubilee stories. Send us photos, videos and comments on celebrations from your region of the Commonwealth to [email protected] or Facebook and we’ll feature a selection