Queen's Platinum Jubilee People's Pageant: When is it? Is it on television? Who is performing in it? What is the route? What do each of the acts mean?

Here’s everything you need to know.

When is the Platinum Jubilee People’s Pageant?

It is today Sunday, June 5, between 2.30pm and 5pm with a preshow from 2pm to 2.30pm.

Where is the People’s Pageant?

The People’s Pageant will follow a 3km route. It starts from Whitehall, goes through Admiralty Arch, up The Mall to Buckingham Palace, around Queen Victoria Memorial and down Birdcage Walk.

How can I watch the People's Pageant?

It is on BBC1, with coverage starting at 1pm. An estimated 1bn people will tune in around the world.

What is the People’s Pageant?

It echoes the route of the Coronation procession 70 years ago. Travelling through the streets of Westminster, up the Mall and on to Buckingham Palace, the Pageant is the set to be the grand finale of the Platinum Jubilee weekend. The organisers say the Pageant has been made by the people and for the people with a 6,000-strong performing cast from across the UK and Commonwealth, celebrating The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee split into three acts.

Highlights will include an aerial artist suspended under a vast helium balloon, known as a heliosphere, bearing the image of the Queen.

Other key moments will be a giant oak tree flanked with maypole dancers, a huge moving wedding cake sounding out Bollywood hits, a towering dragon and three-storey-high beasts.

At one stage, the Queen will be imagined in her younger days with a 20ft puppet of a youthful princess, barefoot and carefree, surrounded by a pack of mischievous puppet corgis along The Mall.

Who is taking part in the Platinum Jubilee People’s Pageant?

The Platinum Jubilee Pageant Company says it has commissioned artists and communities from around the country and Commonwealth including military personnel, performers, key workers and volunteers from across the UK, who will come together to tell the story of The Queen’s 70-year reign and our transforming society.

From Scottish bagpipers, to school children in Birmingham, to creatives from Cardiff, to performers from Belfast, to dancers in Bristol, to students in Coventry, to puppeteers on the Isle of Wight, to carnival clubs in Somerset, the people of the UK and Commonwealth will come together to celebrate and honour Her Majesty.

How long have the preparations for the People’s Pageant being going on for?

Large-scale event organisers have been working on the Platinum Jubilee Project for 14 months. Their combined experience includes several Royal Pageants, Olympics and other historic events.

Adrian Evans, the pageant master is the creative visionary behind the pageant. He has been responsible for bringing together the 6,000 performers. He was also the Pageant Master for the 2012 Pageant.

Rosanna Machado, CEO is a specialist in the co-ordination of large-scale events as g8 summit and london olympic bid taking a strategic overview of complex projects for corporate, governmental, and charitable organisations in the UK.

Sir Michael Lockett KCVO, Co-Chair, is a British businessman, public relations expert, marketer and events organiser, responsible for the Golden jubilee concert and Diamond jubilee Pageant.

Show director David Zolkwer is a producer and director of public events and ceremonies and corporate brand activation experiences

The organisers say: ‘The Platinum Jubilee Pageant is a once in a lifetime moment encouraging people to come together to celebrate. It is both a celebration of Her Majesty The Queen who has dedicated her 70-year reign to service, as well as recognising the collective service of our country and communities.’

David Zolkwer, Show Director, The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant said: ‘This is very much a “People’s Pageant” – it’s by and from the people. It’s about ordinary people coming together from far and wide to do extraordinary things; real people with delightful, authentic stories to tell; taking centre stage in a spectacular performance filled with wonder, warmth, wit and so much humanity. It will be all about how, through the recollections and stories and experiences we share we can see how we are all connected – through time; to each other; and to The Queen.’

What’s going to happen in the People’s Pageant and what does each act mean?

There are four acts.

Act I: FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY 

To mark the beginning of the Pageant, the bells of Westminster Abbey will peal as they did on Coronation Day.  The Gold State Coach will be seen travelling through the streets of London for the first time in 20 years. The coach is a symbol of Coronation Day 70 years ago and is reminiscent of what the crowds would have seen in 1952. This will be followed by a military parade featuring UK Armed Forces from all three services accompanied by massed bands, along with military personnel from across the Commonwealth including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, Ghana, Belize, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, and beyond. With around 1,750 individuals and 200 horses, this will be one of the largest military spectacles in modern history, set to the sounds of nine military massed bands from across all three services.

Act II: THE TIME OF OUR LIVES   

The Time of Our Lives will showcase a jubilant procession, an evocation of the seven decades of The Queen’s reign. A cast of 2,500 volunteers and members of the public (the oldest of whom is 99) will celebrate how British and Commonwealth creativity and culture has evolved through the Queen’s reign from 1952 to 2022. With a showcase of youth culture, popular music, dance styles, changing fashion and all the trends, fads and crazes that defined the times. It will be a nostalgic demonstration of transforming society and take spectators on an epic journey through time, iconic British moments and extraordinary change and progress.  

An open-topped double decker bus, styled and wrapped in graphics depicting the icons, trends, personalities and news of the times will form the be the central feature highlighting each decade. These buses will be like a set of scrapbooks curated to capture our collective experience and the zeitgeist of the times.

The Time of Our Lives will also feature 150 ‘national treasures’ including TV personalities, musicians, chefs, sportspeople, designers and artists who have helped shape British culture of the last 70 years. All of the above will come together to create continuous 1.5km river of time.

ACT III: LET’S CELEBRATE   

Twelve chapters will tell the story of The Queen’s reign (such as the Coronation and the royal wedding), the and personal interests with which Her Majesty is associated. Harnessing creativity, ingenuity, humour and community spirit, it involves around 2,500 people drawn from communities across the UK. Each section is unique, combining street theatre, music-on-the-move, urban dance, and the very best of Carnival, May Day, Mela, Fiesta and Mardi Gras. It has been conceived as an interpretation and celebration of The Queen’s extraordinary life experience.

ACT IV: HAPPY AND GLORIOUS   

A finale will form around the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace with all parts of the Pageant leading to this moment. It will serve as an opportunity to gather and pay tribute to Her Majesty with the singing of the National Anthem, along with the London Community Gospel Choir to the sounds of the Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines.

Members of the viewing public will be invited to become part of the performance, as they gather around the Queen Victoria Memorial outside the gates of Buckingham Palace. The finale will feature national treasures from the world of the performing arts, entertainment, fashion, business and media. One of the world’s best-selling music artists, Ed Sheeran, will also be paying a special tribute to Her Majesty during the finale singing his hit single, Perfect.

What has Ed Sheeran said about the Pageant?

Ed Sheeran has revealed how past Jubilee celebrations inspired his musical career ahead of his performance at the Platinum Jubilee Pageant on Sunday.

Sheeran, 31, is among a number of famous faces lined up to perform at the Platinum Pageant, which involves 10,000 people, including the military, more than 6,000 volunteers, performers, key workers and 2,500 members of the public.

In a post on Instagram, the singer wrote: ‘20 years ago I decided I wanted to pick up a guitar because I watched the Golden Jubilee on TV, saw Eric Clapton play Layla and said, “that’s what I wanna do”.

‘10 years later I played The A Team at the Diamond Jubilee, and now 10 years on I’m playing the Platinum Jubilee this Sunday.

‘Life is weird how it keeps coming full circle in lovely ways. Tune in on Sunday and see ya there x’

Sheeran is set to perform his song Perfect during Sunday’s celebrations, as a tribute to the Queen and her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.

The song was originally released in 2017 on the singer’s Divide album.