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Commonwealth to light up for the Jubilee

J ubilee beacons will be lit in the capital cities of all 54 Commonwealth countries in June as part of the celebrations to mark 70 years of the Queen on the throne. Plans announced last week reveal that more than 1,500 fires will blaze across the UK alone, with the principal beacon located at Buckingham Palace.

The beacons will be lit on the evening of Thursday 2 June – exactly 69 years since the coronation – with the first ones being fired up in Wellington, New Zealand and Canberra in Australia before nations in the Pacific and Asia, followed by Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas take their turn.

Bruno Peek, pageantmaster of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Beacons, said the event celebrates the organisation as well as the monarch who heads it. “I am so excited that for the first time ever beacons will be lit across all 54 Commonwealth capitals to celebrate the Queen’s 70-year service as head of the association,” he said.