Queen

The Queen will miss the St Paul's service but joined a beacon lighting ceremony on Thursday evening.

You can also get in touch in the following ways: How will you be marking the platinum jubilee? It's at short notice, with the programme for the church service already printed. The event begins at 11:30 BST on Friday, with coverage starting on BBC One from 09:15. It will be Prince Harry and Meghan's first royal event together since leaving the UK two years ago. Do you have alternative plans?

Buckingham Palace said Thursday the Queen experienced “some discomfort” during the first day of her Platinum Jubilee celebration and would sit out of the second ...

She swore to God on the day of her coronation ... so it'll mean a lot to her that there is this service and of course, she only couldn't come here if that's really absolutely the case." In the evening she participated in a beacon lighting ceremony from Windsor Castle. And while the Queen's absence was surely felt in the cathedral Friday, she was watching the proceedings on television from Windsor Castle, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told CNN. Even before jubilee events began, a royal source told CNN the monarch's presence would "not be confirmed until much nearer the time or on the day itself." It always has been," said CNN's royal historian Kate Williams. , the monarch rarely scrapped engagements at the last minute.

Charles stands in for his mother at St Paul's Cathedral in ceremony that pays tribute to her seven-decade reign.

After the service, as the congregation filed down the steps of St Paul’s, they passed the spot marking another queen’s absence from her own service. Shortly after the service it was announced that the Queen would not attend the Epsom Derby on Saturday. Princess Anne is expected to go in her place. And we are all glad that there is still more to come. They arrived by car shortly after the long line of other assorted royals who earlier had disgorged from a coach to file into the cathedral. Instead the couple were seen returning to Frogmore Cottage, their Windsor home. The symbolism of a great state service of thanksgiving for an absent Queen was not lost beneath the imposing dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. All the more so as the country was paying tribute to her seven decades of public service as Britain’s now longest-reigning monarch.

Archbishop of York says monarch is 'still in the saddle and we are all glad there is still more to come'

Key workers, charity volunteers and members of the armed forces were invited in recognition of their contributions to public life. Others in attendance included cabinet ministers, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, former prime ministers, and first ministers of the devolved governments. Drawing on the Queen’s well-documented love of horse racing, he told the congregation: “I don’t have any great tips for the Derby tomorrow, but since the scriptures describe life as a race set before us, let me observe that her long reign reflects the distance of Aintree more than the sprints of Epsom. Certainly, less dressage than most people imagine. The couple were greeted by huge cheers from the crowd outside as they walked, hand in hand, up the cathedral’s steps. But on Friday, members of her family were out in force. It was a service of thanksgiving for an absent Queen, a St Paul’s Cathedral celebration to mark the longest reign of any British monarch.

The queen herself skipped the event in London due to difficulties getting around that have limited the 96-year-old monarch's public engagements in recent ...

Harry and Meghan, who gave up royal duties and moved to California two years ago, kept a low profile during the jubilee events held Thursday, the first of four days of celebrations. Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell is set to deliver a sermon. People inside the church craned their necks to watch.