British pop superstar Ed Sheeran will headline the finale of four days of public celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s record-breaking 70-year reign, organisers said on Tuesday.
The multi-award-winning singer-songwriter has been booked to deliver the climax of the so-called “People’s Pageant” outside the 96-year-old monarch’s Buckingham Palace home on Sunday, June 5.
Sheeran, who performed at the queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations for her 60th year on the throne in 2012, said he was “proud” to be part of the festivities in her Platinum year.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity to bring everyone together,” he added.
His musical tribute at the Queen Victoria Memorial outside the palace will top off a set-piece parade along a 1.9-mile (three-kilometre) route through central London.
More than 10,000 people will be involved, including over 6,000 performers and volunteers, in a televised event that organisers hope will be watched by up to a billion people worldwide.
Highlights of the four-part pageant include an aerial artiste performing under a giant helium balloon emblazoned with an image of the queen, and a huge moving wedding cake belting out Bollywood hits.
A six-metre-high puppet of the queen as a young princess will be accompanied by a pack of puppet corgis, while some 1,750 military personnel from across the Commonwealth and 200 horses will also ply the route.
Jivers, hippies, teddy boys, glam rockers, punks, new romantics, ravers and Britpoppers will take part in a procession celebrating seven decades of changing British culture, music and fashion.
There will be fleets of iconic cars from James Bond films dating back to the 1960s, and cultural icons from her reign, including Shirley Bassey and Cliff Richard.
And her 1953 coronation will be reimagined as a Caribbean-style carnival.
Pageant master Adrian Evans promised a “joyful event”.
