The Queen was joined by her family as they congregated on the Buckingham Palace balcony to mark her impressive seventy-year reign on Thursday afternoon.

In her first royal balcony event, the 96 year old was joined by her children Princess Anne and Prince Charles, as well as Kate Middleton and Prince William and their brood of three.

The celebrations on Thursday mark Her Majesty's 70-year reign began on Thursday.

This year, the impressive display included a parade from the military horses and a flypast helmed by Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, on behalf of his 96 year old grandmother.


The Trooping the Colour marked the beginning of a jam-packed bank holiday weekend of Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Starting at 10.45am, the parade featured over 1,200 officers and soldiers, 400 musicians and around 240 horses.

Brits have been given an extra day off to mark the once-in-a-lifetime occasion with street parties up and down the country set to take place in the coming days.

The Royals also have a busy schedule and on Friday morning, they'll attend a special service in honour of the Queen at St. Paul's Cathedral.


The Prince of Wales stood on the Queen’s right-hand side and the pair could be seen chatting and smiling ahead of the flypast.

Huge cheers of “hooray” erupted from the thousands of royal fans on The Mall in front of the palace.

As aircraft approached, the Queen could be seen looking ahead and smiling.

Meanwhile, Prince Louis waved towards the sky and could also be seen resting his chin in his hands.


Her Majesty was dressed in a dusky dove blue Charmelaine wool dress with pearl and diamante trim by Angela Kelly.

While she didn't attent the Trooping the Colour ceremony, she joined the Duke to Kent to inspect the military parade before being joined by her and other senior royals to watch the RAF flypast.

The Mall is a sea of Union Jack flags, party hats, plastic tiaras and handmade signs bearing messages to the Monarch.

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