Sir Elton John and Duran Duran to perform at Party At The Palace on day three of Platinum Jubilee – but Queen to miss Epsom Derby
The Platinum Jubilee celebrations enter their third day on Saturday and, while many people will be enjoying street parties, this is what the royals will be doing:
The Queen will no longer attend the Derby Day at Epsom Down racecourse in Surrey, but the Princess Royal is expected to be at the event at 5.30pm.
The 96-year-old Queen is a huge horse-racing fan but will skip the 243rd running of the Derby because of “episodic mobility problems” which also forced her to miss Friday’s thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
She is likely to watch the racing event on television at Windsor Castle.
It is not yet clear whether the monarch will attend the Platinum Party At The Palace on Saturday evening but this is expected to be confirmed during the day.
The Earl and Countess of Wessex will attend a Big Jubilee Lunch on The Long Walk in Windsor. They will meet residents and groups of street performers.
During the weekend the couple will also travel to Northern Ireland to meet children taking part in multicultural street performances, participate in art and craft sessions, and hear people sharing their memories of meeting the Queen.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be in Cardiff. They will meet the crew behind a jubilee concert being held at Cardiff Castle, learning about the lighting, sound, and visual effects for the show.
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They will watch rehearsals and meet hosts Aled Jones and Shan Cothi. The show will feature Mike Peters from The Alarm, singer Bonnie Tyler, West End star John Owen Jones, drumming weatherman Owain Wyn Evans and the Pendyrus Male Voice Choir.
The performances finish at 7pm when the crowds can watch the Platinum Party At The Palace on giant screens in the castle grounds.
At 8pm, about 22,000 people will attend the Platinum Party At The Palace, which will include speeches by Prince Charles and Prince William.
Tickets have already been allocated – 10,000 to the general public and 5,000 to key workers – but the concert will be broadcast live on the BBC hosted by Kirsty Young and Roman Kemp. The royals will arrive at 7.40pm.
The concert lasts for two-and-a-half hours.
It will see the return of rock band Queen, whose guitarist Brian May performed on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the previous Party at the Palace in 2002. They will be accompanied by singer Adam Lambert.
Sir Elton John will feature in a pre-recorded performance, while other stars include Alicia Keys, Nile Rodgers, Andrea Bocelli, Duran Duran, Hans Zimmer, Ella Eyre, Craig David, Mabel, Elbow, George Ezra and the UK’s recent Eurovision star Sam Ryder.
There will be appearances by Sir David Attenborough, Stephen Fry, US Open winner Emma Raducanu, David Beckham, Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds, Dame Julie Andrews and members of the Royal Ballet.
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has curated a set of performances reflecting how Britain has changed throughout the Queen’s reign in the fields of fashion, music, sport, and the environment.
They will include an appearance by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and performances by the casts of The Phantom Of The Opera, Hamilton, Six, The Lion King and Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
What will the weather be like?
A yellow weather warning is in place for much of southern England until 10am on Saturday, with a risk of flooding, damage to building, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds.
A second round of thunderstorms is likely to miss the Platinum Party At The Palace in London during the evening, arriving instead just after the concert.
A second weather warning could still be issued for heavy rain, hail, and lightning across southern and central England and Wales for the evening, but the Met Office has said it will review the situation on Saturday morning.
Met Office meteorologist Steven Keates said: “It will be late evening so I think for events in London I wouldn’t want to completely discount a shower for, say, the Party at the Palace.
“I think at the moment it looks like a mostly dry picture and quite pleasant conditions.”
He added that those who remained out in the capital after the show faced an “increasing risk” of being caught in rain.
Scotland, meanwhile, is likely to see a sunny day with a high of 23C in the West Highlands and dry conditions continuing into Sunday.
Sunday will remain wet across southern and central England and Wales, with rain moving north as the day goes on. As the rain moves away, southern England will see some sunshine.
Saturday will see warm temperatures of around 19C and sunshine in Northern Ireland, with some cloud in the south. On Sunday, the skies will get cloudier with potential for rain in southern parts.
