The UK government will propose a four-day Bank Holiday weekend to celebrate the 70th anniversary of The Queen’s reign in June 2022, the UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced on Thursday. According to the statement, the weekend, instead of coinciding with her accession to the throne on 6 February, will be moved to Thursday, 2 June (the 69th anniversary of her coronation) with an additional Bank Holiday on Friday, 3 June.
Dowden said that Her Majesty’s platinum jubilee would be a historic moment and "one that deserves a celebration to remember". He added that the Government would put on a "once-in-a-generation" show, using cutting-edge art and technology.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many people started voicing concerns over the Queen’s health, since she did not come back to Buckingham Palace as she has usually done after her summer break at Balmoral in Scotland. This time she reportedly decided to stay a little bit longer at her Sandringham estate in Norfolk as a quarantine measure.
Elizabeth II was born on 21 April 1926, the daughter of Albert Duke of York and granddaughter of King George V. When her uncle Edward VIII abdicated, her father became George VI and she, heir presumptive. She became Queen while she was in Kenya on a state visit on her father’s death in 1952. On 9 September 2015, she surpassed her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the longest-reigning monarch. On 6 February 2017, she became the first British monarch to celebrate 65 years on the throne.