MONDAY, 04 JUNE 2012 12:41
About 12,000 people are expected at Buckingham Palace later for a picnic ahead of a star-studded concert to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
Sir Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Sir Elton John are among the artists, and Madness will perform on the roof.
The audience will comprise of people who got tickets in a public ballot and those from charities with royal links.
The show will end with Queen lighting one of about 4,500 beacons across the world marking her 60-year reign.
Beacons across the Commonwealth are being lit at 2200 local time, with Tonga in the South Pacific due to be the first country to ignite its tribute.
In the afternoon, 10,000 ballot winners and 2,000 VIPs will enjoy a picnic in the gardens of Buckingham Palace created by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal and royal chef Mark Flanagan.
Individual hampers handed out to each of the guests will contain tea-smoked Scottish salmon, chilled garden soup, a coronation chicken-inspired dish, and strawberry crumble made from fruit grown on the Queen's Sandringham estate.
There will also be cupcakes created by Fiona Cairns, who baked the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding cake, and cheese and biscuits.
The hampers were due to arrive at Buckingham Palace on Monday morning in a convoy of eight lorries after being assembled in Leicester overnight.
A union jack flag and plastic poncho, in case of rain, will also be included - but the forecast is for drier weather than on Sunday.
Thousands of people are also expected in central London later to watch the concert on big screens set up in the Mall and St James's Park, near Buckingham Palace, as well in Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square.
Several people set up tents in the Mall overnight.
The concert on a stage set up around the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace follows Sunday's spectacular River Thames pageant which attracted hundreds of thousands of rain-soaked people to watch the flotilla of 1,000 vessels.
Sir Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Sir Elton John are among the artists, and Madness will perform on the roof.
The audience will comprise of people who got tickets in a public ballot and those from charities with royal links.
The show will end with Queen lighting one of about 4,500 beacons across the world marking her 60-year reign.
Beacons across the Commonwealth are being lit at 2200 local time, with Tonga in the South Pacific due to be the first country to ignite its tribute.
In the afternoon, 10,000 ballot winners and 2,000 VIPs will enjoy a picnic in the gardens of Buckingham Palace created by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal and royal chef Mark Flanagan.
Individual hampers handed out to each of the guests will contain tea-smoked Scottish salmon, chilled garden soup, a coronation chicken-inspired dish, and strawberry crumble made from fruit grown on the Queen's Sandringham estate.
There will also be cupcakes created by Fiona Cairns, who baked the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding cake, and cheese and biscuits.
The hampers were due to arrive at Buckingham Palace on Monday morning in a convoy of eight lorries after being assembled in Leicester overnight.
A union jack flag and plastic poncho, in case of rain, will also be included - but the forecast is for drier weather than on Sunday.
Thousands of people are also expected in central London later to watch the concert on big screens set up in the Mall and St James's Park, near Buckingham Palace, as well in Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square.
Several people set up tents in the Mall overnight.
The concert on a stage set up around the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace follows Sunday's spectacular River Thames pageant which attracted hundreds of thousands of rain-soaked people to watch the flotilla of 1,000 vessels.
