(Ottawa) Queen Elizabeth II has never hidden her affection for Canada, a country she visited 22 times during almost seven decades on the throne.
Posted at 3:27 p.m.
Now Canada is preparing to honor the 95-year-old monarch — Canada’s head of state and the world’s oldest crowned head — with a series of tributes to mark her 70-year reign, including lighting a cauldron giant in Ottawa.
The beacon is one of 1,500 that will be lit in capital cities across the Commonwealth and across the UK on June 2.
COVID-19 means Platinum Jubilee celebrations could prove more low-key than Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, which included street parties and concerts, her Golden Jubilee in 2002 or its Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
But a plan has already been drawn up in London for events across the Commonwealth, including Canada.
The anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne falls on February 6, but most celebrations are held in the first week of June due to the weather. His previous jubilee celebrations have all been held in the summer.
In Canada, plans for June 2 include having town criers at 2 p.m. in towns across the country who proclaim “hear, hear” before reciting a specially worded proclamation in honor of the Queen’s historic reign, and to announce the lighting of the jubilee headlights that evening.
Just before the cauldron in Ottawa is lit, a bugle call composed for the jubilee and titled “Majesty” will be played. Before that, pipers from British Columbia to the Maritimes will play a composition by a well-known piper titled Diu Regnare — Latin words which could be translated as “a long reign”.
The Queen, born in 1926, ascended the throne in February 1952, aged 27, after the death of her father, King George VI. She sat on the throne longer than Queen Victoria.
The federal government is preparing “a series of initiatives to highlight the Queen’s remarkable 70 years of service,” said a spokeswoman for Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez. These initiatives should include the minting of a commemorative coin and the printing of a stamp.
The Department of Canadian Heritage has also created a Jubilee Fund offering grants of $5,000 for community projects to mark the occasion, such as a parade, the planting of a memorial tree, the holding of a concert or the organization of a festival of lights. Schools, universities, non-profit organizations and Indigenous governments are among those who can apply for funding.