Queen's Diamond Jubilee - update

Excitement is building for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the 1,000 boat parade on the Thames.

To give you a flavour here are just a couple of the flood of updates:

• The National Maritime Museum has an exhibition called Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames (see picture above)
• There's an article about the exhibition from curator and historian David Starkey about the Thames being 'liquid history'
• They say that nothing on this scale has been seen on the Thames since the days of Charles II
• It is expected to take 75 minutes for the flotilla to pass by on its way under 14 bridges
• To get really into the diamond spirit, CPO Diamond on HMS Diamond is to receive a Diamond Jubilee medal
• The lead boat will be the rowing barge Gloriana, powered by Olympic oarsmen Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent.
• A flyby is planned with the Royal Air Force spelling out ERII in the skies.
• Not all the boats will be joining the parade on the Thames: in particular those Tall Ships that are unable to fit under bridges will remain in the Pool of London - see video here.
• There's been gossip about how the Queen might actually be dreading "the ship thing"
• The mayor certainly isn't dreading the day, saying how it will be better than Dunkirk (well, duh)
• Security has been increased after the boat race fiasco
• The royal couple, William and Kate (bless), will be on-board the Queen ceremonial barge
• The barge will be decorate with a sculpture of Old Father Thames and decorated with half a million gold coloured buttons 
• As the boats pass the MI6 building the musical barges will play the theme from James Bond and the Dambuster's theme as they pass the MoD building
• There's an App for that - yes, go to iTunes to download an application that describes the Thames over the route the regatta will take

There was also this post of mine about preparations - and yes, those mooring buoys are appearing as if the Thames has an outbreak of yellow spotted measles.

Any more good links?


Picture from: the NMM