A mist of red, white and blue shrouded the façade of Harrods as its new Jubilee-inspired window displays were unveiled.

In celebration of the Queen’s 60th year on the throne the London department store has temporarily replaced its famous green and gold canopies with shades of red and gold to frame 31 crowns designed by some of the world’s leading brands.

Over 100 of its employees lined the streets singing a rendition of God Save the Queen as the intricate artworks were seen for the first time. As the Streets of London came alive with decoration’s to honour our Queen.

                                           

Jewellers including Tiffany, De Beers, Chopard and Bvlgari were tasked with producing versions of the regal headpiece. While Mulberry, Paul Smith, Escada, Lanvin, Roberto Cavalli and Valentino were recruited to represent the fashion world.

Mark Briggs, Harrods’ store image director, said: ‘We are delighted to be flying the British flag in celebration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne.

‘Harrods is proud of its British heritage and working with a host of world-class brands is the perfect way for the store to celebrate this momentous occasion.’

The shop will also be hosting an exhibition of gowns and a replica if the Queen’s Coronation satin dress. As well as new visual displays the Knightsbridge retail emporium will broadcast the national anthem from speakers on the side of the building every day for a month.

The tune will be played every day at midday from this Wednesday until Friday June 15 and during the actual Jubilee weekend of June 2 it will be sounded every hour on the hour between midday and 6pm. 

Harrods was sold for £1.5billion  to Qatar Holding in May 2010  following owner Mohamed al Fayed’s decision to retire. The sale ended the Egyptian’s 25-year ownership of the store.

Harrods was founded in 1834 as a wholesale grocery shop in the less than salubrious Stepney area of East London by Charles Henry Harrod, who had a special interest in tea.

He moved, in 1849, to a small shop on the site of the current store to escape the crime and vice of the East End, and to capitalise on trade from the Great Exhibition of 1851 in nearby Hyde Park.

The current store stands on a 4.5 acre site on Brompton Road in prestigious Knightsbridge, and has more than 1m square feet of selling space, spanning more than 330 departments.

                                Kyle MacDonald.

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 Dear Mr Cameron,

I am writing this letter to ask you not to give up. I’m sorry about the rather disheartening elections on the 3^rd May, and the grim news on the economy. But please do not be deterred. I rather like your government.

            It has been rumoured that wings of the Conservative party are dissatisfied with your government’s liberal attitudes – namely regarding gay marriage/marriage equality and reform of the House of Lords. Apparently because it does not matter to ardent traditionalists it does not matter to anyone else. Apparently you’re considering abandoning these policies. Please don’t.

            They are matters too important to pander to the wholly undesirable wing of the Conservative party. Marriage equality and House of Lords reform are matters of Justice – of equality under the law and democracy. It seems wholly bizarre that the state ever got the power to regulate marriage in the first place. However, so long as the state does regulate marriage, it should be done Justly – seeing only individuals, not caring for gender or sex! Moreover, it was a marriage question of a certain Mr Henry Tudor which (arguably) shaped England/Britain into what it is today: a prosperous, independent nation!

            Thank you (whoever reads this) for taking the time to read this. I apologise for its rather clumsy nature.

Sincerely,

An optimistic liberal ,

Gareth Lewis Shelton

garethlewisshelton@gmail.com

Driving along the M4 from Heathrow to Central London recently I almost wept. 

For mile after heart-breaking mile there was litter strewn along the verges and central reservation. Bottles, drink cans, newspapers, food wrappings; thousands of drivers clearly feel no compunction at all about tossing the detritus of everyday life out of the car window and leaving it to somebody else to pick up. 

Shame on every one of them. The rubbish-strewn vista that results from their shocking lack of care is depressing enough for me, a working  man who had only been away for a few days and, sadly, knew what to expect. 

But what sort of impression will this scene of urban desolation make on visitors arriving in Britain for the first time? With the Olympic Games now less than 90 days away, I shudder to think.

That’s why I am so passionately behind the  Spring Clean For The Queen campaign. The Queen has worked so tirelessly for this country for 60 years, it seems the very least that we can do to give up some of our valuable time to have the country looking spick and span in time for her Diamond Jubilee.

But, my goodness, there’s a lot to be done. Travelling round the country, I’m horrified by the levels of litter you’ll find, often in areas that you’d expect to do much better.

I was in Brighton recently — home of the country’s only Green Party MP — and was appalled by the amount of litter in the streets. 

The city council will no doubt write and tell me it has invested in state-of-the-art pavement sweeping machines, but I saw those machines in action and, as far as I could see, all they did was sweep the rubbish from one part of the pavement to another. Hopeless.

But machines are not responsible for the litter problem in this country, people are. It’s the smokers outside office buildings who casually toss away their butts before going inside; it’s the revellers who think the best place for the carton and wrapping of their late-night burger is the gutter rather than the bin; it’s the thirsty teenagers who, having downed a can of something cold, just leave the empty can on the nearest flat surface.

Mostly it’s a British trend, that’s why I along with 30 others are hitting Barry beach tomorrow armed with black rubbish bags to at least clean it up for jubilee weekend.

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The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will be joined by senior members of the Royal Family – including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – for a glittering procession through the streets of London to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

The open-topped carriage ride will take place on Tuesday June 5 following a lunch in her honour as part of the extended Jubilee weekend celebrations, Buckingham Palace announced yesterday.

Ten thousand free tickets are being given away in a public ballot to watch the cavalcade from a seated area opposite Buckingham Palace most people would have received their’s by now.

The lucky recipients will also be in prime position to watch the monarch and her family as they take their places on the palace balcony for an RAF fly-past.

The day will begin with a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral followed by the lunch at Wesminster Hall, which will be attended by a number of representatives from livery companies who are sponsoring the event.

The vast majority of the 700-strong guest list, however, will be comprised from people all over the  Commonwealth whose trade, craft or profession are represented by one of the liveries as well as the charities such as L.G.B.T. and children service charity and schools they support, many service men and ex service men.

On leaving the hall the Queen and her husband will take their places in the beautiful 1902 State Landau followed by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and his wife,  Catherine, as well as Prince Harry.

They will be joined by a Sovereign’s Escort provided by the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in their breastplates and plumed helmets.

All three carriages will leave New Palace Yard and process up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, through Admiralty Arch and down the Mall before entering Buckingham Palace by the Centre Gates.

Members of the public are invited to line the route but five thousand pairs of ticket are also now available for a specially seated area which will capture all the pomp and pageantry of the day.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: ‘This really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and one that will be remembered for generations to come.

‘It’s completely right these seats are allocated in a fair way to the general public and that they are free of charge.

‘To have a ringside seat on such a historic day is an experience not to be missed.’

The seats available under the ballot will be around the Queen Victoria Memorial outside the Palace.

The procession will follow a Diamond Jubilee lunch in Westminster Hall where the senior royals will be joined by 700 guests.

Many will be from across the country, whose trade, craft or profession are represented by livery companies from the City taking part in the lunch. Charities, schools and other organisations supported by the companies will also be invited.

The carriages are expected to travel along Whitehall and the Mall with the way marked by more than 1,000 ‘street liners’ from the three services, joined by military bands. 

The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery will fire a 60-gun salute from Horse Guards Parade as the royals pass.

The events will be the culmination of the four-day bank holiday weekend which will see the Queen’s 60-year reign marked with a Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on June 3, followed the next day by a concert in front of Buckingham Palace which will feature acts including  Kylie Minogue and Bryan  May  who will make a new presentation of the National Anthem.

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The Olympic Flame will be  carried  by around 500 runners along more than 300 streets during its five-day tour of Wales.

It will arrive in Monmouth on May 25, six days after the relay starts in Lands End, before being carried through South and West Wales, up Cardigan Bay and across North Wales, leaving Welshpool on May 30.

The torch will stop overnight at Cardiff, Swansea, Aberystwyth and Bangor before the bearers run across North Wales to spend the night in Chester on 29 May.

Among the runners is the 74-year-old long-time community athletics organiser John Collins from Swansea. Other community workers across Wales are among those who have been chosen to carry the torch.

A free 16,000-ticket concert, Move to the Beat, will be held in

Cardiff’s Coopers Field on Friday, May 25, while Swansea, Aberystwyth and Bangor are all planning events.

Highlights of the relay in Wales include it being carried through Cardiff to Barry Island on through Bridgend and Swansea; a trip to the summit of Snowdon on the Snowdon Mountain Railway and a ride on the land train along the Promenade at Mumbles.

It will be carried up the cliff railway in Aberystwyth and by steam train between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Porthmadog.

The torch will also be carried on the back of a Ceredigion cob horse in Aberaeron and on a lifeboat between Beaumaris and Menai Bridge.

On its last day in Wales the torch will be carried on a hand-drawn boat across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, near Wrexham.

Organisers hope the 8,000-mile UK-wide relay involving 8,000 torchbearers will be the point when enthusiasm for the Games ignites across the country.

An average of 115 torchbearers a day will carry the flame during the nationwide relay, from May 19 to July 27, to the opening ceremony in Stratford, east London.

Details on the two-day finale to the 70-day relay, which brings the Olympic Flame to the lighting of the cauldron to start the Games, are being kept under wraps until closer to the start of the relay at Lands End on May 19.

High-flying activities await some torchbearers as the flame will abseil down the Dock Tower at Grimsby and swoop off the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle Gateshead on a zip wire.

Restoration work to the Flying Scotsman means that the Scots Guardsman train will now take the flame on its journey between York and Thirsk.

It will also be taken on a skywalk at Croke Park as it visits Dublin on June 6 in its only stop outside of the UK.

The overall route has been designed to also take in cultural institutions such as the Turner Gallery in Margate and Cass Sculpture Park at Goodwood as well as many of sporting stadia and racecourses.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said: The flame symbolises the Olympic spirit and it

journey around the UK will bring the excitement of the Games to our streets; It will even be carried past Buckingham Palace so her Majesty will view it’s final journey to the Stadium.

Now the people know the route the Olympic Flame will be carried along and the torchbearers for their community, they can start planning how they might celebrate.

See when and where the Olympic Flame will travel across Wales at www.london2012.com/olympic-torch-relay-map

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The skies of Britain will turn red in just a  weeks time as more than  5,000 beacons are lit across the land to celebrate the Queen’s six decades on the throne.

In what is set to be a memorable moment her majesty will trigger the lighting of the final beacon by placing a huge crystal into a specially designed pod at a Jubilee concert given in her honour outside Buckingham palace.

Big name stars including Stevie Wonder, JLS , Sir Elton John  and Kylie Minogue will perform in the shadows of Buckingham Palace before the Queen steps on to the stage in front of a crowd of thousands to light the last beacon near the mall at 10.30pm on June 4.

                                           

Bruno Peek, Pageant-master of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee beacons, said the number of communities who had registered to hold celebration bonfires was ‘truly amazing’ and easily surpassed the  4000  they hoped to attract.

Mr Peek, who organised the Golden Jubilee beacons in 2002, delivered the crystal to the Tower of London last night during a lavish ceremony.

Hadrians wall will be lit with 60 beacons

He said: ‘Our aim was to light 2,012 beacons because 2,012 have never been lit before, but by the end of the night we will have over 5,000 - that’s truly amazing.

‘Last night was the closing date for the beacons and the number came to  nearly 5000 but I’ve been emailed a spread sheet with 40 more.

‘The beacons will be lit from around the world on Monday, June 4 from Tonga to the Falkland Island and Malta to Kenya  Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and even in Hong Kong China’ “She is the last reigning monarch of the old British Empire and probably the first of the British Commonwealth.

The network of beacons that will criss-cross the UK will be placed on historic landmarks, hill-top vantage points and famous mountains.

On Hadrian’s Wall 60 beacons will be lit in sequence - one for each year of the Queen’s reign.

The highest peaks of the UK’s four nations will be lit up to mark the 60-year milestone by teams from four charities.

Forces charity Help for Heroes will conquer Ben Nevis in Scotland, Walking With The Wounded will climb Snowdon in Wales, Cancer Research UK plan to scale England’s Scafell Pike, while Field of Life take on Northern Ireland’s highest peak of Slieve Donard in the Mourne mountain range in County Down.

There will also be beacons on the battlements of the Tower of London, at St James’s Palace, Lambeth Palace, on the parapet of Windsor Castle, on the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park, at Sandringham, as well as at Balmoral, Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyroodhouse and at Killyleagh Castle in Northern Ireland and in Cardiff Wales a beacon will be lit at 10-30pm as soon as the Queen lights hers at Buckingham Palace.

The Treetops Hotel in the Aberdare national park in Kenya - where the Queen was told by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1952 her father George VI had died and she was now monarch - will also light a beacon.

Mr Peek delivered the diamond-shaped crystal to the Tower at the head of the massed bands of the Sea Cadets.

Two original works were performed in the grounds of the famous fortress - a bugle fanfare called Diamond Salute written by cadets from Portland and a march - Cadets on Parade - composed by 16-year-old Leading Cadet Holly Frazer-Morris, from Sutton Coldfield.

Four Yeoman Warders escorted him to the Broad Walk, where he handed the diamond to Lord Dannatt, the former head of the Army, now Constable of the Tower.

It was delivered on a tasselled cushion, surrounded by a crown gilded with 22-carat gold, both designed for the event.

The Pageant-master told the peer: ‘I bring you the Jubilee crystal diamond for safe keeping here at the Tower of London in readiness for Her Majesty to use it to light the national beacon.’

The crystal will go on public display in the 11th century white tower until it is taken to Buckingham Palace on June 4.

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pogonophiles:

Gloriana completed, flying our National flags and looking glorious.

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Welsh immigrants, particularly in North America, were under immense pressure to learn the English language and adopt the ways of the emerging American industrial culture.

When they had mastered the language, they would rapidly disperse into the country on the lookout for new opportunities.

As a relatively small immigrant group, they tended not to meet other Welsh people after that, and by the second generation, immigrants were often fully assimilated into the American way of life.

Michael D Jones, a Welsh nonconformist minister and ardent nationalist recognised this pattern amongst immigrants to the United States and decided to do something about it.

Michael Jones founder of welsh colony in Patagonia

Initially, he organised societies to help the Welsh retain their identity, but rapidly realised that the forces for assimilation were too strong and proposed that only a unified Welsh colony could preserve the Welsh language and culture.

The first choice for the new colony was Vancouver Island, in Canada, but gradually an alternative destination began to be considered which seemed to have everything the colonists might need. The new choice was Patagonia, Argentina.

The first group of settlers, about 150 people gathered from all over Wales, sailed from Liverpool to Patagonia aboard the tea-clipper Mimosa, landing in New Bay (Port Madryn) on 28 July 1865.

Unfortunately, they found that Patagonia was not the friendly and inviting land they had been led to believe. They had been told that it was much like lowland Wales, but there was no water, very little food and no available shelter.

Allegedly, the settlers’ first homes were shelters cut out of the soft rock of the cliffs in the bay. They struggled to reach the proposed site for the colony in the River Chubut valley about 40 miles away, and eventually the first permanent settlement was established at Rawson at the end of 1865.

But their trials were not over. Floods, bad harvests, arguments over the ownership of land and the lack of a direct route to the ocean where they could export their goods and import necessities made life very difficult.

Many decided to move to other areas to try their luck, and as a result the population at Rawson decreased. One of the settlers went back to Wales as well as the United States and recruited new settlers for the colony.

As a result, a small vessel called the Electric Spark carried 33 new settlers from Pennsylvania in 1874 and joined a group of 49 settlers who had come from Wales. By the end of 1874, the settlement had a population of 273.

In 1875, the Argentine government finally granted the Welsh settlers official title to the land, and this encouraged people to join the colony.

Over 500 people from Wales - mostly from the south Wales coalfield, which was undergoing a severe depression - made the journey to Chubut from 1875-1876. A further 27 settlers arrived from New York.

By 1876, the population numbered 690. Of these, 135 were second generation Welsh and 35 were non-Welsh settlers. Most road signs are in Welsh and bilingually in Spanish most Argentinian travellers think their in another country when they drive through it and often stop to have a meal and talk to locals.

The influx of willing hands meant that plans for a major irrigation system in the Lower Chubut valley could finally go ahead. The new irrigation system revolutionised agriculture in the area and contributed greatly to its rapid expansion and later success.

There were other substantial migrations during the periods 1880-1887. In the period 1904-1912, a considerable number joined the Welsh colony in response to continued economic depression and insecurity in the south Wales coalfields.

However, other nationalities were also beginning to settle in Chubut in greater numbers and the colony’s Welsh identity began to be  grow. By 1915, 50 years after the original settlers landed at Port Madryn, the population of Chubut had grown to 23,000 with about half of these being foreign immigrants.

The Lower Chubut valley - so inhospitable and barren when they landed 50 years previously - had been transformed by the Welsh settlers into one of the most fertile, productive agricultural areas in Argentina, and they had expanded the territory into the Andean foothills into the settlement known as Cwm Hyfryd.

Of the 12,000 people living in the Lower Chubut Valley, only about 4,000 were Welsh. The success of the Welsh colony and government initiatives to encourage economic growth in the area had attracted European immigrants from Spain and Italy as well as a massive influx of Argentine nationals and small numbers of Chileans.

During the next 50 years of the Welsh settlement, many of the institutions which had been established in the early days of the colony, such as the Co-Operative Society, were split into factions by arguments. The unity of the community - so important to Michael D Jones, whose dream they had worked so hard to realise - still began to  grow .

But despite  problems, the community still survives. It has recently been the subject of a co-ordinated attempt by the Argentine government and the National Assembly of Wales to promote and maintain its distinctly Welsh heritage and identity; 

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The Queen’s waxwork  figure was unveiled at Madame Tussauds in London this morning following a £150,000 makeover.

But eagle-eyed observers have suggested that the new statue, which will be the Queen’s 23rd likeness at the world-famous waxwork museum, has been aged. Indeed, some suggest that the new statue now has more wrinkles than the monarch has in real life.

The makeover was carried out in honour of the Diamond Jubilee to mark the monarch’s 60 years on the throne. While the 86-year-old monarch did not sit for the recreation she did send over her measurements and approvals for different aspects of the sculpture.

A Jubilee tribute: Queen’s new waxwork is unveiled at Madame Tussauds London today, with the monarch’s face looking slightly more lined than it was in previous incarnations

Family affair: The Queen’s updated waxwork can be found in the Royal room alongside a youthful-looking Prince Philip, whose waxwork was not given a makeover to bring it up to date, and the other members of the Royal family, including the recently revealed statues of William and  Catherine

Artists spent hours poring over a recent portrait of the Queen that was taken to mark her Jubilee. 

The look of the statue was modelled on the portrait, but artists used dozens of other photographs as well as video footage and measurements formerly taken of the monarch in order to create the finished result. 

Every hair on the Queen’s head will have been added individually by hand, and every detail of her hair and make up recreated by a team of perfectionist artists.

Her clothing and jewellery has been faithfully recreated - the dress encrusted with 53,000 Swarovski Elements crystals - and her blue silk sash an exact replica, adorned with The Queen’s Garter Badge and topped off with a copy of the diamond and pearl George IV State Diadem.

Her pose and gesture, settled on after hours of research, ensure that the resulting waxwork appears natural and instantly familiar. 

Principal Sculptor, Steve Swales, who created the Queen’s previous figure and attended a sitting at Buckingham Palace in 2001, commented: ‘It is extremely exciting to create a wax figure of Queen Elizabeth II and understandably rather nerve-racking too.

‘Meeting the Queen at our last sitting was an invaluable help in creating this figure. 

‘She was very relaxed and warm and I’ve tried to portray that, whilst maintaining a sense of majesty. Her expression is soft, as if she is just about to break into a smile. I hope she approves of the end result.’

Buckingham Palace was involved during the creative process of this new figure, with images of the clay head sent to the Palace.

‘We have a had a close relationship with the British Royal family since Madame Tussauds first opened its doors in Baker Street in 1884 and it has grown in strength ever since,’ remarked Liz Edwards, PR Manager at the attraction. 

‘We have created more figures of Queen Elizabeth II than anyone else in Madame Tussauds’ history, with the first figure created when she was just two years old. In such an iconic year for The Queen we are thrilled to welcome this new figure to the attraction and we are sure our guests will be excited to get a closer look at our beloved Monarch’.

It can be found in the  Royal area alongside her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Harry and new figures of her Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge that were revealed last month

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Children celebrate St David’s Day in traditional welsh costumes, but it’s their costumes here in Patagonia. Which is the only Welsh colony in the world, and their first Language is Welsh not English or Spanish

Young people from north Wales are following the trail of pioneers who set off for Patagonia over 150 years ago.

The 19-strong party will spend two weeks in the Welsh colony in Argentina.

While their forebears sailed in the ship Mimosa, the group are flying, although they are offsetting their carbon footprint with tree-planting.

The visit is arranged by Urdd Gobaith Cymru with the support of Menter Iaith Welsh language initiatives in Anglesey, Conwy and Denbigh.

In Patagonia the group will help both with Welsh language classes and to assist local people getting ready  for the Trelew Eisteddfod in Patagonia.

Windpower Wales is supporting a programme of Urdd Gobaith Cymru schemes such as this one.

The tree-planting will be carried out at Windpower Wales’ operations centre at Hendre Llwyn y Maen Farm, near Llangernyw Abergele, Conwy county.

Elin Prys, 16, a student at Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy, called it a “fantastic opportunity to carry out voluntary work through the medium of the Welsh language”.

welsh school in Gaiman Patagonia teaching through the welsh Language.

She said the carbon footprint of the Mimosa had been very small by comparison with the effect of the group’s 20-hour flight to Patagonia.

But she said that “whilst it is important to retain cultural connections with Y Wladfa (the colony), it is equally important that we are aware of how flying all over the world affects our carbon footprint”.

Gaiman, a town of some 8,000 people, is the main Welsh settlement in the lower Chubut valley. Many of its shops and businesses, like this bread shop, have Welsh names and it seem’s Wales had forgot it’s colony in Argentina.

Surprisingly enough they never forgot Wales their mother land; and Wales is now sending them Aid with many things including teachers to learn and teach.

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     Kyle:

fruit

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The Olympic Flame was officially handed over to London today in an Athens ceremony, featuring a 2012 delegation including David Beckham, Boris Johnson and Her Royal Highness Princess Anne.

The historic event took place in a rain-hit sundown ceremony at the Panathenaic stadium in Athens, venue of the first modern Olympics in 1896.

But the flame stayed lit and will now make its way back to the UK where it will start a 70-day 8,000 mile relay around Britain.

                                         

Accepting the flame: Princess Anne raises a torch with the Olympic Flame next to Spyros Kapralos, head of the Greek Olympic Committee

Accepting the flame: Princess Anne raises a torch with the Olympic Flame next to Spyros Kapralos, head of the Greek Olympic Committee

Accepting the flame: Princess Anne raises a torch with the Olympic Flame next to Spyros Kapralos, head of the Greek Olympic Committee

There was also a chuckle from British people in the crowd as the announcer twice insisted on introducing Beckham as Sir David Beckham.

Speaking in a BBC interview carried out before the ceremony began, Anne said: ‘There’s an awful lot of people for who the torch relay is the signal, the beginning of what the Olympics is all about.’

But she insisted it was important to see the Games as an opportunity, rather than an extravagance - at a time of economic difficulty.

The princess added: “There has been an awful lot of employment maintained and to some extent increased largely as a result of the Games taking place.

‘And for some of those they will have gained skills because people have concentrated on the apprenticeship side of the equation…’

‘So yes I understand that it looks like an extravagance but if they recognise the way a lot of that money has been spent, it’s made a constructive impact on people’s lives, particularly those setting out.’

                                        
London Mayor Boris Johnson, meanwhile, described the event as an ‘an amazing day for us’.

He added: ‘This is the moment when we prepare to take thetorch and the eyes of the world are swivelling to London. I think they will seea city that has made phenomenal progress in getting ready … by any, London isextraordinarily well prepared.

In his speech, Lord Coe thanked the damp crowd in the stadium for Greece’s warm hospitality and also for ‘laying on the British weather for us’.

The past week had linked Britain and Greece in a ‘very special way in the spirit of peace and friendship’, he said.

Lord Coe added: ‘If the Olympic Games are about celebrating the best athletes in the world, the Olympic spirit is about celebrting the best in ourselves and in our communities.

‘We have found the very best torchbearers who, like Olympic athletes, will inspire a generation.

‘As we prepare to bring the flame to the UK, we are reminded of our responsiblity - like that of our predecessors in 1908 and especially 1948 - to stage Games that use the power of sport to unite the world in a celebration of achievement and inspiration in challenging times. A Games that will inspire the next generation to choose sport.’

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A newly released set of photographs from a 2012 photo-shoot gives us a glimpse of the Queen as we have rarely seen her.

In candid behind-the-scenes snaps taken by artist Chris Levine’s assistant Nina Duncan on a two-day shoot for his holographic portrait Equanimity, the Queen is shown smiling warmly The Photographer while calling her “Your Majesty” also affectionately said I must make these good “you are the Mother of us all”

The Queen smiled and said well I have been a Queen most of my life and called the Empress of the Commonwealth; but never Mother of my People, she smiled and said “I quite like that, I hope I have been a good Mother” 

Elsewhere, she is being helped into her clothes by her personal assistant Angela Kelly - a lavish set of costumes including the ermine-trimmed cloak she ultimately wore in the resulting portrait - and an opulent blue cloak.

Most endearingly of all, we are afforded a glimpse of the Queen positioning her crown - the Diamond Diadem, created for George IV and worn by Her Majesty for the procession to her Coronation in 1953 - in front of the mirror.

The snaps were taken by Nina Duncan when Levine was commissioned by the Island of Jersey to create a portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2011 to commemorate 800 years of allegiance to the crown by the Island.

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Some had to be smuggled past a revolutionary mob. Some had to be prised from the grasp of a royal mistress. The majority were presented as tokens of esteem, reverence and — for the most part — love to many Queen’s and Princess’s throughout British history; all now belong to  Queen Elizabeth II.

Together, they comprise surely the finest collection of diamonds in the world. And now, in honour of her Diamond Jubilee, the Queen has authorised the first public study and display of these dazzling symbols of majesty.

These are the ‘other Crown Jewels’, the ones which do not reside in the Tower of London. They live at Buckingham Palace, or wherever the Queen happens to need them. These diamonds are not set in ceremonial regalia like orbs or sceptres, restricted to royal rituals.

They are ‘heirlooms of the Crown’, the Monarch’s personal jewels – handed down from Queen to Queen — and worn for everything from a royal awayday to a family wedding or a state banquet.

Some are instantly recognisable, like the Girls Of Great Britain And Ireland Tiara, a wedding present to Queen Mary in 1893 — and worn by the present Queen on her banknotes and coins.

Others are less well-known but equally well-loved. Queen Elizabeth’s Canadian Maple Leaf Brooch, for example, was a present from George VI to his wife ahead of their 1939 tour of Canada. On the cusp of war, this was no ordinary tour but a crucial diplomatic mission. 

The Queen Mother treasured the brooch until her death in 2002, whereupon it passed to the Queen. She, in turn, lent it to the Canada-bound Duchess of Cambridge last summer for her first royal tour, a touching and telling gesture of support. Amid all the excitement of the first ‘William and Kate’ excursion overseas, some commentators were too busy focusing on the Duchess’s wardrobe to notice the diamond cluster on her lapel.

But it was the brooch which told the more poignant story. There is a fascinating history to every one of almost 100 pieces included in The Queen’s Diamonds, by Sir Hugh Roberts, former director and now Surveyor Emeritus of the Royal Collection. 

Not only has he been allowed to handle these treasures with the Queen’s Curator of Jewellery, Angela Kelly, but he has had access to the archives and accounts of various royal jewellers, too.

So we learn the intriguing history of Queen Victoria’s Fringe Brooch, a stunning flower-cum-jellyfish which resulted from a visit by Sultan Abdul Mejid I of Turkey in 1856. Wanting to thank the Monarch for Britain’s role in the Crimean War, he gave her a set of diamonds — ‘very magnificent,’ she wrote. 

Victoria then spent £450 at the royal jewellers, Garrard, who set the stones in a rather racy chaine de corsage which she liked to wear on top of a low-cut bodice, bringing added sparkle to the royal embonpoint.

All that changed with the death of Prince Albert in 1861. ‘The chaine de corsage may have been considered too flamboyant by the Queen for her widowed and withdrawn state,’ notes Sir Hugh. So, some of the diamonds were detached for use elsewhere while the rest of the chaine became a brooch, passed down through the generations. 

The Queen Mother wore it at the Coronation in 1953. The Queen continues to wear it to this day. It enjoyed a prominent outing only last year for the state banquet in honour of the President of Turkey, a regal nod to the Sultan’s generosity more than 150 years earlier.

Throughout history, monarchs have asserted their power and status with gold, silver, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and so on. And until the 17th century, it was the men who wore the finest pieces. By the 18th century, diamonds acquired greater prominence as cutting methods improved. 

And, with the exception of the compulsively extravagant George IV, it was the royal ladies who increasingly wore the baubles.

The first serious diamond-wearer was Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, who brought a substantial collection from her native Hanover to the British Court. 

‘The King never let her appear in public without them,’ Sir Hugh explains. But when her fifth son, Ernest, became King of Hanover, he demanded the return of the lot.
After a prolonged legal battle (conducted in the British courts), the gems went back to Hanover in 1857. ‘Queen Victoria was horrified,’ Sir Hugh reflects. 

But she also enjoyed the fruits of British imperial expansion across some of the richest diamond fields in the world. Substantial rocks were presented to the Royal Family as ‘tributes of Empire’, not least the Koh-i-Nur from Lahore.

Diamonds were the new royal gold. And, after Albert’s death, the Queen eschewed all forms of coloured jewellery, sticking to diamonds and pearls instead. 

At the same time, the future Queen Alexandra — then Princess of Wales — was setting new trends in jewellery design. Thanks to her, the dog-collar necklace became the order of the day (it was actually her way of covering up a scar on her neck).

In 1905, South Africa produced the largest specimen ever found, the Cullinan Diamond. It was duly presented to Edward VII and cut into nine major stones, ranked in order of size.
Alexandra liked to wear the two largest as a colossal brooch, although subsequent monarchs have taken a less frivolous attitude. 

Today ‘Cullinan I’, the Star of Africa, sits in the Queen’s Sceptre while ‘Cullinan II’ – the Second Star of Africa – is in her Imperial State Crown.

But the rest — often known in the family as ‘Granny’s Chips’ — were reset in various jaw-dropping brooches. Cullinan VII, meanwhile, is to be found with a string of emeralds (won by an earlier Duchess of Cambridge in a German state lottery, would you believe) dangling from a fabulous thing called Queen Mary’s Delhi Durbar Necklace.

If anyone could be described as the true Queen of diamonds, it was Queen Mary.

Long before her husband became George V, she already had a substantial collection of her own. Indeed, at the time of her wedding in 1893, the public display of gifts included three tiaras, 26 bracelets, 44 brooches and 15 necklaces.

She also inherited some jewels from her mother, the Duchess of Teck. Others, however, had been left to Mary’s wayward brother, Prince Francis of Teck. He died young in 1910, having left his share of the family gems to his mistress, Lady Kilmorey (a former squeeze of Edward VII). 

Mary was having none of this and insisted on paying whatever it took to retrieve her beloved mother’s rocks from the frisky Lady K.

One of these reclaimed treasures, The Duchess of Teck’s Emperor of Austria Brooch, would go on to be a firm favourite of our present Queen – whether for family photo shoots with Cecil Beaton or for last year’s State banquet in honour of President Obama.

Queen Mary was always dreaming up new uses for her diamonds. Nearly 30 years after her wedding, she merged two wedding presents – a £170 diamond brooch from the people of Swansea and another from the Maharaja of Kapurthla – into what is now known as Queen Mary’s Stomacher.

Many of the world’s finest diamonds belonged to the Romanovs. But as the Russian revolution unfolded, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna used an English aristocrat to smuggle out her prize specimens to relatives on the continent. In 1921, Queen Mary bought several pieces, including the Vladimir Tiara, still in regular use.

Often, though, she would just go shopping. Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Brooch, for example, was the result of a trip to Garrard — where she paid £345 for it in 1933. The present Queen often wears it for special family occasions, notably the weddings of Prince William and Princess Margaret.

Throughout the 20th century, the royal jewellery collection continued to receive welcome additions from wealthy admirers. Most generous of all was the society hostess, Mrs Ronnie Greville, the childless widowed daughter of a brewing magnate. 

On her death in 1942, she left her jewellery box (it was actually a tin trunk) to Queen Elizabeth. The collection stretched to more than 60 superb pieces, many from Cartier where Mrs Greville would regularly spend tens of thousands of pounds.

However, when a State occasion demands it, she is happy to bring out the biggest and the best.
She herself has made some important additions to the collection. Among her wedding presents was the Nizam of Hyderabad Necklace and Rose Brooches (despite his generosity, the Nizam never made it to the wedding). 

As a Princess, she was also the recipient of the Williamson Diamond Brooch, a platinum flower sprouting the finest pink diamond ever found.

This 23.6-carat wonder was unearthed in Tanzania by Dr John Williamson, a Canadian geologist and ardent monarchist, who gave it to the Queen as a wedding present. She, in turn, wore it to the weddings of the Prince of Wales, Prince Edward and Lord Linley.

More recent gifts include the King Khalid Necklace, presented to the Queen during a visit to Saudi Arabia in 1979. It was one of many pieces which the Queen would lend to the Princess of Wales.

The book also tells the touching story of the Queen’s Flame Lily Brooch, a 21st birthday present from the children of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Every child in the former colony donated a ‘tickey’ — a three-pence coin — to raise the funds. 

And it was this brooch which she chose to wear for her dramatic homecoming in February 1952, as she set foot on British soil for the first time as Queen.

As this superb book illustrates, these are not simply jewels. Each has played its own part, large or small, in British royal history. And in a couple of months, we can see them for ourselves when a selection of these pieces form the centrepiece of this summer’s Buckingham Palace exhibition. 
After all, you can’t have a Diamond Jubilee without some diamonds.

The Queen’s Diamonds by Hugh Roberts is published by Royal Collection Publications (£60); Buckingham Palace and the exhibition, Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration, open from June 30–July 8 and  July 31–October 7, 2012.  Further information: www.royalcollection.org.uk

(Source: Denny Guardiantumblr.com)