Tag: Royalty

Crown Jewels light and sound show to tour UK and ‘bring magic of Coronation to millions’

Crown Jewels to be projected onto Tower of London before touring iconic landmarks across the four nations

  • The move is part of events to mark Their Majesties The King and The Queen Consort’s Coronation celebrations which will see more than 100,000 people attend live screenings of the event next month at 57 UK sites
  • It is also revealed today that 50,000 Coronation Big Lunches to mark the event are expected

A new immersive light and sound show displaying the Crown Jewels on iconic UK landmarks will tour the country as part of plans to tell the story of coronations to thousands of people.

‘Crown and Coronation’, produced by Historic Royal Palaces and Luxmuralis, will explore the history of coronations in an immersive visual and musical show which it is planning to project on some of the country’s most famous landmarks and locations.

The programme will launch by being projected onto the Tower of London in Autumn before touring the length and breadth of the country.

In addition, the Government has today confirmed additional screening sites for the Their Majesties’ Coronation, bringing the total to 57 in locations including Ely Cathedral, Trinity Market in Hull and Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, meaning that more than 100,000 people will be able to watch the Coronation live in their hometowns.

To mark the Coronation weekend, communities are being encouraged to come together for street parties on the Sunday and across the UK more than 32,000 Coronation Big Lunch packs have been ordered with around 50,000 neighbourhood events, attended by millions of people, being planned.

Eighty per cent of those signing up are first-time organisers. Plans include a youth centre Big Lunch in Shetland to community focused celebrations across the water in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. A community carnival is being planned in Morecambe and a Big Lunch paddle board will take place in Bude, Cornwall.

There will also be hundreds of thousands of opportunities to take part in The Big Help Out on the additional Bank Holiday granted to celebrate the Coronation on Monday 8th May.

The project aims to ensure the Coronation leaves a lasting legacy in communities by inspiring and recruiting a new generation of volunteers. Opportunities include the chance to volunteer in your local community, with everyone from the Scouts, Royal Voluntary Service and Guide Dogs to the smallest local volunteering groups already signed up.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: “The Coronation marks the beginning of a new chapter in our magnificent national story. It promises to be full of memorable experiences for the whole country, with millions of us bearing witness to a moment of history for the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

“Every part of the United Kingdom should have a chance to see and feel the joy of the Coronation, and this giant light projection will give communities the chance to see precious centuries-old Royal treasures up close over the next year.

“With less than a month to go until Coronation weekend, there are countless opportunities for people to be part of it – whether it’s watching the service on a big screen in your community, hosting your own Big Lunch for family, friends and neighbours or volunteering in The Big Help Out to give something back.

The Coronation of Their Majesties The King and The Queen Consort will take place on Saturday 6 May at Westminster Abbey followed by a ‘spectacular’ Coronation Concert held at Windsor Castle on Sunday 7 May.

On Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday, the public are encouraged to come together to take part in celebratory Coronation Big Lunches and in a national day of volunteering as part of the Big Help Out. Events taking place across the country are detailed on the Government’s Coronation map which is available on coronation.gov.uk.

The programme of events will reflect the modern, diverse, multi-faith United Kingdom and promote the themes of youth, community, diversity, and sustainability.

Lindsey Brummitt, Programme Director at the Eden Project, home of The Big Lunch, said: “It’s fantastic to see such an appetite for connection and community across the UK and it is growing every day!

“What makes the Coronation Big Lunch on 6-8 May weekend ‘Big’ is everyone, everywhere doing the same thing on the same weekend – sharing friendship, food and fun with their neighbours and communities.

“You can have a sarnie with a neighbour, connect over a cuppa, host a back garden BBQ or put tables down the street – how you decide to join in is up to you.

“It is a fantastic way to celebrate where you live, be part of history and even fundraise for a charity or cause you care about. Bust out the bunting, knock on a neighbours door and get to know one another a little better over a tasty snack – it’s such an easy way to be part of everything!”

Matt Hyde, CEO of the Scouts, said: “It’s just about a month to go until The Big Help Out – The event will provide so many opportunities for new volunteers to find their passion and to support causes that make a difference in their local communities.

“Research tells us that volunteering is good for you in so many ways so if you have not signed up yet check out the app and get involved and change your life and others lives forever.”

Catherine Johnstone CBE, Chief Executive of Royal Voluntary Service, said: “With one month to go before The Big Help Out, there is plenty of time for people to explore the abundance of exciting volunteering opportunities in their area.

“Royal Voluntary Service has a real mix of activities available in the app, from helping to run craft and activity sessions or providing a friendly service in one of our retail outlets, to helping decorate a hall to host a Coronation lunch for 100 people! And that’s just us.

“There are thousands of unique options available from other charities and organisations, big and small, so there is something to inspire everyone to join in and lend a hand.”

Packs to plan for a Coronation Big Lunch can be found here.

You can find events in your local community on the government’s interactive Coronation map here.

Full list of locations hosting screens for the Coronation:

North West

  • Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester
  • Parliament Square, Oldham
  • Eurovision Village on the Pier Head, Liverpool

North East

  • Keel Square / Park Lane, Sunderland City Centre
  • Washington Galleries, Sunderland
  • Hylton Castle, Sunderland
  • Backhouse Park, Sunderland
  • Rectory Park, Coalfields, Sunderland
  • Barnes Park – Sunderland
  • Times Square, Newcastle Upon Tyne
  • Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
  • Darlington Market Square, Darlington

Yorkshire and Humber

  • City Hall, Hull
  • Trinity Market, Hull
  • City Park, Bradford
  • Piece Hall, Halifax
  • St Peter’s Parish Church, Huddersfield
  • Dewsbury Library, Dewsbury
  • Millenium Square, Leeds
  • Pontefract Castle, Wakefield
  • Peace Gardens, Sheffield
  • The Glass Works, Barnsley

South West

  • Bristol Cathedral, Bristol
  • Bristol and Bath Science Park, South Gloucestershire
  • Lower Gardens, Bournemouth
  • Baiter Park, Poole
  • The Quomps, Christchurch
  • The Barbican, Plymouth

South East

  • Jubilee Square, Brighton
  • Holland Park, Kensington and Chelsea, London
  • Valence Park, Dagenham, London
  • Walpole Park, Ealing, London

East of England

  • The Commemoration Hall, Huntingdon
  • Peterborough Cathedral and Cathedral Gardens, Peterborough
  • Ely Cathedral, Ely

Midlands

  • Centenary Square, Birmingham
  • Broadgate, Coventry
  • Himley Hall,  Dudley
  • Sandwell Valley Showground,  Sandwell
  • The Core, Solihull
  • Derby Cathedral, Derby
  • Smithfield, Hanley City Centre, Stoke-on-Trent
  • Nottingham Castle, Nottingham
  • De Montfort University, Leicester

Wales

  • Cardiff Castle, Cardiff
  • Roald Dahl Plass, Cardiff

Scotland

  • Edinburgh (location TBC)
  • Glasgow Cathedral, Glasgow

Northern Ireland

  • Belfast City Hall, Belfast
  • People’s Park, Ballymena
  • Town Park, Larne
  • Marine Gardens, Carrickfergus
  • Market Square, Lisburn
  • Bessbrook Town Hall, Bessbrook
  • Antrim Castle Gardens, Antrim
  • Jordanstown Loughshore Park, Newtownabbey
  • Coleraine Town Hall, Coleraine

CAN HARDLY WAIT …

Top 10 films to watch over the Jubilee weekend


By Justin Trefgarne, course leader at MetFilm School 

Love them or loathe them, the Royal Family in its various forms has been entertaining, enthralling and fascinating us for centuries.

The British Monarchy’s catalogue of blood feuds, forbidden love affairs, wars, abdications and endless scandals has supplied material for the writers of every age.

From Shakespeare’s thinly disguised commentaries on Elizabeth and James I respectively to Peter Morgan’s reimagining of the Royals as high-end Soap Opera in The Crown, the audience for these gilded dramas has never waned. 

And now, as Elizabeth II, and indeed millions of Britons, celebrate her becoming not just the longest serving British monarch but the third longest serving monarch in world history, we take the opportunity to cast our gaze over some of the best Royalty-themed films of the first century of cinema.

In no particular order, here are the top 10 picks to watch over the Jubilee weekend: 

Spencer

Kristin Stewart brings her own brand of sparkle and unpredictability to this intense, poetic take on Princess Diana.

Whether Diana was really like this or not is sort of missing the point.

Pablo Larraín’s film is a tightly wound character study of a woman unravelling under intense pressure and as a consequence plays out as much as a psychological horror as it does conventional drama.



The Queen

Given the intense scrutiny the modern day Royals find themselves under, it’s quite rare to find Elizabeth II at the centre of a movie narrative.

Helen Mirren transcends as a Queen in semi-exile after the death of Diana, facing a crossroads in her reign and, more immediately, a beguiling stag that haunts her estate in the Scottish Highlands. 



Elizabeth 

Radical choice of director (Shekhar Kapur): tick.
Young actress ready for super-stardom (Cate Blanchet): tick.
The rise of Elizabeth retold as The Godfather: tick. 

A period film for all the ages. 


The King

I confess to being on the fence about Timothée Chalamet until I gave this film a whirl. And it’s astonishing.

His spindly, hungover, sad rendition of Prince Hal slowly morphs into something raw, timeless and utterly believable.

Joel Edgerton and David Michôd’s masterful retelling of the ‘Henriad’ exerts a compelling, epic grip that makes it one of the best historical films since Gladiator.


Mrs Brown

Judi Dench cemented her reputation as one of the world’s most accomplished screen actors with this moving portrayal of a grieving Queen Victoria.

But perhaps the film’s biggest surprise was the unexpected, nuanced performance of Scottish comedian Billy Connolly as the ‘commoner’ who encouraged her to return to public life. 



The Lion In Winter 

One of three stage plays adapted for the screen on this list, The Lion In Winter brings together the titanic screen presences of Katherine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole for a heady dose of relationship fireworks.

They really don’t make ‘em like this any more.

Notable too for Anthony Hopkins making his screen debut. 
A Man For All Seasons

I was forced to watch this at school and was ready to write it off until the genius of writer Robert Bolt’s characters and the play’s moral conscience completely captivated me.

A film as relevant now as it was when first released.

Watch out for a late-period Orson Welles filling up the frame with his interpretation of Cardinal Wolsey. 


The Madness Of King George

A film in which the a King descends into ‘madness’ only to be retrieved from the abyss by a radical form of treatment.

Gentle, funny, heartbreaking and sumptuous all at once, this is British period filmmaking at its finest. 

Viceroy’s House 

If all this feels too much like Royalist propaganda, then cleanse the palate with Gurinder Chadha’s brilliant, bold dismantling of the accepted history of the Queen’s Uncle’s attempt at managing the Partition between India and Pakistan.
Moria Bufini and Chadha’s masterful script weaves the political and the personal together seamlessly to challenge and confront the dissolution of the ‘British Raj’.
 

Sid & Nancy 

Since The Sex Pistols blew up pop music in the late 1970s, no Royal celebration is complete without an airing of their alternative jubilee anthem, ‘God Save The Queen’.

And why not indulge, then, in the film that launched the careers of Oscar Winners Gary Oldman, Roger Deakins, maverick director Alex Cox and Working Title chief Eric Fellner?