To mark 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II became the Queen, elaborate festivities have been organised all over the United Kingdom as well as overseas. The festivities have attracted thousands of tourists from all over the world, as well.

On Sunday, it seemed that the entire United Kingdom had turned into a gigantic party as millions of people took part in the final day of street parties and celebrations marking the culmination of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The celebrations began on June 2 with an impressive military parade that had over 1500 British troops, decked up in their Royal, and accompanied by an amazing display by 70 aircraft of the Royal Air Force. A special  The festivities have included speeches at various occasions and hundreds of events organised not just in London, or even all over the United Kingdom, but in dozens of other countries as well in honour of Elizabeth II who became the first British Royal to celebrate 70 years at the throne and also the longest-serving UK Sovereign.

Elizabeth II had ascended to the throne on February 6, 1952 after her father, George III died suddenly, while she was overseas. Her coronation took place over a year later on June 2, 1953. The Platinum Jubilee celebrations were delayed until June as the Queen did not wish to celebrate in February as it also marked her father’s death anniversary. Moreover, keeping in mind the weather, which is better in June, the anniversary celebrations were moved to June 2-5 and a long, four-day weekend was created by shifting the annual Bank Holiday from late May to this weekend.

Thursday’s celebrations also included two gun salutes, one marking the Platinum Jubilee and the other 69th anniversary of her coronation.

At 12:52 pm local time, just before the flypast began, the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery fired an 82-gun salute at the Hyde Park in the Queen’s honour. Barely eight minutes later, just as the Big Ben struck 1 pm, the Honourable Artillery Company fired a 124-gun salute (with an extra 42 for the City of London) from the Tower of London.

One big highlight of the day was that the entire Royal family, including the Queen, gathered on the balcony of the Buckingham Palace to watch the flypast. The other key activity of Thursday was the lighting of principal beacon at the palace at 9:25 pm where a 21-metre tall Tree of Trees sculpture was also unveiled.

On Friday, the main event was the service of thanksgiving in St Paul’s Cathedral in London which the entire royal family was to attend. However, the Queen was indisposed and had to skip the event, which was attended by all other family members. The service was followed by a Guildhall reception hosted by Lord Mayor of London.

While all the days of the festivities have been high on glamour, the high-point for glamour and pomp was the Epsom Derby race that took place on Saturday and which was attended by the Royals as well as thousands of other elites of London and the rest of the UK. In the evening, the British Broadcasting Corporation hosted a Platinum Party at the Palace concert, an open-air concert organised right in front of the palace and which began soon afterwards. It featured numerous A-listers of the music world, including Queen + Adam Lambert, Alicia Keys, Duran Duran and Diana Ross.

Sunday, the final day of the celebration, is the day of parties, ranging from street corners to Big Jubilee Lunches that have been organised all across the United Kingdom. This would be followed by the Jubilee Pageant that would start at 2:30 pm, when a 3 km long carnival procession would be organised featuring a cast of over 10,000 persons including puppets, celebrities, key workers. It will pay tributes to the seven decades of the Queen’s reign.

The Pageant will start from The Mall and go past the Buckingham Palace. It will culminate with a performance by star singer Ed Sheeran and the singing of the national anthem. Media reports say that over 85,000 persons have signed up to host Big Jubilee Lunches, with Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, and Camilla joining a feast at the Oval cricket ground in south London. The pageant will be accompanied by the Gold State Coach, a 260-year-old carriage that Elizabeth II had used for going to her coronation.