Diocese of Portsmouth

HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Our churches were thrilled to organise a huge variety of events to mark the 70 years that HM the Queen has been our sovereign. We were keen to celebrate her amazing sense of duty to her country and her strong, dedicated Christian faith. Our churches organised flower festivals, special services of thanksgiving, family fun days, street parties and created amazing displays of bunting.

Many of those events happened in the four-day Bank Holiday weekend – from Thursday 2nd June to Sunday 5th June. Read below how those events went, plus other news relating to the Queen's Platinum Jubilee:

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Queen’s Jubilee
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Resources

A number of websites were created to provide resources for parties, celebrations and services being held this year.

  • National Churches Trust
    The National Churches Trust produced a Jubilee Proclamation which thanked the Queen for her patronage of church buildings and heritage. There is ready-to-use artwork available to download, usable on newsletters, websites and noticeboards.
  • Hope Together
    Hope Together launched a page on their website with links to resources, help with planning events, videos, and publications released for the jubilee.

Up to 500,000 children’s storybooks distributed for Platinum Jubilee

Up to half a million story books were given to primary school-aged children ahead of Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee by the Church of England and Thy Kingdom Come, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York’s global prayer movement.

The book, ‘Queen CJ and the Bouncy Castle’, is the latest development from the Cheeky Pandas, a children’s online cartoon series which features contributions from people including Archbishop Justin Welby, Nicky Gumbel, and CBeebies' Gemma Hunt.

The free storybook, based on the theme of faithfulness, helps children understand the faithfulness of the God. The book’s creation and distribution is part of plans for this year’s Thy Kingdom Come, a global ecumenical prayer movement initiated by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, which unites Christians in nearly 90% of countries worldwide to pray for evangelisation from Ascension to Pentecost. It is also an official Church of England schools resource for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

‘Rise up and serve, thanking God for Her Majesty…’ That’s the message from the Commonwealth Choir in a new anthem commissioned by HOPE Together for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The anthem has been written by songwriters Graham Kendrick, Mal Pope and Rend Collective for choirs everywhere to sing at Platinum Jubilee events and street parties this summer.

British Gospel singer Muyiwa Olarewaju OBE adds his own words of tribute to the Queen in Hausa, Swahli, Igbo and Yoruba, with the Aldgate School Children’s Choir led by Pat Bilbrough adding an intergenerational sound.

The Commonwealth Choir also includes Rend Collective from Northern Ireland, Darlene Zschech from Australia, Brian Doerksen from Canada, Mal Pope and the Morriston Orpheus Choir from Wales, Morris Matavuvale from Fiji, Sheldon Bangera from India, as well as Voices from the Nations percussion, the All Souls Orchestra, the Regent Hall Band of The Salvation Army, David Grant MBE, Graham Kendrick, Lou Fellingham, and Sounds of New Wine choir with Creative Director Lawrence Johnson.

Listen to the anthem then download the words and music here.