Queen Elizabeth II lights platinum jubilee beacon at Windsor Castle to celebrate 70 years on throne

 

Queen Elizabeth II, has lit the platinum jubilee beacon at Windsor Castle to celebrate 70 years on the throne. 

At the end of the first day of celebrations, the Queen pressed the Commonwealth of Nations Globe which sent a river of light from her Windsor Castle home to Buckingham Palace. 

The special ceremony came as more than 2,000 beacons were lit across the UK, including one in each of the capital cities of Commonwealth countries. 

Created by British designer Thomas Heatherwick, the living creation reflects the planting of more than a million jubilee trees as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) initiative to mark 70 years of the monarch’s reign, and is illuminated with 3,500 festoon lights.

The event marked the Queen’s second appearance of the day, after she appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace for the Trooping the Colour parade.