“IT’S very important to us that this is about the monarchy,” declared Edinburgh resident Carol Sutherland, sipping a Pimm’s beneath a string of Union flag bunting. “It’s not just an excuse for a party.”
Welcome to Dalhousie Terrace, location of one of Edinburgh’s biggest Diamond Jubilee street parties. As the country embarked on a four-day extravaganza to celebrate the biggest royal event in a decade, around 200 residents of Morningside honoured the Queen’s 60-year reign with quintessentially British fare including cucumber sandwiches, cupcakes decorated with Union flags and strawberries and cream.
Among them was 64-year-old George Calder, resplendent in a Union flag bow tie (the dress code here is red, white and blue) who grew up on the street and remembers celebrating the Coronation in this corner of Edinburgh almost six decades ago.
“It was an exciting occasion,” he said. “There was a real sense of optimism. About 20 of us crowded into the one house on the street that had a TV, a tiny little black and white thing, to watch it all happen.”
Dalhousie Terrace has a reputation for this sort of do. Last year it held a street party for the Royal Wedding, and it has been holding similar celebrations as far back as the Silver Jubilee in 1977.
Australian Aboriginal artist Gurrumul will also be on stage and is featured in a track, Sing, written by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Gary Barlow especially for the Jubilee, which will be performed live on the night.
"The song starts with a little girl from Kenya, where the Queen's reign started," Barlow said. "The last person to sing is Gurrumul, who has been blind since birth."
Some 200 people from across the Commonwealth collaborated on the song, with joker Prince Harry playing the tambourine, Barlow said.
"The single ends with a blast of bagpipes ... they are one of Her Majesty's favourite things so we had to include them," he said.
"I recorded our bagpipers in Australia, of all places. They are the Canberra Bagpipe Orchestra, but they had been taught by Scots pipers so the DNA is there."
Ten thousand tickets have been issued for Monday's concert spectacular, which will be performed on a circular stage surrounding the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of the palace.
The Queen and Prince Philip, along with other senior royals, will be in the audience to see a star-studded line-up that also includes Elton John, Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey, Cliff Richard, Robbie Williams, Jessie J, Annie Lennox, and Ed Sheeran.
* The Nine Network and its regional affiliates will show the Diamond Jubilee Concert at 8pm (AEST) on Tuesday.
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