I celebrate the Diamond Jubilee

This has been a very exciting week here in the United Kingdom. Monday and Tuesday were holidays so that everybody could celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. A "jubilee" is a celebration of an anniversary, and diamonds are the particular gift associated with sixtieth anniversaries. The Queen is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee because she became Queen in 1952 – sixty years ago. It is remarkable to think how much the world has changed in the past sixty years, but during all that time the United Kingdom has only had one monarch.

British people have been celebrating the jubilee by decorating their houses, cars, and yards with the Union Jack. The Union Jack is the name for the British flag. Can you draw the British flag? It is a complicated flag that takes a lot of patience to draw correctly. The flag incorporates the red cross of St. George (representing England) and the red cross of St. Patrick (representing Ireland) in front of a blue field with the white cross of St. Andrew (representing Scotland). Here is a photograph of me decked out in my Union Jack attire to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

I celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

Magdalen College at the University of Oxford, where I have been staying, put on a fancy banquet in celebration of the occasion. The dress code for the banquet was black tie, so naturally I dressed up. So did Kyle and Mohammad.

I'm ready for a black-tie dinner.

Kyle and Mohammad are also ready for dinner.

Remember how Magdalen has a very tall tower? That tower was selected as one of the points all over the world where people would light beacons in honor of the Queen. Magdalen's beacon was lit promptly at 10:20. The Queen lit the final beacon on top of the Tower of London at exactly 10:30. If you had been watching from space, you could have seen all the beacons approaching London from all around the globe!

The lit Jubilee beacon on top of Magdalen Tower.