Rain fails to dampen spirits of jubilee queen's subjects

LONDON: Loyal subjects and curious onlookers refused to let the rain dampen their spirits on Sunday as they lined the Thames under umbrellas waiting to watch Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee river pageant.

In a spectacle not seen on such a scale for 350 years, more than 1,000 boats of all shapes and sizes were to sail downstream through central London to mark the queen's 60 years on the throne.

The monarch was to take her place on a sumptuous royal barge for the highlight of the four-day public holiday weekend to mark the jubilee, with ships filling the horizon.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered along the river, but the heavy rain and London fog that descended overnight was making it a challenge to see very far at all.

By early morning, a few hundred people had made it on to Westminster Bridge to secure a prime spot -- not that they could see very much: the Houses of Parliament's famous Big Ben clock tower was barely visible on the north bank.

Tenille Wong, a 30-year-old Australian who works for the EMI record label, said: "It's such a historic occasion and even the weather can't dampen our spirits.

"The achievement of anyone doing their job for 60 years is impressive. I don't have any particular royal leanings, but I think it's a great opportunity to be among loads of people in London when everyone's happy -- because Londoners can be a bit grumpy!"

Wong, who was wearing an Australian flag baseball cap, added: "I just love the idea that one day my grandkids might be doing a school project on the British monarchy, and I can say I was here."

Westminster Bridge was a favourite spot for tourist photographs, with parliament at one end and the London Eye observation wheel on the other.

But the London skyline was barely perceptible through the dank mist -- with many spectators joking it was the traditional weather for a British public holiday weekend.

Plumber Dave Tong, 48, said he had made the journey from Lancashire in northwest England, because the queen "has been around all my life".

"She's one of the things that makes Britain great."

He and his wife Carmel, who was wearing a miniature Union Jack top hat, were looking forward to their large supply of "wet sandwiches" for lunch.

"It's too easy to watch it on telly," he said, laughing. "You've got to come down here and be wet. It's the Dunkirk spirit."

Harking back to the 1940 Battle of Dunkirk, the phrase has come to sum up defiant courage and solidarity in the face of adversity.

Although it was a military defeat, the massed flotilla of little ships -- much like that on show Sunday -- which rescued Britain's surrounded troops from continental Europe was a key moment in the country's psyche.

Dozens of the boats that took part in Dunkirk will sail as part of the flotilla on Sunday.

At the river, people waved at barges heading upstream to the mustering point between Hammersmith and Battersea.

Nicola Holder, a retired community worker from Devon in southwest England, had camped out overnight to be certain of her spot and was cloaked in a black anorak against the dismal weather.

"It's been really miserable," she said, laughing. "My bivvy-bag leaked, and I had a down sleeping bag inside. You can wring it out -- it's horrible," she said.

But she wanted to be there to see the queen because "as a nation we owe her a huge debt. I wouldn't like her job at all".

"That's why we're here -- and for the fun of it too. Because, although we're wet and cold, it is good fun." (AFP)