Platinum Jubilee: Key workers and volunteers among 400 invited to St Paul's Cathedral service
Charity volunteers, teachers, NHS staff and members of the armed forces have been invited to the Queen’s service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral on Friday.
More than 400 people, who have been making a difference either nationally or locally, are among the guests and many have been working tirelessly during the pandemic.
The guests will join senior members of the royal family at St Paul's in central London, although the Queen will not attend after experiencing ''some discomfort'' during the first day of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The Prince of Wales will officially represent the monarch. He will be joined by the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as well as the extended royal family.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who flew in from California for the jubilee celebrations, will be present. However, the Duke of York will miss the thanksgiving event, after testing positive for Covid-19.
The sermon at St Paul's Cathedral will be given by the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, after the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby also tested positive for coronavirus.
Boris Johnson, who will give a New Testament reading, and members of his Cabinet are among the guests along with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, first ministers of the devolved governments, and former prime ministers.
The 16-tonne 'Great Pull' bell - one of the country's largest - will ring out before and after the service, in what will be the first time it has sounded at a royal occasion.
The Dean of St Paul’s, Dr David Ison, will offer thanks for the Queen's seven decades of ''faithful and dedicated service'' and pay tribute to the ''diverse and varied lives of all those whom she serves'', in the UK and across the Commonwealth.
The service will feature a new anthem by Judith Weir, Master of the Queen’s Music, that sets to music words from the third Chapter of the biblical Book of Proverbs.
The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Portsmouth will play as the congregation arrives, with the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry performing to mark royal arrivals.
The choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal will join together to sing the Vivats, I Was Glad by Sir Hubert Parry, performed at every coronation and now for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
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