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We’ve known for a long while that the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is being marked by a four-day holiday, to run June 2 to 5 next year. What we haven’t known until very recently is how this might actually be being celebrated: you could guess that there will be street parties involved, no doubt some business involved the Red Arrows, probably a lot of bunting, probably some sort of appearance from Her Madge herself if she feels up to it aged 96.
Now we’re starting to get the very first details and to be honest, monarchist or republican, this looks pretty damn good.
The Hatchling is a gigantic puppet dragon. In fact, at 6.5m tall, the mythical beast is the biggest human-operated puppet ever made. And on Sunday 5 – the final day of the Jubilee – it will lead a procession of over 5,000 performers through the streets of London, including ‘a playful young Princess Elizabeth’ (we’re not sure if this is another puppet, an actor, a time-traveling previous incarnation of the Queen or what).
It looks spectacular: if you’d like a sneak peek, there will be a dry run in Plymouth this summer, at a two-day performance running August 14 to 15 that will end with the dragon turning into a giant kite and flying away, in a move symbolic of freedom of movement.
For more information see the show’s official website thehatchling.co.uk.