Public urged to throw ‘biggest ever thank you party’ on Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend

The celebration will take place on National Thank You Day

The Queen is set to reach her Platinum Jubilee on February 6 (Christopher Furlong/PA) (PA Archive)

Celebrities including Ross Kemp, Gary Lineker and Lorraine Kelly have urged the public to throw the “biggest every thank you party” during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend later this year.

The Queen is set to celebrate 70 years on the throne on 6 February and will mark the occasion with a long weekend of festivities in June.

This four-day spectacle will include a Platinum Jubilee Pageant through London, a party at Buckingham Palace and the Queen’s birthday parade, Trooping The Colour.

On 5 June, also known as National Thank You Day, the public is being encouraged to host street parties as part of “The Big Jubilee Lunch”.

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday 31 January, former EastEnders actor Kemp said the Queen had services as an inspiration during the pandemic.

“The Queen is loved throughout this country, throughout he commonwealth and throughout he world.

“Her resilience has been our resilience, her strength in times of trouble has inspired so many of us over the last two years to help others.

“We want as many people as possible get out into the communities with friends and family and to have a party,” he said.

“It’s a big thank you to her, but it’s also a thank you, if you wish, to the staff at NHS, key workers, people who have volunteered, neighbours who have just gone round and checked on people.”

Kemp also referenced the ongoing scandal about parties at Downing Street during lockdown, telling viewers: “You can bring cheese and wine, you can also bring a curry, but this is not a business meeting, this is a party...it’s not a work event.”

His comments come after former footballer Gary Lineker penned an article for The Sun asking the public to take part in the “biggest ever party”.

He encouraged people to apply to their local councils for permission to hold street parties, or “host a simple lunch or tea with friends or neighbours”.

“One of the things we have all learned over the past couple of difficult years is how easy it is to take things for granted — things that really matter,” Lineker wrote.

He said 5 June will “be an opportunity to celebrate and thank each other, and all those who have served our communities, especially over the past few years”.

“From Scout leaders to local football coaches, NHS volunteers to the person on your street who did the shopping for a vulnerable neighbour, even family members who have been there for us when we needed them most.”

Meanwhile, TV host Lorraine Kelly urged the Scottish public to make Sunday 5 June “the biggest thank you party Scotland has ever seen”.

“There’s never been a better reason to have a seriously big party,” she told ITV viewers on Monday.

“On Sunday 5 June, we’ll be getting together as neighbours, friends, families and communities to say a huge platinum-plated, heartfelt, once-in-a-lifetime thank you to the Queen, for everything she’s done, but also to each other.

“To everyone we’ve relied on, the people we couldn’t manage without. So, rope in the neighbours, cordon off the street and get the music organised.”