Celebration plans for Queen's Diamond Jubilee announced

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee will be marked with grassroots community celebrations and national set-piece events, Buckingham Palace announced today.

A televised BBC concert in Buckingham Palace is planned alongside a Big Jubilee Sunday Lunch - where neighbours and friends across the UK can come together to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen's reign.

Diamond Jubilee Beacons will be lit across the country, a service of thanksgiving will be held at St Paul's Cathedral and a formal carriage procession staged.

The events will take place over the special four-day bank holiday weekend next June but organisers say the details have still to be finalised as they are at the early planning stage.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "All the details are to be worked out over the coming year."

The Queen, an avid horse breeder and racer, will attend the Epsom Derby on the Saturday of the 2012 Diamond Jubilee weekend - June 2-5.

The Big Jubilee Lunch will be held on Sunday June 3, and is likely to feature traditional street parties and picnics.

It is being managed by the Big Lunch organisation, which has staged lunch celebrations across the country since 2009 to encourage residents to sit down and share meals together.

The BBC concert on Monday June 4 is expected to feature British and Commonwealth musicians and is open to the public, with tickets being allocated by ballot.

That day the network of Diamond Jubilee Beacons - 2012 in total - will be lit across the UK, Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the Commonwealth. As with the 2002 celebrations which marked the Queen's Golden Jubilee, the monarch will light the National Beacon.

The 60th year of the Queen's reign will be formally commemorated on Tuesday June 5 with the service of thanksgiving and carriage procession.

A dedicated Diamond Jubilee website - http://www.direct.gov.uk/diamondjubilee - was launched today by the Government and will feature regularly updated public information about the royal milestone.

The Buckingham Palace spokesman said the Queen's realms and other Commonwealth nations will be creating their own events to mark the Diamond Jubilee.