Thursday, May 31, 2012
Gulf News
Dubai Pundits are predicting one of the grandest royal parties ever thrown by the British public at home in the UK as revellers usher in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this weekend.
British expats living in the UAE will be no exception as they roll out the red, white and blue to mark 60 years since the Queen ascended to the throne on February 6, 1952.
From Friday-morning brunches and street parties with big-screen TVs to gala affairs at the British Embassy in Dubai as well as Dubai English Speaking College, thousands of expatriates are expected to turn out in full force to express deep national pride in their Monarch.
Dominic Jermey, British Ambassador to the UAE, told Gulf News yesterday this weekend’s festivities in the emirates will be closely followed by expats.
“As the UK Ambassador to the UAE — a country with a resident British community of around 100,000 — I am particularly honoured and excited as we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II this weekend,” he said.
“With selfless service and dedication, Her Majesty The Queen has been an inspiration and role model to so many people across the globe over the past six decades.
“The weekend ahead promises to be a wonderful celebration of what makes the UK great, and a chance for us all to mark a magnificent milestone in the Queen’s reign. Like myself, most British citizens have known no other monarch and this will mark a special moment in our lives.”
If surveys are any indication of turnout expected this weekend in the UK, one poll suggested that 40 per cent of Britons will celebrate the event while a further 25 per cent said they will take in festivities on the television.
TV nation
“I won’t be waving flags around but I will be definitely taking part in some way this weekend,” said David, a British expat living in Dubai, yesterday. “The Queen is cool.”
Expats are expected to be glued to their television screens on Sunday to watch the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in which 1,000 vessels will accompany the Queen and Prince Phillip on a royal barge as it drifts slowly down the river.
The parade will be showered by fireworks, church bells, foghorns and the applause of thousands expected to line the river banks.
Back in Dubai, national pride is manifesting itself in various ways.
Bloomingdale’s Home store in Dubai Mall will feature Diamond Jubilee cupcakes from its in-house Magnolia Bakery.
The company said in a statement that it “is celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with six classic vanilla and chocolate cupcakes… topped with vanilla buttercream and crowned with edible odes to the Queen and her country.”
The cupcakes go on sale June 1 and can be ordered for one month only.
Big spenders
The sky is the limit for the purchase of other jubilee souvenirs with predictions that weekend celebrants will spend more than £823 million (Dh4.7 billion) over the next few days, almost twice that of the latest royal wedding of Prince William and his bride, Kate.
Most events in Dubai are scheduled for Friday throughout the day.
By Derek Baldwin?Chief Reporter
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
