A royal barge is to be created to carry the Queen during a spectacular River Thames celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of her reign.
The “once in a lifetime” event will be staged during the Diamond Jubilee bank holiday weekend next year when a million spectators are expected to line the river bank.
As the Queen travels down the Thames she will lead a flotilla of 1,000 ships – a sight not seen on the river for more than 300 years since the days of Charles II.
The royal vessel will be constructed from a working Thames sailing barge which will be stripped of its masts and have “adornments” – inspired by the state vessels of the 17th and 18th century – fitted to its decks.
The Queen is likely to be joined by younger members of the monarchy which could see Prince William and Kate Middleton, who will by then be his wife, and Prince Harry sailing on nearby vessels.
Ms Middleton famously trained with an all-female Chinese dragon boat crew of rowers for a charity event but pulled out of the team before they raced across the English Channel in 2007.
The Thames-based extravaganza is the first major event marking the Queen’s Jubilee to be announced and was launched at the capital’s City Hall by its organisers the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation.
Adrian Evans, the event’s pageant master, said: “The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant is an event of huge scale and significant ambition putting the River Thames centre stage for this historic event.
“The pageant celebrates Her Majesty’s 60 years of service by magnificently bringing the Thames to life, making it joyously full of boats, clanging bells, tooting horns and sounding whistles, recording both its royal heritage and its heyday as a working bustling river.
The project is expected to cost several million pounds and will be funded by private donations and sponsorships.
The Foundation also launched a fundraising project to raise £100 million which will enable charities across the Commonwealth to run sporting activities and events for children.
The Queen will reach her milestone on February 6, 2012 – the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne.
The river pageant being staged on June 3 next year will be one of a series of events held during 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee.
Lord Salisbury, the Foundation’s chairman, said the Queen was “enthusiastic” about the plans and added: “It will be an extraordinarily magnificent river pageant of at least 1,000 boats.
“Now those boats will come not only from this country but we hope from all over the world, particularly Commonwealth countries.”
London mayor Boris Johnson, who also attended the launch, said the project would cost £8 million but Lord Salisbury said it was nearer several million.
The flotilla is expected to be seven–and–a–half miles long and will feature a mix of historic and modern boats in both private and commercial hands.
The Queen will board the royal barge at Putney in west London and travel down river to just past Tower Bridge where she will return to the river bank to watch the passing vessels, something expected to take around 90 minutes.
Everything from rowing boats and sailing ships to steamers, wooden launches and larger motorised craft will be represented and the public is invited to take part with their own vessels.
The British government has designated June 5, 2012 as a bank holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and, to enable a four-day weekend of celebrations, the late May bank holiday has been moved to Monday, June 4.