Queen to attend star-studded Diamond Jubilee bash

The Queen’s boat passes spectators on Albert Bridge in London Queen Elizabeth II will on Monday, attend a star-studded show to celebrate her diamond jubilee, a day after huge crowds lined the River Thames to see her lead a spectacular 1,000-boat river pageant.
Elton John, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey, Take That\'s Gary Barlow and US soul legend Stevie Wonder are all set to perform at the concert in the shadow of Buckingham Palace.
1980s ska stars Madness will provide the showstopping highlight, singing hit song \"Our House\" from the iconic building\'s rooftop.
Other performers at the event, which will feature a song co-written for the occasion by Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber, include Jessie J, Robbie Williams and boy band JLS.
Elton John said he was \"thrilled\" to be performing, and hoped the jubilee would mark the \"beginning of an incredible summer for Britain.\"
The queen will not attend the entire two-and-a-half hour show, but will be present for the finale when she will light the National Jubilee Beacon.
Almost 4,000 celebratory bonfires will be lit across the Commonwealth, with the South Pacific island group of Tonga being the first to pay its tribute.
The lighting ceremony will then relay westwards through Australia, Pakistan and Kenya before reaching Britain.
The concert follows on from Sunday\'s damp but enthusiastic celebrations as the queen travelled down the Thames on the red-and-gold Spirit of Chartwell amid a water-borne procession of kayaks, steamers and tugs.
More than a million spectators lined the banks of the river to cheer the 86-year-old monarch, who is only the second British monarch to celebrate a diamond jubilee, after Queen Victoria.
Heavy rain cleared for the start of the pageant before returning later, though it had no effect on the spirit of the cheering crowds. However, a planned flypast had to be cancelled because of low visibility.
The river pageant was the main event of four days of celebrations for the 60th year of the queen\'s reign and street parties were held around the country.
The pageant -- the biggest event on the Thames for 350 years -- started with the ringing of eight Jubilee bells on a barge and ended several hours later when the last boats completed the 11 kilometre (seven-mile) journey.
The Queen, wearing a white hat and a silver and white coat and dress designed by Angela Kelly, was ferried to the barge on the launch of the Royal Yacht Britannia, the ship she dearly loved which was decommissioned in 1997.
Also on board were Prince William and his wife Catherine, who wore a vivid red dress by Alexander McQueen, the same designer who created her wedding gown.
Spectators lining the banks of the Thames cheered loudly when the royal barge came into sight.
\"The atmosphere was brilliant, everyone seemed in a good mood. The queen\'s boat was beautiful, really colourful, and Kate looked lovely in red,\" said Barbara Barke, a pensioner from Essex, eastern England.
Behind the queen\'s barge was massed a flotilla of speedboats, firefighting tugs and historic vessels, including Dunkirk \"little ships\" that evacuated British forces from continental Europe in World War II.
The armada was led by the belfry barge, then Gloriana, a rowbarge crewed by quadruple Olympic gold medallist Steve Redgrave and injured servicemen.
As the royal barge approached, Tower Bridge opened, lifting its bascules in its own tribute to the monarch.
The jubilee festivities,  began Saturday when the queen, a keen horse racing fan, attended the Epsom Derby.
Queen Elizabeth II  of Britain  celebrated her 60th year on the throne aboard a royal barge in a spectacular jubilee pageant on the River Thames in London. The fine rain which had been falling since the early morning, briefly stopped to allow the royal party to board without being encumbered by umbrellas, but the sky remained grey with a keen wind blowing across London\'s famous river. The rain returned towards the end of the procession, putting paid to a planned show-piece finale with a flypast by the Royal Navy.
Hundreds of thousands of people lined the Thames to watch the Queen\'s barge, one of a thousand-strong flotilla of steam boats, tugs, speed boats, dug-out canoes and historic vessels.
The nautical parade was one of the most spectacular seen in London for 350 years, despite the weather.
The Queen and other senior royals travelled aboard a lavishly adapted royal barge called the Spirit of Chartwell.
Decorated with almost then thousand cut flowers, the Spirit of Chartwell travelled from Albert Bridge to Tower Bridge, a seven-mile route.
Prince William and Harry boarded the the royal barge ahead of the monarch wearing their military uniforms, while Catherine was wearing a fitted scarlet suit,  with matching red hat. The Queen, smiling broadly,  boarded minutes later dressed all in white with silver detail,   accompanied by Prince Phillip and Prince Charles in naval uniforms and the Duchess of Cornwall wearing a cream coat dress and matching hat.
The famous Thames barrier built to prevent London from flooding,  was lowered to slow the river\'s flow.
An estimated 20,000 people were on board boats of the flotilla, which travelled  at 4 knots (4.6 miles) an hour.
The vessels had to stick to a pre-arranged formation, keeping a boat\'s length apart from those in front of and behind them, because \"if one boat starts to veer, they all will\", said pageant coordinator Ian Welsh.
Adam Kerr, the skipper of a restored 19th Century Cornish fishing lugger, the Barnabas, sailed 400 nautical miles to participate, and predicted a \"pretty colourful spectacle\" as he told the BBC.
The river pageant ended with a fireworks display over Tower Bridge.
Saturday saw the start of four days of celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth II\'s diamond jubilee, including the 1,000-boat river pageant and a star-studded concert.
The queen began the festivities by indulging in her love of horse racing at the Epsom Derby on Saturday before riding in the ceremonial barge on the Thames at the centre of the giant flotilla on Sunday.
A concert in the shadow of Buckingham Palace featuring Paul McCartney and other top names is the highlight on Monday before the four-day extravaganza culminates in the pomp and splendour of a ceremonial parade on Tuesday.
Aside from the set-piece events in London, millions of people up and down the country are commemorating the jubilee by throwing a party at home.
\"It looks like the entirety of Britain is going to turn out,\" said historian Kate Williams, the author of \"Young Elizabeth: The Making of our Queen\".
They will be making the most of the two-day public holiday granted for an historic occasion -- the queen is only the second British monarch to celebrate a diamond jubilee, after queen Victoria, in 1897.
Union Jacks are fluttering in streets and shop windows and retailers report that red, white and blue bunting and even jubilee garden gnomes are selling fast.
The celebrations take place as the royal family enjoys its highest support for decades, with a recent poll showing that 80 percent of Britons want the country to remain a monarchy.
Those levels of support are comparable to 1953, the year of the queen\'s coronation.
Coming hot on the heels of Prince William\'s wedding to the then Kate Middleton last year, the jubilee is likely to further boost the royals\' popularity.