World leaders snubbed as Queen chooses closest friends to be beside her on royal barge for Jubilee celebration

By
John Stevens

19:59 EST, 27 May 2012

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19:59 EST, 27 May 2012


The Queen has chosen who will join her on the royal barge on Sunday

The Queen has chosen who will join her on the royal barge on Sunday

It is the pinnacle of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, with 1,000 vessels from all over the world gathering for next Sunday’s Thames Pageant.

And the Queen will share the moment with many of those dearest to her.

A list of guests on the Royal Barge, revealed yesterday, shows that she has chosen her closest confidants rather than world leaders, politicians and foreign dignitaries to join her at the centre of the flotilla.

The Queen will be seated on a throne on the deck of the Spirit of Chartwell, which has been extravagantly decorated for the seven-and-a-half mile journey from Battersea Bridge to Tower Bridge.

Alongside her will be the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

The party also includes her lady-in-waiting of more than 50 years, Lady Susan Hussey, her deputy private secretary Edward Young, her equerry Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rex and her waterman Christopher Livett.

Even the Prime Minister has not been invited to join the Queen. Instead David Cameron and his wife Samantha will wait on HMS President close to Blackfriars Bridge, where the Queen will join them to watch the rest of the pageant pass.

Those on board the barge include the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and the Bishop of London, the Right Reverend Richard Chartres.

The Queen’s close friend Sir Donald Gosling – the controversial millionaire and former owner of National Car Parks – will be there with his glamorous partner, Gabriella Di Nora. Others to be invited include Kamalesh Sharma, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, and historian Simon Schama.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be on the barge
David and Samantha Cameron will not be on the barge

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be on the barge, but David and Samantha Cameron will not

It is understood that the Prince of Wales picked the guests under his mother’s brief that her inner circle should take pride of place.

They will be served fine English wines on the Royal Barge, which has 22 cabins and Pullman mahogany armchairs.

The barge is said to have been stocked with extra sick bags in case any of the guests – including the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall who do not have strong sea legs – feel unwell. Security around the boat is likely to be at unprecedented as it is understood to be the first time so many senior members of the Royal Family have been allowed to travel on a single vessel.

Senior Royals not on board the Spirit of Chartwell will travel on different vessels flanking the Royal Barge.

The Queen will be carried in the Spirit of Chartwell at Sunday's Jubilee pageant

The Queen will be carried in the Spirit of Chartwell at Sunday’s Jubilee pageant

Princess Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence will sail on the Trinity House No 1 boat, but her daughter Zara Phillips and husband Mike Tindall will not attend because Zara is competing in a horse trial. Peter Phillips will also be absent.

The Duke of York and his daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie will be aboard the Havengore, joined by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson and former prime minister Sir John Major with his wife Norma.

Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cambridge’s parents Mike and Carole Middleton will be with daughter Pippa and son James on the paddle steamer Elizabethan, which will sail close to the Royal Barge.

Foreign Secretary William Hague will be afloat, aboard the Sarpedon. However Labour leader Ed Miliband, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Chancellor George Osborne will be among a group watching from the river bank at the Design Museum.

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