Crowds cheer queen at start of historic jubilee celebrations

Queen Elizabeth II

Huge crowds on Thursday cheered Queen Elizabeth II for the first of four days of celebrations to mark her historic Platinum Jubilee, in what could be the last major public event of her long reign.

Tens of thousands of people converged on central London in bright sunshine to witness the centuries-old Trooping the Colour military parade.

The 96-year-old monarch's appearance at the festivities for her record-breaking 70 years on the throne had been in doubt due to illness and recent mobility problems.

But dressed in dove blue, her hands clasped on a walking stick, she took a salute from mounted troops from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, under the fluttering royal standard.