Sailors and Royal Marines are primed for Platinum Jubilee Pageant at Buckingham Palace

Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines have carried out their final rehearsals ahead of major celebrations at Buckingham Palace marking the 70-year reign of The Queen.

More than 200 personnel, supported by the Royal Marines Corps of Drums, will march in London at the Platinum Jubilee Pageant alongside members of the Royal Air Force, British Army and military personnel from across the Commonwealth.

During final preparations at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, those taking part have spoken of their pride and excitement.

State ceremonial training officer, Warrant Officer Eddie Wearing, said: “A lot of effort has gone into preparation for the pageant event on Sunday. We want to make sure everything is perfect for Her Majesty.

“We want to be immaculate and that’s why we’ve been practising for weeks and ensuring our uniform and rifle drills are up to that standard.

“We want to do the event justice and make sure everyone gives a good impression of themselves. The Queen has been reigning 70 years and over the past 1,000 years of having a monarchy we’ve never had a platinum jubilee so it’s and important day.”

Sailors and marines will be involved in the first section of the pageant titled ‘Queen & Country’ alongside the other services but also personnel from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, Ghana, Belize, Jamaica and Sri Lanka.

It will mark the Queen’s 70 years of service and recognise her role of Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces.

Marines Edward Briggs and John Mansfield have just earned their coveted green beret after completing 32 weeks of Royal Marines recruit training on Friday and now find themselves in the guard for the pageant.

John said: “It’s not the normal first day for a marine on the job, so it’s quite a proud moment to come and represent the corps.”

Edward added: “I don’t think many marines would get a chance to do a parade like this, so it’s quite a privilege to do something like this on my first week as a fully-fledged marine.

“I didn’t ever expect to be doing a parade in London. It’s a proud moment on Friday and coming straight to this is quite a good feeling.

“I’ve never seen a parade like this and I’m going to be in the middle of it, so we’ll see what happens.”

Able Rating Olivia Gray will be in the Royal Navy guard at Buckingham Palace.

She said: “It’s exciting and it’s going to be a special day. It’s exciting to be a part of something that could potentially never happen again.

“We have been training for five weeks now and there have been some long days but we’ve all become really good friends and have been supporting each other through it.

“Hopefully all our hard works pays off.”

The Royal Navy are involved in events all around the UK.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship RFA Mounts Bay will be part of London events, too, berthing on the Thames and welcoming on board school children for The Big Jubilee Lunch and hosting tours.

Meanwhile Royal Navy’s amphibious flagship, HMS Albion, will berth next to the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh and will attend ceremonies at Edinburgh Castle, celebrations in Princes Street Gardens, host a royal event and be open to visitors.

Patrol ship HMS Tyne – after sailing her namesake River Tyne for the first time in ten years – will be in the heart of Newcastle at Spiller Wharf, while sister ship HMS Severn is in Cardiff.

HMS Pembroke arrives in Belfast on Friday to take part in the jubilee celebrations, with HMS Raider arriving in Bangor.

On Saturday Pembroke will hold a reception and on Sunday members of the ship’s company will attend a jubilee service in St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast.

Raider’s activity centres around Belfast URNU cadets and sea cadets as part of the Sea Bangor Festival.