BRITS CELEBRATE ELIZABETH’S PLATINUM JUBILEE IN BENIDORM
Benidorm is home away from home for many Brits. And these are usually the kind of folks who won’t
let the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee go unfeasted. In fact, many are doing it with mucho gusto
by Anthony Allen
On 6 February 2022 Her Majesty The Queen became the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, the then 25-year-old Princess Elizabeth having ascended the throne on that day in 1952 when her father King George VI died. The anniversary of her enthronement definitely calls for a (literally) right royal celebration. After all, the historic Jubilee marks The Queen’s no less than 70 years of dedicated service to the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms.
The Queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, at the Trooping the Colour in London, 2 June 2022, the first day of the four-day Platinum Jubilee’s Central Weekend
As everyone knows, the celebrations have been cooking for months, not to say years, but the four-day UK bank holiday weekend from 2nd to the 5th of June – the Platinum Jubilee Central Weekend – is the culmination of spectacular events that have been lined up particularly in London.
Naturally, and as is expected, there are celebrations as well throughout the UK and the Commonwealth. And in Benidorm, Spain too? You bet. Benidorm is reputed to be the most British town in Spain. A fifth of its population is British. So far this year British tourists, moreover, have already outnumbered Spanish tourists in Benidorm. So much so that one British tourist beat it quick from the town, saying he spent one hour searching for a Spanish restaurant with a menú del día. To no avail. He left within three hours of his arrival.
Benidorm is not just tropical beaches
Benidorm – the Costa del Sol in general – is home away from home for many Brits. And these are usually the kind of folks who won’t be so “disloyal” during the Long Weekend of enhanced patriotism as to let the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee go unfeasted. In fact, many are doing it with mucho gusto. They join the celebrations in their adopted home dressed in red-white-and-blue and/or wearing Union Jack accessories.
Union Jack buntings drape British bars, pubs (there are an estimated 280 pubs with English themes in the town), restaurants, social clubs, and shops in Benidorm. Cavas toast Her Majesty. Tickets to Jubilee parties are sold out days before the event. . . Nostalgic music provides the right background: music by the Beatles, Elton John, the Bay City Rollers. . .
———
Images
Featured image (Guidepost’s collage):
> UK flag. Original code by Stefan-Xp with modifications to the ratio by Yaddah. PD via Wikimedia Commons.
> Balcon del Mediterraneo, Benidorm/Diego Delso, CC BY-SA3.0
> Elizabeth II, Joel Rouse, Ministry of Defence, OGL
Quote mark/Oakus 53 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA4.0
Princess Anne/ John Pannell, CC BY2.0 via Wikipedia Commons
Benidorm bars/Nicolas Vigier, PD
Union Jack bunting/Dave_S. via Flickr, CC BY2.0
