Boats fill the Thames for queen's river pageant

Hundreds of rowing boats, barges and steamers filled the River Thames with a blaze of colour on Sunday as Queen Elizabeth II sailed through London as part of her spectacular diamond jubilee pageant.

Ships bearing the flags of the Commonwealth, fluttering in the breeze, sailed past as the British monarch and her family watched from the royal barge, the red-and-gold-painted Spirit of Chartwell.

Despite the overcast skies, and the rain that had soaked the capital earlier, hundreds of thousands of loyal subjects and curious onlookers packed the riverbanks for a spectacle not seen on such a scale for 350 years.

On the south bank, next to the iconic Battersea Power Station, yachting company employee Nicola Glanville wore a Union Jack around her shoulders as she looked out for friends in the flotilla.

"When are we ever going to see something like this again? Forget the weather and have some fun!" she said.

The queen "does a jolly good job", she said. "She's open to different opinions and she's a great figurehead."

People cheered enthusiastically as the queen stepped aboard the launch boat to start the pageant marking her 60 years on the throne.

The crowd gathered at Chelsea Pier in west London screamed as the sovereign, dressed in silver and white, turned to wave in their direction.

Her husband Prince Philip, upon whom the queen bestowed the title of lord high admiral on his 90th birthday last June, wore his naval uniform, as did her son and heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles.

Prince William, Charles's eldest son and next in line, donned his Royal Air Force uniform while his wife Catherine was in a striking red Alexander McQueen dress.

The queen, Prince Philip, Charles and his wife Camilla seemed in jovial spirits, smiling broadly and laughing as they sailed out to the Spirit of Chartwell.

The riverside flats of the Pimlico district had balloons and bunting hanging from the balconies and crowds stood 15 to 20 deep along the riverbank.

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, waved a Union Jack flag as he sailed down the Thames on the Havengore, which had carried the coffin of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill during his state funeral in 1965.

Downstream on Westminster Bridge, next to the Houses of Parliament, hundreds of people had got there early -- some camping out overnight in the rain -- to secure a prime spot.

Tenille Wong, a 30-year-old Australian who works for the EMI record label, said: "It's such a historic occasion and even the weather can't dampen our spirits.

"The achievement of anyone doing their job for 60 years is impressive.

"It's a great opportunity to be among loads of people in London when everyone's happy -- because Londoners can be a bit grumpy!"

Wong, who was wearing an Australian flag baseball cap, added: "I just love the idea that one day my grandkids might be doing a school project on the British monarchy, and I can say I was here."

Plumber Dave Tong, 48, said he had made the journey from Lancashire in northwest England, because the queen is "one of the things that makes Britain great."

He and his wife Carmel, who was wearing a miniature Union Jack top hat, were looking forward to their large supply of "wet sandwiches" for lunch, having got soaked in the earlier rain.

"It's too easy to watch it on telly," he said, laughing. "You've got to come down here and be wet. It's the Dunkirk spirit."

Harking back to the 1940 Battle of Dunkirk, the phrase has come to sum up defiant courage and solidarity in the face of adversity -- and several of the boats that took part in the wartime evacuation were sailing in the flotilla.

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