Queen leads Jubilee flotilla on London's rainy Thames

Queen Elizabeth II's proud subjects honor her with the launch of a thousand boats on the Thames, a river pageant the likes of which Britons have not seen for 350 years. NBC's Michelle Kosinki reports.

By Sohel Uddin and Annabel Roberts, NBC News in London

It was Queen Elizabeth the First who launched 1,000 ships down the River Thames, in the 16^th century.?The same number of boats made their way through London on Sunday ? not an Armada for battle, but a fanfare of pageantry celebrating the 60 year-reign of Queen Elizabeth the Second.

Black clouds, gusting winds and often torrential rain ? the hallmarks of a British summer outdoor event ? were unable to darken the magnificence of the display.

Hundreds of thousands gathered on the banks of the Thames to watch the Queen glide past in a barge decorated with flowers, with her closest family at her side, including grandson Prince William and his wife Kate.

Peter Jeary, NBC News

Rain-soaked spectators arrived early to get a good view.

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The 1,000-strong flotilla was by met by spectators lining 11 of the bridges that cross the river in the city center. Some of those had arrived in a chilly, miserable dawn to make sure they had the perfect view.

Eileen Scott, 67, from Southampton, England, celebrated the start of the reign as a young girl. ?We haven't had a pageant for so long,? she said. ?I was here for the coronation, I was eight and it was a dreadful day like this one."

In pictures:?Britain honors Queen Elizabeth II with Diamond Jubilee

Erica Vey, an RAF veteran and amputee, was in the front row of spectators. "It is typically English to wait for hours for on for something; we have the patience,? she said.

In the flotilla are kayaks, rowboats, barges and the?Motor Torpedo Boat 102 on which Allied Forces commander General Dwight Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspected warships before the 1944 D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France.?

All are decorated with flags and banners, making an extraordinarily colorful spectacle harking back to Tudor times when river pageants regularly took place for royal festivities.

While more than a century separates festivities marking Queen Elizabeth II's 60 years on the throne from those honoring her predecessor Queen Victoria, surprising similarities connect the commemorations. NBC News' Jim Maceda reports.

Organizers say Sunday's river pageant is the largest of its kind in 350 years -- when a similar spectacle was held for King Charles II and his consort, Catherine of Braganza, in 1662.?

Although the queen is still head of state in 16 countries from Australia and Canada to tiny Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean, Britain is now a shadow of its former imperial self.?

A much-needed joyous celebration
Historians and commentators say the pomp and spectacle of British royal occasions gives the country a sense of national pride at a time when the economy is in recession and people face deep austerity measures.?

Secret donors, foreign firms bankroll UK?s Diamond Jubilee celebration

Across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, street parties were being held to mark the occasion. Prince Charles and his wife Camilla dropped into one in central London before the pageant, joining in a rousing rendition of the national anthem.?

The government hope the festivities will mark the start of a summer of revelry capped off by the Olympic Games in London, raising the public's spirits and their own poll ratings.?

However, economists have warned that the extra public holidays will hit Britain's already ailing economy, potentially prolonging a recession.?

The celebrations come as polls show the overwhelming backing for the monarchy, which has overcome a slump in the 1990s following marital infidelities and the death of the hugely popular Princess Diana in a 1997 Paris car crash.?

Last year's wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton was proof of such enduring appeal with the ceremonial extravaganza attracting a global audience of up to two billion people.?

However, not everyone in London will be cheering. The small yet vocal Republican movement plans a protest during the flotilla, saying the jubilee was "a celebration of inherited power and privilege, and those celebrations have no place in a modern democracy".?

Celebrations will continue on Monday with a pop concert outside Elizabeth's London residence Buckingham Palace, where Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder will be among the acts. The band Madness?is set to take to the roof of the famous landmark to belt out the hit song "Our House."?

Ben Fogle reports live from aboard a canoe taking part in the flotilla of 1,000 boats honoring Queen Elizabeth II on her Diamond Jubilee weekend.

Chiara Francavilla and Peter Jeary, NBC News in London, and Alastair Jamieson of?msnbc.com conributed to this report.

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