Pregnant Kate Middleton will show off her baby bump as she joins Prince William, Prince Harry, the Queen and Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey on 4 June, when the royal family come together to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation. The group will be joined by William and Harry's father Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Edward who will attend with his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Following on from the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee last year, the service, held around a month before Kate's baby is due, will mark the 60th anniversary of the Coronation service, which took place on 2 June 1953.
Other guests to attend the service include Princess Anne, The Duke of York and his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Around 2,000 guests will witness the service, which will be conducted by the Dean of Westminster, who has written a Coronation Anniversary Prayer approved by the Queen herself. Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate, has specially written a poem, especially for the anniversary which will be read by actress Claire Skinner during the service. Guests from the church and other faith representatives will also attend alongside Prime Minister David Cameron. After the service, which starts at 11 am, the Queen will depart from the Great West Door of the Abbey where she will then travel by car to College Hall, to attend a private lunch, thrown by the Dean of Westminster.
It is believed Prince William and Kate will miss the lunch, as the Duchess will be in her eighth month of pregnancy, although Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall will attend. Last year, celebrations took place across the country to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. A river pageant saw spectacular scenes along the river Thames with more than a million people lining the river's wall, followed by a star-studded concert outside Buckingham Palace, which saw Kylie Minogue and Paul McCartney serenade the Queen. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge marked the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with a visit to South-East Asia which saw them visit the Solomon Islands, Kuala Lumpur and Tuvalu, returning three months before the happy announcement that Kate was pregnant.
Prince Harry also helped celebrate the Diamond Jubilee overseas with a visit to Jamaica. During the tour, Harry raced sprinter Usain Bolt, although unfortunately for the Prince he could not defeat the record-breaking runner. The service on 4 June will mark the beginning of celebrations taking place this summer to mark the coronation. In July, the Queen will hold a three-day coronation festival in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, which will celebrate the Queen's 60-year reign with a nod to great British traditions.