Pageant to celebrate queen's Jubilee

LONDON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A pageant at Windsor Castle is to be one of the highlights of Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, celebrating her 60th year as Britain's queen, officials said.

The World Comes To Windsor will feature 500 horses and 800 performers from the 250 countries the queen has visited as head of state, The Daily Telegraph reported. The show will play for three nights at Windsor, with the queen in the audience for the final performance, and then go on the road.

Tickets to the three Windsor performances went on sale Tuesday.

"It has been very clear that the queen's private passion for horses and everything equestrian has spilled over into her public life as our queen and that's why, I think, that the World Comes To Windsor ticks all the boxes," said Angela Rippon, a television journalist serving as an ambassador for the event. "What this event is going to demonstrate, with so many countries desperate to be part of it, is that there is enormous love and respect for Her Majesty, for the job that she has done over the last 60 glorious years."

The only British monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee was Elizabeth's great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, 114 years ago. Buckingham Palace has not released full details of plans for the year, but they include a tour of Britain and a celebration service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.