Queen to miss Platinum Jubilee event on Friday

Queen Elizabeth stepped gingerly onto the Buckingham Palace balcony Thursday, drawing wild cheers from the tens of thousands who came to join her at the start of four days of celebrations of her 70 years on the throne.

Her fans sported Union Jack flags, party hats or plastic tiaras. Some had camped overnight in hopes of glimpsing the 96-year-old monarch, whose public appearances are becoming rarer.

It was also a chance to watch the Trooping the Colour a military parade that has marked each sovereign's official birthday since 1760.

It was an explosion of joy in the massive crowd, one of the first big gatherings in the U.K. since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

"Everybody has got the same mission," said Hillary Mathews, 70, who had come from Hertfordshire, outside London. "All the horrors that's been going on in the world and in England at the moment are put behind us for a day, and we can just enjoy really celebrating the Queen."

Experienced 'some discomfort' Thursday

Elizabeth, who became Queen at 25, is Britain's longest-reigning monarch and the first to reach the milestone of seven decades on the throne.

Yet after a lifetime of good health, age has begun to catch up with her. Buckingham Palace announced late Thursday that the Queen would not attend a thanksgiving church service Friday after experiencing "some discomfort" at events on Thursday. The palace said with "great reluctance" the monarch has decided to skip the service at St. Paul's Cathedral.

The Queen has had trouble moving around in recent months and has pulled out of many public events.

But Elizabeth took part Thursday night in lighting a chain of ceremonial beacons at Windsor Castle as planned.

The Jubilee celebrations go on for a longweekend, and it was not immediately known how the news would affect Jubilee events on Saturday and Sunday.