For the first time since the Royal wedding, England’s first family will course through London in the State carriages, for thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, before the Queen’s address to the nation tonight.

The memorable day is said to begin with a Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, during which the entire Commonwealth will be invited to celebrate the Queen’s landmark achievement. Beginning at 10.30am, the service will include a sermon from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and a New Testament reading given by David Cameron.

At 11.30am, the Queen will be taken by car to the Mansion House, where they will attend a reception thrown by the Lord Mayor of London, while the rest of the 2,000-strong congregation, including more than 40 members of the Royal family, will attend a reception in the Guildhall given by the City of London.

The Queen and the five other members of the Royal family will then have lunch in Westminster Hall with 700 members of the Livery Companies that represent crafts and trades practised around the country.

At 2.20pm, the carriage procession will begin, in which the Queen will travel in the 1902 State landau. The carriage procession will begin in Parliament Square, turning right along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square before entering The Mall via Admiralty Arch, finally reaching Buckingham Palace at 2.40pm.

A little before 3.30pm the seven members of the Royal family will appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. There the Queen’s Guard will rapidly fire their rifles down a line and back again in what is known as the ‘fire of joy’, while the Band of the Irish Guards plays the National Anthem.

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