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Puppet show at Queen's celebrations - 3rd June 2022

Animal puppets are being prepared for their big day, the Queen's Jubilee, when there'll be a huge parade. The spectacle celebrates Queen Elizabeth's 70th year in her role. The puppets have been designed by firm 'Imagineer', with help from university students. The puppets form one special part of the parade, 'The Queen's Favourites', and include dogs and horses.

Kathi Leahy: "We thought about what does she love? And outside of all her duties and, because she's virtually on duty most of the, all the, all the time. And it's, it's equine and canine. And so, they're her first loves – her dogs and her horses. We've got 10 horses, and the horses range from the Queen's first hobby horse – the first, the pony that she learned to ride on. So we've got Peggy. We've then got some racehorses that have specific significance to the Queen, such as Sanction, which is the next one along here."

The Queen's corgis – her short-legged dogs – are famously important to her. Elizabeth received her first one from her parents on her 18th birthday.

Kathi Leahy: "Some of them have tails that are up in the air. Some of them have very expressive faces – tongues out, tongues in."

By tradition, all England's swans belong to the Queen, so swan costumes will be a large feature in the procession.

Trudy Rees-Marklew is responsible for designing the costumes and the visual displays. She's attempted to make people laugh with her design.

Trudy Rees-Marklew: "The challenge was to bring the humour into the design, and to bring some fun and laughter on the day."

One enormous puppet in the procession is Lady Godiva, a historical figure from a millennium ago. There'll also be a copy of 'Bluebottle', a small boat which was presented as a wedding gift to Princess Elizabeth and her husband.

For Imagineer's head, Jane Hytch, making the Queen smile is an important goal.

Jane Hytch: "But I hope that, I just hope she just smiles at the, particularly at the corgis and notices that innovation in our, our section. You know, with Godiva and all the engineering and stuff."