Terrorist threat fails to disrupt birthday pageant

Tim Clarke / The Associated Press Britain's Prince of Wales laughs with his grandmother, the Queen Mother, during the pageant celebrating her 100th birthday in London on Wednesday. The Queen Mother will be 100 on Aug. 4th.

By Kevin Ward / The Canadian Press

London - The Queen Mother's century paraded before her Thursday in a 100th birthday pageant that was partly formal, but mostly off the wall.

It started formally with stiffly marching military bands, pipes and drums, cavalry regiments and the fanfare of royal trumpets. But the largest part of the 90-minute show leaned to the lighter side of life.

With the release of 100 white doves, a chronicle of the 10 decades of the Queen Mother's life moved across Horse Guards, a sweeping parade ground in central London.

There were flappers, hippies, punks, the throb of Harley Davidsons, Beatles impersonators and hula hoops. There were buses, bulls, sheep, cows, street cleaners and camels.

Many of the home-made floats wouldn't have been out of place at any small town parade in Canada, including a rather undersized model of Mount Everest intended to mark the conquest of the world's highest point during the last century.

There were the well-known charitable groups of which the Queen Mother serves as patron, such as the British Red Cross, mixed with some more obscure civilian organizations, like the Hastings Winkle Club.

Even a bomb threat, believed to be the work of a dissident Irish group, failed to derail the parade on a perfect summer evening.

The threat affected two London subway stations, one near the parade grounds.

The Queen Mother, who doesn't turn 100 until Aug. 4, watched from beneath a canopy of flowers with Prince Charles, her favourite grandson, by her side.

"I would just like to say a heartfelt thank you to all those who have come from far and near to take part in this lovely parade," said the Queen Mother, the most popular of the Royal Family, who met the occasion dressed in a pink outfit and wearing one of her trademark upturned hats.

"It has been a great joy to be here. And the marchers, the children, my regiments, especially the music - the excellent musicians - have been a wonderful joy to hear."

Many of the 12,000 invited guests to Horse Guards Parade represented the 350 charitable and civilian groups of which the Queen Mother is associated.

The military regiments included three from Canada: the Toronto Scottish Regiment, the Black Watch of Canada, based in Montreal, and the Canadian Forces Medical Services. The Queen Mother is colonel-in-chief of all three.

For Lt.-Col. Julian Chapman, commanding officer of the Toronto Scottish, the parade was a successful end to a year of preparation.

"We're very proud, very proud for the regiment, the Commonwealth and we're very proud of our colonel-in-chief. She is an incredible woman," he said.

As a birthday gift, Chapman sought the Queen Mother's permission over lunch in February to rename the regiment. Confirmation of the name change is expected before Aug. 4, when it will be known as The Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own.)

Gene Kerrigan, a second-lieutenant, watched the parade out of the corner of his eye as he stood at attention on the fabled parade grounds with the flag representing the regiment's battle colours.

"It was tremendous," said Kerrigan, 48, an inspector with York Regional Police in civilian life who lives in Keswick, Ont.