Britain's royals to have a busy 2012
(CBS/AP) LONDON - Britain's royals celebrated Christmas in traditional style over the weekend, at Queen Elizabeth II's Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England. But now that the holiday is over, Britain's royal family has a busy 2012 to look forward to, with a year's worth of festivities to mark the monarch's 60th year on the throne.
Most of the senior royals, including Prince William and his wife, Kate, will be dispatched across the globe to help the 85-year-old monarch celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in grand style.
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Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip (who was released from the hospital Tuesday after undergoing treatment for a blocked coronary artery), are planning to mark the event with a series of tours throughout the United Kingdom, to culminate with a celebration in London in early June that will include an unprecedented pageant on the River Thames with up to 1,000 boats taking part.
In a carefully choreographed scenario, the flotilla will be led by the queen aboard the Royal Barge.
"They're hoping the Diamond Jubilee will be as successful as the Golden Jubilee in 2002," said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine. "The media then thought the public wasn't interested, but by the big weekend there were 1 million people in the streets celebrating. I think that will happen again."
He said the queen was surprised by the outpouring of affection in 2002.
"Even after 60 years she is very self-effacing, and she's always amazed when people turn out to celebrate her achievements," he said. "You'd think by now she'd know how loved she is."
The Diamond Jubilee will mean extra overseas travel for many royals: Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will jet off to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea; William and Kate will represent the queen in Malaysia, Singapore, the Solomon Islands and the tiny island of Tuvalu; while Prince Harry is being sent to the Caribbean to tour Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas.
The queen and Philip are scheduled to make a series of trips throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from late March to mid-July. She is then expected to help open the Olympic Games in July before beginning her summer holiday.
William, Kate and Harry will also be involved in the Olympics - they were named official ambassadors for Britain's Olympic and Paralympic teams earlier this month.
2012 might also see Harry deployed for second time - he reportedly told attendees at a military awards ceremony last week that he will return to Afghanistan sometime next year.
And while the queen's Jubilee will be the coming year's main event, there's a few other milestones the royals can look forward to: William and Kate will both turn 30 (her in January, him in June), and will mark the first anniversary of their wedding in April; William's cousin, Zara Phillips, will also celebrate her first year of marriage to English rugby player Mike Tindall. Perhaps they'll mark the anniversary with a honeymoon - Phillips said after their July wedding that the couple was too busy to take a trip at the time.
