Starting from June 2, local time, a four-day celebration of the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's reign will be held across the UK, including military parades, church thanksgiving ceremonies, street parties and pop concerts. The London stock market will also be closed for two days.
Elizabeth II, 96, was born in London and succeeded to the British throne in 1952. As the world's oldest living monarch, the Queen is also the first monarch in British history to celebrate the 70th anniversary of her reign.
The "Tree of the Hundred Forests," designed by British genius architect Thomas Heatherwick, will be lit up on the evening of June 2. As an important part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the "Tree of The Hundred Forests" towers into the clouds, sending a message of hope, regeneration and optimism to the country and the world.
The "Tree of Trees" is 21 meters high, with steel as branches and aluminum pots as the carrier, planted with 350 native British trees, forming a giant tree-shaped structure as a whole.
The materials used in The Tree of the Hundred Forests are sourced from within the UK as much as possible to reduce energy use and waste due to transport. The 80 branches make maximum use of the old steel, keeping the carbon content to a minimum.
350 native British trees are planted in aluminium pots engraved with the Queen's emblem. These tree species include: alder, catalpa, leaflet lime, hazelnut, ornamental birch, field maple, larch, white beam, linden and so on. Designers artificially create botanical gardens on the bases of small and micro enterprises.
The Tree of the Hundred Forests installation was created and installed in millimeters by a team of welders, designers, manufacturers and planters from Cleveland, Erie, Halifax, Potterslade and London.
After the Jubilee Weekend, each tree species will be presented to community groups across the UK to encourage their work and inspire the next generation of tree-growers across the country to help urban greening and rural renewal in the UK.
"The installation is like a beacon that conveys a simple and timeless message: trees are superheroes of towns that have a much greater impact on people's lives than we realize; and that all of us are playing a role in this massive community movement that is truly changing the landscape of the country and paying tribute to our esteemed queen." —Thomas Heatherwick
The purpose of the installation is to draw attention to the Queen's Green Canopy (QGC) project, which supports more than 1 million trees planted from October 2021 to March 2022.