LONDON: It takes agility to get past the thousands of commemorative pictures and teacups piled up in the London home of Margaret Tyler, one of the UK’s biggest collectors of royal memorabilia.

Days ahead of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee marking 70 years on the throne on Thursday, the 78-year-old pensioner wearing a Union Jack jacket shows off her collection, which fills the ground floor of her house in the northwestern suburb Wembley.

“I think it’s wonderful that she’s done 70 years on the throne. The one thing that does upset me is the fact that prince Philip isn’t here,” says Tyler, casting her eye over the shelves dedicated to the queen’s husband, who died last year aged 99.

The house’s exterior sets the tone: a front door guarded by two queen-inspired garden gnomes, a replica of a bearskin hat-wearing royal guard and a pennant in the red white and blue of the Union Jack.

Inside, Tyler has collected more than 12,000 royalty-themed objects over the last 40 years, from teacups bearing the image of all the members of the royal family, to posters, framed pictures, books, statues, even slippers and ashtrays.

“If I like it, I buy it,” she says. So much that her children have barred her from going on the internet in the hope of slowing her spending.

“I don’t know whether to go to libraries” for the internet, she jokes. “They wouldn’t know.”

‘Diana room’

When she started collecting, Tyler gave over one room in the house to her hobby and forbade her four children from entering.

“They weren’t that interested, to be truthful,” she admits.

The collection grew inexorably, and as her children become adults and left home, she used their bedrooms to store more objects.

She even had walls knocked down and an extension built to create a “Diana Room” entirely dedicated to Prince Charles’s first wife, Tyler’s favourite princess.

She has had a portrait of “Lady Di” painted on the ceiling by a US artist.

“It was very hard work because you’ve got your arm up like that all the time. So you have to keep resting it,” she said.

Despite the amount of time spent collecting royal souvenirs, Tyler also does not miss a chance to meet the royal family.

That was why, aged 19, she left rural Herefordshire in the west of England to move to London and be closer to Buckingham Palace.

She has since met the queen four times.

“I gave her a big cake shaped like a crown one time,” she says with unabashed pride.

‘Happy, happy time’

Tyler’s royal passion is relentless.

She hopes that the jubilee will be a success for the queen, who at 96 remains very popular, despite health concerns, family scandals and the death of her husband.

“My wishes for the queen would be a happy, happy time together with her family… I hope she has a sort of restful time because she’s worked so hard,” says Tyler.

Despite her sadness that the queen’s grandson Harry and his wife Meghan left official royal duties to live in California, Tyler rejoices that they will travel to London for this week’s celebrations.

“It’s amazing they’re coming over for the jubilee. You know, they didn’t want to be left out this time, did they?” she says.

Like many Britons, Tyler is eagerly waiting for the jubilee celebrations.

But she will follow the festivities at home on television with friends rather than travelling into London, as she has to look after a loved one who has mobility issues.

“On TV, I can watch it again on replay in the evening when everyone is gone,” she says with a smile.

The queen’s Platinum Jubilee: in numbers

Celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee will be on a truly royal scale, featuring millions of participants around Britain and climaxing in a TV spectacle expected to be watched by a billion worldwide.

Here is a rundown of the four days of festivities that start Thursday to commemorate the 70-year reign of Britain’s longest-ruling monarch:

Troops and horses

Around 1,500 soldiers, 400 army musicians and 250 horses will take part in the traditional “Trooping the Colour” parade Thursday, which returns after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic.

Some 200 soldiers from the Coldstream Guards will line The Mall, leading from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace in central London.

124-gun salute

At noon (1100 GMT) Thursday, 42-gun salutes will be fired across the country to mark the queen’s “official birthday” on June 11.

Selected Royal Navy ships at sea will also fire their guns, along with the Grand Battery in Gibraltar off Spain.

An hour later, the Tower of London will salute with no fewer than 124 rounds.

70 aircraft

Completing the parade is a six-minute flypast over Buckingham Palace with more than 70 aircraft from each branch of the armed forces.

They include the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force’s aerobatic team, and a collection of iconic World War II planes including three Spitfire fighters and a Lancaster bomber.

One number will be down on previous gala occasions: the royal family members watching from the Buckingham Palace balcony.

Appearances are restricted to “working royals”, which means no Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, nor the queen’s disgraced second son Prince Andrew.

Light show

More than 2,800 beacons will be lit Thursday night across the UK, including atop the country’s four highest peaks, as well as on the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and British Overseas Territories.

Flaming tributes will be seen in 54 Commonwealth capitals across five continents, from Tonga and Samoa in the South Pacific to Belize in the Caribbean.

Even France is joining in, with buildings on the coast facing England set to be illuminated.

London bridges and landmarks will also light up, along with cathedrals across England.

16.5 tonnes

A national service of thanksgiving takes place at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral Friday, featuring a rare ringing of the Great Paul bell.

At a gigantic 16.5 tonnes, it is the largest bell ever cast in Britain. Its mechanism broke in the 1970s, but it was restored to its former glory last year.

5,000 essential workers

On Saturday, around 22,000 guests including 5,000 “essential workers” such as medics and emergency services staff will attend a BBC concert at Buckingham Palace.

The 2.5-hour musical extravaganza will include performances by Queen + Adam Lambert, Diana Ross, Alicia Keys, Nile Rodgers and the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Platinum picnics

For Sunday, more than 70,000 people have registered to host “Big Jubilee Lunches”, with 10 million expected to share food and friendship with their neighbours, according to the UK government.

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla are expected to attend one at The Oval cricket ground in London, where a six-metre (nearly 20-foot) felt artwork will be on show featuring a design of the “Platinum Pudding”.

The pudding that won the competition for the occasion – a lemon Swiss roll topped by an amaretti trifle – was chosen from nearly 5,000 entries by amateur bakers.

The recipe includes 13 eggs, takes “over two hours” to prepare, and serves 20.

Pomp and pageant

The celebrations culminate Sunday with the “Platinum Jubilee Pageant” – a public parade through central London.

Some 10,000 people are involved in a musical and creative display of how British society has changed since the queen began her rule over what was a very different country in 1952.

Then, the coronation sparked a boom in sales of television sets. Today, a billion viewers are expected to tune in around the world to watch Sunday, climaxing with Ed Sheeran singing “God Save the Queen”.