Queen's Platinum Jubilee: Puppet procession recreates favourite animals

Corgis, swans and the Queen's favourite pony are being recreated to take part in the Platinum Jubilee Pageant.

Coventry-based puppet-maker Imagineer was chosen to make the models to take part in a parade in London on 5 June.

Puppets include the Queen's pony, Peggy, and 10 of her favourite horses as well as her famous corgis and a collection of swans.

The pageant is part of the jubilee weekend and will feature 5,000 people performing near Buckingham Palace.

Imagineer Artistic Director Kathi Leahy said she hoped the Queen would recognise some of their likenesses.

The company described the collection of models as a "playful procession" and said it would be led by a giant model of Lady Godiva, symbolically bringing gifts from Coventry and the wider West Midlands.

Ms Leahy said it was an "absolute honour" to represent the region and added: "We know how much she loves horses, from a child, all the way through her whole career really."

Louise Jones, who created the corgis, said she had taken inspiration from photographs and the process had been "really good fun".

Some of the models will be powered by bicycles and others, like the swans, will be carried by people.

The swans were chosen to represent the annual ceremony of Swan Upping on the River Thames, where young cygnets are health checked by school children.

Other models will include a giant crown and a model of the sailing boat Bluebottle, which was a wedding present to the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.

They will go on display during a parade through Westminster to mark the jubilee.

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