2012 – a Great British year

As Britain’s Ambassador in Bucharest, I would like to extend an invitation to everyone in Romania to visit the United Kingdom this year. Over a hundred thousand Romanians visit the UK each year, but 2012 is going to be a special one with more reasons than ever before to make a trip to London and elsewhere in the UK.

This summer we will celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. This is not a once in a lifetime occasion. It is not even a once in a century occasion. It will be a momentous celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the monarch’s accession to the throne – something which has only happened once before in the UK’s history, when Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

The Jubilee itself will be commemorated between 2-5 June, with events across the United Kingdom. The highlight will be a huge pageant on the River Thames, with a flotilla of over a thousand boats, headed by the Queen’s own Royal Barge – recalling great state occasions of the past when the River was the main thoroughfare of London. It promises to be an amazing spectacle, and a fitting celebration of the Queen’s long service to the United Kingdom.

I know that some in Romania are already getting prepared for the Diamond Jubilee, and school children have been perfecting their English by learning about our Kings and Queens, food, life style, habits, achievements of our culture and by scripting letters of congratulation to Her Majesty the Queen. I am looking forward to awarding prizes in a special language contest organized this spring in Bucharest.

After the Jubilee party, London’s stage will be set for the greatest show on earth – the Olympic and Paralympic games. On Monday 9 January we celebrated the marking of 200 days to the Olympics by raising the Olympic flag at the British Embassy in Bucharest. I am looking forward to a great summer of sport, and expect close competition between Romania and the UK in the rowing lake at Eton Dorney, nearby Windsor Castle. I am also delighted that Romania is sending its largest ever team to the Paralympic Games. London is the first to integrate planning for the Olympic and Paralympic games from the outset, to ensure the highest possible standards in the services, facilities and opportunities for disabled people at the games.

So make 2012 your year to visit Great Britain. You couldn’t pick a better place at a better time.