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From Puddings to Trees, Palace Sets out Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations

Britain's Queen Elizabeth records her annual Christmas broadcast in the White Drawing Room in Windsor Castle, next to a photograph of the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, in Windsor, Britain, December 23, 2021. (Reuters)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth records her annual Christmas broadcast in the White Drawing Room in Windsor Castle, next to a photograph of the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, in Windsor, Britain, December 23, 2021. (Reuters)
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From Puddings to Trees, Palace Sets out Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations

Britain's Queen Elizabeth records her annual Christmas broadcast in the White Drawing Room in Windsor Castle, next to a photograph of the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, in Windsor, Britain, December 23, 2021. (Reuters)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth records her annual Christmas broadcast in the White Drawing Room in Windsor Castle, next to a photograph of the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, in Windsor, Britain, December 23, 2021. (Reuters)

Inventing puddings and planting trees are just some of the things Britons are invited to do for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, events to mark her 70th anniversary on the throne that culminate in a "blockbuster weekend of celebrations" in June.

The 95-year-old, the longest-reigning monarch in British history, will add another milestone when she marks her Platinum Jubilee in February, with the government planning four days of celebrations from June 2-5.

Buckingham Palace said Britons aged 8 and over were encouraged to apply for a baking competition to find the "perfect Platinum Pudding recipe" dedicated to the queen, while some could also "plant a tree for the Jubilee".

During the long holiday weekend in June, people will be able to see the trooping the color in her birthday parade, a service of thanksgiving in London's St. Paul's Cathedral, a party at the Palace among other events.

In November, culture minister Oliver Dowden said the four days of celebrations would be "a celebration to remember".

Elizabeth, who is also the world's current oldest and longest-reigning monarch, became queen on Feb. 6, 1952, on the death of her father George VI.

In September 2015, she overtook the length of time her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria had spent on the throne, remarking that the historical moment was "not one to which I have ever aspired".

The plans are similar to those which marked the queen's 60th anniversary in 2012 when Britain held four days of events in her honor, including a huge flotilla on the River Thames and capped off with a star-studded concert at Buckingham Palace.

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119-year-old Brazilian Woman Stakes Claim as World's Oldest Person

Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, 119, sits in her house in Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, 119, sits in her house in Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
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119-year-old Brazilian Woman Stakes Claim as World's Oldest Person

Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, 119, sits in her house in Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, 119, sits in her house in Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

Two months away from what she says is her 120th birthday, Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, a great-grandmother from the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is rushing to be recognized as the world’s oldest living person by the Guinness World Records.

The institution currently features another Brazilian, Inah Canabarro Lucas, a nun from the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul as the oldest living person at 116 years, but Deolira’s family and doctors are confident that she will soon take the religious woman’s title.

“She is still not in the book, but she is the oldest in the world according to the documents we have on her, as I recently discovered,” said Deolira’s granddaughter Doroteia Ferreira da Silva, who is half her age, Reuters reported.

The documents show that Pedro da Silva was born on March 10th 1905 in the rural area of Porciuncula, a small town in the state of Rio. She now lives in a colorfully painted house in Itaperuna, where her two granddaughters Doroteia, 60, and Leida Ferreira da Silva, 64, take care of her.

The grandmother is also supervised by doctors and researchers who are interested in how she outlived the average life expectancy in Brazil, which currently sits at 76.4 years, by more than four decades.

“Mrs. Deolira, in 2025, will be 120 years old. She is in a good general state of health for her condition, she is not taking any medication,” said geriatric doctor Juair de Abreu Pereira, who checks up on Pedro da Silva frequently and is assisting her family in the process with Guinness World Records.

In a statement, Guinness said it couldn't confirm receiving Pedro da Silva's application, because it receives many from people around the world who claim to be the oldest living person.

Major floods in the region almost twenty years ago destroyed most of Deolira’s original documents, her doctor said. That may pose a challenge for the official recognition of her age.

Even if her age is not precise, Pedro da Silva is certainly older than 100 years, according to Mateus Vidigal, a researcher at the University of Sao Paulo who has studied her case as part of a project to understand the super elderly population of Brazil.

“Mrs. Deolira has not been excluded from the study, but there is this fragility which is the lack of documentation that is approved by those organizations,” Vidigal said, referring to vetting institutions such as the Guinness World Records.

Pedro Silva’s healthy diet and sleeping habits are key to her longevity, according to Dr. Pereira. To this day, she has a good interaction with her family and likes eating bananas.

“I wish I could get to her age and be like that,” Ferreira da Silva, her granddaughter, said. “While we have high blood pressure and diabetes, she does not have any of that.”