Dame Joanna Lumley said she wants to capture “the feeling” of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations for the nation watching at home.
The Absolutely Fabulous actress said she is “utterly thrilled” to be a special guest presenter on Sky News’ coverage of the event.
She will present live from the Platinum Jubilee Pageant and the Jubilee Big Lunch alongside veteran broadcasters Kay Burley and Alastair Bruce.
Dame Joanna told the PA news agency: “I can’t wait. It’s going to be wonderful.
“Being able to describe the feeling for people at home, people listening and watching who of course have to rely on you for saying how it is.
“Of course they have got pictures going on but it’s quite nice to have somebody actually commenting about it as well, sometimes you can see and talk about things the cameras can’t see.
“You do get this lovely sense of excitement because you want to bring energy, and you want to be sharp, you want to be sure that you see everything because after all, you’re going to be reporting to people, noticing things, keeping their attention, keeping people at home happy, telling them what it feels like.”
As a self-processed life-long fan of the Queen, Dame Joanna said she was “terribly proud” to be presenting celebrations about a woman she “hugely admires”.
She said: “The Queen made a promise when she was terribly young, she said her whole life would be in service of us, her people and she would never faulter and never waver from it and she never has.
“I can’t think of anybody who’s ever made a promise like that in public and kept to it. So I’m a great fan of the Queen, I just think she’s remarkable.
“She’s a pretty special person and I think we would all love to be loved by the Queen and I think she loves us all.
“I think she looks at her people, not only the people here but the people of the Commonwealth and anybody who looks up to her, I think she treats them all with love, so I love her for that.”
Dame Joanna said the upcoming celebrations are something the country greatly deserves following the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.
She said: “I think this must be a time for love, this is a great time.
'I wanted it to be like a kind of bouquet, a bunch of stories.'
Joanna Lumley has put together a wonderful book to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. 👑📚
Stream on @BBCiPlayer 👉 https://t.co/zYHgsW1hq9#TheOneShow pic.twitter.com/eNFCRMXK8j
— BBC The One Show (@BBCTheOneShow) October 25, 2021
“We’ve all had such a miserable two years, and we come out emerged from the darkness and find ourselves facing the most horrific war and in this country such deprivation and anxiety.
“I think we’ve just got to say for the five days, let’s kick up your heels and make it all work make it happy, make the Queen know how thrilled we are with her.”
Dame Joanna said she was most looking forward to the “sense of community” that the Jubilee celebrations bring to the nation.
She said: “As soon as it comes around, as soon as the streets start getting dressed up with flags, and as soon as people tie ridiculous bows on things, knitted hats for letterboxes, this is what I adore.
“The idea that we all bring stuff out and put them on trays or onto the grass if it’s not raining for big picnics so everybody can join in.
“People bring along their guitar or somebody is going to sing and some people have got a portable transistor radio.
“I just love the community feeling, it’s just such a chance to get together.
“Which for instance, during lockdown, and everyone’s clapping for the NHS, we could see each other but we couldn’t get together, we could only stand on our doorsteps and clap.
“Covid has not completely gone away but it’s under control, we can all get together and hug each other and say, ‘Aren’t we lucky to be in this beautiful country with this extraordinary Queen’.”
Join Kay Burley, Alistair Bruce and Joanna Lumley on Sky News’ coverage of The Platinum Jubilee.