Prom at the Palace
The Prom at the Palace was a classical music concert held in London in 2002, in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II. It was held at Buckingham Palace Garden on 1 June 2002 and formed part of the Golden Jubilee Weekend. It was the classical equivalent of the Party at the Palace, a rock/pop music event. Its name reflects the popular season of classical concerts held at the Royal Albert Hall, The Proms. The event was broadcast by the BBC and shown in more than 40 countries. It was directed by Nicholas Kenyon.
Event and venue
The concert was held in Buckingham Palace Garden as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations. The event was touted as the greatest classical concert in Britain in many years, in part due to the quality of performers gathered on a single stage. Tickets were determined by a lottery and 3,000 telephone lines were set up to deal with the calls from applicants. Around two million applications were submitted to attend either the Party or the Prom at the Palace. Twelve thousand people attended the latter, including 125 guests in the royal box, among whom were eighteen members of the royal family.This was the first time that the Queen had ever opened the garden up to the public and heralded similar celebrations, both during the Golden Jubilee Year of 2002 and in 2006 for her 80th birthday celebrations, which included a party for fellow octogenarians and a Children's Prom at the Palace.