And they're off... horse show kickstarts Jubilee celebrations

THE Queen kickstarted her Platinum Jubilee festivities last night at a star-studded show in the grounds of Windsor Castle to mark her unprecedented 70-year reign.

- Richard Palmer

The monarch was beaming as she watched US actor Tom Cruise join British luminaries including Dame Helen Mirren, Damian Lewis, Alan Titchmarsh and host Omid Djalili at the extravaganza called A Gallop Through History.

The 90-minute show, featuring 1,300 performers and 500 horses, celebrated British history through the ages, from the reign of namesake Elizabeth I to our Queen, with a special acknowledgement of her love of horses.

It was the grand finale of the Royal Windsor Horse Show, an event the 96-year-old monarch has attended every year since it began as a wartime fundraiser in 1943.