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Around 3,000 beacons were being lit up across the United Kingdom on Thursday evening, June 2, UK media reported, as Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years on the throne.

In Portsmouth, the lighting ceremony was hosted by the National Museum of the Royal Navy at the city’s historic dockyard as a choir sang ‘A Life Lived With Grace’ by Lucy Kiely. The lighting was followed by a fireworks display.

The lighting of the principal beacon, placed outside Buckingham Palace, was triggered by the queen in a ceremony at Windsor Castle, and set off a chain reaction of lightings across the country, according to the BBC.

Though the 96-year-old queen took part in the lighting ceremony, British media reported that she would miss Friday’s Jubilee thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London after experiencing “some discomfort” during the festivities on Thursday. Credit: National Museum of the Royal Navy via Storyful