Tom Cruise and Alan Titchmarsh to host Queen’s Jubilee celebration

Tom Cruise and Alan Titchmarsh will join forces to host a Platinum Jubilee celebration at Windsor Castle, with Dame Helen Mirren appearing as Elizabeth I.

The celebrity-studded event will feature an eclectic line-up of celebrities, including Ant and Dec, Sir David Jason and Dame Joan Collins, and will be broadcast live on ITV.

The theatrical arena show, incorporating 1,300 performers and 500 horses, will be “a gallop through history” made up of four acts spanning the years from Elizabeth I to the coronation of Elizabeth II.

Cruise will host the first act, the second act will be hosted by Damian Lewis, the third by Adjoa Andoh, the star of Bridgerton, and the last by Titchmarsh.

Other performers will include Lord Lloyd-Webber, Sir Mo Farah, Dame Kelly Holmes, Dame Maureen Lipman, Moira Stuart and Sir Trevor McDonald, with music from Keala Settle, Gregory Porter and Katherine Jenkins.

There is no obvious reason why Cruise is involved in such a British celebration, but a source said: “He loves the Royals.”

Last month, the Hollywood star reportedly put on a private screening of the Top Gun sequel for the Royal family, after learning that the Duke of Cambridge was a fan of the original.

According to The Sun, the private viewing of Top Gun: Maverick was attended by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, and the Countess of Wessex.

The film, due for release in May, was partly filmed at Pinewood Studios.

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebration, as it is officially titled, will be broadcast on Sunday May 15. The event will also take place on three preceding days, in front of a live audience of 4,000, but without the celebrity element.

Phillip Schofield and Julie Etchingham will host the show.

The channel said: “The Celebration will take viewers on a gallop through history, from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I through to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, culminating in a grand finale.

“Dame Helen Mirren will take on the role of Queen Elizabeth I, while a cast of ‘Queen’s Players’ will be introduced by a character called ‘The Herald’ played by Omid Djalili.

“The Herald will whisk viewers through time linking the acts together, narrating and anchoring the stories and making light of some of the absurdities history presents us with.”

Events covered will include the Gunpowder Plot and Elizabeth I’s famous Tilbury speech: “I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.”

Military and equestrian displays will involve teams from Azerbaijan, India, Oman, France, Norway, Switzerland, and Trinidad and Tobago.