Diamond Jubilee: GE Lights Up London for Queen and Country

As the UK stops all the clocks to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee — yes, the Queen of England has been wielding her Royal Tea Cozy for 60 years now — don’t think the Brits don’t know how to celebrate. There was a 1,000 boat river pageant on Sunday, and a star-studded concert on Monday.

From a McQueen fit for a future Queen to jubilant Marmite to Cadbury's Dairy Milk to much, much more, there's one subtle branded tribute that actually comes from an American brand. The city of London now boasts a new lighting system across its Tower Bridge that went live in time for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The lights burn a particular "diamond" color to help pay respects to Her Royal Highness.

The lights will be up for a quite a while — 25 years, in fact, so they’ll still be lighting the night after the 86-year-old Queen is long gone (unless some kind of modern miracle occurs). French firm Citelum, who also helped light up the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame cathedral, and Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, are responsible for the lighting system, which uses General Electric architectural LED systems. 

According to GE Reports, it took six months to install “some 6,500 feet of energy-efficient LED linear lights, 1,800 LED lamps, and 1,000 junction boxes with 16,500 feet of cable.”

Of course, the lighting system comes during a big year for London as the Olympic and Paralympic Games are getting closer and closer to reality. To mark those occasions, the lighting system will create giant Olympic rings and a Paralympic agitos symbols during the 45 days of the summer games. GE is a worldwide Olympic partner so the corporation is all-in on any way it can help promote the Games — and its 2012 host country.