The Queen spent the first official day of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations indulging in one of her favorite passions - horses.

The 86-year-old monarch, who is celebrating six decades on the throne with four days of festivities, attended the Epsom Derby - considered one of the most exciting and prestigious horse races in the world.

She and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, 90, were given an affectionate welcome from a crowd of about 130,000 race-goers as the royal motorcade entered the stadium in Surrey, southeastern England, and took a quick spin along the course.

The Queen, wearing an elegant floral print dress and royal blue jacket and hat, joined a large party including the Duke of York and his daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, before visiting the paddock to inspect some of the horses running in the Diamond Jubilee Coronation Cup.

Her Majesty's love of all things equine is well known - she is a racehorse owner, breeder and trainer, and her horses have competed at the highest level. While one of her animals has yet to win the Epsom Derby, in 1953 her horse Aureole came a close second. This year, she had no runner in the race.

With the jubilee party officially kicking off Saturday across Britain, thousands of miles of bunting was festooned over England and Wales, and almost 9500 road closure applications were granted for street parties.

Heathrow Airport rehearsed worst-case baggage-handling situations to prepare for the arrival of nearly 800,000 overseas travelers and well-wishers, and supermarket chain Tesco expects to sell 200,000 bottles of champagne.

Despite the countrywide excitement, there was a dark cloud hanging over the celebrations, literally - but although the day started out bleak for parts of England, the weather began to clear in several places by the afternoon.

The extended public holiday weekend began with a bang Friday night in Portsmouth, on the southern coast of England, where the HMS Diamond fired a 21-gun salute in honour of the queen.

On Sunday, Her Majesty will board a royal barge on the River Thames and lead a flotilla of 1000 vessels in a grand maritime pageant. More than a million people are expected to gather along the river to witness the spectacular event.

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Queen heads to the races as Jubilee kicks off