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A full dress rehearsal for Tuesday's carriage procession between Westminster Hall and Buckingham Palace was held in the early hours of Friday.

Some 2,000 servicemen and women took part, including members of the armed forces and the Household Division.

Roads in central London were closed off for the rehearsal, which saw members of the Household Cavalry Mounted Division travel from the Palace of Westminster along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, before riding along the Mall to Buckingham Palace.

The procession will be one of the final events taking place in the jubilee celebrations, which mark 60 years since the Queen came to the throne.

It will see the 1902 state landau carriage, previously used at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, taking the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh from a thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral.

The national anthem was played during the rehearsal, and soldiers practised their three cheers for the Queen.

Meanwhile, captains and crew members from the 1,000 boats taking part in Sunday's flotilla along the River Thames will be briefed later.

Daniela Relph from the BBC said the full ceremonial rehearsal showed the pomp and pageantry which will be seen during the four-day celebrations.

Major Andrew Chatburn, the ceremonial officer for the household division, described a 'spectacular sight', adding: 'I'm looking down the Mall now from Admiralty Arch, with the flag and the streets lined - and the mounted band has just gone down there.'

The state ceremonial training officer for the Royal Navy, Warrant Officer Paul Barker, said the rehearsal had gone well.

He said: 'We are at the right stage that we need to be at - we don't want to peak too early but it's everything I expected them to achieve.'

Sarah Tawton