Royal da Vincis to tour UK

The Queen views Da Vinci's The Last Supper in Milan

The Queen has given permission for a touring exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci drawings as part of next year's Golden Jubilee celebrations.

The news comes as a rare sketch by Leonardo da Vinci is put up for auction on Tuesday, expected to fetch around £3.5m.

The collection of some of Leonardo's finest drawings will be taken from the royal library at Windsor Castle to various museums and galleries throughout the UK.

The 2002 Golden Jubilee, a celebration of the Queen's 50 years on the throne, will include the development of two art galleries.

Leonardo da Vinci's Horse and Rider is expected to sell for £3.5m at auction

The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace is being redeveloped for spring 2002, to increase the size of the existing gallery.

New gallery

A new Queen's Gallery, costing some £3m, is to be built at Holyrood in Edinburgh.

It will be created from two converted buildings, close to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the site of the new Scottish Parliament.

It will enable more material from the royal library at Windsor including world famous works of art by Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael to be exhibited in Scotland.

The royal collection, which many people hold among the best art collections in the world, is held in trust by the Queen as sovereign for her successors and the nation.

Parties

The Queen's Golden Jubilee tour will last three months, during which the Queen hopes to visit much of the UK.

Huge crowds celebrated the Silver Jubilee in 1977

Tuesday 4 June 2002 will be the main day of celebrations.

Local communities planning street parties - as in 1977 for the Queen's Silver Jubilee - are being encouraged to have them on that day, which has been made an extra bank holiday.

The Queen will attend a National Thanksgiving Service at St Paul's Cathedral in London on 4 June, followed by a Golden Jubilee lunch at Guildhall, in the City of London.