Queen Elizabeth to open London Olympics

The queen and her husband will also open the Paralympic Games in London in August.

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip will open the London Olympic Games in July, the palace announced on Wednesday, continuing a tradition that dates back more than 100 years.

“Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, will open the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on Friday, July 27,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

The opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London, is being overseen by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle. The theme is the “Isles of Wonder” and is inspired by a passage from Shakespeare’s play "The Tempest".

The royal couple will also open the Paralympic Games in London on August 29, it said.

As head of the Commonwealth, the queen opened the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, her husband opened the Melbourne Games on her behalf in 1956, and their son Prince Charles opened the 1984 Paralympics in Stoke Mandeville, England.

The queen’s father King George VI opened the 1948 London Olympics, 40 years after King Edward VII opened the 1908 Olympics in the capital.