I believe Kermit came and went all through the show (most of which I didn't see, because unbeknown to you N Americans the World Cup is underway). No idea why the frog got a ticket. I did catch Tom Jones's glance of unease, but it was a fleeting thrill against the schadenfreude that swamped me when Parkinson met Rod Hull and Emu.

The revelry has continued today on yet grander scale - some 5,000 gospel-singers under the direction of Pattie Boulaye, and several more thousand Chicken Shed kids have just gone down the Mall in a spectacular feast of colour.

The evident discomfiture of some of those younger Royals may lend support to the view that we are celebrating the end of the monarchy. Long live the republic!