Here's how we can have a great London Jubilee

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I am not clear about the Jubilee. Who is meant to be jubilant? To put it another way, what is London being asked to celebrate? The Queen's Jubilee, to be held later this year, is encountering what no public event in Britain seems able to avoid these days, a silly row. First nobody takes any notice. Then "the wrong sort" of notice is taken. Then the event happens amid a flurry of scepticism, and suddenly it is over. Nobody ever mentions enjoyment.

Palace advisers are said to be terrified that the Jubilee will be a flop. Will the Queen be seen as old and out of touch? Can the citizens of youthful and iconoclastic London possibly identify with a 75-year-old monarch who does not rule? What of immigrants and ethnic minorities? What if nobody shows up?

No young Londoner of my acquaintance has a problem with these questions. All are happy with the monarch and ready to welcome her longevity, albeit with a bit of a shrug. But they see her as aloof and archaic, hidden in a large palace surrounded by walls, policemen and tourists. As Jack Straw said last week, Tony Blair is the one regarded as "head of state".

People have birthdays, jobs have jubilees. The monarchy's relations with its capital city have always been tense. For most of English history, they have veered between open hostility and guarded tolerance. That is why royal residences have always been in the western suburbs. The present Queen is rarely seen in London, except at occasions of brittle formality. She is known to prefer Windsor and Balmoral. She resisted opening Buckingham Palace to the public, even when she was away, until the Crown had to pay for the repair of Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire. The monarch would never call herself a Londoner.

The one thing the Royal Family can do with remarkable success is get Londoners onto the streets and engender a real sense of civic cohesion.

That is why the Palace is planning an itinerary this year as exhausting as an American presidential campaign. It might be about to launch a Monarchy Party. London's West End will be seeing a plethora of ceremonial occasions and the toffs need no further attention. But the Queen is planning four tours of the suburbs: east on 9 May, north on 6 June, west on 25 June and south on 4 July.

These are high-risk adventures. Dare the Queen visit Newham and not Barking, Bromley and not Croydon, Hillingdon and not Hounslow-London suburbs are notoriously sensitive and introverted. A motorcade round the North Circular Road hardly constitutes meeting the people. An hour spent in the Limehouse Link offers at best a peculiar intimacy. Tour the radials and the monarch will just clog up traffic. Avoid them and she risks the disaster of empty streets. Besides, London is full of cryptorepublicans, not least the teachers needed to deliver thousands of cheering children onto every pavement. The Palace must remember the old campaign rule: never leave spontaneity to chance.

The answer is to keep it simple. Choose a district with a good population balance, select a school and an old people's home a mile apart, then flood them with bunting and kids. To the west I would favour the loyal Asians of Wembley Park and Neasden. South, I would go for the royalist belt of Beckenham and Penge. North is tricky - never trust north London. But I would gamble on Wood Green and Muswell Hill, with their Afro-Caribbeans and upwardly mobile media folk. That is a reasonable spread.

East is different. The Palace can rely on the East End. Here, young and old, cockney and immigrant, all know how to celebrate. I would go for broke. On 9 May I would close the two miles from Aldgate East up the Mile End Road to Bow and stage a gigantic multicultural parade. Take in the souks of Brick Lane and the Pearly Kings and Queens of Bromley. Challenge the citizens of Whitechapel and Stepney, Mile End and Bow to rival each other in their welcome. The Queen could then jump the River Lea and eat eel pie and curry in the Romford Road. What better way to start London's Jubilee?

So much can Londoners give the Queen. What can the Queen give Londoners? Here is the rub. Buckingham Palace Gardens are being used for parties and concerts as part of the Jubilee. Regular visitors are allowed to walk round the edge after seeing inside the house. But that is all. Since 1992, this great temple of monarchy has been slowly opening its doors, but so slowly you can hear the creaking.

Why not, as a Jubilee gift, open the gardens properly? One day the hideous perimeter wall, festooned with alienating barbed wire, will surely come down. Either railings will take its place or, better, the gardens will become an ornamental addition to Green Park, as Kensington Gardens are to Hyde Park and Queen Mary's Rose Garden to Regent's Park. But when?

There is a long and noble tradition of England's rulers donating open space to the people of London at moments of celebration. James I gave Hyde Park. Cromwell gave Richmond. Charles II gave St James's Park. George III opened Kensington Gardens on Sundays, and Queen Victoria all week.

No great matter of principle, nor of practicality, stands in the way of incorporating these virtually unused gardens into the West End's "ring of green". They belong to the public already. Privacy and security are no more critical than when the Palace was opened. The gardens can be closed if needed for private functions - as are other Royal Parks - or if the monarch is in residence.

Such a Jubilee gesture would be one that all Londoners could appreciate and enjoy. The cost would be minimal, the benefit immense. The gift of the gardens would be a fitting "Jubilation" and mark a new chapter in a more accessible monarchy.