Thousands line streets for joyous London Pride Parade 2026

Thousands of activists have marched through London in the capital’s LGBTQ+ Pride parade this year.

Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan was among those at the front of the Pride in London march on Saturday and led activists in a chant of ‘Happy Pride’.

Madonna is reportedly set to make an appearance at the event’s main stage in Trafalgar Square.

More than a million people were expected to head into London for the celebrations, with organisers saying more than 35,000 marchers from more than 600 groups were taking part in the procession running from Hyde Park Corner to Whitehall Place via Piccadilly.

The Metropolitan Police said before the event that there would be ‘no tolerance of hate crime’ as a busy weekend of Pride celebrations takes place in the city.

Spectators cheered as floats full of people dancing and speakers playing music drove through central London.

Many of those watching the parade wore rainbow colours and carried Pride flags and fans on a hot sunny day in the capital.

London-based football teams, including Arsenal, West Ham and Crystal Palace, also had floats in the parade.

Activist Peter Tatchell said Fifa was ‘doing nothing’ about 11 countries banning gay footballers at the World Cup.

He said: ‘We’re marching in London Pride today to highlight the fact that at the World Cup, which is ongoing right now, 11 countries ban gay footballers from their team – that’s against Fifa rules, but Fifa is doing nothing.’

The Australian-born activist added, ‘This year’s Pride is as important as ever. Particularly now that Reform councils across the country are banning Pride flags … wanting to remove books from shelves. That is very dangerous, very threatening to all of us.’

Gay rights activist Julian Hows, 70, said the Pride in London march was important with ‘rights being taken away from trans people’ in the UK.

Speaking at the front of the parade, Mr Hows, 70, who was expelled from school for early gay rights activism in 1971, stressed: ‘Pride is important every year.

‘I’ve been coming to Pride marches since 1972 when the policemen outnumbered the marchers.’

‘Pride is also important because it needs to have an underlying level of protest, and you can see the freedoms that we have can so easily be taken away. We also always need to push further because there’s always somewhere where our rights are being taken away.’

A spokesperson for Pride in London said: ‘The urgency is clear: NHS gender-affirming care waiting lists now exceed four years in some regions while a comprehensive trans-inclusive ban on conversion therapy remains uncodified into law despite a 2018 government pledge.

‘At the same time, the community infrastructure LGBTQ+ people rely on is shrinking — since 2006, 58% of London’s LGBTQ+ venues have closed.

‘Together, these gaps in care, protection and safe spaces are unfolding amid continued hostility, with Home Office figures showing that more than 18,000 hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation were reported to police in 2025.’

Pride in London interim chief executive Rebecca Paisis said: “We want 2026 to be the most inclusive Pride in London event yet.

‘Our movement has always been built on many voices becoming one united front — from the people who marched in 1972 to those joining us for the first time this year. That’s where our power lies.

‘As LGBTQ+ people, we’ve never been strangers to adversity, but neither are we strangers to collective action.’

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