Charities invited to Queen's birthday picnic – but told to pay £150 per ticket

Charities have been asked to pay £150 per ticket to join the celebrations marking the Queen's 90th birthday this year.

Around 10,000 people are expected to attend the Patrons' Lunch street party on the Mall on 12 June, including representatives of the 600 non-profit organisations who list the monarch as their patron.

However, the £150 price tag has had some charity bosses raising an eyebrow.

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David Huse, who ran the Mayor of London’s 2012 Olympic and Paralympic volunteer programme, told The Times he was "surprised" by the announcement.

"I would have thought that it is not beyond the wit of man to raise this money commercially," he said, suggesting that more could have been raised from sponsors to cover costs.

The organisations will be permitted to sell on up to 40 per cent of their allocated tickets at a profit.

A further 1,000 tickets will be made available to the general public through a ballot.

In what is being billed as the biggest street party the country has ever seen, the event will see the Queen as guest of honour at a massive picnic. She will sit in a special box on the Victoria Memorial, just outside gates of Buckingham Palace, alongside her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, and her grandsons, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

Guests seated along the Mall will tuck into hampers provided by Marks & Spencer and other goodies provided by the lunch's corporate sponsors, including Pimm's and PG Tips.

The decision to charge for the tickets was announced by the Queen's grandson, Peter Phillips, whose events agency company Sports & Entertainment Ltd is overseeing the party and will receive an undisclosed fee for their work.

Speaking yesterday, Phillips defended the charge, telling The Telegraph: "It’s not exactly a cheap exercise." He added that any profit would be donated to charity.

The Queen's milestone birthday will be celebrated with a full weekend programme of events, beginning with a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral on 10 June.