Pride 2026 in Central London

It's back! This Pride season, Regent Street once again proudly celebrates inclusivity, visibility and love with the Intersex-Inclusive Pride Flag unfurled along our iconic curve.

As London comes to life with all colours of the rainbow, we stand united with the LGBTIQA+ community to honour diversity and inclusion all year round. Read on as we talk to Valentino Vecchietti, creator of the current global Pride flag, for her take on inclusion and allyship throughout Pride season and beyond.

Pride Parade – Saturday 4th July 

We’re thrilled to support the Pride in London parade, returning on 4th July. The parade will follow its historic route, from Hyde Park Corner down Piccadilly and around Piccadilly Circus, before heading through St James’s to Whitehall. 

Whether you’re cheering from the sidelines or marching with pride, we’d love to see your photos of the event! Share them with us on Instagram at @RegentStreetW1 and @StJamesLondon - you might just see them reposted on our accounts.

Behind the Flag with Valentino Vecchietti

Valentino is the creative mind behind the intersex-inclusive Pride flag, and this year we sat down with her to look at the story behind its creation and how the design came about.

First of all, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I am a writer and an artist, working largely in creating cultural change. I created the intersex-inclusive Pride flag as part of my campaign work on social media in 2021 .

I have worked in journalism and as a columnist for many years. I am intersex and I am a lesbian, so my journalism has generally been focused within the queer press. I also work as a consultant in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion to support organisations to be intersex-inclusive in the workplace, so that employees who are intersex can feel supported and protected and enjoy the same rights as all other employees.

What motivated you to take the project on?

My initial motivation came from the exclusion of intersex people in global awareness events. May 17th is celebrated as the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, but sadly intersex people are often excluded from official graphics and promotional material shared with organisations, which in turn creates systemic exclusion.

There is a long way to go and in the UK we are not included in any equality legislation, meaning we also have no protection from hate crime. With such a lot of awareness-raising left to do, I hoped to create a symbol of allyship to take forward.

How did the flag’s design come about?

I had planned to have my flag ready for the May 17th events of 2021. At the time, I only had a very old MacBook and I made my flag in the Apple Keynote app. Although I was already known for my work raising awareness around intersex and LGBTIQA+, it was an enormous surprise to wake up and see that my flag had gone viral overnight and the global press had declared it as the new Pride flag!

What has the reception of it been like for you since it was unveiled in 2021, has its reach surprised you in any way?

Since then, it has been spotted in incredibly symbolic places, like Lewis Hamilton’s helmet at the Grand Prix in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee pageant, which I could never have expected or even wished for.

To date, there have only been four global Pride flag creators. The only way a flag can become a global Pride flag is by the mass consensus of the global LGBTIQA+ community, so my being the current global Pride flag creator is the most profound, beautiful and remarkable gift - and responsibility - of my life.

Your updated flag is such a symbol of inclusivity - what kind of an impact do you believe it has on the LGBTIQ+ community and beyond?

It really is a flag for everyone, and I would hope that our whole community could feel the joy of being visible and included. Personally, I don’t wish to hide the fact that I have a beard, and I truly hope that recognising our community on a wider stage helps to give others that sense of authenticity so we all feel we can live without having to change ourselves to fit in.

In turn, I hope this recognition helps others to understand more about our community so that welcoming us to join in becomes second nature.

How does it feel for you to see the flags displayed on Regent Street?

It was remarkably moving when Regent Street approached me to say they’d like to use my Intersex-Inclusive Pride flag. The first time I saw the vista of flags along the street, it brought me to tears. I was truly overjoyed, but after having fought for so long to create greater intersex visibility, I also felt a weight of pain being lifted.

Since 2022, I have worked with the Regent Street team in producing educational vinyls for window displays that provide a history of Pride flags, the designers and the inclusion they each created.  

To have that allyship and solidarity with our community conveyed in the heart of London truly takes my breath away.

A Closer Look at the Pride Flags

As Valentino mentions, each year, Pride is symbolised by a growing family of flags that represent the beautiful diversity of the global LGBTIQA+ community. Here’s a brief history of the global Pride flags: 

1978 – Rainbow Pride Flag

2017 – Philadelphia Pride Flag

2018 – Progress Pride Flag

2021 – Intersex-Inclusive Pride Flag

We're honoured to represent the evolution of Pride in our neighbourhood and we look forward to celebrating with you this Pride season.

For more information on London’s Pride event, stay tuned via our socials @RegentStreetW1.