Why does the Queen have two birthdays?

The Queen is celebrating her 96th birthday at the Sandringham estate, believed to have been once loved by Prince Philip.

The daily mirror reported that she would be traveling from her now permanent residence at Windsor Castle to the royal estate in Norfolk to stay at Wood Farm, the home her late husband used after he stepped down from royal duties in 2017.

The Queen is expected to be “accompanied by members of the royal family” over the weekend to celebrate her 96th birthday, with the “mini-break” seen in royal circles as a “positive step” after ongoing mobility issues kept her from taking it prevented from their usual public engagements.

She was absent from her traditional Easter Sunday celebrations at Windsor Castle last weekend and “missed several high-profile events since spending a night in hospital last October” and was “exhausted” from a bout of Covid-19 in February, the reported i news site.

Her birthday is usually marked by several gun salutes in central London taking place today, although over the past two years they have been canceled due to the pandemic in 2020 and the death of Prince Philip in 2021.

While the Queen usually spends her actual birthday – April 21st – privately, she also has a second public birthday in June.

Why does the Queen have two birthdays?

Strange as it may seem, the reason lies not in some obscure tradition or in some quirk of royal protocol. It’s just the weather.

The practice began in 1748 when George II decided to move his birthday parade from 9 November to a day in the summer when the grand procession was less likely to be a failure.

Since then, the reigning king or queen, or their parliament, determines an appropriate summer date for the occasion, no matter how distant it is from the monarch’s actual birthday.

It also explains why the Queen actually has more than two birthdays – some Commonwealth nations in the southern hemisphere follow the same logic when it comes to greeting their head of state while the sun is shining.

Consequently, the Falkland Islands celebrate the Queen’s actual birthday on April 21, as June is one of the coldest months of the year in the South Atlantic, while in Australia, where most of the country celebrates the official June birthday, Queensland and Western Australia both keep theirs Tribute in sunny October.

Canadians celebrate the Queen’s official birthday on the last Monday before May 25, which is also Victoria Day, a public holiday honoring the Queen’s great-great-grandmother.

In New Zealand there have been calls in recent years to replace the Queen’s birthday, which they celebrate on the first Monday in June, with an official recognition of Matariki, the Maori New Year celebration.

Prince Charles’ birthday is November 14th, so it’s likely he’ll carry on the tradition when he takes the throne. However, Prince William was born on June 21st, so he might opt ​​for just one celebration.

How is the event marked?

This year, the Queen has invited children from the Royal Borough of Windsor to celebrate their actual birthday on the 21st The Telegraph.

Windsor Council will also help celebrate the Royal Nineties when miniature cannons are fired along the Long Walk, with a special tribute led by Mayor John Story. “A selection of children attending the ceremony will be selected to fire the cannon while being supervised by a weapons expert,” the newspaper said.

The Trooping of the Color, which has marked the monarch’s ‘official’ birthday in June for over 260 years, is also taking place this year after a two-year hiatus. Usually held on the second Saturday in June, this year it’s on June 2nd to give the Queen’s a ‘kick start’ Platinum Anniversary weekend said Country Life.

The Queen is believed to have extended an invitation to do so Duke and Duchess of Sussex to join other royals for a “balcony appearance” at Buckingham Palace during this year’s Trooping of the Color reported The guard, after the couple made a “low-key” visit to the monarch on their way to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands earlier this month. It is not yet known whether they will participate.