AP, London :
Britain is marking Queen Elizabeth II’s 91st birthday with gun salutes, as the monarch celebrates quietly at home.
A troop of the Royal Horse Artillery will ride horse-and-gun carriages past Buckingham
Palace before staging a 41-gun salute in Hyde Park at noon (1100GMT). There will also be a 62-gun salute at the Tower of London an hour later. The queen is Britain’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch, having become queen on Feb. 8, 1952. She is also the world’s longest-reigning living monarch since the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej last year. The queen usually spends her birthday privately. She also has an official birthday, marked in June – when the weather is better – with the ”Trooping the Color” military parade.
It may seem excessive, but the British monarch celebrates his or her birthday twice a year, once on the actual day (for Elizabeth, April 21), and once in early June, when the event can be marked with the gala Trooping the Color parade in central London. The June date is chosen in part because the famously fickle British weather just might produce a few sunny hours at that time of year. And the Buckingham Gardens are gloriously in bloom.
Britain is marking Queen Elizabeth II’s 91st birthday with gun salutes, as the monarch celebrates quietly at home.
A troop of the Royal Horse Artillery will ride horse-and-gun carriages past Buckingham
Palace before staging a 41-gun salute in Hyde Park at noon (1100GMT). There will also be a 62-gun salute at the Tower of London an hour later. The queen is Britain’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch, having become queen on Feb. 8, 1952. She is also the world’s longest-reigning living monarch since the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej last year. The queen usually spends her birthday privately. She also has an official birthday, marked in June – when the weather is better – with the ”Trooping the Color” military parade.
It may seem excessive, but the British monarch celebrates his or her birthday twice a year, once on the actual day (for Elizabeth, April 21), and once in early June, when the event can be marked with the gala Trooping the Color parade in central London. The June date is chosen in part because the famously fickle British weather just might produce a few sunny hours at that time of year. And the Buckingham Gardens are gloriously in bloom.
