Why does the Queen have two birthdays and will she celebrate both this year as Trooping the Colour 2020 is cancelled?
If you could celebrate your birthday twice in one year you would.
As a monarch you enjoy many privileges that an average citizen could only dream of and if you are the Queen of England that includes living in a castle, owning multiple palaces and grand residences all over the UK and getting to celebrate your birthday – twice.
Prince Philip turned 99 this week but unlike his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh will only celebrate his milestone birthday once officially.
Her Majesty however enjoys two birthdays every year.
Her actual date of birth, which is April 21 and her ‘official birthday’ celebration, which takes place every year on the second Saturday of June.
This year that date falls on Saturday June 13 2020, just three days after Prince Philip’s 99th birthday – we wonder if the Queen has ever been accused of stealing one’s thunder?
Why does the Queen have two birthdays?
The royal tradition of celebrating the monarch’s birthday twice in one year was started in 1748 by the Queen’s distant relative King George II.
King George II wished to throw a public celebration, with a parade and plenty of pomp and circumstance to mark the occasion of his birthday, but having been born in November the odds on the weather holding out for a huge outdoor bash were pretty slim.
Instead, the monarch decided to use the UK’s annual military parade held in the summer as his official birthday celebration, meaning that he would mark his birthday twice – once for the public in the summer and once in private in November.
This tradition has continued for over 250 years, with Queen Elizabeth now also celebrating two birthdays a year with one celebration in April and a public, official event in June.
This year, the Queen’s official birthday will be quite different, as the annual summer military parade – known as Trooping the Colour – will not be going ahead in London due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Although the parade, which normally features over 1400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians as well as an appearance by the whole royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, has been cancelled this year, the Queen will still mark her official birthday date with a smaller celebration.
Trooping-the-colour.co.uk reports that a ceremony marking the Queen’s Official Birthday will be held at Windsor on Saturday 13 June and there will be BBC coverage of the event from 10.30am on the day.
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