Royal tradition of celebrating two birthdays!

The longest reigning monarch of Britain, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 93rd birthday on Sunday, April 21. Queen had attended a service at St. George’s Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle where she was joined by Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry. However, Prince Harry’s wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, could not attend the service since she is expecting their first child in the coming weeks. But, this Sunday, April 21 was the first of her two birthdays to be celebrated this year. She will also celebrate her official birthday in June by taking part in the Trooping the Colour parade. So, what is this royal tradition of celebrating two birthdays? This celebration of two birthdays dates back to the era of King George II, approximately 250 years ago. It is said that King George II was born in the month of November and the weather at that time of the year isn’t good enough for a big public celebration. So, he decided to shift his big birthday celebration to the summer, when the weather is expected to be nice. In order to do so, King George II combined it with an annual military parade and thus the tradition of celebrating a second official birthday for the monarchs came into being. Queen usually spends her actual birthday with her family and also receives special gun salutes in London at midday, a 41-gun salute in Hyde Park, a 21-gun salute in Windsor Great Park and a 62-gun salute at the Tower of London. The official birthday, on the other hand, is celebrated with a big parade in London called ‘Trooping the Colour’. More than 1400 soldiers, 200 horses, and 400 musicians take part in the parade which starts from the Queen's official residence, Buckingham Palace and moves to the Mall, to Horse Guards Parade at Whitehall, to Downing Street, and comes back to where it started. Finally, the queen along with her family members gather on Buckingham Palace's balcony to greet well-wishers and RAF planes perform an aerial display over them and conclude the occasion. Elizabeth is the longest-reigning monarch in British history who maintains an active schedule still now at the age of 93!

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