Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) Born: 21 April, 1926. Queen since 6 February 1952

Queen Elizabeth has two birthdays!

It is every boy and girl's dream to have two birthdays in one year; well, our Queen is very lucky because she has two birthdays, one in April (private) and one in June (public).

How is The Queen's real birthday marked?

To mark the real borthday of The Queen, a 41 gun royal salute is fired by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery in Hyde Park at 12:00 noon. There is also a 62-gun royal salute fired by the Honourable Artillery Company at the Tower of London at 1:00pm.

Gun salutes are customarily fired, both on shore and at sea, as a sign of respect or welcome.

How is The Queen's 'official' birthday marked?

Since 1805, the Sovereign’s 'official' summer birthday has been marked by the Trooping the Colour ceremony, which is also known as the Queen's Birthday Parade, and is normally held on the second Saturday in June.

The list of Birthday Honours is also announced at the time of the UK Official Birthday celebrations

When are other gun salutes fired?

Gun salutes occur on the following Royal anniversaries:

6 February (Accession Day)
21 April (The Queen's birthday)
2 June (Coronation Day)
10 June (The Duke of Edinburgh's birthday)
The Queen's official birthday (a Saturday in June)
14 November (The Prince of Wales's birthday)
The State Opening of Parliament (usually November or December).

Links

The Queen - an introduction

The Queen's Jobs

Facts about the Queen

The British Royal Family

The Queen's Guards

Also on this day ....

21 April 1816: Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire. She was an English novelist and the eldest of the three Brontë sisters whose novels have been read for over 150 years.