Why the Queen has two birthdays

Hasn’t the Queen already celebrated her 90th?

The Queen turned 90 on April 21, but she also has an official birthday in June - this year it falls on Saturday June 11.

Is this just a ploy to get extra presents?

No. It’s all down to the British weather. Since 1748, the monarch’s official birthday has been marked by the parade known as Trooping the Colour - usually held on the king orqueen’s actual birthday.

But Edward VII who reigned from 1901 to 1910 was born in November. He celebrated officially in May or June because there was less chance of it being cold and drizzly during the outdoor event.

The monarch after Edward VII - George V - helpfully had a birthday in June, but the Queen’s father, George VI, whose birthday was in December, reintroduced the tradition of an official birthday, which Elizabeth II has continued.

Is her official birthday always on a Saturday?

It is now. George VI had his official birthday on the second Thursday of June. In 1959, after several years on the throne, the Queen changed it to the second Saturday for convenience.

It can now be on either the first or the second, and sometimes the third Saturday of the month and is marked by Trooping of the Colour carriage and horse procession in central London and a fly-past over Buckingham Palace.