Royal birthday celebration
QUEEN ELIZABETH TURNS 90 TODAY AND WILL CELEBRATE WITH A WALK AROUND WINDSOR
Queen Elizabeth II turns 90 today and will celebrate with a walk around Windsor |
The longest-reigning monarch in British history turns 90 today, but Queen Elizabeth II is not planning a major fireworks-filled celebration to mark the happy occasion.
Just a gentle stroll outside the grounds of Windsor Castle, the lighting of a beacon, and a night at home with family are all that are on the royal plate.
No, she’ll save the pomp and ceremony for her next birthday. The monarch is such an eminent figure in British life that she gets two birthdays each year, one on the actual date of her birth, April 21, and one official birthday in June.
Her customary reticence hasn’t kept the nation’s media from going slightly bonkers at the approaching milestone, however.
ITV has already aired a celebratory Our Queen at 90 documentary to pump up its Easter ratings, and Tatler magazine not only put the queen on its cover, foregoing the youthful socialites that are its typical cover fare but also published a special supplement in her honour.
The birthday events today can be considered a dress rehearsal for the official celebrations planned in early June.
“June is when everything is happening. That’s the great big extravaganza, the street parties and everything,” said Sophia Money-Coutts, Tatler’s features director. “From now on, the coverage will be relentless. The republicans will be screaming.”
Indeed, it’s not a good time for those who oppose the monarchy to peek above the parapet. The British public’s considerable affection for the queen surfaces at times of national celebration — witness the million-plus crowd that cheered her outside the Buckingham Palace gates at her Golden Jubilee in 2002.
The queen and the royals have endured some low points in the last two decades, particularly around the time of the death of Princess Diana in 1997, but their popularity has rebounded with the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton and the arrival of their two children, Prince George — now third in line to the throne — and Princess Charlotte.
Yesterday, William took to the airwaves to counter recent criticism that he was failing in his public duties and not taking them seriously enough.
Speaking to the BBC, he said he was focusing on being a father and an air ambulance pilot but would be the “first person to accept” duties when it came for his grandmother to hand over responsibilities.
He said: “I take duty very seriously. I take my responsibilities very seriously. But it’s about finding your own way at the right time and if you’re not careful duty can weigh you down at a very early age.”
Elizabeth — with her familiar smile, colourful outfits and eccentric, if expensive, hats — seems oddly impervious to time. If she is tired, it doesn’t show. She has softened her schedule, as a concession to 89 and counting, and she has cut back on gruelling plane journeys, but she shows no sign of physical or mental frailty.
The British Embassy in Abu Dhabi held a ceremony on Tuesday to mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II today, with hundreds of invited guests, including ambassadors and military officers, in attendance.
UAE government officials were also present to mark the special occasion, with Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, and Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of State for Tolerance, in attendance.
On the throne for 64 years, Queen Elizabeth II is the longest serving monarch.
“We are here to celebrate Her Majesty’s 90th birthday and her United Kingdom.
“Her Majesty is the patron of 600 charities and organisations, and has had around 16,000 public engagements in the last 30 years, that is in just the last third of her life,” said British Ambassador to the UAE Philip Parham.
“Let’s ponder what that means … During her 64-year reign the queen has seen 12 [British] prime ministers, starting with [Winston] Churchill, 12 US presidents, starting with [Harry] Truman, seven archbishops of Canterbury, and seven popes,” he added, highlighting the historical changes she has witnessed as queen. Parham also praised the queen’s role as the head of the Commonwealth.
“Let us not forget her unifying role as the head of the Commonwealth, a free association of 53 nations comprising nearly one-third of the world’s population.
“What an example she has been, and how proud we Brits are of her, proud in our hearts and minds,” he added.
Those in attendance also praised the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
Katy Lynch, from the United Kingdom, said the queen had become a popular figure across the world and not just in the UK.