But there are two Queens, the official, dutiful one, and the private one.
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She’s a 90-year-old monarch who’s been on the throne for 64 years.
He said that “Her Majesty has been steadfast – a rock of strength for our nation, for our Commonwealth and on many occasions for the whole world”. In another, George joined the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William to pose for the new royal stamp.
The queen was born Princess Elizabeth on April 21, 1926 and became queen on the death of her father, King George VI, in 1952.
(Ranald Mackechnie/Royal Mail via AP).
There will also be artillery gun salutes in the British capital at Hyde Park and the Tower of London and across the country, while the Houses of Parliament will be illuminated red, white and blue.
Happy Birthday was sung before the Prince was handed a torch which he passed to the monarch, who lit the fuse to light the beacon.
Thousands of people gathered in the town of Windsor, where the queen was scheduled to leave nearby Windsor Castle, her royal residence outside London, to meet the public during what her office called a “Windsor walkabout” on Thursday afternoon.
She also received a cake from Great British Bake Off victor Nadiya Hussain.
In a recent interview with the BBC, Elizabeth’s grandson Prince William spoke about the legacy the queen has built leading up to her milestone birthday.
The third and final photo taken by Leibovitz shows the queen in Windsor Castle’s White Dining Room with her daughter, the Princess Royal.
Gun salutes took place across Britain Thursday to celebrate the 90th birthday of its longest reigning monarch.
One of the images, released Thursday by Buckingham Palace, shows the queen with two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Later in the summer, formal celebrations will be held to mark her “official birthday”, culminating with a national service of thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral and a giant picnic outside Buckingham Palace for 10,000 guests.
In addition to the stamp sheet featuring the Queen and her three heirs in the line of succession, are six more stamps to mark the monarch’s 90th.
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Though not a royalist, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the queen has carried out her duties over the years “with extraordinary warmth”.
