Later, the monarch, who a year ago overtook her great-great grandmother queen Victoria to become Britain’s longest-serving monarch, will host a family dinner to celebrate.
Advertisement
The queen has two birthdays – her actual date of birth on April 21, and a birthday celebration in June to make the most of the summer weather, characterized by the Trooping the Color parade. The majority of Britons have lived under no other monarch.
Prime Minister David Cameron has led the tributes to the Queen – born on April 21 1926 – who has become the country’s first nonagenarian sovereign.
Chris Lucki still remembers the day Queen Elizabeth visited Windsor, Ont., when he was a boy. “She’s such a role model to all of us and her energy and enthusiasm for the work she does is an inspiration”.
Asked whether he feels the Queen, now in her tenth decade, is getting to a point where she might consider stepping down, Lucki said he did not think that is something she would do. “I wanted to honor that by coming over here and being able to wave and show some love”.
Elsewhere, the day was marked with an eruption of pomp.
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.
With the beacon towering above them Charles handed a flaming torch to the Queen who lit a fuse which set off a series of small controlled explosions which ignited the beacon.
Buckingham Palace also released new official pictures of the queen taken by USA celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz. Their two children – Prince George, who is nearly 3, and 11-month-old Princess Charlotte – are likely the world’s most famous toddlers.
To mark the queen’s birthday, gun salutes of 21 shots, the standard royal gun salute, rang out at locations including Hillsborough Castle, Cardiff Castle, and Edinburgh Castle.
Among the surprises that awaited the Queen, her great-grandson Prince George made an appearance on his first Royal Mail Stamp to honour Queen Elizabeth II, his great-grandmother, on her birthday.
Another shows the queen with Princess Anne, her only daughter. Wearing a spring grass green coat and matching hat by Angela Kelly, the Queen exited the auto at the King Henry VIII gate where she briefly spoke to the Mayor of Windsor before carrying out a walkabout of the town.
Not everyone in Britain has succumbed to royal-mania.
ACROSS Dorset beacons will be lit to celebrate the Queen’s birthday tonight.
For 90 years, Canadians have been inspired by the life and accomplishments of the Queen.
The heir to the throne said: “She shall be, to the happiness of England, An aged princess; many days shall see her, And yet no day without a deed to crown it”.
Last year, the Queen gained the title of Britain’s longest-ever reigning monarch.
She is the world’s oldest monarch since the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah a year ago.
Advertisement
She has met 12 United States presidents, from Herbert Hoover (after he had left office) to Barack Obama -more than a quarter of all the USA presidents since Independence.
