Queen Elizabeth II turns 90 on Thursday, and her birthday celebration will definitely be one for the ages.
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The monarch was at one of her palaces outside London in Windsor Castle for her big day, where she and husband Prince Philip took a round of the town in an open top royal vehicle, waving at cheering crowds of thousands of her subjects lined up on the streets.
It went through what the queen described as an “annus horribilis” or awful year in 1992 when Prince Charles separated from his first wife Diana, while two of her other children also went through breakups and Windsor Castle was hit by fire.
“Opposition Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn backed Cameron”s tribute and praised the queen for fulfilling her duties with “enormous warmth.”.
In his birthday message, Cameron said: “Her Majesty The Queen has lived through some extraordinary times in our world”.
The focus of the UK-wide celebrations was in Windsor, where at 7pm, the Queen lit the first in the series of 1,000 beacons around the country, revealing her initials and the number 90.
Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her 90th birthday on Thursday after previous year becoming the longest-reigning monarch in British history.
In this official photograph released by Buckingham Palace on Wednesday April 20, 2016 to mark her 90th birthday, Queen Elizabeth II is pictured with her daughter, The Princess Royal, in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle in England.
On the occasion of the queen’s birthday, the bells of Westminster Abbey rang out along with a gun salute.
“As a school we felt it was really important to mark the Queen’s 90th Birthday and it really has been the most fantastic day; we have held our own street party in the playground and each class has planted their own tree to mark the occasion”. The remaining six stamps each depict a moment in Her Majesty’s life and work. When she was 21 – nearly five years before she became queen – she promised the people of Britain and the Commonwealth that “my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service”.
She will celebrate again in June with national events to mark her official birthday.
“She hasn’t put a foot wrong”, said Loughrey, dressed in red, white and blue, before launching into a rendition of the national anthem.
Born Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of York on April 21 1926 – the year of the General Strike – she was never expected to be Queen.
The monarch unveiled a plaque marking The Queen’s Walkway, a 6.3 kilometer trail that links 63 significant points in Windsor.
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And traditional gun salutes will thunder across the capital when 41 volleys are fired by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery in London’s Hyde Park, and 62 rounds by the Honourable Artillery Company close to the Tower of London – the extra 21 volleys for the citizens of the City of London to show their loyalty to the monarch. “I had to give it to her lady-in-waiting as it was so heavy, which amused the Queen”.
