A three-day celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday began Friday with a national service of thanksgiving for her 90th birthday at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
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The queen and Prince Philip join the parade; travel by vintage carriage.
The splendid Trooping the Color parade, which featured more than 1,500 soldiers and officers, also included a fly-by of historic World War II aircraft and modern fighter planes.
On the parade ground in their famous scarlet tunics and bearskins were the Coldstream, Grenadier and Scots Guards – while the Irish Guards lined the Queen’s processional route from Buckingham Palace.
The incident happened shortly before the Queen – and hundreds of dignitaries, leaders and members of the Royal Family, arrived at the cathedral for a special thanksgiving service to kick-off Her Majesty’s 90th birthday celebrations.
LONDON (AP) Queen Elizabeth II and her family are marking her official 90th birthday with a parade, a colorful military ceremony and an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Prince William and his wife Kate, Prince Harry and dozens of other royals joined politicians and the wider community in a thundering rendition of “God Save the Queen”.
George’s outfit was the same one his father William wore almost 32 years ago to Prince Harry’s christening in 1984.
Princess Elizabeth sitting in the horse drawn carriage with her grandparents King George V and Queen Mary in September 1932.
When the Queen took the throne in 1952, she followed suit and her official birthday is held each year on a Saturday in June – usually the second.
The Queen’s Colour of a battalion of Foot Guards is “trooped”, which means carried along the ranks, before the monarch.
Later, the Royal Air Force will honour the Queen – who is dressed in bright green – with a flypast.
Before the festivities, a new photograph of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, who turned 95 on Friday, was released to commemorate their joint birthdays.
Meanwhile, other members of the royal family rode on horseback. But just as the Psalmist sees through fear to something more stirring and more extraordinary, so we look back on Your Majesty’s 90 years in the life of our nation with deep wonder and profound gratitude.
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Britain’s Queen always has two birthdays, the official one on the second Saturday of June and her real birthday, which falls on April 21 as part of a tradition dating back almost 250 years to try to ensure good, sunny weather for the monarch’s official celebrations.
