Queen Elizabeth II Turns 90: Why does She Have Two Birthdays a Year?!

• 06.15.2016, 20:19
•  No-politics

EPA

The Queen celebrates her birthday twice each year - once on the anniversary of the day she was born, and on an "official" birthday in June.

It is a tradition that started by George II in 1748 and is owes its origins to the ageless problem of the British weather.

George was born in November, and felt the weather would be too cold at that time of year for his annual birthday parade,The Telegraph reports.

So instead, he combined his birthday celebration with an annual spring military parade known as Trooping the Colour, in which regiments displayed their flags or "colours" so soldiers would be familiar with them.

It is a tradition that has continued to this day. All British sovereigns are given the option of having an "official" birthday, and because the Queen's real birthday is on April 21, she has stuck with the tradition of celebrating in June.

According to the Mirror, there is a packed schedule of events for the monarch over the next few days as the Royal Family gathers for the official birthday festivities.

A traditional service of thanksgiving, the annual birthday parade and a mass street party for 10,000 people will all be part of the celebrations to mark the milestone birthday of Britain's longest-reigning sovereign.

Commencing at the Queen's official residence, Buckingham Palace, the parade will head along The Mall to Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall, near Downing Street, and back again.

However, it is interesting that according to polling data from Ipsos Mori, less than a fifth of the Queen's subjects in the UK say they want to get rid of the Royal Family - a proportion that has barely changed across decades.

Three-quarters of the population want Britain to remain a monarchy - a finding that has been described by pollsters as "probably the most stable trend we have ever measured".

Given the enormous social change there has been since the current Queen assumed the throne 60 years ago, it might seem surprising that a system of inherited privilege and power should have retained its popularity.