Queen Elizabeth II is one of the longest reigning monarchs. But just because she’s a Queen, doesn’t mean she doesn’t put her pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us common folks. USA TODAY
You would think that upon reaching the age of 90 on Thursday, Queen Elizabeth II would sit back and put her feet up in her castle with a cuppa and a corgi. But not this nonagenarian sovereign.
The queen, accompanied by her husband Prince Philip, who turns 95 in June, will be working on her birthday, just as she has worked on most of her birthdays and on most days since becoming queen in February 1952.
Expect to see these two aged-but-still-fit royals on a walkabout outside Windsor Castle on the day, greeting well-wishers (many of whom will have camped out overnight to see her) after unveiling a plaque marking the Queen’s Walkway, a four-mile walking trail in Windsor, the town surrounding the 930-year-old castle.
Not only that, Wednesday the duo carried out two other public appearances in Windsor of the sort that have filled her diary for more than six decades: She visited the Royal Mail office in Windsor to mark the 500th anniversary of the postal service, and met schoolchildren when she opened a new bandstand at the riverside Alexandra Gardens.
Because that’s the way she rolls — she’s a woman devoted to duty, says CNN royal commentator Victoria Arbiter, who grew up around royals because her father is a former press secretary to the queen.
Arbiter says reaching 90 is a happy achievement for anyone but it’s no excuse for slacking off in the view of the duty-conscious queen, who vowed service to her country at age 21 and has never retracted it.
“She’s doing engagements in Windsor on her birthday,” Arbiter says, which shows what kind of model the queen is for her royal heirs. “She has provided the single greatest blueprint of any other monarch. She is a study of how it’s done, in every capacity — she is a study in how to be queen.”
Later in the day, will be joined by members of her family, including grandson Prince William and his wife, Duchess Kate of Cambridge, for a private celebration at Windsor Castle in the evening.
And on Friday, she will host President Barack Obama for a private lunch at Windsor.
It’s a big deal that the queen is turning 90 — it marks another record for a record-setting royal. No other of the previous 40 British or English monarchs before her ever reached that age. And no other monarch before her reigned for a record 64 years; She passed that mark, set more than a century ago by her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria, in 2015.
She celebrated her Diamond Jubilee (60 years on the throne) in 2012, and looks to be headed for her Platinum Jubilee in 2022; after all, her mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, lived to be just short of 102.
But the big whoopee for the queen’s 90th will be celebrated by the British mostly in May and June, when the weather is better and the queen’s birthday is normally marked at the Trooping the Color, the annual parade of horses and troops in scarlet uniforms and tall bearskin caps in central London.
For three days starting May 12, Windsor Castle will be the setting for a 90-minute extravaganza with 900 horses and more than 1,500 riders, actors, bands and dancers from around the world, who will tell her story from her birth through to World War II, her marriage, her coronation and her reign. The queen will attend on the final evening.
On June 10, her birthday will be marked with a televised Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. (June 10 is also Prince Philip’s birthday but he doesn’t want any public celebration.)
The following day will be the Trooping the Color ceremonies and the day after that, June 12, will be the Patron’s Lunch, to celebrate the queen’s patronage of more than 600 charities and organizations.
This event, organized by the queen’s eldest grandson, Peter Phillips (son of her only daughter Princess Anne, the Princess Royal) will be unprecedented. The Mall in London is to be transformed into a giant street party and picnic for 10,000 paying guests, with entertainment by street performers and circus acts, while the queen and her husband watch from a specially-built platform on the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace.
The Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussein has unveiled the birthday cake she baked for the monarch.
Her creation includes three tiers of cake layered with yellow and purple icing – two colours the Queen wears regularly.
She was on hand to deliver the cake to Her Majesty at Windsor Castle. And doesn’t it look delicious?
The Queen certainly thought so, as she was pictured grinning at it.
Nadia prepared an orange drizzle cake with a butter cream and marmalade filling.
She appeared on The One Show last night to talk about her nerves ahead of the huge task.
Nadiya told the BBC show: “It’s such an honour to be doing this. I just don’t want to disappoint the Queen.”
Watch a clip of the show here.
A royal flutter, anyone?
To celebrate her 90 years on the throne, Coral has given some 90-1 odds for the monarchy.
These include 90-1 that Kate Middleton and Prince William will next welcome a set of triplets to the royal family.
Also included are 90-1 odds that the Queen will shun tradition and go without a hat to this year’s Ascot.
And 90-1 that she will turn her hand to acting to star in a film.
Queen’s arrival at Windsor
In case you missed it, here’s a video of the moment the Queen arrived at Windsor Castle.
She is currently making the rounds, thanking people for coming to wish her a happy birthday.
Later more celebrations will see her light the first beacon in a long line across the UK to mark the occasion.
Even anti-monarchy MP pays tribute
MPs are paying tribute to the Queen – and now it’s the turn of campaigning anti-monarchy Labour MP Paul Flynn.
“My affection for her goes back a very long time. She teaches us a great lesson – an example this house should take.
“We’re still dreadfully under-represented by octogenarians in this house,” he jokes.
And the Newport MP represents an area which saw the last rebellion against the monarchy in 1849.
Turning serious, he says: “There is a distinction between respect for her majesty and criticism of the institution of monarchy.
“Those of us who wish to have a new head of state can say with deep sincerity, Happy Birthday Ma’am.”
A bounty of gifts for the birthday girl
The Queen might need to employ someone to tend to all the flowers she has received this year.
She thanked members of the public who had come out to hand bouquets and gifts to the 90-year-old monarch.
Her Royal Highness looked ecstatic to be there, and grinned as she received the tokens.
The first glimpse of the Queen on her birthday
She arrived wearing lemon yellow, in her traditional style of a coat dress and matching hat.
The Queen beamed as she greeted members of the public, some of whom had been waiting all day for her.
Later, she will perform a walkabout as she thanks well-wishers.
She has arrived!
Victoria Murphy is reporting live from the scene as Her Majesty has arrived at the celebrations.
The Queen was greeted at Henry VIII gate by Lord-lieutenant James Puxley and his wife, Windsor and Maidenhead’s mayor Councillor Eileen
Quick and her husband Rev John Quick.
She wore a spring grass green wool and silk weave coat and dress and hat, all by designer Angela Kelly, to match adorned with flowers.
Flags are out to welcome Her Majesty
Flags, banners and posters are out in full force to welcome The Queen to her celebrations.
A sea of Union Jacks scatters the crowds and bunting has been set up between buildings near to Windsor Castle.
The Queen’s Commonwealth fans are here, too.
By:mirror.co.uk
