Why does The Queen celebrate her birthday twice a year?
HM The Queen was born HRH Princess Elizabeth of York on 21 April 1926. She naturally celebrates her birthday privately on this date. As sovereign, Her Majesty’s official birthday is marked with a military parade called the (The Queen’s) Birthday Parade (popularly known as “Trooping the Colour”). It is held publicly in early June (either the first, second or third Saturday) in London in a ceremony which dates back to the early 18th century. Trooping the Colour ceremony is based on the days when mounted guards and sentries kept watch at royal palaces and such in London. These guards carried or ‘trooped’ the flags of their battalion which could be seen and recognised by the soldiers. In 1748, it was decided that the parade would mark the official birthday of the sovereign with King George II being the first monarch to attend the ceremony. (Some sources say the first time the parade marked the sovereign’s birthday was in 1805 for George III.) It became an annual event in 1820 with the acce
