UK News

Queen Elizabeth celebrates official birthday

Jun 14, 2008, 14:15 GMT

London - Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her official birthday Saturday watching the Trooping of the Colour parade in London.

The Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh leave Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Colour in London, Britain, 14 June 2008. The event marks the Queen´s official birthday - though in fact the monarch, 82, was born on 21 April 1926. The event showcases the British army at its ceremonial best. 1100 soldiers take part, all of them from the Household Division, whose special duty it is to guard the monarch. EPA/FELIPE TRUEBAThousands of onlookers cheered as the 82-year-old monarch, whose birthday is on April 21, arrived. Her birthday is celebrated officially in June as the weather is usually better. More than 1,100 soldiers took part in the display of military pomp. The queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, arrived by carriage from Buckingham Palace, followed by Prince Charles and the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, on horseback. The queen's grandsons Princes William and Harry arrived in a second carriage with their stepmother, the Duchess of Cornwall. The Queen later took the royal salute and returned to Buckingham Palace to gather on the balcony and watch the flypast which this year included 55 aircraft of 14 different types. Onlookers included Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah as well as 112-year-old Henry Allingham, who is Europe's oldest man. The ceremony has been held to celebrate the monarch's birthday since the early 19th century and was only cancelled on few occasions - during the war years and in 1955 because of the railway strike.