Why does the Queen have two birthdays?

As you might have heard, the Queen actually celebrates two special days – and what is traditionally the bigger deal is actually still to come.

The monarch having two birthdays is a measure that was introduced 250 years ago, and it’s still going strong.
Here’s all you need to know about why the Queen gets two days to mark her birthday every year instead of one.

The Queen was born on April 21st.  But she also has an official birthday in June usually on the second Saturday.  This year it falls on Saturday, June 9.  It is all down to the British weather.  Since 1748, the monarch’s official birthday has been marked by the parade known as Trooping the Colour usually held on the king or queen’s actual birthday.

But Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910, was born in November.  He celebrated officially in May or June because there was less chance of it being cold and drizzly during the outdoor event.  The monarch after Edward VII – George V – helpfully had a birthday in June, but the Queen’s father, George VI, whose birthday was in December, reintroduced the tradition of an official birthday, which Elizabeth II has continued.