While 21st April marks the Queen’s actual birthday, King George II established the tradition, in 1748, of the monarch’s birthday being publicly observed on the second Saturday of June. Wanting a public celebration of his birthday, the King, who was born in November, decreed the monarch’s birthday would be celebrated in summer and would coincide with a military parade.
The Queen’s birthday on 21st April is marked by midday gun salutes, but otherwise the occasion usually comprises a more intimate family gathering. This is in contrast to the public celebration each June, the centrepiece of which is the spectacular Trooping of the Colours, a parade involving more than 1,400 guards from the Household Division of the British Army, many of whom are mounted.
In the $3 design, the photograph shows the Queen as she observes a Royal Air Force flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, during the air force’s centenary events in July 2018.
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