Well, of course, Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom, did not turn 158 years this year, but there is still something very special about the queen’s birthday.
Queen Elizabeth II turned 92 on 21st April this year, but since she became the royal head of the UK in 1952, she actually gets to celebrate her birthday twice a year: in private on the actual day of her birthday and officially on the second Saturday in June with a public celebration. This is how we came up with the number of 158 years of age this year.
So, if you are like us and you are wondering right now why Elizabeth II gets to celebrate her birthday twice – which one of us hasn’t already dreamt of being this lucky? – take a look at the video above or continue reading this article.
This double birthday tradition is dated back to the year 1748, when King George II wanted to make it possible for the public to celebrate his birthday with him. There had been just one big problem to it: King George’s actual birthday was in November and as you can tell, the weather didn’t seem to him to be ideal for this occasion. So he decided to combine his birthday celebrations with an annual nilitary parade which is to be held in summer where he hoped that the weather would be more likely to be nice. This big parade called Trooping the Colour has marked the official birthday of the English Sovereign for over 260 years now.
