COVID-19: Queen Elizabeth Celebrates Birthday without the Royal Family

FameJune 17, 2020

Since COVID-19 started, the world hasn’t been the same. Sports activities, concerts, pilgrimages, and schools have been directly affected. From common people to celebrities, everyone’s lives have been impacted, even the Queen’s.

Talking about the Queen, news about her hush-hush 94th birthday celebration was doing the rounds recently. Under normal circumstances, on the Queen’s birthday, she and the royal family would be sitting at the Buckingham Palace balcony and overseeing the Trooping the Color festivities. The event would be graced by 400 singers, 200 horses, and 1,400 soldiers.

But this was not the case in the COVID 19 era.

Wikipedia | Queen Elizabeth’s birthday had a different flavor this year

Read – The Reason why the Queen has Two Birthdays

The Queen Opts for a Low-Key Birthday, thanks to Coronavirus

The Queen celebrated her 2020 birthday with a smaller ceremony at Windsor Castle. Since the quarantine came into place, this was the first time she was officially seen in public. She received the royal salute, and the ceremony was graced with a march by the 1st battalion of the Welsh Guards.

Very few soldiers took part in the parade, and with social distancing rules in place, they stood two meters apart. The Queen also celebrated her birthday with music by Band of the Household Division.

However, the key thing to note here was that the royal family’s senior members weren’t present at the celebration. Prince Phillip was nowhere to be seen (but that could be because he retired from public duties in 2017). Despite that, the Queen was not alone at the event as some officials were seen accompanying her. Some staff members watched the parade from their windows as she sat alone on a dais in a white canopy.

HarpersBazaar | The ceremony was quite low-key as compared to the other years

The Queen wore a muted Jade outfit by Stewart Parvin and a matching hat by Rachel Trevor-Morgan. The dress was decorated with a diamond leek Welsh Guards brooch, which served as a tribute to the Welsh Regiment. Lt. Col. Henry Llewelyn-Usher led the ceremony.

Read – The Royal Family Is Back To Work

This was the Second Time the Queen Didn’t Celebrate Her Birthday in London

The first occurrence was in 1955, two years after she was coronated. At that time, a national rail strike was in effect. Apart from that, she’s always had her b-day bash in London. We also discovered that Prince Harry and his family wished the Queen via video call. The Royal Opera Chorus also preformed online for her birthday.

Queen Elizabeth II was born on the 21st of April 1962, but the royal family celebrates her birthday on the second Saturday of June. On a typical day, the Queen would be honored with traditional gun salutes on the 21st of April, but with COVID-19 raging all around, she canceled that part.

Royal | Usually, the Queen would be honored with gun salutes, but not this year

The monarch will remain at the Castle and refrain from all public duties. If this goes on, this will be the most prolonged period the Queen will be absent from her official duties.