ROYAL HONOURS HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOUR MAJESTY

AS THE QUEEN TURNS 96, WE LOOK AT HOW SHE MIGHT CELEBRATE HER BIG DAY

- KIRSTEN JONES

The Queen marks her 96th birthday on Thursday - a milestone never before reached by any reigning occasion," monarch. In fact, the last British sovereign to come anywhere close to such an age was Queen Victoria, who died in 1901 at the age of 81 years and 243 days.

Each year, the Queen marks her birthday twice - on 21 April, the date of her birth, and on her official birthday, which this year will be 11 June. According to lan Lloyd, author of The Queen: 70 Chapters In The Life Of Elizabeth II, she approaches the events with reluctance.

"She's never liked celebrating and was talked into making her 80th and 90th birthdays a public says the royal biographer. "The Queen does these walkabouts reluctantly, unlike her mother, whose birthday parties got bigger and bigger every year. The Queen Mother loved to see the crowds screaming for her, but her daughter is determined not to follow that route."

Fresh as a daisy in primrose-yellow in Canberra, 1954

And this year her birthday and June's Platinum Jubilee celebrations marking the 70th year of her reign come after a very difficult period. It's only a year since her "strength and stay" Prince Philip died in April 2021. Since then she's lived with her dogs at Windsor Castle, battled Covid and shown great determination to attend her husband's memorial service at Westminster Abbey in March. Further anxiety has been created by allegations her son Prince Andrew was involved in sexual abuse, and grandson Harry's appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show and his forthcoming memoir.

The Queen certainly deserves a happy day, but if past birthdays are anything to go by, she's likely to spend it serving her country. In 1976, aged 50, she attended an engagement with holders of the Victoria Cross.