Honouring Queen Elizabeth II on her 96th birthday
Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her 96th birthday on April 21.
Britain's longest-lived monarch has already travelled by helicopter to her Norfolk estate, where she will be joined by family and friends for celebrations.
She is expected to stay at a cottage at Sandringham Estate, which was much loved by her late husband Prince Philip.
A beautiful photograph capturing the Queen’s love for horses was released by Buckingham Palace in honour of the occasion.
The Queen is seen wearing an olive gown standing in between her two fell ponies Bybeck Katie and Bybeck Nightingale, at Windsor Castle, who will appear at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.
Every year, the Queen marks her birthday twice, once in April and again in June.
The celebration in April is a small intimate one with family and is marked publicly via gun salutes in central London at midday.
Queen Elizabeth’s second birthday is celebrated on the second Monday of June in Australia.
The delaying of official birthdays is dated back to 1748, when George the II could not have the big celebration he wanted in November.
He began the tradition in 1748 as his birthday, in November, meant he could not have the big public celebration he wanted.
But it was the Queen’s great-great-grandfather Edward VII who standardised tradition by having an “official” birthday in summer.
Check out the gallery below for a very special look back at some of the special images that sum up her life.
Images: Instagram / Getty Images