Why Queen Elizabeth Has Two Birthdays
Weather and vanity are behind the strange royal tradition.
Phil Noble/AFP/Getty
Today is Queen Elizabeth’s birthday. So is June 11.
If that sounds strange, it’s because it is. A centuries-old tradition dictates that the monarch’s birthday be celebrated twice—once on the day when he or she was, you know, actually born, and once in June.
Why June? Quite simply, because the weather is nice then.
It all started with King George II. Like any British monarch, George was entitled to a birthday parade called Trooping the Colour, but his birthday was in November—a month not known for its ideal parade weather in England.
The solution: a second, “official” birthday, held in sunny, beautiful June (or at least as sunny and beautiful as England gets). Starting in 1748, the king combined this non-birthday birthday with an annual summer military parade that took place in June anyway, and the tradition has kept ever since.
So no, the Queen is not a mutant who ages twice as fast as everyone else. She just celebrates her birthday twice because her ancestor wanted a nice parade.