King Charles is celebrating his 78th birthday today – even though the day is officially marked in June with the annual Trooping the Colour parade
King Charles is celebrating his 78th birthday today – even though his annual birthday parade is nearly always marked in June with Trooping the Colour.
And it seems the tradition for a monarch to have two birthdays each year comes down to one very British reason. The King marked his official birthday on Saturday, June 13 with the spectacular Trooping the Colour ceremony, which saw the royal family and thousands of devoted fans turn out in force to join the celebrations.
The event takes place every year in June, despite Charles’ real birthday falling today, November 14. So why does the monarch have two birthdays at all?
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The answer boils down to tradition and the weather. The reason the King has two birthdays is rooted in a centuries-old tradition established by a succession of former monarchs.
The very first Trooping the Colour is believed to have taken place during the reign of King Charles II, who served as Monarch from 1660 to 1685. However, it wasn’t until 1748 that the parade was designated to mark the official birthday of the Sovereign, going on to become an annual fixture after George III ascended to the throne in 1760.
It was King Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910 and was born in November, who first established the tradition of holding Trooping the Colour in June. For monarchs whose birthdays fall at different times of the year, they mark their ceremonial birthday in June, while celebrating their actual birthday on the true date of their birth.
The King’s official birthday is marked in June owing to a decision made a century ago, largely driven by the desire for pleasant weather. When King Edward VII was planning his birthday festivities, he concluded that November — the month of his actual birthday — was far from ideal for a grand outdoor occasion.
He therefore moved Trooping the Colour to May or June, where the odds of cold, dreary weather were considerably lower. The monarch who followed Edward VII — George V — conveniently had an actual birthday in June, but the Queen’s father, George VI, whose birthday fell in December, revived the tradition of an official summer birthday, a custom that Elizabeth II, born in April 1926, carried on.
Charles was born on November 14 1948, and decided to continue the centuries old tradition to celebrate his birthday in the summer. When Prince William eventually ascends to the throne, there is every chance he will only have a single birthday celebration, given that his actual birthday already falls in June — the 21st, to be precise.
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