Royal family 'to step up and support Queen' says expert

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The Queen’s 95h birthday has been marked by The Royal Family’s Twitter account. Birthday messages released through the Royal Households’ social media channels are usually joyous, including a happy picture and a cheerful message. 

However, as the Royal Family continues to observe a period of mourning following the death of Prince Philip, this year’s message dedicated to the Queen was more sombre.

The statement read: “Today is The Queen’s 95th birthday.

“HM was born on 21 April 1926 at 17 Bruton Street in London, the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York.

“This year The Queen remains at Windsor Castle during a period of Royal Mourning following the death of The Duke of Edinburgh.” 

The message included a picture of the Queen smiling during an engagement at the MI5’s headquarters in February 2020.

Prince Philip died peacefully on the morning of April 9.

A poignant funeral was held on April 17 and attended only by 30 people – in line with the Government regulations on coronavirus.

While the period of national mourning ended on Sunday, the Royal Family’s official mourning period will end on Thursday.

For this reason, the Royal Family’s tweet is going to be the only official way in which the Queen’s birthday will be marked today.

For the second year in a row, the monarch’s birthday won’t be celebrated with a traditional gun salute held in Hyde Park.

Last year, the Queen is believed to have requested the suspension of the tradition because the country was in the midst of its first national lockdown.

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According to the Daily Mail, there were originally plans to release a new official portrait of the Queen today but this was shelved in the wake of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death.

The Queen, who continues to live at Windsor Castle, is spending her first birthday without Prince Philip privately.

Members of the Royal Family near her Berkshire residence are expected to pay her a visit today, while others, including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their children, are said to have planned a video call with the Queen.

Prince Harry, who travelled to the UK for the first time in 13 months to attend his beloved grandfather’s funeral, reportedly returned to California before the monarch’s birthday. 

According to a source, royal relatives of the Queen have devised a plan not to leave her alone at this difficult time, which includes planned visits by the monarch’s daughters-in-law and Princess Anne.

The insider told the Daily Mirror: “The Queen will not be alone.

“She will have others who care about her deeply and want to be there to support her in her most pressing hour.

“In typical fashion the Queen has insisted she is coping and despite the suggestion she had prepared herself for this day to come, everyone is well aware there is nothing like the experience when it comes.” 

The Queen was not born a direct heir to the throne, as her father was the second son of King George V.

She eventually became the heir apparent to the throne in 1936, when her uncle King Edward VIII renounced his duties to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson.

As a result, her father the then-Duke of York became King George VI.

His reign ended on February 6, 1952, when he died at Sandringham while his daughter Princess Elizabeth was touring the Commonwealth with Prince Philip.     

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