Queen's Official Birthday
Encyclopedia
Commonwealth Realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...
s (currently Queen Elizabeth II) is officially celebrated in Commonwealth countries and in Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, which is now a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
. It is an invention of the early 20th century. The date varies as adopted by each Commonwealth country, but is generally around the end of May to the start of June, to coincide with a high probability of fine weather, in the Northern Hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
at least, for outdoor ceremonies. In England it occurs on the 2nd Saturday of June, when the ceremony of Trooping the Colour
Trooping the Colour
Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and the Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier. On battlefields, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points...
takes place in London in the presence of the monarch.
The sovereign's birthday was first officially marked in the United Kingdom in 1748. Since then, the date of the king or queen's birthday has been determined throughout the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
and later the Commonwealth according to either different royal proclamations issued by the sovereign or governor or by statute laws passed by the local parliament. The exact date of the celebration today varies from country to country and except by coincidence does not fall on the day of the monarch's actual birthday
Birthday
A birthday is a day or anniversary where a person celebrates his or her date of birth. Birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a gift, party or rite of passage. Although the major religions celebrate the birth of their founders , Christmas – which is celebrated widely by...
(that of the present monarch being 21 April). In some cases, it is an official public holiday
Public holiday
A public holiday, national holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year....
, sometimes coinciding with the celebration of other events. Most Commonwealth realms release a Birthday Honours List
Queen's Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...
at this time.
Australia
AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, except for Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, observes the Queen's Birthday on the second Monday in June, marking it with a public holiday that also serves as the opening weekend to Australia's Winter season. Because Western Australia celebrates its Foundation Day
Foundation Day (Western Australia)
Foundation Day, officially 1 June, but celebrated on the first Monday in June, is a public holiday in Western Australia , commemorating the foundation of the Swan River Colony in 1829...
on the first Monday in June, the Governor of Western Australia
Governor of Western Australia
The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
proclaims the day on which the state will observe the Queen's Birthday, based on school terms and the Perth Royal Show
Perth Royal Show
The Perth Royal Show is an annual show held in Perth, Western Australia at the Claremont Showgrounds. It features informational exhibits, agricultural competitions and display animals, a fairground and rides, and showbags. It has been held for over 100 years and is organised by the Royal...
. There is no firm rule to determine this date before it is proclaimed, though it is usually the last Monday of September or the first Monday of October.
The day has been celebrated since 1788, when Governor Arthur Phillip
Arthur Phillip
Admiral Arthur Phillip RN was a British admiral and colonial administrator. Phillip was appointed Governor of New South Wales, the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the settlement which is now the city of Sydney.-Early life and naval career:Arthur Phillip...
declared a holiday to mark the birthday of the King of Great Britain. Until 1936 it was held on the actual birthday of the Monarch, but after the death of George V
George V
George V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...
it was decided to keep the date on the second Monday in June.
The only civic occasion of note associated with the day is the release of the "Queen's Birthday honours list," in which new members of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
and other Australian honours
Australian Honours System
-History:The Commonwealth of Australia, until 1975, used the Imperial or British honours system. Only a handful of peerages were created for Australians, some in recognition of public services rendered in Britain rather than Australia. Some hereditary peers and baronets whose titles derive from...
are named. This occurs on the date observed in the Eastern States, not the date observed in Western Australia. The Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
clubs Collingwood Magpies and Melbourne Demons have traditionally played a game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
each year since 2001, and sporadically before that.
The Queen's Birthday weekend and Empire Day, 24 May, were long the traditional times for public fireworks
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
displays in Australia. Although they still occur, the tradition has recently been overshadowed by larger New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
fireworks, as the sale of fireworks to the public was progressively banned by the states in the 1980s, and by the Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
on 24 August 2009. The Northern Territory is the only state or territory to still sell fireworks to the public.
Canada
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the...
passed a statute to officially recognize Queen Victoria's birthday, 24 May. Over the ensuing decades after Victoria's death in 1901 (at which time the Monday before 25 May became known by law as Victoria Day
Victoria Day
Victoria Day is a federal Canadian public holiday celebrated on the last Monday before May 25, in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday. The date is also, simultaneously, that on which the current reigning Canadian sovereign's official birthday is recognized...
), the official date in Canada of the reigning sovereign's birthday changed through various royal proclamations: for Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
it continued by yearly proclamation to be observed on 24 May, but was 3 June for George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, 23 June for Edward VIII
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
(their actual birthdays), and various days between 20 May and 14 June through George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
's reign as king of Canada
Style of the Canadian sovereign
The title and style of the Canadian sovereign is the formal mode of address of the monarch of Canada. The form is based on those that were inherited from the United Kingdom and France, used in the colonies to refer to the reigning monarch in Europe...
. The first official birthday of Elizabeth II was the last to be celebrated in June; the haphazard format was abandoned in 1952, when the Governor-General-in-Council
Queen-in-Council
The Queen-in-Council is, in each of the Commonwealth realms, the technical term of constitutional law that refers to the exercise of executive authority, denoting the monarch acting by and with the advice and consent of his or her privy council or executive council The Queen-in-Council (during...
moved Empire Day and an amendment to the law moved Victoria Day both to the Monday before 25 May, and the monarch's official birthday in Canada was by regular vice-regal
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
proclamations made to fall on this same date every year between 1953 and 1957, when the link was made permanent.
The reigning Canadian monarch has been in Canada for his or her official birthday twice. The first time was 20 May 1939, when King George VI was on a coast-to-coast tour of Canada and his official birthday was celebrated with a Trooping the Colour
Trooping the Colour
Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and the Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier. On battlefields, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points...
ceremony on Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
. The second time was when Queen Elizabeth II was in Canada from 17 – 25 May 2005, to mark the centennial of the entries of Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
and Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
into Confederation; no government-initiated events were organized to acknowledge the official birthday.
The two holidays are in law entirely distinct except for being appointed to be observed on the same day. The Queen's official birthday is marked by the firing of an artillery salute in the national and provincial capitals and the flying of the Royal Union Flag on buildings belonging to the federal Crown, if there is a second pole already available.
New Zealand
In New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the holiday is the first Monday in June. There are few official celebrations of the Queen's birthday on the day, apart from the Queen's Birthday Honours list and military ceremonies. There have been proposals, with support from Māori Party
Maori Party
The Māori Party, a political party in New Zealand, was formed on 7 July 2004. The Party is guided by eight constitutional "kaupapa", or Party objectives. Tariana Turia formed the Māori Party after resigning from the Labour Party where she had been a Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour-led...
MP Rahui Katene
Rahui Katene
Rahui Katene is a New Zealand politician. She was elected to the 49th New Zealand Parliament at the 2008 general election representing the Māori Party in the seat of Te Tai Tonga, but lost in the 2011 general election to Labour's Rino Tirikatene.- Ancestry :...
, Mayor of Waitakere City Bob Harvey
Bob Harvey (mayor)
Robert "Bob" Harvey QSO is the mayor of Waitakere City, one of the four cities which make up the Auckland urban area in New Zealand...
, and the Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand
Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand
The Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand is an organisation formed in 1994 whose object is to support the creation of a New Zealand republic . It is Chaired by Lewis Holden. The patron of the Movement is Keri Hulme, a New Zealand writer famous for her 1985 Booker Prize winning novel The Bone...
, to replace the holiday with Matariki
Matariki
In the Māori language Matariki is both the name of the Pleiades star cluster and also of the season of its first rising in late May or early June - taken as the beginning of the new year...
(Māori New Year) as an official holiday. In 2001, The Māori Language Commission "began to reclaim Matariki, or Aotearoa
Aotearoa
Aotearoa is the most widely known and accepted Māori name for New Zealand. It is used by both Māori and non-Māori, and is becoming increasingly widespread in the bilingual names of national organisations, such as the National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.-Translation:The...
Pacific New Year
New Year
The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....
, as an important focus for Māori language regeneration."
The idea of renaming the Queen's birthday weekend to Hillary weekend, after Sir Edmund Hillary
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...
, the first person to ascend Mount Everest
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
, was raised in 2009.
United Kingdom
It has been celebrated in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
since 1748. There, the Queen's Official Birthday is now celebrated on the first, second, or third Saturday in June, although it is rarely the third. Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910, and whose birthday was on 9 November, in autumn, after 1908 moved the ceremony to summer in the hope of good weather.
The day is marked in London by the ceremony of Trooping the Colour
Trooping the Colour
Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and the Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier. On battlefields, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points...
, which is also known as the Queen's Birthday Parade. The list of Birthday Honours
British honours system
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
is also announced at the time of the Official Birthday celebrations. In British diplomatic missions, the day is treated as the National Day
National Day
The National Day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. This nationhood can be symbolized by the date of independence, of becoming republic or a significant date for a patron saint or a ruler . Often the day is not called "National Day"...
of the United Kingdom. Although it is not celebrated as a specific public holiday in the UK (as it is not a working day), civil servants are given a "privilege day" at this time of year, which is often merged with the Spring Bank Holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
(last Monday in May) to create a long weekend, which was partly created to celebrate the monarch's birthday.
Other countries and territories
The Queen's official birthday is a public holiday in GibraltarGibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
and most other British overseas territories
British overseas territories
The British Overseas Territories are fourteen territories of the United Kingdom which, although they do not form part of the United Kingdom itself, fall under its jurisdiction. They are remnants of the British Empire that have not acquired independence or have voted to remain British territories...
, but in 2008, the Government of Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
decided that it would cease to be a public holiday in 2009, despite protests from people in the island, who signed a petition calling for its retention. The Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
celebrate the actual day of the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
's birth, 21 April, as June occurs in late autumn or winter in the Falklands. It is a public holiday in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Public holidays in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
This is a list of public holidays in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean consisting of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha.-Local custom and variance:...
and there it falls on the 3rd Monday in April.
It ceased to be a public holiday in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
after the territory's handover
Transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong
The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, referred to as ‘the Return’ or ‘the Reunification’ by the Chinese and ‘the Handover’ by others, took place on 1 July 1997...
to the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in 1997.
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
celebrates the Queen of Australia's birthday on the Monday after the second Saturday in June.
Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
also still celebrates the Queen's Official Birthday, along with the Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
's Birthday, since although the Queen ceased to be head of state in 1987, she remains recognised by the Great Council of Chiefs as traditional Queen or paramount chief of Fiji
Monarchy of Fiji
The monarchy of Fiji arose in the mid-nineteenth century when native ruler Seru Epenisa Cakobau consolidated control of the Fijian Islands and declared himself King or paramount chief of Fiji . In 1874, he voluntarily ceded sovereignty of the islands to Britain, which made Fiji a Crown colony...
.
In addition to Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, other countries of the South Pacific that celebrate the Queen’s Birthday include the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
and Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
.
See also
- Trooping the ColourTrooping the ColourTrooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and the Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier. On battlefields, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points...
- Grand Duke's Official BirthdayGrand Duke's Official BirthdayThe Grand Duke's Official Birthday is celebrated as the annual national holiday of Luxembourg. It is celebrated on 23 June, although this has never been the actual birthday of any ruler of Luxembourg...
- KoninginnedagKoninginnedagKoninginnedag or Queen's Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 30 April , Koninginnedag is Queen Beatrix's official birthday. Though Queen Beatrix was born on 31 January, the holiday is observed on 30 April as it was the birthday of her mother and...
, equivalent in Netherlands - The Emperor's BirthdayThe Emperor's Birthdayis a national holiday in the Japanese calendar. It is currently celebrated on 23 December. The date is determined by the present Emperor's birthdate. Emperor Akihito was born on this date in 1933....