This year Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her ninetieth birthday. Born in 1926, she became Queen in 1952 on the death of her father, King George V, and has been Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the last 64 years.
Events to mark The Queen’s 90th birthday are being held around the world and across the UK. Many of these will be held on Saturday 11 June, which is the day of The Queen’s official birthday. This is the day when she will attend The Queen’s Birthday Parade in Central London. Also known as Trooping the Colour, this colourful ceremony involves The Queen and other members of the Royal Family processing down the Mall from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards’ Parade where the spectacular Birthday Parade will be held. The following day there will be an open-air Patrons’ Lunch and street party on The Mall for more than 10,000 guests. Street parties are also being planned across the UK to celebrate her birthday weekend.
Here in Guatemala City we held our Queen’s Birthday Party on 21 April, the day of her actual birthday. We tried to make it a very British garden party, and held the event in a large marquee on the lawn of the British Ambassador’s Residence, with over 400 guests. The route across the gardens to the marquee was lined by an exhibition of photographs of memorable moments in The Queen’s life. The tent was decorated in red, white and blue, and Union flags hung along the sides. There was a splendid three-tiered birthday cake topped in the form of a crown, and biscuits decorated with iconic images of the UK: red double-decker buses, black taxi cabs, and red telephone boxes. We sang the national anthem, and toasted The Queen’s health. Outside we had posters from the GREAT Britain campaign with examples of British excellence, and British-made cars – from the iconic Land Rover Defender to the latest Lotus sports car – scattered around the lawn.
Two days later, using the same marquee on the lawn, we held a charity Ball to raise money for charities operating in Guatemala. Taking our cue from the year in which The Queen was born, the theme was the 1920s. With nearly 300 tickets sold, the event raised a significant sum of money to donate to a British-run charity.
I am hugely grateful to my colleagues at the British Embassy for arranging these two major events in such a professional way. I am also very grateful to various private companies with British links in Guatemala for their generous sponsorship, without whose support neither event would have been possible.
It so happens that the Royal Mail shares its birthday with The Queen. The Royal Mail, which is the UK’s postal service, turns 500 this year, and The Queen herself spent part of her birthday on 21 April visiting the Royal Mail delivery office in Windsor. A total of 17,420 pieces of post arrived for The Queen on her birthday, including many birthday cards and gifts.
