Queen celebrates her 93rd birthday with family at Easter church service
The Queen has arrived at St George's Chapel in Windsor for an Easter Mattins service, as celebrates her 93rd birthday surrounded by her family.
She was greeted outside by her children and grandchildre who had walked down the hill to the 14th-century Gothic chapel inside the walls of Windsor Castle.
Royal family members in attendance for the Easter Sunday service included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke of Sussex, the Duke of York, Princess Beatrice, the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Zara and Mike Tindall.
The Earl of Wessex and Countess of Wessex and their children Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Viscount Severn were also in attendance, along with Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn.
Prince Harry's heavily-pregnant wife Meghan was absent from the service, with her first child is due at the end of this month or the beginning of May.
The Queen was wearing a mint-green coat with matching hat decorated with pink ribbon.
As she walked into the chapel, the female members of the family, including the Duchess of Sussex, who was wearing a light blue coat, curtsied to the monarch as the men bowed their heads.
Following the service, she was presented with two posies - one yellow and one white - by two little boys.
She was then treated to a rendition of Happy Birthday, complete with three cheers, by the crowd as she got into her car.
Earlier in the day, members of her family shared birthday wishes for their mother and grandmother on social media.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex posted a balloon emoji on Instagram and said: "Happy Birthday Your Majesty, Ma'am, Granny. Wishing you the most wonderful day! Harry & Meghan."
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge tweeted a selection of photographs with the message: "Wishing a very happy 93rd birthday to Her Majesty The Queen! #HappyBirthdayYourMajesty;"
And the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, absent from the church service while in Scotland, said: "Happy 93rd birthday to Her Majesty The Queen. #HappyBirthdayHerMajesty#QueensBirthday."
The Queen, who has a strong faith, celebrates Easter at Windsor Castle each year with a service in St George's Chapel.
At Buckingham Palace, the Band of the Irish Guards will perform a rendition of Happy Birthday in her honour on the forecourt as part of the Changing of the Guard ceremony.
April 21 - the day the Queen was born - is the first of the monarch's two birthdays.
She also has an official one on the second Saturday in June each year, which is commemorated with the Trooping the Colour parade.
Gun salutes are also fired as a mark of respect to the Queen on her special day - but never on a Sunday, so this year they will be delayed by one day.
On Monday, the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery will ride their horses and gun carriages past Buckingham Palace en route to Hyde Park to stage a 41 Gun Royal Salute at noon.
A 62-gun salute will also be performed by the Honourable Artillery Company at the Tower of London at 1pm the same day.
The Queen traditionally spends a month-long residence at Windsor Castle, known as Easter Court, each year.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwgkE4DhGuR/
Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born at 2.40am on April 21 1926, the first child of the then Duke and Duchess of York, at 17 Bruton Street, the Mayfair home of her mother's parents, the Earl and Countess of Strathmore.
She was never expected to be Queen when she was born, but the abdication of her uncle Edward VIII in 1936 put her father George VI on the throne, and changed her destiny.
Wishing a very happy 93rd birthday to Her Majesty The Queen! #HappyBirthdayYourMajestypic.twitter.com/gTSBHrhxTy
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 21, 2019
Elizabeth II, who has been monarch for more than 67 years, is Head of State, the Armed Forces and the Commonwealth, and has been married to the Duke of Edinburgh for more than 71 years.
She became Britain's longest-reigning monarch, passing her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria's record, in September 2015.
With the death of 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand in 2016, the Queen now holds the record for the world's longest reigning living monarch.
