Queen Elizabeth II is marking her 92nd birthday tonight with a star-studded concert in London and a regal 41-gun salute in Hyde Park.
Sting & Shaggy, Sir Tom Jones, Kylie Minogue, Craig David, Anne Marie, Shawn Mendes, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and the BBC Concert Orchestra are among the performers at the celebration at Royal Albert Hall, billed as the ‘Queen’s Birthday Party.’
Prince Harry is expected to speak at Saturday evening’s event, in his new role as president of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.
Queen Elizabeth II marked her 92nd birthday today with a 41-gun salute in Hyde Park, central London
Members of the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery fire a 41-gun salute to mark the 92nd birthday of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II
Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery line up in London’s Hyde Park for the gun salute for the Queen’s Birthday
Special 41-gun salutes are were also staged midday Saturday in central London to mark the occasion.
The number of rounds fired in a Royal Gun Salute is usually 21 rounds, but in Hyde Park and The Green Park an extra 20 rounds are added because they are a Royal Park.
The gun salute took place on the Parade Ground in Hyde Park at noon.
The concert will be broadcast live on BBC One and BBC Radio 2.
Royal biographer, Gyles Brandreth joked that the performance might be an attempt for the nonagenarian to get ‘down with the kids’.
In a reign longer than any other monarch in our history, the Queen really has seen it all,’ he told the Telegraph.
The gun-salute marks the Queen’s actual birthday (April 21, 1926) whereas her official birthday is celebrated in June and marked with a Trooping of the colour
Incredible images show blazing gun’s in London Hyde’s park to mark the Queen turning 92
Crowds look on in central London as guns go off in Hyde Park
‘And my feeling is that by now she’s probably seen enough. This is supposed to be the Queen’s birthday treat.
‘It’s always possible that, encouraged by [Prince] Harry, and with great-grandchildren popping out all over the place, she has chosen to get down with the kids.
‘If not, give her a George Formby singalong by all means, but spare her Shaggy.’
Former Police frontman Sting, real name Gordon Sumner, will be performing alongside reggae star Shaggy.
The gun salute in 41 rounds. The basic salute is 21 rounds. In Hyde Park and The Green Park an extra 20 rounds are added because they are a Royal Park
‘We are going to be playing for Her Majesty. I’m not sure we are her musical taste, frankly’ he told ITV’s Loose Women.
‘We are going to do our best and if we don’t, well we will be in the Tower the next morning.’
The Queen celebrates two birthdays every year, her actual birthday on April 21, which she usually marks privately with her family, and her ‘official birthday’ in the summer.
The latter usually falls on the second Saturday in June, when she joins the Trooping the Colour military parade in central London.
Gun salutes are usually fired at midday on special occasions such as the Queen’s Birthday, her coronation day and the Opening of Parliament