Queen celebrates landmark birthday

Tributes have been paid to Queen Elizabeth II after Britain's longest-reigning monarch celebrated her 96th birthday at her estate in Sandringham in the county of Norfolk on Thursday.

Close friends and family were expected to gather at the cottage in the grounds where she is staying, which is believed to have been a favorite place of her late husband, the duke of Edinburgh, who died last year.

An official portrait photo released to mark her birthday showed the queen, a lifelong equestrian enthusiast, with two Fell ponies, and was taken at Windsor Castle, where she now spends most of her time, rather than at her London house, Buckingham Palace.

The duke and duchess of Cambridge led tributes, with a tweet calling her an "inspiration to so many across the UK, the Commonwealth and the world", and also sharing a photo of the queen and the duke with seven of their great-grandchildren, of which there are now 11.

Another message from Prince Charles, her oldest son and heir, said "wishing Her Majesty The Queen a particularly special 96th birthday today, as we celebrate her Platinum Jubilee year".

To mark the milestone birthday, the Changing of the Guard ceremony, which usually takes place daily at Buckingham Palace, was held at Windsor, with the Band of the Coldstream Guards playing Happy Birthday.

In addition to having tested positive for COVID-19 this year, the queen has had mobility difficulties, and missed several events, with her only public appearance having been the recent thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey to commemorate the life of the duke of Edinburgh.

Her platinum jubilee, which will be celebrated later in the year, is the first time any monarch has reached 70 years on the throne, and at 96 she is also by the far longest-living, with Queen Victoria and King George III being the only previous ones to have passed the age of 80, both dying at the age of 81.

It is a tradition for people in the United Kingdom who reach the age of 100 to receive a telegram of congratulation from the monarch, and the queen's own mother lived to be 101, dying in March 2002.

In addition to the monarch's actual birthday, there is another ceremonial date of celebration, on the second Saturday of June, which is when the Trooping the Colour birthday parade takes place. This date is a tradition created by the queen's great-grandfather, King Edward VII, whose own birthday was in November, which was a less preferable time for an outdoor celebration.

This year's Trooping the Colour parade has been moved to Thursday June 2 to start an extended public holiday weekend to mark the jubilee.