King Charles is celebrating his first birthday as monarch (Picture: Getty Images)
One of Queen Elizabeth’s most notable perks of being monarch is that she got two birthdays – something the rest of us could only dream of.
Her Majesty was actually born on April 21 1926, celebrating her 96th birthday in 2022, but her ‘official birthday celebration’ didn’t take place until the second Saturday in June with the Trooping The Colour parade – which in 2022 was followed by spectacular Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Considering how much work the ruling monarch does it only seems fair they get to celebrate twice.
But will King Charles III – who is celebrating his first birthday as monarch on November 14 – also be bestowed with a second birthday? Or is this only an honour given to the Queen?
Will King Charles III have two birthdays?
It hasn’t been confirmed whether King Charles III will have a second birthday – but it seems likely that he will continue the tradition, which dates all the way back to 1748.
The first royal ruler to have two birthday celebrations was the Queen’s distant relative, King George II – who wished to throw a public celebration, with a parade and plenty of pomp and circumstance to mark the occasion of his birthday.
However, having been born in November, the odds on the weather holding out for a huge outdoor bash in the UK were pretty slim.
The Queen always celebrated her birthday twice, being born in April and marking the event in June – (Picture: Getty Images)
Instead, the monarch decided to use the UK’s annual military parade held in the summer as his official birthday celebration, meaning that he would mark his birthday twice – once for the public in the summer and once in private in November.
Since His Majesty’s birthday is also that month – he was born on November 14 1948 – it would seem likely he will also choose to celebrate his birthday a second time at Trooping The Colour in June.
More: Queen Elizabeth II
It has been reported he may opt for a ‘slimmed down’ version of this due to his desire to scale back some of the pageantry of Royal occasions.
However, it remains to be seen whether Prince William will continue with the tradition when he ascends to the throne – since his birthday is already in June, having been born on June 21 1982.
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His Majesty’s official birthday is in November.
