Britain’s Queen Elizabeth celebrates 94th birthday in lockdown in Windsor Castle

The British monarch felt it was inappropriate to have the customary ceremonial gun salutes due to the Covid-19 lockdown

She sent her condolences to the families of the victims of Canada’s worst mass shooting

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Britain's Queen Elizabeth is celebrating her 94th birthday on Tuesday with her husband Prince Philip in Windsor. Photo: AP

Published: 8:54pm, 21 Apr 2020Updated: 8:54pm, 21 Apr 2020

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth turned 94 on Tuesday but the coronavirus lockdown meant there was little fanfare to mark the occasion.

Elizabeth, the world’s eldest and longest-reigning monarch, typically spends her birthday privately without much public celebration but this year the event will be even more muted.

Royal birthdays and anniversaries are traditionally marked by ceremonial gun salutes, in which blank rounds are fired from various locations across London, but these were cancelled.

An electronic sign above the entrance to the London Palladium theatre relays a birthday wish for Queen Elizabeth. Photo: AFP

“Her Majesty was keen that no special measures were put in place to allow gun salutes as she did not feel it appropriate in the current circumstances,” the Buckingham Palace said.

The latest official figures show that about 16,000 Britons infected with the new coronavirus have died in hospital, the fifth highest number globally. The nation is in its fourth week of lockdown, with most businesses closed and citizens ordered to stay at home.

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