What year the monarch was born and how long she's been Queen

The Queen is celebrating her 96th birthday today, which comes during the Platinum Jubilee year, which marks 70 years on the throne.

While Thursday will be low-key, public celebrations will take place June 2-5, when four days of jubilee festivities have been scheduled to coincide with the monarch’s ‘official’ birthday.

For many years now, monarchs in the UK have celebrated two birthdays, the actual day they were born, and an ‘official’ birthday when major celebrations are held.

What year was the monarch born?

The Queen is marking her 96th birthday today (21 April) on the Sandringham estate in eastern England.

Queen Elizabeth II was born on 21 April in 1926 to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Mayfair, London.

How long has she been Queen?

George VI, who became King unexpectedly after the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII, died in his sleep at Sandringham on 6 February 1952.

His daughter, the then Princess Elizabeth, who was just 25, was proclaimed Queen.

The King had been battling ill health and failed to recover from a lung operation.

His body was discovered by a valet at 7.30am. At 10.45 am, it was announced: “that the King, who retired to rest last night in his usual health, passed peacefully away in his sleep early this morning”.

The news was broadcast by the BBC at 11.15am.

His death, aged 56, came while the then Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya with Prince Philip.

The King lay in state at Westminster Hall before his funeral which was held on 15 February 1952 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, where he is buried.

Elizabeth’s coronation did not take place until the following year, on 2 June 1953, after a period of mourning had taken place.

When is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee?

The 70th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne, known as Accession Day, fell on Sunday 6 February 2022.

Given 6 February is the anniversary of her father’s death, commemorations of the jubilee are being held later in the year.

The first week of June has been chosen for the Platinum Jubilee weekend, just like the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees, with the summer month offering a better chance of good weather.

To create the four-day weekend, the late May spring bank holiday will be moved to Thursday 2 June, with the additional Queen’s Jubilee bank holiday held on Friday 3 June.

This is the first time a UK monarch has marked a Platinum Jubilee, and only a handful of leaders around the world have reached the milestone.