LONDON (AP) – Some people get a cake. Queen Elizabeth II has received gun salutes from mounted artillery to mark her 89th birthday.
Soldiers of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, in full dress uniform, rode past Buckingham Palace before firing six World War I-era field guns in nearby Hyde Park at noon Tuesday.
An hour later, the Honourable Artillery Company fired a 62-gun royal salute near the Tower of London.
The queen celebrates her birthday twice – at home on her actual birthday, April 21, and with the Trooping of the Color military parade in June, according to royal tradition.
The queen is currently awaiting the arrival of her fifth great-grandchild. Prince William and his wife Kate are expecting the birth of a son or daughter before the end of the month.