No preps to mark Queen Elizabeth’s birthday this year

Queen Elizabeth will not celebrate her 94th birthday this year in the conventional way and has announced that there’ll be no gun salutes to mark the occasion in the time when the country battles a deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Britain almost reached peak of the outbreak in which more than 14,000 people have already died – the fifth highest national death toll of a pandemic linked to at least 150,000 deaths worldwide.

Each year the Queen’s birthday had been marked with the ceremonial gun salutes, in which blank rounds are fired from various locations across London. The royal family typically used this tradition to mark special occasions such as anniversaries and birthdays. The Queen’s birthday is on April 21.

“The Queen was keen that no special measures were put in place to allow gun salutes as she did not feel it suitable under the current circumstances”, a royal source said.

It is believed to be the first such request in the Queen’s 68-year reign, the source said.

“We will not be marking Her Majesty’s birthday in any special way’ this year due to the #coronavirus crisis,” reports said.

UK is in its fourth week of a national lockdown, with businesses forced to close and citizens were ordered to stay at home.

Earlier this month, the country’s longest-serving monarch made an exceptional address to the nation, promising “Better days will return.”

Last minth, Buckingham Palace had said a parade to celebrate the Queen’s official birthday, which is celebrated in June, would not go ahead in its traditional form in light of restrictions on social gatherings.

There are no alternative plans to replace the parade, the source said on Saturday.