Queen’s birthday marked with sombre message from Royal Family

Watch: Queen’s 95th birthday to be private and low-key

A sombre message with no birthday wishes has been shared by the Royal Family’s social media accounts as the Queen marks her first birthday as a widow.

Prince Philip died on 9 April and the Queen is still in a period of royal mourning until tomorrow.

As the monarch she usually marks a real birthday in private and a ceremonial or official birthday as a public occasion.

But in a period of coronavirus and mourning, this is set to be her quietest yet.

In a post on Twitter and Instagram the Royal Family said: “Today is The Queen’s 95th birthday.

“The Queen was born at 2.40am on 21 April 1926 at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London. She was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

“This year Her Majesty remains at Windsor Castle, during a period of Royal Mourning following the death of The Duke of Edinburgh.”

The Queen talking to MI5 officers during her visit to the service’s headquarters in February 2020. (Victoria Jones/AFP)

Read more: The remote Welsh home where Prince Charles is staying after Prince Philip’s funeral

The message appeared alongside a picture of the Queen at an engagement at MI5.

Usually other royal accounts, like Kensington Royal, which represents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, would share their own messages.

But the account appears to be stopping at sharing the post from the Royal Family on its stories, instead of a unique post.

The Royal Family post bears a significant difference to the message shared last year, which came with private home footage of the Queen as a child from the Royal Collection Trust.

The 2020 message read: “Happy Birthday, Your Majesty!”

It went on: “Head of the Commonwealth, Head of the Armed Forces, Head of State in 16 countries and the longest reigning Monarch in British History. Wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Happy birthday, Your Majesty!

“To those of you also celebrating your birthdays today at home, with or without your loved ones – we send you many happy returns.”

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Watch: The Queen breaks with royal mourning tradition after death of Prince Philip

Read more: Royal Family go back to work amid mourning period for Prince Philip

The Queen is reported to be seeing some of her family today, with restrictions eased enough to allow outdoor gatherings.

She will also likely be walking her new corgis, Fergus and Muick.

Marking her birthday, Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter: “I would like to send my warm wishes to Her Majesty The Queen on her 95th birthday.

“I have always had the highest admiration for Her Majesty and her service to this country and the Commonwealth.

“I am proud to serve as her Prime Minister.”

Despite royal mourning, many members of the family have been continuing with some of their duties, including Prince William, Prince Charles and Princess Anne.

The Queen at Prince Philip’s funeral on 17 April. (Samir Hussein/WireImage)

Read more: Why does the Queen mark two birthdays?

While the Queen did carry out two engagements in the week leading up to the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, she has delegated some of her work in the last few days.

Prince William pledged to “get on with the job” as his grandfather would have wanted.

Although the Queen would have been expecting a low-key birthday in April, it has already been confirmed that the official birthday celebration of Trooping the Colour will be smaller this year as well.

In 2020, she had a “mini Trooping” at Windsor Castle in June that marked her official birthday. Usually hundreds of people would have been involved and thousands would have watched in central London.

But hopes for a return to the grand ceremony were dashed earlier this year and Buckingham Palace said it would look to put on a smaller event for her birthday in 2021 too.