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Re: The Queen's Birthdays
Posted By: Paul A., on host 130.95.128.51
Date: Thursday, May 31, 2001, at 00:03:21
In Reply To: Re: The Queen's Birthdays posted by gabby on Wednesday, May 30, 2001, at 15:08:37:

> If the Queen has official and unofficial birthdays, doesn't that necessarily mean she was
> born on different days, officially and unofficially? So, for part of the year, is she
> officially a different age than she is unofficially?

No. As somebody's probably already explained, it's not that the Queen has two birthdays: she only has one birthday, which is the day on which she was born, the day on which her friends give her presents, and the day from which is counted her age, her ability to consume alcohol, etc.
In addition there is The Queen's Birthday Holiday, which is the day set aside for the teeming masses to commemorate the fact that the Queen has a birthday. In some parts of the world, the teeming masses get the day off. I think the date of the Holiday remains constant from monarch to monarch, thus saving most of the Commonwealth the bother of having to remember a new birthday after each coronation.


> If she gets an official and unofficial day of birth, does she get an official and unofficial day
> of death, too? Could she attend her own official funeral if she hadn't died yet?
[etc.]

LOL.


To give a serious answer to an unserious question, royals do frequently get something like an official and unofficial funeral (to be precise: a small private funeral for friends and family, and a big public memorial service for the teeming masses). Both, however, take place after the person's one-and-only, both-official-and-unofficial death day.


Pa"Harley was dreaming of his funeral; as customary, he was late"ul