> > > Just to clear this up, you mean the official holiday for the Queen's real birthday, right? She doesn't have an official birthday in NZ that's different from the British one?
> > >
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> > Could you explain why there are official and unofficial birthdays?
> >
>
> The Queen's Birthday holiday is on the first Monday in June. This is the official holiday and I had no idea at all what date her *real* birthday was until you said so.
>
> There are official and unofficial birthdays for a pretty obvious reason once you think of it. Kings and queens come and go and they all have different birthdays. So it's easier to pick a day and keep it rather than change the holiday every time you change monarchs. Nobody celebrates or even notices the current monarch's *actual* birthday.
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> Brunnen-"and that's the day New Zealand picked for it"G

The offical birthday was first instituted this century by King George V (I think) becuase he was born in February and wanted his birthday celebrations in the middle of summer with nice weather. The Queen decided to carry on the tradition.

winter"But with weather like this right now, it hardly seems worth it"mute