The Queen’s 94th birthday on Tuesday will be a low-key affair owing to the coronavirus pandemic, with no official gun salutes for what is believed to be the first time in her long reign.
It is traditional for royal gun salutes to be fired from different locations in London and across the UK on the monarch’s birthday.
Events have been cancelled this year, in line with the Queen’s wishes.
“Her Majesty was keen that no special measures were put in place to allow gun salutes as she did not feel it appropriate in the current circumstances,” a Buckingham Palace source said.
She will spend the day privately, at Windsor Castle, where she and the Duke of Edinburgh, 98, are being shielded. Family members are expected to video call her on the day.
In London, salutes are traditionally fired from the Tower of London and Hyde Park on the Queen’s birthday.
The basic salute is 21 rounds, fired at 10-second intervals. In Hyde Park, a royal park, there are an extra 20 rounds, making it a 41-gun salute. It is usually fired at midday by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from six 13-pounder guns, which are pulled at speed by teams of horses over the grass. The guns are quickly detached to fire booming blanks which send a puff of white smoke into the air.
The salute at the Tower of London is usually fired from four 25-pounder guns located on Tower Wharf facing the River Thames, by the Honourable Artillery Company, at 1pm.
This year there is also no obligation for government buildings and town halls to fly the union flag at full mast, as is also traditional on the Queen’s birthday.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has written to state buildings giving the standard advice on flag-flying protocol. This year it has included the instructions: “In the current circumstances we are not expecting everyone to be able to follow this advice and you should continue to adhere to social distancing guidelines as set out by the government.”
It has already been announced there will be no trooping the colour ceremony to mark the Queen’s birthday, officially marked in June. There are currently no plans for any alternative marking of her official birthday.