In her 68 years the monarch, Queen Elizabeth often celebrated her birthday with gun salutes. This year, as she turns 94 years old, Her Majesty decided to cancel the said ceremony because of the coronavirus pandemic.
CNN confirmed that Queen Elizabeth canceled the gun salutes for her April 21 birthday celebration. Apparently, the monarch deemed it would be inappropriate to continue with the tradition amid the crisis.
Gun salutes are conducted at Hyde Park or Green Park near the Tower of London. It's also fired at the Edinburgh Castle and certain locations in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Instead, Queen Elizabeth will have a private birthday celebration among her family for Tuesday. However, there will be no parties with guests but the royals will converge online through video calls with Her Majesty. The royals will also likely honor the monarch and their matriarch via their social media accounts.
The Queen is currently in isolation with Prince Philip in Windsor Castle. It is expected that she will be staying in Windsor until the U.K. lifts its lockdown.
Currently, the government has extended its stay-at-home orders until the middle of May as cases of coronavirus infection in the U.K. continue to rise. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are regarded as vulnerable against the virus due to their age and their medical conditions.
In an interview with BBC, Prince William said that they are doing all they can to make sure that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are isolated and protected from the virus. The Duke of Cambridge, however, admitted that he's still very much worried about his grandparents' situation because they have been isolated since the middle of March and haven't had physical and in-person interaction with the family.
Earlier, Buckingham Palace also announced that Queen Elizabeth will not proceed with the traditional Trooping the Colour parade. This event, which takes place every second Saturday of June, also marks the Queen's official birthday and it is usually attended by a hundred thousand spectators and over 2,000 participants.
The Palace said that there have been no alternatives to the parade as social gatherings are still banned in the U.K. to control the spread of the virus. It would have been a big reunion for the royal family with Prince Harry, Meghan, and Archie since they were supposed to fly back to the U.K. for this big celebration.
On April 5, Queen Elizabeth gave a rousing speech on television to reassure her people that they will all meet again when this pandemic is over. The monarch's televised addressed was viewed by more than 24 million people who said that she gave them hope in this global crisis.
