U.K. fetes Queen’s birthday

Press, 22 April 1986, Page 10

U.K. fetes Queen’s birthday

NZPA-PA London The family said it. The Household said it. The piper outside the breakfast room said it. The bulging sacks of mail said it. And the whole nation echoed it — “Happy birthday Ma’am.” The Queen awoke at Windsor Castle on her sixtieth birthday yesterday to thousands of congratulations on a milestone that is being marked by solemn thanksgiving, pageantry, theatrical glitter, and sheer youthful exuberance. First came the good wishes of family and staff at Windsor Castle. Her personal piper added his own skirling music to the tributes. Britain’s public expression of regard began when the Queen and members of her family took the short drive from the castle to St George’s Chapel, Windsor, for a thanksgiving service attended by 1000 people. Among them were political and national leaders and representatives of all walks of life.

The Royal Family party in the chapel, sitting on both sides of the choir, was increased by one — it was the first formal public appearance of Sarah Ferguson, who will marry Prince Andrew in Westminster Abbey on July 23. The cheers, applause and shouts of “Happy birthday” brought smiles and waves from the Queen and her family as they drove through Windsor’s streets from chapel to castle in a four-car-riage procession flanked by a Sovereign’s Escort of the Household Cavalry. The Queen and Prince Philip were in the first carriage; the Prince and Princess of Wales in the second; Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Sarah Ferguson in the third; Princess Anne, Captain Mark Phillips and their two children, Peter and Zara, in the fourth. As the party reached the castle, the King’s Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery fired a 21-gun birthday salute. A 62-gun salute was later fired at the Tower of London wharf by the Honourable Artillery Company.