London, Apr 20 (PTI) Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II travelled to her country estate of Sandringham in eastern England on Wednesday ahead of her 96th birthday on Thursday.
The monarch, who has been based at Windsor Castle in south-east England, will mark a low-key birthday at a farmhouse where her late husband, Prince Philip, spent many of his retirement years in the royal estate in the county of Norfolk.
Wood Farm was the home of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, after his retirement from royal engagement in August 2017 and the Queen visited him there frequently until he shifted to the Windsor Castle “royal bubble” during the COVID pandemic until he passed away in April 2021 aged 99.
“I know the whole House will want to join me in wishing Her Majesty the Queen a very happy birthday for tomorrow,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Several similar tributes are expected to pour in for the birthday, which is formally celebrated only in early June as the Queen’s official birthday. This year, it will be marked with added pomp and show as the Platinum Jubilee of the monarch’s 70-year reign.
Her younger grandson, Prince Harry, and his American wife Meghan Markle are expected to join the celebrations in London after a brief meeting with the monarch at Windsor Castle on their way to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands over the weekend.
However, the Duke of Sessex who has stepped back from frontline royalty and relocated to California is locked in a legal dispute over the provision of security for his family in the UK.
“There are lots of things with security issues and everything else,” Harry told a US television show on the sidelines of the Invictus Games on Wednesday.
Speaking in the Netherlands to NBC’s ‘Today’ programme, Prince Harry spoke of the monarch being in “great form” when they met her recently, adding that he wanted to “make sure that she’s protected”.
“She’s always got a great sense of humour with me and I’m making sure that she’s you know, protected and got the right people around her,” said the 37-year-old royal.
“Meghan and I had tea with her, so it was really nice to catch up with her,” he added.
Also during the interview, Harry spoke about his life in the United States, saying he has been “welcomed with open arms” and has a “great community” in Santa Barbara, where he lives with Meghan and their two children, Archie and Lilibet.
“Home for me now is, for the time being, is in the States,” he said.
The Invictus Games is a sporting competition for wounded veterans founded by Prince Harry. Created in 2014, it aims to aid the rehabilitation of injured or sick military personnel or veterans from across the globe, by giving them a chance to compete in events similar to the Paralympics. PTI AK SCY SCY
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.