Every summer the Mall outside Buckingham Palace is filled with flag-waving, Union Jack-clad merrymakers, all gathered to watch the official Trooping the Colour celebrations.

Otherwise known as the Queen's Birthday Parade, the event marks the sovereign's birthday. The colourful display of flag-flying and pageantry takes place in June and is attended by the Queen and her family.

However, as Elizabeth II wasn't born in June, why do the Royal family celebrate her birth on the second Saturday of this month? Here is everything you need to know about the Queen's birthdays – both her real and official celebrations.

When is the Queen's birthday and Trooping the Colour 2020?

The Queen was born on April 21 1926; this year she turned 94.

She usually celebrates this day in private with her family and every year on April 21, there are several gun salutes in London at midday. But, this year, for the first time in her reign, the Queen’s birthday passed without a customary gun salute, in line with her wishes that no “special measures” were taken during the coronavirus pandemic.

The fanfare is mostly saved for her official birthday celebration, which is held annually on the second Saturday of June. This celebration, referred to as Trooping the Colour, is a moveable feast – in 2020 it was supposed to take place on June 13.

The annual summer military parade dates back to 1758, when thousands of people headed to the capital to observe the presiding monarch's official birthday celebrations.

This year, however, Buckingham Palace has announced that the event will not go ahead in its traditional form due to the lockdown rules that are currently in place.

Instead, the Queen’s official birthday will be celebrated at Windsor Castle on Saturday June 13, with a Royal Salute from the military.

The Welsh Guards and massed Bands of the Household Division will lead the small celebration at Windsor Castle, where the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are staying in isolation.

What happens during Trooping the Colour?

During the parade, the Queen inspects soldiers from the Household Division. The inspection takes place on Horse Guards Parade behind Whitehall.

Each year a different regiment's Colours are trooped; last year, the spotlight was on the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. This infantry regiment dates back to 1656, when it was formed to protect Charles II. Since then, the soldiers have fought in both the First and Second World Wars and, in more recent history, were deployed in Northern Ireland, Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The colourful display of pageantry features 1,400 officers and men, 200 horses and 400 musicians from 10 bands. The Queen always attends and takes the salute.

The Trooping of the Colour begins when the Queen leaves Buckingham Palace in a carriage, accompanied by a Sovereign's escort from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, at approximately 10.45am.

She used to arrive riding side-saddle on a horse, wearing the uniform of the regiment being trooped; however, since 1987, she has arrived by carriage.