The royal family’s Twitter account has posted private behind-the-scenes footage of the Queen as a child in tribute for her 94th birthday.

It showed her as a toddler in a push-chair, and playing with sister Princess Margaret as a child. She is seen learning to ride, gardening with her mother, and dancing onboard a yacht.

A message accompanying the video said: “To those of you also celebrating your birthdays today at home, with or without your loved ones – we send you many happy returns.” It thanked the public for its birthday messages and wished the Queen a happy birthday.

The Queen herself celebrated the day isolating behind Windsor Castle’s walls in a low-key, lockdown affair.

The Covid-19 pandemic meant family members were resorting to video-conferencing to mark her anniversary as they posted birthday wishes on social media.

There were no traditional gun-salutes from Hyde Park or the Tower of London, for what is believed to be the first time in her reign. They were cancelled in line with the Queen’s wishes as she believed they would be inappropriate in the current circumstances.

The flying of the union flag from government buildings and town halls, as is also traditional, was taking place only where it could be implemented within government guidance on social distancing.

The bells of Westminster Abbey, the scene of her marriage and her coronation, were also silent. They have pealed on her birthday since 2007, but the abbey is closed.

The Queen was spending the day with the Duke of Edinburgh, who is 98, at Windsor Castle, where the couple are shielding with a reduced staff.

Family members would be celebrating with her privately via video conferencing and telephoning – the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall from Birkhall, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from Anmer Hall in Norfolk. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are in Los Angeles. the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex are all in their own separate homes around the country.

Prince Charles shared several archive photographs of himself, and the Duchess of Cornwall, with the Queen over the years on the Clarence House social media accounts.

They included one of him as a baby taken in the grounds of Windlesham Moor, country home in Surrey. Another showed Charles kissing his mother’s gloved hand as she presented him with the runner’s-up prize in the Silver Jubilee Cup match against France at Windsor Great Park in July 1988.

Kensington Palace shared a picture of William and Kate with the monarch taken at the Chelsea Flower Show.

In other tributes, an image of the Queen on her fourth birthday, with a Shetland pony gifted to her by her grandfather King George V, was posted by the Royal Collection Trust.



She is shown as a young ATS second subaltern during the second world war in an image posted by the British Army. The Royal Airforce posted images from royal visits over the years, including one of the Red Arrows flying over the Royal Standard.

Boris Johnson’s official Twitter account posted a congratulatory message “Wishing Her Majesty The Queen a very happy birthday!”.



Trooping the Colour, the military ceremony held on her official birthday in June has been cancelled, with no alternative plans announced.



