Sovereign’s Birthday in British Virgin Islands in 2024
His Excellency the Governor, Mr. Daniel Pruce, has proclaimed that Friday, June 14th be kept as the Soverign’s Birthday in 2024. This confirms the previously issued date in the Official 2024 Holiday Calendar of the Virgin Islands.
The aforementioned proclamations were made in accordance with Section 5 of the Public Holidays Act (CAP. 199).
Sovereign’s Birthday in British Virgin Islands
In the British Virgin Islands, the Sovereign’s Birthday is usually observed on the Friday before the second Saturday in June.
King Charles III was born on November 14th 1948 in Buckingham Palace. He ascended to the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday September 8th 2022.
While King Charles will celebrate his birthday in November, now that he has taken the throne he receives the privilege of celebrating his birthday not once, but twice every year.
It was the same with Queen Elizabeth. Queen's Birthday was celebrated in June each year, even though the Queen's birthday was on April 21st.
The idea behind the double birthday is that having a summer birthday means a higher chance of good weather during the Trooping the Colour parade, which marks the official celebration of the monarch's birthday in the UK. Trooping the Colour is held outside Buckingham Palace on a Saturday in early June and has marked the celebration for over 270 years.
The official birthday tradition was started by George II in 1748. With a November birthday being too cold for a celebratory parade, he tied his celebrations in with the annual Trooping the Colour military parade.
Summer 'official' birthday celebrations were standardised during the reign of Edward VII, who also had a November birthday, according to Royal Museums Greenwich.
Since 1748, the monarch's official birthday has been marked by an outdoor parade known as Trooping the Colour which was usually held on the king or queen's actual birthday. Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910, was born in November. Instead of making the troops parade on a cold and dark November morning, the tradition began of celebrating his birthday officially in May or June as there was less chance of it being chilly and drizzly during the event. This tradition was then carried on by subsequent monarchs.
The King is the monarch of 15 countries, the United Kingdom and 14 commonwealth realms.
