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June 11th-The Queen's Official Birthday
The Queen’s Official Birthday falls this year on June 11th in the United Kingdom. It is marked in London by the “Trooping of the Colour”, which is also known as the Queens Birthday Parade. Edward VII moved the ceremony to that date in the hope of fair weather.
As part of the UK Official Birthday celebrations, the list of Birthday Honours is announced.
In the UK, the Queens Official Birthday is not celebrated as a public holiday.
The Queen's Official Birthday (sometimes known as "the Queen's Birthday") is celebrated as a public holiday in several Commonwealth countries.
The exact date of the celebration varies from country to country, and it does not usually mark the real birthday of the sovereign (the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, was born on 21st April 1926). Most Commonwealth Realms release a Birthday Honours List at this time.
Australia (except Western Australia) has the Official Birthday on the second Monday in June and observes it as a public holiday.
The Queen's Birthday weekend was long the traditional time for public fireworks displays in Australia. Although they still occur, the tradition has recently been overshadowed by larger New Years Eve fireworks. The sale of fireworks in the Australian Capital Territory is only legal during the Queen's Birthday weekend.
In New Zealand the holiday is the first Monday in June.
Observing the Queen's Birthday in Australia and New Zealand on the actual date of the Queen's birth would be impractical as it would be too close to ANZAC day four days later and the Easter Long Weekend.
Canada, according to the legislation creating Victoria Day, celebrates the Queen's official birthday on that general holiday, the Monday on or before 24th May. However, it is not widely known that Victoria Day is intended to honour the current Queen as well as Queen Victoria!
The Queen's official birthday is a public holiday in Gibraltar and Bermuda, and most other British overseas territories. It ceased to be a public holiday in Hong Kong after the territory's handover to the People’s Republic of China in 1997.
Fiji also still celebrates the Queen's Official Birthday, along with the Prince of Wales's Birthday, since although the Queen ceased to be head of state in 1987 she remains recognised as Paramount Chief of Fiji.