City brings in the Queen’s birthday

Queen Elizabeth II may have cut a cake on April 21 —when she turned 84 — but in the Commonwealth countries, her birthday celebrations are still on.

Queen Elizabeth II may have cut a cake on April 21 —when she turned 84 — but in the Commonwealth countries, her birthday celebrations are still on.

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The Deputy High Commission of Mumbai brought in the Queen’s birthday by playing the Indian and British national anthems at a party organised at the Trident, Nariman Point, on Wednesday.

“We celebrate the Queen’s birthday every year. This is our national day,” said the British Deputy High Commissioner, Peter Beckingham.

The Queen celebrated her official birthday on June 12 with a ceremonial march past of cavalry and pipers called the Trooping the Colour parade in London. All monarchs of the UK celebrate their birthdays on second Saturday of June since 1805 — a tradition that came into being as June assured better weather.

In Mumbai, businessman Adi Godrej, writer Anil Dharkar and banker Meera Sanyal, who contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, attended the function.

“This is a huge event. There are lots of people here from business, culture and media. This represents how important the relationship (between the countries) is from both sides,” said Deputy Head of Mission, Jeff Glekin, who attended the party wearing the traditional Scottish kilt.