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The Queen cancelled her official birthday celebrations, Trooping the Colour, this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Usually, the Royal Family gathers on the balcony of Buckingham Palace

to watch a parade, a flypast and celebratory music all in honour of the Queen. However, the monarch decided it was safe enough to hold a smaller event at Windsor Castle, where she is

spending lockdown with her husband Prince Philip. This was only the second time the large, family-orientated and public event had been cancelled during the Queen’s reign. According to a

throwback report in The Times — re-released on June 1, 2005 — the Queen declared a state of emergency in 1955 which saw the cancellation of Trooping the Colour. The article explained that

the Queen announced the extreme measure on the advice of ministers during a Privy Council meeting, using the Emergency Powers Act of 1920. It explained: “These regulations will give the

Government wider powers to deal with the grave situation caused by the railways strikes, particularly in the matter of maintaining essential supplies and services. “It is necessary for

Parliament to confirm regulations made under the Emergency Powers Act within seven days, and the State opening of the new Parliament, which had been arranged for June 14, has been advanced

to June 9.” That was the date the Queen was expected to enjoy her Birthday Parade, but she instead opened the new parliament. READ MORE: PRINCE HARRY WANTED ‘LAST LAUGH’ ON FINAL ENGAGEMENT

However, by the following year tensions had been resolved, and the Queen led the parade while riding side-saddle. She continued to do so until 1987, when she started attending in a carriage.

Trooping the Colour is a centuries-old tradition for British sovereigns. It began in 1748, after King George II decided that a celebration around his actual birthday in November would be

significantly less pleasant due to poor weather, so he moved it to the summer. Almost every year since the monarch has enjoyed a military parade on their official birthday in June, while

celebrating privately on their actual birthday. Prince Charles told the BBC that Trooping the Colour was a “stirring and moving occasion” in 2008. He said: “It’s splendidly British and I

hope it will go on for as long as possible because I think the world would be a sadder, drearier and greyer place without it.” The Queen’s decision to hold Trooping the Colour at Windsor

Castle also bucked the trend this year, as the occasion has not been held at the historic site since Queen Victoria’s reign.