Nearly two years after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, her birthday, April 21, is becoming a day when both the royal family—and the rest of the nation—celebrate the legacy of Britain’s longest-serving monarch. This year, King Charles III and Queen Camilla spent the weekend at Balmoral Castle, where the late queen died in September 2022, and on Sunday, which would have been her 98th birthday, the couple were spotted on their way to nearby Crathie Kirk.
According to a former butler for the royals who spoke to Slingo, the family likely continued honoring the queen during the rest of the day. “Privately, I have no doubt they’ll raise a toast to her in the evening,” said Grant Harrold, per People. “I’m sure the day will very much be spent reflecting on the late queen.”
On Instagram, Sarah Ferguson remembered her mother-in-law with a photograph taken on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during 2022’s Platinum Jubilee. “Thank you for all that you have taught us, for being a steadfast leader and dear friend,” she wrote. “You are sorely missed.”
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The Royals Collection Trust, which cares for and curates the royal collections, honored the late queen with an image taken during her teenage years. The photograph by Cecil Beaton will be part of a new palace exhibition called Royal Portraits, which will open next month in the King’s Gallery.
According to The Telegraph, a few corgis were on hand during one tribute to the late queen. On Sunday, the first posthumous statue of Queen Elizabeth was unveiled in the town of Oakham, Rutland, in England’s East Midlands, and the bronze sculpture by artist Hywel Pratley features three life-size corgis climbing on the plinth. To celebrate the unveiling, the Welsh Corgi League brought 46 of the queen’s beloved breed to the event, and they could be heard barking during a speech by Sarah Furness, the Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland who commissioned the statue.