The song Happy Birthday will resonate this Thursday in the United Kingdom. Now largely withdrawn from public life due to mobility issues, Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s oldest incumbent monarch, is indeed celebrating her 96th birthday. Cannon fire from the Tower of London and Hyde Park will mark the event and a military band will play Happy Birthday for the occasion. But the queen, who passed the milestone of 70 years of reign in February, will celebrate this day “in a private way”, said a spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace. the royal estate of Sandringham, 200 kilometers north of London. According to the press, she will spend a few days there at Wood Farm, the relatively modest house with a view of the North Sea that her husband Philip, who died last year, loved so much. four days of highly anticipated festivities in early June, were not easy, between his health problems, accusations of sexual assault against his son Andrew – recently reached a financial agreement with his accuser – and questions about the future of the monarchy and the Commonwealth. Since a brief hospitalization in October, the sovereign’s appearances have become rare, although she continues to carry out “light duties” at Windsor Castle, most of the time by videoconference. She did not participate in Easter mass at the castle chapel last Sunday. Many of her planned appearances in recent months have been cancelled, sometimes at the last minute. Present at the tribute to Prince Philip On March 29, however, she insisted on attending a religious ceremony in Westminster Abbey in tribute to Prince Philip , who died on April 9, 2021 at the age of 99. Arrived on the arm of her son Andrew, leaning on a cane, we saw her there, frail and dignified, walking slowly, getting up several times during the service, and then greeting participants. But she hadn’t come through the main door, to limit her effort. It was his first major public appearance in months.