Queen Elizabeth II foregoes birthday gun salute over virus
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will not celebrate her birthday on Tuesday with a traditional gun salute due to the coronavirus crisis, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday.
"There will be no gun salutes. Her Majesty was keen that no special measures were put in place to allow gun salutes as she did not feel it appropriate in the current circumstances," the palace said.
The queen, who turns 94 on Tuesday, made a rare national address at Easter, saying that "we know that coronavirus will not overcome us" and that "we will meet again" after the country's lockdown is lifted.
Lockdown orders were made last month, and extended this week for another three weeks as the country's official death toll from the virus hit 14,576.
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In a rare special televised address, the 93-year-old monarch drew on her experience in World War II, offering a message of hope to people forced to separate from family and friends. The broadcast to Britain and Commonwealth nations came as billions of people across the world are forced to stay at home to stop close-contact transmission of the virus.