静岡英和女学院 中学校・高等学校

Friday June 20th was English Day at our school. English Day is a unique school event in which students are encouraged to speak more English during the course of the day. English Day usually begins with a special morning service delivered by one of the native English teachers.

This time it was my turn to give the service so I decided to introduce an interesting point of British culture. The monarch – the King or Queen – has two birthdays. This rather surprising British tradition can be traced back to the 1700s when King George the Second wanted to hold a special birthday celebration. However, the King was born in winter and due to the unpredictable British weather, the date of his birthday celebrations did not match with his actual birthday.

After getting advice from different people, the King decided to use the day of the annual Trooping the Colour parade as his birthday celebration. During this parade the King’s Guard are inspected by the monarch. Every monarch since George the Second has continued this tradition and this is why the King or Queen of the United Kingdom is said to have two birthdays.

Trooping the Colour is an amazing example of British Pomp and Pageantry; and if you would like to know more about it, I highly recommend watching this year’s parade on YouTube – there’s a link at the bottom.

It was nice to have the chance to talk about this interesting British culture and I hope out students enjoyed learning about it.

Trooping the Colour 2025 | Sky News coverage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJbYsiA2R9c