--- description: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her 91st birthday today, and Buckingham Palace have spared a photo of her to mark the occasion. title: Buckingham Palace Shares Queen Elizabeth’s Christening Photo In Honor of Her 91st Birthday image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01a71ee86a201898/6988b3880a4a22cfc79cc66c/queen-elizabeth-easing-workload.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Buckingham Palace Shares Queen Elizabeth’s Christening Photo in Honor of Her 91st Birthday by [Kate Samuelson](/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 21, 2017 12:05 PM CUT by [Kate Samuelson](/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 21, 2017 12:05 PM CUT Britain’s [Queen Elizabeth II](http://time.com/4734688/queen-elizabeth-elephants/ "undefined") is celebrating her 91st birthday today, and [Buckingham Palace](http://time.com/4474259/buckingham-palace-queen-housekeeping/ "undefined") have shared a special photo of her to mark the occasion. The Royal Family’s official Twitter account shared a black and white photo of the monarch at just one month old, being held by her mother Elizabeth, Duchess of York, at her christening – an impressive 91 years ago. The account also shared [a speech](https://www.royal.uk/21st-birthday-speech-21-april-1947 "undefined") made by the Queen on her 21st birthday, in 1947, in which she says: “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” > [](https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/855335490043527168) Although April 21 is the Queen’s real date of birth, she also her celebrates her official birthday on the second Saturday in June. She generally spends her real birthday in private at Windsor Castle, however royal gun salutes will be fired today in the U.K. to commemorate the occasion. “Queen’s Birthday” and “Happy Birthday Your Majesty” have been trending on Twitter as well-wishers have taken to social media to bid the longest-reigning monarch, who celebrated her Sapphire Jubilee in February. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4750087/queen-elizabeth-91-birthday-photo-christening/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4750087/queen-elizabeth-91-birthday-photo-christening/"},"headline":"Buckingham Palace Shares Queen Elizabeth’s Christening Photo in Honor of Her 91st Birthday","datePublished":"2017-04-21T12:05:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:48.020Z","description":"She is just one month old in the photo and being held by her mother","url":"https://time.com/4750087/queen-elizabeth-91-birthday-photo-christening/","keywords":["Queen Elizabeth II","United Kingdom","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01a71ee86a201898/6988b3880a4a22cfc79cc66c/queen-elizabeth-easing-workload.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01a71ee86a201898/6988b3880a4a22cfc79cc66c/queen-elizabeth-easing-workload.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Queen Visits Goodenough college","caption":"Queen Elizabeth II visits Goodenough College on December 1, 2016 in London, England.","creditText":"Stuart C. Wilson—WPA Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4750087/queen-elizabeth-91-birthday-photo-christening/","name":"Buckingham Palace Shares Queen Elizabeth’s Christening Photo in Honor of Her 91st Birthday"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"She is just one month old in the photo and being held by her mother","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4750087/queen-elizabeth-91-birthday-photo-christening/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4750087/queen-elizabeth-91-birthday-photo-christening/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```