Queen tweets 90th birthday thanks

Queen Elizabeth II using social media@RoyalFamily

A picture of the Queen sending the tweet was also posted

The Queen has tweeted her thanks to people who sent her 90th birthday messages on social media.

"I am most grateful for the many digital messages of goodwill I have received and would like to thank you all for your kindness," she wrote.

The monarch, whose milestone birthday was marked with numerous events, signed off the rare message "Elizabeth R".

The Queen sent her first ever tweet in 2014 when she opened a new exhibition at the Science Museum in London.

Britain's longest-serving monarch celebrated her 90th birthday on 21 April, and a host of events were held over three months, from April to June.

Reuters

The Royal Family's balcony appearance is an annual tradition

The Queen has two birthdays - her real birthday on 21 April, and her official birthday held on a Saturday in June - a tradition going back 250 years. It was introduced to try to ensure better weather for the monarch's official celebrations.

Her official birthday this year was 11 June and the annual Trooping the Colour was held on Horse Guards Parade, followed by an RAF flypast which the Royal Family watched from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

The following day the Queen hosted the Patron's Lunch, a street party for some 10,000 people along The Mall which recognised her patronage of more than 600 organisations in the UK and around the Commonwealth.

Queen Elizabeth II at 90

  • The Queen has been married for 68 years, longer than any other British monarch

  • Her coronation was the first to be televised and was watched by more than 20 million people in the UK

  • There have been 12 UK prime ministers, seven Archbishops of Canterbury and seven Popes during her reign

  • She has sat for more than 130 official portrait paintings

  • During her reign, she has visited 117 countries, travelling more than a million miles

  • In 2012 she became the second British monarch to celebrate a diamond jubilee, and in 2015 became the UK's longest-reigning monarch

Find out more about Queen Elizabeth II on BBC iWonder

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