The Queen's 90th birthday

Happy Birthday to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 90 years old today!

In true family history fashion, we set out to find those precious clues to the past - exploring the historical records of yesteryear to see what we could learn about the day of her birth, nine decades ago.

First we found the FreeBMD listing for her birth registration of course. It seems amusing - but rather special - to see her recorded, alongside us and our ancestors, in the Government records.

Then we looked through some of the many millions of pages of old newspapers, now searchable online and we've chosen some special excerpts from the collection on Findmypast - which cover news of her birth - the happy relatives, the choice of name, the doting granny (Queen Mary) helping with the layette (all things we recognise from our own family's celebrations, welcoming a new twig to the tree).

And lastly we found a smashing picture of her christening as a babe in arms.

To whisk yourself right away back to the past, browse our snippets from history below, pour a glass of your favourite tipple and raise your glass to 'The Queen'.

The christening of The Queen. Photo from the Library of Congress collection.

See The Queen’s birth registered alongside our ancestors on FreeBMD.     

Celebrating the birth of Elizabeth, a report in the Aberdeen Daily Journal.

Prince Albert, the Queen’s father, is of course mentioned at the coverage of her birth – and incidentally notes his involvement in the Battle of Jutland, the centenary of which we remember this May.

What’s the baby to be called? The question of what the new royal baby was to be named in 1926.     

Queen Mary was clearly delighted at the news of her granddaughter’s birth.