Britain's Queen Elizabeth II Saturday marked her 85th birthday earlier this year with the pomp and pageantry of the "Trooping the Colour" parade - also attended by newly-weds Prince William and his wife, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, dpa reported. Under bright and breezy summer skies, the queen's guards regiments performed a faultless spectacle repeated every year to mark the monarch's "official birthday." Because of the better weather in June, the celebrations of the queen's birthday, which is on April 21, are traditionally delayed until the second Saturday in June. For the first time, Prince William, and his new wife played prominent roles in the event. William, in the uniform of the Irish Guards, rode directly behind the carrige of the queen - his grandmother - and Prince Philip, who celebrated his 90th birthday Friday. Catherine, the former Kate Middleton, watched from a building looking on to Horseguards Parade, together with her mother-in-law, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Several thousand spectators lined the procession route back to Buckingham Palace where, at the royal wedding six weeks ago, up to a million people had gathered.
