(CNN) — Buckingham Palace marked King Charles III’s 77th birthday on Friday with the release of a new photograph of the monarch. The image, taken in May by photographer Millie Pilkington, shows Charles in the gardens of Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, with the sprawling stately home visible behind him.
Additional photos, seemingly taken at the same time, depict the King wandering through Sandringham’s gardens and tending to a maple sapling. These images were published in the magazine Country Life on Wednesday to commemorate Charles’ restoration of the historic gardens.
On Friday, King Charles III and Queen Camilla traveled to a reception at Cyfarthfa Castle, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the Welsh capital, Cardiff. There, the King cut into an enormous birthday cake shaped like the castle. He later officially opened the South Wales Metro Train Depot, briefly sitting in the driver’s seat of one of the new tram-trains. Despite the rain, he greeted members of the public who had waited outside for his arrival.
Meanwhile in London, gun salutes were fired in Green Park and by Tower Bridge to mark the occasion. The appearance of autumnal rain served as a reminder of why British monarchs often have two birthdays: their actual birthday and an “official” birthday celebrated in the summer with the famous Trooping the Colour parade. This event features around 1,400 officers and soldiers marching through London along a route from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade.
The tradition of monarchs having two birthdays is believed to have started with King George II in 1748, who, like Charles, was also born in November.
It has been a challenging few weeks for King Charles. At the end of October, he took the extraordinary step of stripping his brother, Prince Andrew, of his royal titles in an attempt to quell the ongoing scandal related to Andrew’s links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The scandal overshadowed a historic moment earlier in October when Charles became the first British monarch in at least 500 years to publicly pray with a pope. During his visit to the Vatican, he met with Pope Leo XIV.
King Charles continues to balance his official duties with ongoing cancer treatment, following his diagnosis with an undisclosed form of the disease in early 2024.
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