The Queen given early birthday present by Yorkshire-born horse trainer ahead of 95th celebrations

Today (Jun 12) the military will mark the 95-year-old monarch’s official birthday by performing a slimmed down version of the traditional Trooping the Colour ceremony in the quadrangle of Windsor Castle.

This is the second consecutive year that the annual service is having to go ahead without its customary pageantry - and wider gathering of the Royal family – due to Covid restrictions.

And the Queen’s dignity and devotion to duty comes as she mourns Prince Philip, her husband of nearly 74 years, who died in April and who would have turned 100 on Thursday.

No wonder she was greatly touched earlier this week when the Royal Horticultural Society named the Duke of Edinburgh Rose, which is deep pink, dappled with white lines and double-flowered, in memory of her beloved Philip.

Wearing sunglasses in the June sunshine and dressed in a summery blue dress with a white floral pattern, white cardigan and a string of pearls, her relaxed demeanour offered a contrast with yesterday's pleasantries, today’s formality and the friendliness that will be self-evident tomorrow when she hosts President Joe Biden and his wife Jill for afternoon tea.

This is a significant honour for Mr Biden after his arrival in Britain on Wednesday night – the first overseas visit of his president and one which has been greeted with acclaim as opposed to the rancour that accompanied his predecessor.

There have been 14 US presidents during the Queen’s 69-year reign - from Harry S Truman to Mr Biden who will be the 13th American leader to meet the monarch (Lyndon B Johnson being the exception).

And Windsor has been a setting special for some of the past visits, notably 1982 when the Queen rode her faithful horse Burmese, a stalwart of so many Trooping The Colour ceremonies, with Ronald Reagan.

More recently, Her Majesty and Prince Philip greeted Barack and Michelle Obama in 2016 – with a look of apoplexy etched across the faces of US secret service agents as the then president and his wife were used into a Land Rover that the Duke of Edinburgh then drove to Windsor Castle.

In 2018, there was elaborate choreography when the Queen welcomed Donald and Melania Trump – but no one had appeared to tell the President about Royal etiquette and the importance of not walking in front of his host.

Just about the only blip in the Queen’s special relationship with the United States during her reign, she had the last laugh after calling one of her racehorse No Trumps, though she has always been too diplomatic to explain the reason.

But she was buoyed by the win of her horse Wink Of An Eye, trained by Yorkshire-born William Haggas, at Haydock on Thursday night by Thirsk jockey Danny Tudhope.

Next week is Royal Ascot, the Queen’s favourite race meeting of the year. However the indications are that there will be no Royal parade each day due to Covid protocols limiting crowd numbers, though Her Majesty may attend on those days when she has a runner.

In the meantime, she will continue to lead by example in public – while keeping her personal emotions very private – on another symbolic weekend that will remind the world why it continues to be blessed by the presence, and quiet leadership, of a model monarch and diplomat like no other.