what is the public/bank holiday

[chazza]

at the start of june that is something to do with the queen? I thought it was for the anniversary of the jubilee but someone said it was the queens birthday. Now i am confused as i thought her bday was in april or on the 3rd sat in June (making it at earliest the 15th). Then someone told me that they got that day as a holiday in the years before the jubilee. why do civil servants get that day?

[Ewood27]

Are you possibly thinking of Whit Monday? That's the day after Whit Sunday, a movable Christian feast, and the Monday used to be a public holiday. It would normally fall around the end of May or start of June. We now have the Spring Bank Holiday instead on the last Monday of May irrespective of the Church calendar. It so happens that this year they coincide, with Whit Sunday on 30 May and the Bank Holiday on Whit Monday, the 31st.

[gazzawazza]

Chazza, you yourself are correct, the June bank holiday in 2002 was a one-off to celebrate the golden jubilee of the crowning of the royal head.

[Merthyr Imp]

Civil Servants do get an additional day's holiday because of the Queen's birthday, to be taken on or after the Friday before the Late Spring Bank Holiday. But of course it is neither a public or bank holiday. Nor are the various offices where civil servants work closed on that day. Civil servants also get a half day to be taken on or after Maunday Thursday. Again, the offices are not closed on that afternoon. However, civil servants also get a day's holiday at Christmas when offices ARE closed. Don't know the precise reason for these days of holiday - perks of the job??.

[Janetex]

p.s. I'm pretty sure the Queen is Victoria, not Elizabeth whose birthday is 23 april (i think).

[Merthyr Imp]

Just to say that the Queen's actual birthday is 21 April. The OFFICIAL birthday of the reigning monarch is set for a Saturday in June (it seems to vary as to which one), and this is what affects the date of the Trooping the Colour, for example. The day's holiday for civil servants that I refer to is allocated to the Friday before the Spring Bank Holiday for convenience's sake. This day also relates to the official birthday. Technically, civil servants work for the monarch, so the day's holiday is in honour of the monarch's official birthday rather than the actual birthday of any particular Queen or King.

[Jim Bob]

In Australia there is a national public holiday for the Queen's birthday in June each year!

[bad11thebone]

the same applies to new zealand, lucky kiwis, why dont we have it every year.

[Azimov]

I say scrap both of the Queen's birthdays and lets have a Spike Milligan day instead! Who's with me?