09:41AM, Monday 23 April 2012
The Queen's 86th birthday celebrations went off with a bang in the Long Walk with a traditional 21 gun salute.
More than 200 people crowded to see the annual birthday salute on Saturday in Windsor.
The Royal Borough's mini-cannons are wheeled out every year for the occasion and never disappoint.
They may be little but they make an impressive boom, usually managing a backward somersault caused by the kickback.
Royal Borough mayor, Cllr Asghar Majeed, had the honour of lighting the first one at noon, showing the children how it was done.
Cllr Majeed said: "It went very well, we had a big crowd out there.
"I did the first one, testing it out as the mayor is obviously expendable."
A royal toast at the Guildhall followed the salute.
The sound of the cannons echoed across the Long Walk, reminding the whole of Windsor that while the Queen has an official birthday in June, she was actually born on April 21, 1926.
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