King’s Official Birthday in Tuvalu and the Pitcairn Islands Date in the current year: June 8, 2024

King Charles III was born on November 14, but his official birthday is typically celebrated in June; the date varies as adopted by each state or territory. The birthday of the incumbent monarch has been celebrated in the UK since 1748. Originally, it was observed on the actual day of the monarch’s birth. The ceremony was moved to June by King Edward VII who was born on November 9; he did so in the hope of good weather. His successors have kept on with the tradition.

The King’s Official Birthday in the UK is typically celebrated on the third Saturday in June. However, many Commonwealth realms and British Overseas Territories have chosen other dates, typically in May or June (with the exception of Western Australia, where the holiday is typically celebrated in late September or early October).

In Tuvalu and the Pitcairn Islands, the official birthday of the British monarch is celebrated on the second Saturday of June, which used to be its most common date during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Tuvalu is a small island country in Polynesia, situated about halfway between Australia and Hawaii. The archipelago, then known as the Ellice Islands, was claimed by the British Empire in the late 19th century and declared a British protectorate in 1892. The islands were governed first as part of the British Western Pacific Territory and then as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Following a referendum held in 1974, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony was split into two separate colonies, Kiribati and Tuvalu.

Tuvalu became fully independent from the United Kingdom on October 1, 1978. However, it is still a member of the Commonwealth of Nations that recognizes the monarch of the United Kingdom as its sovereign and ceremonial head of state. Because of this, the King’s Official Birthday is a public holiday in Tuvalu.

Unlike Tuvalu, the Pitcairn Islands are not a sovereign state, but a British Overseas Territory. The Pitcairn Islands are a group of four volcanic islands scattered across several hundred miles of the Pacific Ocean. As of 2021, they had only 47 permanent inhabitants, most of whom were descendants of the mutineers from HMS Bounty.

Nine mutineers, along with a group of native Tahitians, settled on Pitcairn Island in 1790. The islands were subsequently rediscovered by the Royal Navy and became a British colony in 1838. They were put on the United Nations List of Non-Self-Governing Territories in 1946. The Crown Colony of the Pitcairn Islands was reclassified as a British Dependent Territory in 1983 and as a British Overseas Territory in 2002. Like other British Overseas Territories, the Pitcairn Islands celebrate the King’s Official Birthday, but the celebration takes place on the second Saturday of June rather than on the third.