LONDON (AFP) — Britain's Queen Elizabeth II quietly celebrated her 82nd birthday Monday, amid a stirring of republican sentiment in Australia and proposals at home for reforming the monarchy.
The queen was to mark the occasion with a quiet dinner at Windsor Castle, west of London, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.
Queen Elizabeth is head of state in 16 Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica.
Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Sunday he thought a split from the British monarchy was "inevitable", but added that it was unlikely to happen while the queen remained on the throne because of her personal popularity.
The issue of a republic was a key item emerging from a two-day 2020 summit in Canberra -- a gathering of 1,000 of Australia's "best and brightest" called by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to generate "big ideas" after his election in November ended almost 12 years of conservative rule.
"There's... something of a view in the community that the appropriate time to move is when the current monarch moves off from her position and whenever that might be," Smith said.
Meanwhile in Britain, ministers are considering changes to the laws governing the inheritance of the throne.
Vera Baird, the solicitor general, who advises the government on the law, told The Sunday Times newspaper she wants to use forthcoming equality laws to abolish the law which hands male children precedence in the line of succession.
"What we have to do with the royal family is integrate them as far as possible into the human race," she said.
The queen made it known years ago that she would have no objections.
However, any change would have to be agreed by the parliaments in all the countries where Queen Elizabeth is head of state.
Baird said she also wanted to repeal the law which prevents royals who marry Catholics from keeping their place in the line of succession, though that could drag up complications connected to the Church of England being the established state church.
On the queen's birthday, the Union Flag is flown on all government buildings from 8:00 am until sunset and royal gun salutes are fired in her honour.
The monarch also has, by tradition, a second official birthday on a Saturday in June, when the normally more clement British summer weather is better suited to outdoor parades.
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