# Did the Queen Mother get an official birthday telegram from her daughter, the Queen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867 "2011-08-07T21:15:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/1 "2011-08-07T21:15:22Z")
Cunctator’s MPSIMS thread got me thinking. When the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother turned 100 did she get the customary birthday greeting from Queen Elizabeth II, her daughter? After all the monarch is _her daughter_; one assumes Her Majesty would simply tell Her Majesty “Happy Birthday (Mum)” in person. Do the greetings have to be requested or does the Palace just data mine BDM records and automatically send them out? ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/2 "2011-08-07T21:41:22Z")
One can’t know whether HM the Queen Mother got a telegram, but everyone else gets a card. [HM The Queen in the UK](http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/Queenandanniversarymessages/Anniversarymessages.aspx) and congratulatory messages. In NZ a [request](http://www.dia.govt.nz/Services-Other-Services-Congratulatory-Message-Service?OpenDocument) has to be made through the DIA for both birthday cards and wedding anniversaries. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/3 "2011-08-07T21:42:54Z")
Willard Scott probably sent his regards. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/4 "2011-08-07T23:02:14Z")
[Yes she did as wiki shows](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_The_Queen_Mother#Centenarian). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/5 "2011-08-08T02:57:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Do the greetings have to be requested or does the Palace just data mine BDM records and automatically send them out? One assumes that it’s not usually the centenarian herself who makes the request, but a close relative. Like, say, her daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/6 "2011-08-08T15:28:29Z")
The next question is whether in 15 years she will send a card to herself? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/7 "2011-08-08T17:35:59Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > The next question is whether in 15 years she will send a card to herself? I would guess: no, only British subjects get cards. Just like the monarch doesn’t have a passport nor sing the national anthem. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/8 "2011-08-08T17:38:56Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > The next question is whether in 15 years she will send a card to herself? Well, if she’s abdicated by then, she’ll get a card from the king. If she hasn’t, she’ll probably get cards from several kings and queens. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/9 "2011-08-08T18:57:03Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I would guess: no, only British subjects get cards. Just like the monarch doesn’t have a passport nor sing the national anthem. > [@](#): > > 'In her charming volume of “Reminiscences” Mrs. Cornwallis-West (Lady Randolph Churchill) cites in proof of the extraordinary wit and quickness in repartee of that “brilliant talker,” Oscar Wilde, his reply made to Lord Ribblesdale at one of Lady de Grey’s luncheons. Mr. Wilde, having declared there was no subject on which he could not speak at a moment’s notice, "Lord Ribblesdale, taking him at his word, and holding up his glass, said, ‘The Queen.’ Wilde rose to the occasion. ‘The Queen is not a subject,’ he replied. - Harold van Santvoord, The New York Times, January 8, 1909, slightly modified for this post. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/10 "2011-08-08T19:30:30Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Well, if she’s abdicated by then, she’ll get a card from the king. If she hasn’t, she’ll probably get cards from several kings and queens. If she hasn’t abdicated by then, she might get some literature on [Dignitas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignitas_(assisted_dying_organisation)) from a prince. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/11 "2011-08-08T23:07:11Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I would guess: no, only British subjects get cards. Just like the monarch doesn’t have a passport nor sing the national anthem. How does the tradition work in the case of a citizen of Northern Ireland, I’m sure a Unionist would be delighted but someone from a Nationalist background might not be as amused. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/12 "2011-08-08T23:46:28Z")
Since the cards need to be requested, presumably none of the Nationalist’s relatives would make such a request. (Unless they didn’t like him and did it to piss him off.) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-queen-mother-get-an-official-birthday-telegram-from-her-daughter-the-queen/591867/13 "2011-08-08T23:46:58Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > How does the tradition work in the case of a citizen of Northern Ireland, I’m sure a Unionist would be delighted but someone from a Nationalist background might not be as amused. Birthday greetings can be requested by the person or other family members. If you would be offended by receiving such a message, then you don’t ask for it. [This site](http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_rights/civil_rights/messages_from_the_queen.htm) suggests that the process in the UK is automatic for anyone of the appropriate age who is receiving a state pension benefit. Yet even in these cases the birthday message will not be sent if the person objects to receiving it.