Britons Celebrate Queen's 80th Birthday

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's monarch for 54 years, celebrated her 80th birthday today, feted variously in headlines such as "Elizabeth the Great" and "Our Great Mum" on an occasion that raised questions, too, about her succession.

With a huge royal standard measuring 19 feet by 38 feet, wafting over the Round Tower at her Windsor Castle residence west of London, the queen's program for the day included a walk among her subjects in the town below and a black-tie dinner hosted by her eldest son, Prince Charles, at Kew Palace.

The queen's office proffered some numbers to mark the day: 20,000 birthday cards and 17,000 e-mails had been sent to congratulate her; on Thursday she invited 99 other almost-octogenarians with the same birthday — April 21, 1926 — to join her for lunch.

At noon today, London let loose with a 41-gun royal salute in Hyde Park.