Royal Anniversary Messages
Her Majesty (HM) The Queen sends congratulatory messages for Diamond (60th), 65th, Platinum (70th) wedding Anniversaries and every year thereafter, and for people celebrating their 100th, 105th birthdays, and every year thereafter.
Wedding Messages
As long as either the wedding took place in Scotland or the couple now reside in Scotland, and at least one of the parties is in possession of a British Passport, we here at the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) will happily arrange the congratulatory message for you. If, however, the wedding took place abroad and notification was not lodged with GROS, then we would require to see a copy of the marriage certificate.
By filling in the form below, and emailing it directly to us, we will pass the full details of the anniversary on to Buckingham Palace. (Your email will generate an automatic acknowledgement message to your inbox. If you do not receive this contact 0131 314 4488.) Once Buckingham Palace have confirmed a Congratulatory Message will be sent, we will notify you of this by way of a letter or email, whichever you prefer. There will be no charge for this service.
Birthday Messages
People who are due to celebrate one of the birthdays mentioned above and are in receipt of a state pension will automatically receive a message from HM The Queen. However, as back up, it is best practice to notify us here at GROS of the birthday so that we can confirm to you that a birthday message will be sent. By filling in the form below, we will keep hold of your contact details until such times as we can confirm that a Congratulatory Message will be sent – we will confirm this with you either by letter or email, whichever you prefer.
Timescale
Notification of either a Wedding Anniversary or a Birthday should be passed to us no sooner than 4 weeks before the anniversary. This allows us ample time to verify all the relevant details and forward them on to Buckingham Palace. Notifications can however be taken right up until three days before the anniversary – this will still allow time for the message from HM The Queen to be processed, although it may be too late to organise anything at a local level. More on this custom can be found below.
Lord Lieutenant Customs
As part of our procedures here at GROS, whenever we are notified of a Special Birthday or Wedding Anniversary, we automatically notify the Lord Lieutenant in whichever area the celebrants stay. Once the Lord Lieutenant has received the details from us about the celebrant(s), it is normal custom for them to get in touch with the informant, to see if there is anything that the Lord Lieutenancy can do to mark the occasion. Different procedures apply to different Lieutenancy areas, but in all cases, the Lieutenancy will contact the informant before the anniversary.
Forms
(Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (pdf)):
