MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

The Queen is celebrating her 80th birthday.

She will mark the milestone with a traditional walkabout in the morning and a black-tie dinner in the evening with the rest of the Royal Family.

The Prince of Wales is hosting the birthday party for his mother at Kew Palace.

Twenty-six members of the Royal Family will gather in the intimate newly-refurbished palace in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew for celebrations. They will gather in the Queen's Drawing room for drinks before sitting down to dinner in the King's Dining Room.

Now she is 80, the Queen has become one of some 330,000 octogenarians in the country.

She thanked the thousands of people who sent her birthday cards and messages for making her day so special. Photographs taken as the monarch opened some of her 80th birthday post showed her beaming with delight.

Buckingham Palace said she had received 20,000 cards and 17,000 email messages so far.

In a personal message, the Queen said: "I would like to thank the many thousands of people from this country and overseas who have sent me cards and messages on my 80th birthday.

"I have been very touched by what you have written and would like to express my gratitude to you all for making this day such a special one for me."

Charles will later pay a special birthday tribute to the Queen broadcast on both radio and TV. His message is to be screened on BBC1 and Sky News at about 1755 BST and on ITV1 during the ITV evening news.