ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
What do you get the monarch who has everything for her 96th birthday? Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her big day yesterday in private, but her public celebrated with a song from the Coldstream Guards at Windsor Castle...
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SHAPIRO: ...And a 41-gun salute in Hyde Park.
(SOUNDBITE OF CANNON FIRING)
DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:
Another gift the queen got yesterday was her own Barbie. The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee doll celebrates the queen's 70 years on the throne, a record for a British monarch.
SHAPIRO: She's decked out in an ivory gown and blue sash. Of course, she's wearing a crown atop her white curls and her royal medallions and ribbons. The doll's stern, regal face kind of makes it look like a pensive Helen Mirren.
ESTRIN: It costs $75. And if you're thinking about getting one, sorry. Mattel has already sold out.
SHAPIRO: Yeah, we can already hear the disappointed sighs from the collectors and Anglophiles listening now. But don't lose hope. You still have time to track one down, maybe secondhand, before the Queen's four-day jubilee celebration, which begins June 2.
(SOUNDBITE OF ERNEST RANGLIN'S "MANENBERG") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
