BROMLEY, England - Britain commemorated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin Thursday with a series of events paying tribute to the father of evolution.

Darwin's home town of Shrewsbury scheduled a party complete with a giant birthday cake, while the biologist's great-great-granddaughter watched a statue of him being unveiled and Down House near Bromley, outside London, where he lived and wrote his seminal work, was set to re-open its doors to the public.

Tributes also poured in for the naturalist and a wreath was to be laid on his grave, with several more commemorative events scheduled to stretch into November.

At Cambridge University, where Darwin studied, Sarah Darwin watched as the Queen's husband Prince Philip unveiled a bronze statue of her ancestor portrayed as a student, sitting on a bench with a book in his hand.

"Like everyone else I tend to think of Darwin as an old man with a beard because that is the popular image," the 44-year-old botanist said.

"To see a statue showing him as he would have looked when he was a student is fantastic."

In Bristol, meanwhile, visitors to the city's zoo who sported real or fake beards were given free entry, in tribute to the white beard Darwin himself is famous for.

Elsewhere, Shrewsbury was to hold a party in his honour while in London, Reverend Nicholas Sagovsky, the Canon of Westminster, was to lay a wreath on his grave in Westminster Abbey.

The Natural History Museum in the British capital planned to unveil a ceiling installation of a cut-away tree, with a series of discussions and films about his research also set to be held.

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham described Darwin as "one of the most influential Britons of all time.

"His theory that all species of life have evolved over time from one or a few common ancestors through the process of natural selection has framed and shaped current scientific thinking and dramatically influenced the society we live in today," Burnham wrote in a statement to parliament.

"At a time of unprecedented environmental change it continues to inform our understanding of the future challenges for humans and the natural world."

In Bromley, Down House -- which Burnham said had been chosen as Britain's nomination to become a World Heritage site -- was to reopen its doors on Friday.

Darwin lived in the three-storey home with his family from 1842 until his death 40 years later, during which time he wrote his most famous work, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection."

"He carried out lots of scientific and experimental work here in the gardens, in the greenhouse, in the the meadows, in the countryside," said historian Steven Brindle of the house, now managed by the English Heritage foundation.