Trooping the Colour is one of the biggest events in the royal calendar (Image: Getty)
Everything you need to know about Trooping the Colour
- Trooping the Colour marks the official birthday of the sovereign and has been held almost every year for over 260 years. It was first performed during King Charles II’s reign and was later introduced as an annual event during the reign of King George II, and has seen a number of adaptations over the years.
- Trooping the Colour is one of the biggest military ceremonies of the year, featuring around 1,600 parading soldiers, 400 musicians and more than 200 horses.
- Members of the Royal Family appear either on horseback or in horse-drawn carriages. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal always ride on horseback in military uniform as the Royal Colonels; meanwhile, the rest of the senior royals travel in carriages.
- At the beginning of the ceremony, the King is greeted by a Royal Salute on Horse Guards Parade and a 41 Gun Salute fired by The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from The Green Park. The King then inspects his troops.
- One regiment of the Foot Guards is selected to troop their Colour in front of the King each year. This year is the Grenadier Guards’ turn, who have Queen Camilla as their Colonel. There are five regiments of the Foot Guards who march from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall – the Grenadier Guards, the Welsh Guards, the Irish Guards, the Scots Guards and the Coldstream Guards.