8
Jun
Trooping the Colour
Today HM Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her official birthday.
Household Guards begin to form at around 9:15. The monarch leaves Buckingham Palace around 10:45 and rides in a carriage down The Mall to Horse Guards Parade by St James’ Park. After taking a Royal salute from officers, Elizabeth II inspects pageantry.
Trooping the Colour, performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies, begins at Horse Guards at 10:00 and finish by 12:25.
The parade involves 1,400 soldiers, 200 horses, and 400 musicians. Then the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery fires a 41-gun salute in Green Park.
After Foot Guards, the Household Cavalry, The King's Troop and Royal Horse Artillery troop past, the Queen heads back to Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Air Force flypast is performed at 13:00. The Royal Family will gather on the balcony to watch the RAF flypast together.
The Queen will be joined by members of her family. The Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are all attending. However, the Duke of Edinburgh, 97, has retired from official public duties and will not make an appearance.
For the best view, members of the public are advised to line the Mall from Buckingham Palace through St James’ Park up to The Household Cavalry Museum. Ticket prices for this event range from £5 to £40. The parade will be broadcast live on the BBC.
A smart outfit is encouraged and denim is not allowed. The Queen's Birthday Parade ticket holders are expected to be seen in formal daywear, typically, morning or lounge dress. Hats are optional but recommended. Military personnel may attend the ceremony in Ceremonial Day or other Service equivalents.
For over 250 years, Trooping the Colour has been a tradition of British infantry regiments to commemorate the official birthday of the British monarch. The custom goes back to the time of Charles II in the 17th century when the colours, i.e. flags representing the different regiments in the British Army, were used as rallying points on the battlefield. Officers marched up and down in front of the troops, waving their flags (or ‘colours’) so that the soldiers could recognise their own regiment.
Queen Elizabeth II was born Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on the 21st April 1926, in London, to Prince Albert, Duke of York (future King George VI), and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
She married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947.
She became queen on 6th February 1952 and was crowned on 2nd June 1953.
According to the Telegraph, ‘it was a moment considered so sacred that television cameras were turned away out of respect, as the young Queen was anointed before God under a Westminster Abbey canopy’.
Usually, Her Majesty spends her actual birthday privately while the occasion is marked publicly by gun salutes in central London at midday: a 41-gun salute in Hyde Park, a 21-gun salute in Windsor Great Park and a 62-gun salute at the Tower of London.
The Queen's Birthday is a public holiday, traditionally celebrated on the second Saturday of June since 1959. The double birthday tradition began by King Edward VII who decided to move the official celebration of his birthday from a rather cold November to a more pleasant time of the year in June.
The extended royal family gathered on the Buckingham Palace balcony for RAF flypast 2019 (from the left to right):
- Zenouska Mowatt (Granddaughter of Princess Alexandra of Kent, daughter of Marina Ogilvy and Paul Julian Mowatt)
- Lady Gabriella Kingston née Windsor (Daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, currently 52nd in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Thomas Kingston, partially shown behind Lord Frederick Windsor (The husband of Lady Gabriella Kingston)
- Lord Frederick Windsor (The first child of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, currently 49th in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Sophie Winkleman (The wife of Lord Frederick Windsor, an actress)
- Princess Michael of Kent (The wife of Prince Michael of Kent)
- Prince Michael of Kent (A cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and grandchild of King George V, currently 48th in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Lord Nicholas Windsor (The third child of Duke and Duchess of Kent, a great-grandson of King George V)
- Louis Windsor (Son of Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor)
- Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (The older son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana; since birth, he has been 2nd in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Prince George of Cambridge (The first child of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, 3rd in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (The second child of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, 4th in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (The wife of Prince William and mother of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis)
- Prince Louis of Cambridge (The third child of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, 5th in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (The second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales)
- Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence (The second husband of Princess Anne)
- Charles, Prince of Wales (The first child of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip; heir apparent to the British throne)
- Princess Beatrice of York, far back (The older daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; 9th in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Anne, Princess Royal (The second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip)
- Queen Elizabeth II (The birthday celebrant)
- Princess Eugenie of York, partially shown behind Queen Elizabeth II (The younger daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; 10th in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Jack Brooksbank, partially shown behind Prince Andrew (The husband of Princess Eugenie; a British wine merchant)
- Prince Andrew, Duke of York (The third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, father of Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie; 8th in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (The second child of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, younger brother of Prince William, the father of Archie Mountbatten-Windsor; since birth, he has been 3rd in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (The wife of Prince Harry and mother of Archie Mountbatten-Windsor)
- Isla Phillips (The younger daughter of Peter and Autumn Phillips)
- James, Viscount Severn (The second child of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie, Countess of Wessex; currently 12th in the line to the succession of the British throne)
- Savannah Phillips (The older daughter of Peter and Autumn Phillips)
- Peter Phillips (The elder child of Princess Anne and her former husband Captain Mark Phillips)
- Autumn Phillips née Kelly (The wife of Peter Phillips)
- Lyla Gilman (Daughter of Lady Rose and George Gilman)
- Estella Taylor (Daughter of Lady Helen Taylor)
- Lady Helen Taylor (Daughter of Duke of Kent)
- Flora Ogilvy (Daughter of James and Julia Ogilvy)
- George Gilman (Husband of Lady Rose Gilman)
- Lady Rose Gilman (Daughter of Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester and Duchess of Gloucester)
- James Ogilvy, partially shown behind Lady Rose Gilman (Son of Sir Angus Ogilvy and Princess Alexandra of Kent)
- Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (A cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. King George V was their grandfather. Currently, he is 27th in the line to the succession of the British throne. He is the senior male-line descendant of three British monarchs: Victoria, Edward VII and George V)
- Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester (The wife of Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester; a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth)
- Alexander Ogilvy (Son of James and Julia Ogilvy)
- Sylvana Palma Windsor, Countess of St Andrews née Tomaselli, previously Jones (The wife of George Windsor, a Canadian-born academic and a historian at the University of Cambridge, professionally known as Dr Sylvana Tomaselli)
- George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews (The eldest child of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Katharine, Duchess of Kent; currently 38th in the line to the succession of the British throne)
