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Trooping the Colour

Trooping the Colour will be held on this weekend in London and today I am sharing some facts about this event, for anyone who does no follow the royals and may not know much about it. 

Photo from Reuters


Troopimg the Colour commemorates the King's birthday. 

King Charles gets two birthdays. His actualy birthday is in November and it is celebrated on the second Saturday of June. The reason is because it is best to watch Trooping in June's better weather, rather than when it is no freezing cold or raining. 

It is a ceremonial parade.

Trooping the Colour is a parade in which thousands of soldiers, horses and musicians come together to parade around Buckingham Palace and show their military Precision, horsemanship and fanfare to the King, the Royal family and audience . 

The event gets its name from the military. 

In the 17th century, military flags were called colours. When all the regiments of the British Army came together with their different flags, people needed to know which colour belonged to each regiment. The act of trooping involves an officer marching down the rows of troops waving their colours. So it is called Trooping the Colour. 

It was not always about the King or Queen's birthday. 

During King Charles II's reign in 1660 and 1685, the parade was just a military display and changed to mark the monarch's birthday in 1748 and in  1760, King George III made it an anual event. 

The guests of honor arrive in carriages

The King and royal family arrive to the event in horse-drawn carriages, with Camilla and Kate riding together in one and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle riding in another when they were pat of it. Prince WIlliam has sat in carriages before and Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis join their mother. 

Queen Elizabeth II rode in on a horse.

The Queen used to ride into the event side-saddle on  a horse,dressed in  whatever colour was being trooped that year. In 1987, she permanently switched to attending in a carriage. 

The Queen's first took part in 1947.

Then Princess Elizabeth first took part in Trooping the Colour when she was 21 years old when the parade was for her father King George VI. 

It is a huge affair. 

The parade is a three hour event made up of 1,400 soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians and has the royals and people all over the world watching. 

Only the most senior Royals appear on the balcony. 

King Charles is slimming down events to the most senior family members so only he, Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, Princess Anne and Prince Edward and Sophie, the  Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony. 

Photo from People 


There is a sky show.

The Royal Air Force does a flyover show to mark the  King's big day. Military planes fly over the palace with red, white and blue smoke trails. 

The King's important role.

When the king arrives at the event, he carries out a solute and inspects all of the troops, so soldiers are dressed well in their ceremonial red tunics with huge bearskin hats.

Commoner scan buy tickets to attend. 

There are a limited number of tickets available for the public to buy for a low cost. People hoping to attend can apply for a ticket raffle between January and February and leftover tickets go on sale after that. 

This year, the Irish Guards will troop their colour for the King and the royal family. It has just been announced that the Princess of Wales, who has been receiving chemotherapy out of the public eye in recent months, will attend with her family.

As a lover of all things Royal, I will definitely be watching n TV. 

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