King Charles marks official birthday with Trooping the Colour spectacle of pomp, pageantry and tradition

LONDON, June 14 — Britain’s King Charles has celebrated his official birthday with a ceremony showcasing the British Army’s ceremonial prowess.

Charles took part in the famous Trooping the Colour ceremony, where military pomp and pageantry were on display in the heart of the capital, PA Media/dpa reported.

Catherine, princess of Wales, and her children joined Queen Camilla and thousands of spectators to view the spectacle featuring some of the nation’s most prestigious regiments.

Future king Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, eight, watched their grandfather from the first-floor window of the Duke of Wellington’s former office overlooking the parade ground in central London.

Trooping the Colour is as much a social occasion as a ceremonial event, and the stands at Horse Guards Parade were filled with about 8,000 family members of the guards and officers on parade.

Crowds had gathered to watch the royal family’s carriage procession from Buckingham Palace with Charles and Camilla in the middle of a Sovereign’s Escort provided by the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.

Riding behind the King were the royal colonels — the prince of Wales, who is colonel of the Welsh Guards; the princess royal, colonel of the Blues and Royals; and the duke of Edinburgh as colonel of the Scots Guards.

The route was lined for the first time by personnel from all three military services, including units from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards to the 26 Engineer Regiment, 16th and 4th Regiments Royal Artillery, the Royal Lancers, the RAF Regiment and the Royal Navy.

The King’s first duty was to inspect the troops, and he was followed by the royal colonels William, Anne and Edward as he travelled in a carriage past service personnel with the queen.

In summer sunshine, Charles’s carriage passed the ranks of just over a thousand guardsmen from the Grenadier, Scots, Irish and Coldstream Guards regiments. The Welsh Guards were represented by their band because their troops are on operational training.

The colour — the regimental flag — being trooped this year is the King’s Colour of the Grenadier Guards, presented by Charles earlier this week during a Buckingham Palace ceremony. It will be escorted during Saturday’s spectacle by guardsmen from the King’s Company.

The head of state always wears the uniform of the regiment trooping its colour, and was dressed in a Grenadier Guards tunic and forage cap.

Camilla honoured her regiment in a red silk crêpe Grenadier Guards uniform dress by Fiona Clare, paired with a black beret with a white plume by Philip Treacy, featuring her Grenadier Guards cap badge and a Grenadier Guards brooch on her shoulder.

In centuries past, colours — or flags — were carried or “trooped” down the ranks so soldiers would recognise them on the battlefield.

In the 18th century, guards from the royal palaces assembled daily on Horse Guards to “troop the colours” and it was around that time that it was decided the parade would also mark the sovereign’s official birthday.

The King’s actual birthday is on November 14, when he will turn 78.

The Grenadier Guards are celebrating their 370th anniversary and have a close affinity with the monarch because they were raised in 1656 in Bruges, Belgium, by the exiled king Charles II to protect him during the period Oliver Cromwell ruled England.

Since their formation, the guardsmen — known for their scarlet tunics and bearskin hats — have fought in every major conflict in British military history from the 17th century Battle of Tangiers, to Blenheim, Waterloo, the Crimean War, through both world wars, to recent operations in Afghanistan.

Today, the regiment is formed of fighting soldiers who carry out a specialist light infantry role during operations and when in the UK take part in high-profile ceremonial duties.

During the ceremony, the colour was first trooped through the ranks of soldiers before the guardsmen marched past the King, first in slow and then in quick time.

As the colours passed the royal dais Charles, Camilla and Kate stood with the King saluting. — Bernama-PA Media/dpa