The Royal Family celebrate Trooping the Colour every year. Vote whether the occasion should be funded by public money or whether the Firm should pay for it.
The Royal Family celebrate Trooping the Colour every year (Image: PA)
The nation came together on Saturday to celebrate the King’s official birthday with a display of military pomp and pageantry. King Charles‘s official birthday parade this year included an eco-friendly flypast by the Red Arrows and a moment of silence for all those killed in the Air India plane disaster.
The monarch asked that Trooping the Colour include a minute’s silence and that senior royals and officers taking part wear black armbands as a mark of respect. The cost of the annual celebration and the source of its funding have always been subjects of debate among the public, with the Ministry of Defence in 2021 revealing that it cost them £59,662.70 that year, after a freedom of information request.
Trooping, also known as the King’s Birthday Parade, fell silent after Charles had inspected hundreds of troops on Whitehall’s Horse Guards Parade from a carriage with the Queen by his side.
The moment of reflection acknowledged the aviation disaster on Thursday that killed 241 passengers and crew, including more than 50 British nationals, and around 30 people on the ground.
Thousands lined the royal procession route from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade where Trooping was staged.
Charles’s official birthday parade is as much a social occasion as a ceremonial celebration, and stands around Horse Guards Parade were filled with around 8,000 wives, girlfriends and parents of the guardsmen and officers on parade.
The family gathered to mark Trooping the Colour (Image: Getty)
The Colour – or regimental flag – being trooped this year was the King’s Colour of Number 7 Company, Coldstream Guards, also known as the sovereign’s bodyguard, which is celebrating its 375th anniversary.
When the Royal Family gathered later on Buckingham Palace’s balcony they acknowledged the crowds and watched an aerial display of vintage and modern aircraft with the Red Arrows’ finale powered by a blend of sustainable aviation fuel.
The world-famous aerobatic team also used vegetable oil to produce their trademark red, white and blue vapour trails over the royal residence – believed to be a first.
