Trooping the Colour takes place in London on the second Saturday of June. It marks the Queen's official birthday. Here are some facts about the event:
- What is it? Trooping of the Colour is a ceremony held in the United Kingdom, at Horse Guards Parade, London, performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies. The Trooping of the Colour has been held on the British Monarch's official birthday since 1748. The official name is “the Queen’s Birthday Parade”.
- The reasons behind it go way back. "Colours" are basically the Flags of regiments. It is a matter of great shame to a regiment if their colours are captured by the enemy, and it's a source of pride to a regiment if they capture somebody else's. Trooping the colour started as a ceremony which took place before and after a battle. Before the battle, it was so the soldiers could see who was on their side and afterwards it was to show the colours were still intact.
- The monarch has only taken the salute personally since 1901 when Edward VII became king.
- What happens? The Queen sets out from Buckingham Palace in a horse-drawn carriage and arrives at Horse Guards at precisely 11am. She is greeted by a royal salute and carries out an inspection of the troops. After the massed bands have performed, the escorted regimental colour is carried down the ranks. The colour used rotates year by year between those of the five Foot Guard Regiments of the Household Division: the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards. When the Foot Guards and the Household Cavalry have marched past, followed by The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, the Queen returns at the head of her guards to Buckingham Palace, and takes the salute from a dais. The Royal Family make an appearance on the balcony of the palace and there is a fly-past by the Royal Air Force.
- Before 1986 the Queen didn't use the horse drawn carriage, but attended on horseback.
- The Queen first attended the ceremony when she was sixteen years old and never misses it. She only ever missed it once, in 1955 when the whole thing was cancelled due to a train strike.
- There was an incident in 1981 when a 17 year old called Marcus Sarjeant, who wanted to be famous, fired six shots at the Queen. They were blanks, but did succeed in frightening the Queen's Horse; whereupon the Queen demonstrated her skill as a horsewoman by bringing the horse under control and carrying on with the ceremony as if nothing had happened. Marcus Sarjeant was charged under the Treason Act and sentenced to five years in prison.
- There will be 1200 Guards from the Household Division taking part, 200 horses and 400 band members. They will have been practising their displays since the end of April and will have spent as much as twelve hours getting their uniforms and tack into the required tip top condition. This takes 1200 pots of polish.
- One feature of the parade is the "spin-wheel" in which a marching band of over 400 people pivots on its axis. It's a complex manoeuvre involving the people at the edges marching very fast and the ones in the middle marking time. Some will have to step sideways or backwards. There are no written instructions on how to perform the spin-wheel. It is passed down by word of mouth.
- A lot of horses means a lot of horse poo. The average horse produces 50lbs of manure a day, so on Trooping the Colour day there could be 4.5 tons of it on the streets. As vital to the proceedings as the troops on the parade ground is the team of five road sweepers on the day organised by the management of the Royal Parks whose job it is to sweep up all those tons of manure.
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