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The Queen, travelling in her carriage with the Duke of Edinburgh,
will be joined by Prince Charles, Prince William, the Duke of
Kent and Princess Anne who will follow her in their uniform on
horse back whilst other members of the Royal Family will arrive at
the parade ground ahead of The Queen to view the parade from the
Duke of Wellington’s old office, overlooking the parade ground.
From Horse Guards, The Queen and members of the Royal Family will
watch the Birthday Parade during which Nijmegen Company Grenadier
Guards will troop their colour this year.
In their scarlet tunics and bearskin caps, over 1,000 soldiers and
officers of the Household Division will be on parade as well as the
Household Cavalry and the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
Whilst today, Trooping the Colour is a military display
fundamentally, its origins come from the days when soldiers would
have their regimental colour trooped in front of them before battle
so they’d know what the flag’s markings looked like and in the
confusion of battle would be able to recognise and rally round
it.
The colours in the regiments are guarded jealously, when on guard
duty at St James’s Palace, the ensign sleeps with the colour in his
room. The regiment’s battle honours are emblazoned on the colour, a
reminder they are not a ceremonial regiment.
Following the Royal Family’s return to Buckingham Palace, the
family will appear on the balcony before an RAF fly past. It is one
of the few occasions in the year where the entire extended Royal
Family are all present in the same location, including cousins and
other relations.
Gun salutes will also be conducted from Green Park and at the Tower
of London (41 and 62 guns respectively) for the occasion.
The Duke of Edinburgh hosted the Senior Colonels conference at
Buckingham Palace this evening where he was joined by the royal
colonels for a dinner in advance of the parade.
The Regiments
There are 7 regular regiments of the Household Division, plus
one Reserve regiment – the London Regiment – of which the Earl of
Wessex is colonel.
Firstly, there are the 5 regiments of foot guards (the ones in the
distinctive scarlet tunics and bearskin caps). In order of
seniority, they are: The Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots
Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards.
There are also the two regiments of the Household Cavalry: the Life
Guards and the Blues and Royals.
This year, the Nijmegen Company of the Grenadier Guards are
trooping their colour. Nijmegen Company is the dedicated ceremonial
company in the Grenadiers and all new soldiers spend around two
years in Nijmegen Company when they join.
Although the uniform is the same for each of the five regiments of
foot guards, there are uniform differences which set each of them
apart:
- The Grenadiers have a white plume on the left of the bearskin and the buttons on their tunics are evenly spaced.
- The Coldstream Guards have a red plume on the right and buttons are grouped in twos.
- The Scots Guards have no plume in the bearskin as ‘centre of the line’ and buttons are in threes.
- The Irish Guards have a St Patrick’s blue plume on the right of the bearskin and buttons in fours.
- The Welsh Guards have a white-green-white plume on the left of the bearskin with buttons in fives.
The Life Guards are distinctive from the Blues and Royals in
several more noticeable ways. The Life Guards wear a red tunic,
whilst the Blues and Royals wear a dark blue or black tunic. The
Life Guards plumes on their helmets are white whilst the Blues and
Royals are red. Interestingly, by traditions, the Blues and Royals
wear the chin strap of their helmet under their chin whilst the
Life Guards wear it just below their lips.
Members of the Royal Family often hold colonelcies of Household
Division regiments. The Queen is Colonel-in-Chief of all the
Household Division regiments, though each regiment has its own
colonel:
- Grenadier Guards: The Duke of Edinburgh
- Coldstream Guards: Lieutenant General James Bucknall
- Scots Guards: The Duke of Kent
- Irish Guards: The Duke of Cambridge
- Welsh Guards: The Prince of Wales
- The Life Guards: The Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank
- The Blues and Royals: The Princess Royal
The Music
Many of the marches played at Trooping the Colour remain the same each year. Here is an ordered list of the known marches playing this year for Nijmegen Company Grenadier Guards as they troop their colour this year.
- Les Huguenots (Slow March)
- The Captain General (Quick March)
- British Grenadiers (Quick March)
- Escort to the Colour (Slow March)
- The Grenadiers’ Slow March (Slow March)
- Nairac GC (Slow March)
- [Regimental Slow Marches] Scipio, Garb of Old Gaul and Figaro
- Coburg (Slow March)
- The Nijmegen Company (Quick March)
- [Regimental Quick Marches] British Grenadiers, Hielan Laddie and Milanollo
- The Mareth Line (Quick March)
- Vimy Ridge (Quick March)
– Household Cavalry & King’s Troop March Past – – Guards March Off –
Join Royal Central on Twitter for coverage of the events
from 9.30am and on the site for a live feed and our contextual
commentary from 10.25am tomorrow!
photo credit: Defence Images and Jon’s pics via photopin
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