Trooping the Colour

History

Trooping the Colour is the traditional observance of His Majesty The King’s official birthday with a military ceremony and parade. Irrespective of the actual day upon which His Majesty was born, the second Saturday of June is annually set aside to observe and celebrate His birth with scintillating pomp and pageantry punctuated by the Massed Bands of the Household Division.

 The origins of the ceremony as we have it today are uncertain, some find its antecedent in the Roman army’s practice of parading a legion’s standard in camp of an evening. From the earliest times, troops would use their standard for orientation and as a rallying point so that they might be more easily identified in the heat of battle. As a British practice that is recognisable as a forerunner of the modern ceremony, the ritual most likely dates from the seventeenth century.

The ceremony is held at Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall in the presence of His Majesty and each year involves the five Household Regiments—Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish, and Welsh Guards, all of which are operation-ready.

The Parade

The March On

A detail of guardsmen, known as colour markers, mark the positions of Nos. 1-6 Guards. These marker flags are the respective company colours from each regiment.

Preceded by the regimental bands, Nos. 1-6 Guards march into position. No. 1 Guard is “Escort for the Colour.” Nos. 1-5 Guards align in two ranks on the west side of the parade ground facing the Horse Guards Building. No. 6 Guard lines up perpendicular to them on the north side, making an “L” shape. Up to eight Guards companies may take part in the ceremony, if present they would line up next to No. 6 Guard.

The Massed Bands take their position on the south side, by the gardens of 10 Downing Street. Adjacent to No. 6 Guards is the Colour Party, made up of 3 soldiers bearing the colour to be trooped. The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, The Household Cavalry, and their mounted band form up behind Nos. 1-5 Guards.

The Procession and Arrival

Preceding the Sovereign, senior members of the Royal Family arrive in barouche carriages to view the ceremony from a central first-floor window in the Horse Guards Building. By this stage, the stately procession will have set off from Buckingham Palace. The King (Colonel-in-Chief) journeys down the Mall on horseback preceded by the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. Behind His Majesty in the Royal Procession ride the Royal Colonels – His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales (Colonel, Welsh Guards), His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh (Colonel, London Guards), and Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal (Colonel, The Blues and Royals; Gold Stick-in-Waiting). The Royal Colonels are followed then by the non-royal Colonels of Regiments and other officers of the Household Division and of the Royal Household: Master of the Horse, the Major General commanding the Household Division, Silver Stick-in-Waiting, the regimental adjutants and a number of His Majesty’s equerries.

On arrival at Horse Guards Parade, The King will salute Her Majesty The Queen (Colonel, Grenadier Guards) before taking a Royal Salute at the Saluting Base at which point the Royal Standard is unfurled on the roof of the Horse Guards Building,

The Inspection of the Line

The King will then ride off from the Saluting Base along with the Royal Colonels making stately progress along the whole length of the line, the bands playing a slow march and then a quick step which carries a flavour of the regiment whose colour is being trooped on the day.

The Massed Bands Step Off

When The King and his splendid retinue take up their positions beneath the shadow of the Horse Guards Building, the ceremony of Trooping the Colour gets underway. The Massed Bands and drums of the Brigade of Guards and the pipers of the Scots Guards will move in slow time from the right to the left of the line and countermarching return to the right of the line in quick time. The slow march is traditionally the Waltz from Les Huguenots. During quick time, a lone drummer from the Corps of Drums will break away from the Massed Bands and takes position two paces to the right of No. 1 Guard.

Only when the lone drummer sounds the eight-bar “Drummer’s Call”, which signals to the Captain of No. 1 Guard to cede his command to the Subaltern of No. 1 Guard and move to a new position at the right of No. 2 Guard, does the Trooping the Colour phase of the ceremony begin.

Obtaining the Colour

No. 1 Guard perform the centrepiece of the ritual. The Subaltern commands No. 1 Guard to move into close order and then dresses it. Then, led by the Subaltern with the Ensign following, and with the Regimental Sergeant Major marching behind the company, the Escort for the Colour marches onto the field to the tune of “The British Grenadiers.” These tunes are always used irrespective of which regiment’s colour is being trooped because the right flank of every battalion used to be a grenadier company. Fifteen steps from the Colour Party, the music stops and four paces later the Escort for the Colour halts in place.

The Regimental Sergeant Major then marches around to the front of the Escort and, followed by the Ensign, approaches the Colour Party, and takes the colour from the Colour Sergeant. The Regimental Sergeant Major then turns, marches to the Ensign, and he takes possession of it. Having obtained the colour, No 1 Guard is now “Escort to the Colour.”

Trooping the Colour through the ranks

To “The Grenadier’s Slow March”, the Escort to the Colour then troops the Colour down the long line of Nos. 6-2 Guards. Eventually, the Escort arrives back at its original position as No. 1 Guard – from where it first marched off in quick time. Their Captain, who had temporarily ceded command to the Subaltern, resumes command thus bringing the Escort back in line with Nos. 2-6 Guards.

March Past in Slow and Quick Time

Next comes the march-past, first in slow and then in quick time. The King will move forward slightly to take the salute. The Massed Bands will play the regimental slow and quick marches of each regiment as they pass His Majesty with precise movements and a better display of military mechanism will not be desired.

The same will now happen of the two constituent regiments of the Household Cavalry, who will perform a walk-march and a trot-past alongside a sequence of regimental marches. At the conclusion of this segment of the Parade, The King will receive a Royal Salute and the National Anthem will play.