Today, The Duchess of Cambridge Catherine joined Her Majesty The Queen and the members of the royal family for the Trooping the Colour Prade at Whitehall. The Trooping of the Colour has marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign for over 260 years. It was Catherine’s second official appearance since giving birth to her third child Prince Louis in April.
Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British armies. This impressive display of pageantry is held on the occasion of the Queen’s Official Birthday. It takes place in June each year and is carried out by her personal troops, the Household Division, on Horse Guards Parade, with the Queen herself attending and taking the salute.
The custom of Trooping the Colour dates back to the time of Charles II in the 17th Century when the Colours of a regiment were used as a rallying point in battle and were therefore trooped in front of the soldiers every day to make sure that every man could recognise those of his own regiment. In London, the Foot Guards used to do this as part of their daily Guard Mounting on Horse Guards and the ceremonial of the modern Trooping the Colour parade is along similar lines. The first traceable mention of The Sovereign’s Birthday being ‘kept’ by the Grenadier Guards is in 1748 and again, after George III became King in 1760, it was ordered that parades should mark the King’s Birthday. From the accession of George IV, they became, with a few exceptions and notably the two World Wars, an annual event.
Over 1400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians come together each June in a great display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare to mark The Queen’s official birthday. Some 113 words of command are given by the Officer in Command of the Parade. The parade route extends from Buckingham Palace along The Mall to Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall and back again.
During her reign, The Queen has attended Trooping the Colour every year except 1955 when it was cancelled because of the general strike. Here, the then Princess Elizabeth accompanies King George VI on the way to Trooping the Colour in 1947. In the morning The Royal Procession started from Buckingham Palace. The Queen used to attend on horseback herself, but in recent years has travelled by carriage.
Once The Queen arrived at Horse Guard’s Parade in Whitehall, she was greeted by a Royal salute and carries out an inspection of the troops, who were fully trained and operational soldiers wearing the ceremonial uniform of red tunics and bearskin hats.
Queen Elizabeth taking the salute. After the event, the extended Royal Family gathered on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with Her Majesty to watch a fly-past by the Royal Air Force. A 41-gun salute was also fired in Green Park to mark the occasion.
Today’s trooping the colour parade also gave a glimpse of changing dynamics of the royal family. Queen Elizabeth was alone in her carriage as due to the health issues at the age of 96 her husband Prince Philip did not join her for the first time in history.
The Duchess of Cambridge and The Duchess of Cornwall were joined by Prince harry since 2011 but this year both were in a separate carriage.
For the first time, Prince Andrew joined Prince of Wales Charles, The Duke of Cambridge Prince Wiliam and Princess Royal Anne on horseback.
Queen giving a heartwarming smile to her heirs Prince Charles and Prince William during Horse Guards Parade.
As expected today we got our royal treat of cuteness with a balcony appearance of Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Kids were having a time of the day at the balcony today.
Charlotte looked cute as a button in a blue dress while George was wearing a white button-down shirt.
Coming to sartorial details The Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine, was wearing an ice blue dress from her favourite designer for royal events Alexander McQueen. The Duchess was looking extremely gorgeous in the bespoke dress.
The ice blue structured dress features a square neckline, a fitted waist, 3-quarter sleeves with slightly puffed shoulders. As always the head designer of the label Sarah Burton did an amazing job while dressing for her loyal client Catherine.
Catherine paired the outfit with a beautiful hat by Juliette Botterill in matching the colour tone.
Giving her elegant and stunningly royal look a touch of the jewel, The Duchess of Cambridge wore Kiki McDonough Blue Topaz and Diamond Drop Earrings and Eden Blue Topaz and 18ct White Gold Flower Necklace that we first saw in July 2017 during Germany visit.
Kiki McDonough Blue Topaz and Diamond Drop Earrings and Eden Blue Topaz and 18ct White Gold Flower Necklace
Here a look back to The Duchess of Cambridge’s look at the event since 2011. A huge thanks to Katie (@katiesroyallove) on Twitter for making this beautiful collage of The Duchess’s looks since 2011.
