Royal family gathers at Buckingham Palace for King Charles’ official birthday parade
India McTaggart
The royal family has set off from Buckingham Palace for the annual Trooping the Colour parade.
The King and Queen have travelled down the Mall in an Ascot Landau carriage to mark Charles’ fourth Trooping the Colour parade as monarch, as thousands of spectators watched and cheered.
The Princess of Wales also travelled in an Ascot Landau with her three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – while the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, and the Duke of Edinburgh followed on horseback.
The Duchess of Edinburgh was in the No 1 Barouche carriage, accompanied by Sir Tim Laurence. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester followed in the No 2 Barouche.
The Princess of Wales is wearing a light blue coat dress by Catherine Walker and hat by Philip Treacy, as well as the Irish Guards brooch in honour of her role as colonel.
The Queen is wearing a red silk crepe Grenadier Guards dress by Fiona Clare, and her hat, by Philip Treacy, is a black beret with white plume and cap badge of Grenadier Guards.
The Wales family arrived at Buckingham Palace earlier in the day by car, with Prince George wearing a coordinated light blue tie and Princess Charlotte in a white dress and hair clip.
The three children sat up straight and quietly in their carriage, waving to members of the public during the procession, which has celebrated the official birthday of the sovereign for more than 260 years.
They arrived at the Horse Guards Parade at around 11.15am, and the King was greeted by a royal salute before inspecting hundreds of lined-up guardsmen from his personal Household Division.
More than 1400 soldiers are taking part in the spectacle, alongside 200 horses and 400 musicians. Some 113 words of command are given to the officers by the Officer in Command of the Parade, known as the Field Officer in Brigade Waiting.
The annual display of pomp and pageantry will close with an RAF flypast watched by senior members of the Royal family from the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Last year, the aerobatic display team used sustainable fuel and vegetable oil for the first time ever to complete the flypast.
Vegetable oil was used to produce their trademark red, white and blue trails, while the display team engines were powered by sustainable aviation fuel.
It followed trials by RAF engineers and logistic teams to align with the King’s own policy of using SAF when possible on his travels.
At the time, an aide said the monarch was not directly involved in the decision but would “obviously be delighted” to hear about the RAF’s use of the fuel.
There was a sombre tone at last year’s annual parade as a minute’s silence was held to honour the 250 people killed in the Air India plane crash, which had happened just two days earlier.
The Telegraph, London
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