Buckingham Palace has
announced new details about the Queen’s birthday parade, Trooping the
Colour, ahead of the event taking place later on Thursday morning.
In a break with tradition, the
military spectacle, which officially marks the start of the Platinum
Jubilee celebrations, will see Her Majesty take the salute from the palace
balcony instead of riding in a carriage during the procession as she normally
does.
In her younger years, the
96-year-old monarch, who is a talented equestrian, took part in the military event
on horseback.
At Thursday’s event, at
which The Colour of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards will have trooped, Prince
Charles, Prince William – who is colonel of the Irish Guards regiment
– and Princess Anne will travel by horseback to Horse Guards Parade where
Charles will take the salute and inspect the Troops of the Household Division
on his mother’s behalf.
Meanwhile, the Duchess of
Cornwall, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and
their children, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence
are expected to travel to Horse Guards Parade in carriages, where they will join
other members of the royal family to watch the parade from the Major General’s
Office.
These other members are
expected to include the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who arrived in the UK
on Wednesday after flying in from the US.
Upon the return of the
Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment and the Guards, the Queen will then take a
salute from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, accompanied by the Duke of Kent,
Colonel, Scots Guards. The monarch will later return to the balcony with her
selected family members to watch the RAF fly past.
It was previously reported
that the Queen, who now uses a walking stick, would appear on the balcony
to take the salute, to avoid her having to make the journey to Horse Guards
Parade by carriage, or sitting on a dais for a lengthy period of time.
