Trooping the colour

The ceremony of Trooping the Colour dates back to the reign of King Charles II , when the flags of the battalion, known as Colours, were trooped down the ranks so that they could be seen and recognised by the soldiers. The Colours of the Regiments were rallying points during battle and it was essential for all the soldiers to be familiar with their own Colours.

This colourful military parade by the Household Division evolved from two older military ceremonies: Trooping the Colour' and 'Mounting the Queen's Guard', both of which began during the early eighteenth century. Only one Colour is "trooped" with regiments sharing the honour in strict rotation each year.

Since 1748, Trooping the Colour has also marked the Sovereign's official birthday. From the reign of Edward VII onwards, the reigning Monarch has personally taken the salute and The Queen has taken the salute during every year of her reign, except 1955 when the event was cancelled due to a rail strike. She first attended the parade as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards in 1947 - the first ceremony to be held after the Second World War.

Lens pic has been released into the public domain

On arrival at Horseguards Parade The Queen takes the Royal Salute, then the ceremony begins with the Inspection. The Queen remains in her horse drawn carriage which slowly travels down the ranks of all eight Guards and then past the Household Cavalry.

Picture reproduced under a Creative Commons license granted by: Jon

Every year The Queen returns to Buckingham Palace following the Trooping of the Colour Ceremony. She and her family then wait on the balcony at the front of Buckingham Palace to watch the RAF Flypast.

Lens pic has been released into the public domain

Statement made to The House of Commons by William Whitelaw, Home Secretary, on 15 June 1981:

With permission, Mr. Speaker, I will make a statement. As the House is aware, on Saturday 13 June, as Her Majesty was making her way to the ceremony of Trooping the Colour, a man in the crowd of sightseers fired six shots of blank ammunition using an imitation revolver. A man was immediately arrested and has been charged by the police under section 2 of the Treason Act 1842. As the matter is now sub judice, the House will realise that it would be wrong this afternoon to discuss details of the incident itself.

It has not been the practice, nor would it be desirable, to describe the arrangements made for the safety of Her Majesty the Queen and other members of the Royal Family, but I can assure the House that those arrangements are kept under continuing review, and have recently been re-examined. What occurred on Saturday is being carefully studied by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, and full account will be taken of it in future planning arrangements. It is Her Majesty's wish that both on State and less formal occasions she would be able to move freely among her people. Consistent with this, everything will be done to keep the risks to a minimum.

Read the rest of the statement in Hansard, the Official Record of proceedings at The Houses of Parliament.

The BBC also later reported:

Marcus Simon Serjeant was jailed for five years under the 1842 Treason Act, a law not used since 1966.

The former air cadet, from Folkestone, Kent, was found guilty of wilfully discharging at the person of Her Majesty the Queen a blank cartridge pistol, with intent to alarm her.
The court was told that Serjeant had at one stage planned to kill the Queen, but had failed to obtain a suitable lethal weapon.

"I wanted to be famous," he said later. "I wanted to be a somebody."

He served more than three years in jail, before being released in October 1984.

Lens pic has been released into the public domain