The ceremony of «Trooping the Colour» takes place annually in London on the Official Birthday of the Sovereign. It is notable for the colourful appearance and precise movements of the Foot Guards who perform it, and for the part taken in it by the Queen herself.
The ceremony derives from two old military ceremonies: Trooping the Colour and Mounting the Queeir s Guard. From earliest times Colours and Standards have been used to indicate the position of the commander in battle and act as rallying point for the soldiers, and were honoured as symbols of the spirit of military units. It was probably in the eighteenth century that it became customary in the British Army, before a battle, to salute the Colours by beat of drum before carrying them along the ranks (this is what the expression «Trooping» means) so that every soldier could see them and be able to recognise them later. It soon became usual to troop the Colour daily at the most important parade or the day: for the Regiment of Foot Guards; who traditionally have the honour of guarding the Sovereign, the most important was obviously the Mounting of the Queen's Guard.
On the Sovereign's Birthday all the Regiments of Foot Guards took part in the Trooping, and, after daily Trooping was discontinued early in Queen Victoria's reign, the full annual parade on the Sovereign's Birthday continued and has done so to this day, except during the two world wars. Only one Colour, however, can be trooped at a time, and the five Regiments (Grenadier Guards, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh) therefore take their turn year by year in strict rotation.
The ceremony can be divided into the following phases: the arrival of the Queen at the Horse Guards Parade, her inspection of the troops, the actual Trooping, the march past, and the Queen's return to Buckingham Palace.
Before the Queen arrives, the crowds have assembled around the Parade and along the approach routes, and the Queen Mother, the Royal children, and other members of the Royal Family have arrived by horse-drawn carriages and entered the Horse Guards Buildings to watch the ceremony from a balcony. The massed bands of the Guards Division have formed up at one side of the parade ground, and the guardsmen are standing in line in an L-shaped formation on two sides of it. The Queen then leaves the Palace, riding side-saddle. She wears the uniform of whichever Guards' regiment is trooping and a specially-designed tricorn hat. She is followed by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, also on horseback, and accompanied by the Sovereign's Escort found by the Household Cavalry Regiment (Mounted). She rides down the Mall on to the Horse Guards Parade and as she turns to face her Guards from the saluting base the National Anthem is played.
The Colour is then trooped through the ranks to the sound of the drums beating, while the band plays traditional marches.
After the trooping, each battalion of Foot Guards taking part marches past the Queen to the sound of the band playing the regiment's slow and quick marches, first in slow time (a most taxing manoeuvre requiring a very high standard of training), and then in quick time. As each «guard» passes her the order «Eyes Right» is given, and the Queen returns the salute. Afterwards the mounted division of the Household Cavalry Regiment, their mounted band playing, first walk and then trot past the saluting base.
The Queen then rides back to the Palace, preceded by the Sovereign's Escort and followed by the Foot Guards. On her arrival, the Old Guard is already formed up in the courtyard, and the New Guard enters; the remaining troops once more march past the Queen, who has taken her position in the Palace gateway, before returning to the barracks.
Finally, the Queen enters the forecourt and rides between the Old and the New Guard into her Palace, and the ceremony of Trooping the Colour is over for another year.