What Is Trooping the Colour? All About King Charles' Public Birthday Celebration

The British royal family will soon come together for the first birthday parade of King Charles' reign

Save the date — King Charles is continuing a royal tradition!

On Saturday, June 17, the King will be honored at Trooping the Colour, the annual birthday parade for the British sovereign. Though Charles has attended the quintessential royal event since he was a child — first for his grandfather, King George VI, and then for his mother, Queen Elizabeth — this year’s festivities are significant as his first as monarch.

According to the British Army, the ceremonial presentation of the military's regimental flags, called "colours," is believed to have first been performed during the reign of King Charles II, who ruled from 1660 to 1685. The parade was first formally linked to the monarch’s birthday during the reign of King George II in 1748 — and there was a practical reason for the event not being celebrated on the monarch's actual birth date.

“With a November birthday being too cold for a celebratory parade, he tied his celebrations in with the annual Trooping the Colour military parade,” Royal Museums Greenwich states, and history was set in motion.

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Trooping the Colour got a permanent spot on the annual royal calendar following the accession of his grandson King George III in 1760 and has continued ever since. The epic military procession is typically held in June and serves as an official birthday for the reigning King or Queen — regardless of when their actual birthday may be.

On June 17, 1,500 soldiers, 300 horses and 400 musicians will come together for a patriotic display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare. Members of the royal family travel by horse-drawn carriage or on horseback from Buckingham Palace and down The Mall to Horse Guards Parade at St. James’ Park, which is almost a mile away. There, the 74-year-old King will receive a royal salute and inspect troops representing the Regiments of the Household Division, sharply dressed in ceremonial uniforms of red tunics and bearskin hats.

Military bands will perform, regimental flags will process down the ranks and the Officer in Command of the Parade will issue words of command to direct the soldiers.

After the Foot Guards march past the monarch, King Charles will lead the procession back to Buckingham Palace and take another salute from a dais, according to the royal family's website. 

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King Charles will then lead members of the royal family out on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the final event — and the day’s most iconic photo-op. The Royal Air Force will soar to perform a colorful flypast overhead, and Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are likely to make an adorable appearance like in previous years! Around the same time, a 41-gun salute will be fired in the nearby Green Park. Well-wishers typically pack the Union Jack-lined streets for a glimpse of the royal family and the spectacular pageantry.

Last year, Prince William and Princess Anne participated in the parade on horseback for their ceremonial roles as Colonel of the Irish Guards and Colonel of the Blues and Royals, respectively.

Following Queen Elizabeth's death in September and King Charles’ subsequent accession, the royal roles were shuffled. King Charles succeeded his mother as Colonel-in-Chief of the seven regiments of the household division — the Grenadier Guards, Welsh Guards, Irish Guards, Blues and Royals, Scots Guards, Life Guards and Coldstream Guards.

In December 2022, the King announced that Prince William would take over his old role as Colonel of the Welsh Guards, a fitting tribute for the newly-minted Prince of Wales. King Charles then made Kate Middleton the new honorary Colonel of the Irish Guards, a fitting position for the Princess of Wales, who has honored the regiment most St. Patrick's Day holidays since marrying into the royal family in 2011.

Queen Camilla also received a new title and became the Colonel of the Grenadier Guards. In January 2022, Queen Elizabeth stripped Prince Andrew of the honor in the wake of the scandal surrounding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

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The changes to the three colonelcies were the only changes made in December, Buckingham Palace said. Princess Anne continues in her position as Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Kent is still Colonel of the Scots Guards.

Lieutenant General Sir Ed Smyth-Osbourne remains Colonel of the Life Guards, while Lieutenant General Sir James Bucknall is Colonel of the Coldstream Guards.

In the same announcement, courtiers confirmed that King Charles would continue the tradition of Trooping the Colour on June 17, just six weeks after his historic coronation on May 6. 

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