Trooping the Colour 2023 LIVE: King Charles celebrates his first Birthday Parade with Red Arrows flypast and display of pageantry

This is MailOnline’s live blog for Trooping the Colour – King Charles’ first Birthday Parade. 

Host commentator

Trooping the Colour has marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign for more than 260 years.

But today will be the first time in seven decades in which the late Queen Elizabeth II does not take pride of place as sovereign. 

Instead, it is her son, King Charles, who will review the Guards as they parade. He will be on horseback, as is traditional, but no one doubts it is the start of a new era.

The Princess Royal hosted members of the Royal Family ahead of today’s Trooping the Colour. 

Princess Anne, 72, who recently received the title of Senior Colonel, hosted a dinner for Household Division Colonels yesterday, on the eve of the King’s official birthday parade in London. 

Guests included several members of the royal family, including Queen Camilla, who was made Colonel of the Grenadier Guards last December, and the Prince of Wales, who took the role of Colonel of the Welsh Guards over from his father after King Charles’s accession to the throne. 

The Princess of Wales yesterday hailed the ‘amazing’ efforts of health visitors – after her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood found that more than half of the UK understand little or nothing about the part they play.

In a slick new video released as part of her Shaping Us campaign, Kate, 41, spotlighted the vital role of the medical professionals.

Throughout the four-minute clip, viewers watch as the mother-of-three shadows health visitors – to ‘gain a deeper insight into their essential’ job – during engagements over the past few months.

 

The ceremony, which will take place on Horse Guards Parade, will feature over 1,400 officers and 200 horses. 

So, what exactly is Trooping the Colour and how long does the royal parade actually last? 

Here is everything you need to know about Trooping the Colour, explained.  

Queen Camilla has named a horse which is set to lead the mounted cavalry at the King’s Birthday Parade on Saturday.

At a small ceremony in the gardens of Clarence House, Camilla, dressed in an elegant white and green frock, presented a head collar with the name Juno to the horse, before feeding her a carrot.

A portrait of the 10-year-old shire mare by artist Mandy Shepherd was also unveiled at the occasion yesterday, commissioned by the royal household to mark Juno’s role.

The event, marking the monarch’s official birthday, will include all seven regiments of the Household Division for the first time this century.

With them, there will be an extended RAF flypast likely featuring Spitfires and the Red Arrows, which the Royal Family will watch from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Find out all you need to know about the spectacle, including the route, below. 

The streets of London are set to be packed with supporters, so if you’re wanting to get a good look at the royals, here is a guide on when to get there and where to stand. 

For those who haven’t managed to get tickets for Trooping the Colour, you will be able to watch from the sidelines. 

As the days’ events commence at 10am, members of the public wishing to watch are advised to stand on The Mall or at the edge of St James’ Park, overlooking Horse guards.

The King was accompanied by his sister, Princess Anne, on a rare joint engagement at Buckingham Palace on Thursday.

The siblings were together as he presented the new Sovereign’s Standard to The Blues and Royals squadron (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) of the Household Cavalry, of which Anne is Colonel.

Charles spoke of his ‘great pride’ in the bond between the Blues and Royals and the monarch, as the country continues to face ‘an array of threats’ and ‘difficult times’.

While the Princess’s approach has undoubtedly evolved, the key to Kate’s millinery style is consistently choosing creations which perfectly complement her outfit and are an extension of her look, carefully co-ordinated in bespoke matching shades. 

Where once she chose small discreet fascinators, Catherine now opts for larger saucer hats sweeping across her face for an elegant silhouette. 

If her choice of headpiece has become more refined, so has her ever-glossy hair styling. 

Today, it is less about her famously flawless blow-dry with flowing long locks, rather  has been choosing to pull her hair back into a chignon – placing all focus on her hat.

This weekend’s Trooping the Colour will be the first birthday parade of King Charles III’s reign – but for many younger royal fans, it will also be the first time they have seen the Sovereign arrive on horseback.

The late Queen rode her trusted mare, Burmese, at the ceremony for the final time in 1986 before the animal was moved to Windsor for retirement.

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