Monday, July 16, 2012

Celebrating the Queen's Birthday


Each June marks the official celebration of the Queen's birthday with the traditional military ceremony called Trooping the Colour. Not one to miss a chance to see the royals when they are so close by, I lined up early along with several thousand others on the Mall in the shadow of the Palace to watch the royal family make their way to the Horse Guard Parade for the ceremony.



I made friends with the people around me, which always makes the waiting time go faster, and you meet some fascinating people that way. This little fella' was too cute not to include his photo.

He probably knows, like the rest of us, that  Queen Elizabeth's real birthday was April 21, when she turned 86 years old.



Before long, the soldiers, foot guards and the 



musicians began to parade by



in exact precision.



Prince Charles's wife, the Duchess of Cornwall; Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry were the first royals to come by.



Prince Harry is too cute, not to show the view of his face too.

The Mirror

Prince William, Prince Charles, and the Duke of Kent were horseback in their military uniforms.



They were followed by Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice along with their father, Prince Andrew.



The queen's musicians alerted us that she was the next to follow. All in all, 240 horses, 290 musicians,



and 1600 soldiers participated in the time honored ceremony.



The queen was expected to ride in an open carriage, but a Buckingham Palace spokesman said due to the  "unpredictable nature of the weather,"



the Queen and Prince Philip were to ride in a coach, the same one that they used on their wedding day on November 20, 1947.



It was Prince Philip's first outing since his Jubilee illness that hospitalized him. The Queen was radiant in the same buttercup yellow dress that she had first worn at the Royal Wedding last year. Looks like Kate isn't the only one recycling some of her dresses!

Pacific Coast News

The day ended with the family posing on the balcony once again for the traditional waves and the flypast by the Royal Air Force.

Happy Birthday, Queen Elizabeth!

And many more!

4 comments:

  1. The trumpeter looked right at you...he must know those songs by heart!
    The crown of flowers is not looking to good these days with all the rain, I'm glad to see how pretty it was in your pictures!

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  2. Lovely collection of photos from the The Queen's Official Birthday Parade.
    I am sure you will not mind me mentioning, but you have put that the Duchess of Cornwall is married to Prince Philip!!!

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  3. Your photos are absolutely fantastic! I can't believe you were able to get that close, that must have been amazing!
    And yes, thanks for the face such of Prince Harry :)

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