King Charles III’s official birthday parade set for June 2023

PTI, Dec 22, 2022, 3:16 PM IST

The official birthday of the new British monarch, King Charles III, will take place on June 17 next year, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday.

The celebration, packed with pomp and pageantry, is known as Trooping the Colour and will involve the King’s wife, Queen Camilla, and daughter-in-law Catherine, the Princess of Wales, taking on ceremonial military roles during the royal parade. Charles, who turned 74 on November 14, will ride on horseback alongside his son and heir, William – the Prince of Wales, for the customary official celebration of his 74th birthday next year in the summer.

They will be watched by Catherine (Kate Middleton), who is now the Colonel of the Irish Guards, and Camilla, who replaces Prince Andrew as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards. Andrew, Charles’ younger brother, had been stripped of his military titles in the wake of a sex scandal. Meanwhile, William takes on the role previously held by his father, that of Colonel of the Welsh Guards. The ceremony will come weeks after the King’s grand coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London, scheduled for May 6, 2023.

The plans for the new year follow the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who died aged 96 at her Scottish residence of Balmoral Castle on September 8 this year. The late Queen’s April 21 birthday was celebrated with a Trooping the Colour parade in the second week of June annually. Earlier this year, the ceremony fell during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations for the UK’s longest-reigning monarch and involved the King – then Prince of Wales – stepping in as his mother who made only brief appearances while she took things easy due to age-related mobility issues.

The pageantry of Trooping the Colour has marked the British monarch’s official birthday for more than 260 years, held in the summer months when the weather conditions are more suitable. Next year, more than 1,400 soldiers will parade, with 200 horses and hundreds of Army musicians will once again take part in a ceremony marked by military precision, horsemanship and fanfare.

The parade takes place at Horse Guards Parade in London before the royal party return up the Mall to Buckingham Palace, where they gather on the balcony for a Royal Air Force (RAF) fly-past and an iconic royal family photograph beamed the world over.

Thousands of well-wishers usually fill central London to watch the monarch and members of the royal family for the event, which stems from the traditional preparations for battle, when colours (or flags) were carried (“trooped”) down the rank to be seen and recognised by the soldiers. The event traditionally attracts largely friends and family of the soldiers taking part in the military spectacle.