The Duke of Edinburgh, 25th Colonel Grenadier Guards, in Guard Of Honour Order
Her Majesty presents the Household Cavalry with their new standard
SEWING THE COLOUR
The colours (regimental standards) have been made by Hobson & Sons of Thundersley in Essex since a Mrs Hobson first started sewing them in 1850.
Today’s principal embroiderer, Susan Jones (below), makes up to four colours a year for various units. Given that each can take 900 hours, it’s not surprising they receive a police escort when they leave the workshop.
The point is underlined in a contribution by Major Roly Spiller of The Blues And Royals, who recounts the moment his patrol was hit by a hidden bomb in Afghanistan and his vehicle blown into a potential minefield. With one man dead and everyone else injured, he saw his dazed radio operator stumbling off into the minefield.
‘I needed to get him to stand still until the remainder of the troop could clear a safe path to us,’ writes Major Spiller. ‘I shouted at him repeatedly to stay still but he kept moving. Then I had a flash of inspiration. In the best parade ground voice I could muster, I shouted “Halt!” And he did.’
The origins of the parade go back to the days when a unit would ‘troop’ its ‘colour’ through the lines so that soldiers could identify with their insignia. The idea of linking the event to the monarch’s birthday evolved in the 18th century and was well-established by the reign of Queen Victoria, although she only attended on one occasion.
Edward VII was a regular participant and loved it, as have all his successors. Edward VIII’s chief legacy was to change his father’s rules on the pressing of soldiers’ trousers. Previously, they had been pressed side to side (George V regarded anything else as ‘caddish’). Henceforth, they would be pressed ‘fore and aft’, or front and back, as they are today.
In 1938, George VI was the first monarch to have a televised Birthday Parade. But war would soon intervene and the event did not resume until 1947 when Princess Elizabeth took part in her first parade, as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards. In 1951, when the King was ill, she took his place on Horse Guards. A year later, riding a horse called Winston, she took part as Queen. And she has been there every year since with the exception of 1955 when the parade was cancelled due to a rail strike.
For many years, the Queen rode a mare called Burmese, a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Both horse and rider remained admirably calm in 1981 when a disturbed teenager fired six shots from the crowd. Finally, in 1986, Burmese retired and the Queen decided she would no longer attend on horseback. Since 1987 she has travelled in a phaeton, a small open carriage originally used by Queen Victoria. In the event of rain, she will travel in one of the closed carriages kept in the Royal Mews.
During the Queen’s 63 years on the throne the Armed Forces have been through a great deal of change, but the participants in the Birthday Parade remain the same – the five regiments of Foot Guards and two regiments of Household Cavalry who make up the Household Division plus the horse-drawn guns of the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery.
A TRIM FOR THE TAIL
The adjutant of the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery is seen here ‘Banging the tail’. This involves cutting it a fist’s length below what’s known as the chestnut, a callous just below the hock on the hind leg. The story goes that officers used to do this when horsehair was a valuable commodity because they wanted to ensure they pocketed the profits from selling it.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
However ancient the traditions, there’s always scope for a little innovation. During rehearsals, the Garrison Sergeant Major insists that all the key players – including the Queen’s Head Coachman Jack Hargreaves, seen here giving the royal salute – wear clunky digital watches. That way they can easily monitor the timings, which have been written on his glove, to the split second.
The Royal Family have deep bonds with all parts of the Armed Forces, but there has always been a special link with those units which guard them and perform ceremonial duties at the royal residences. The choice of which colour is trooped depends entirely on military commitments around the world. For the Household Division is first and foremost an elite fighting unit.
For proof of that, we need only look at the focal point of the parade – the ‘colour’ itself. Lovingly stitched into it will be the battle honours of whichever regiment has the privilege of trooping (this year it is the turn of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards). These names read like an anthology of British history, often with a date attached when there has been more than one battle in the same theatre of war. Depending on the regiment, they might include ‘Dettingen... Waterloo... Inkerman... Khartoum... South Africa... Ypres 1914... Dunkirk... Nijmegen... Falklands... Gulf 1991...’
One colour which takes precedence over all the others, however, has no names on it. The Queen’s Company Colour belongs to the Queen’s Company of the Grenadier Guards who have the privilege of being on duty at both the coronation and funeral of every monarch. At the start of each reign, they receive a new colour. At the end, it is buried with that Sovereign.
Planning for the Birthday Parade will have started the previous winter. With the arrival of spring, the Household Cavalry will start clipping horses’ coats and grading each one for colour, size and temperament to ensure a symmetry on parade before the Major General turns up for very thorough inspections.
The music is a crucial part of the proceedings. The Massed Bands will start drawing up their programme in January and the entire repertoire is performed in front of a panel in March. It is not unlike a military version of The X Factor with the Major General, the Brigade Major and the Garrison Sergeant Major sitting in judgement, a terrifying trio of Simon Cowells in uniform.
The Armed Forces are not the only ones getting ready. The Royal Parks’ gardening team will plant 13,000 geraniums in front of Buckingham Palace (to match the Guards’ tunics). The production team from BBC Events must plan every second’s filming and prepare supporting pieces on particular participants – and horses.
Huw Edwards has presented a dozen Birthday Parades, and his insightful commentary always follows a great deal of diligent homework. There will be plenty of pedantic armchair generals in front of the telly, watching and waiting to pounce on the tiniest error.
But then, this is an event which always demands the highest standards from everyone involved. And that’s why millions of people – and Her Majesty – love it so much. n
Trooping The Colour: The Queen’s Birthday Parade, Saturday 13 June, 10.30am, BBC1. Highlights, 6.15pm, BBC2.
The Queen’s Birthday Parade – Trooping The Colour, by Julian Calder, Mark Pigott and Alastair Bruce, is published by Julian Calder Publishing, £40. Offer price £30 until 13 June from mailbookshop.co.uk (p&p free). juliancalderpublishing.com. A percentage of the profits goes to The Household Division Charity.
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