TROOPING THE COLOUR

Happy birthday to you! Find out how The Queen's official birthday is marked.

Everybody loves a birthday. Presents, toys, a cake and maybe a party. In fact, wouldn't it be brilliant if you could have more than one birthday a year? That's exactly what happens to The Queen. Every year, she has two!

The Queen was born on 21 April, 1926. However, when you are king or queen, you get the chance to celebrate another birthday, which is referred to as the official birthday.

The tradition of having a separate official birthday for the monarch goes back into history. The primary reason seemed to concern the fact that if a king or queen was born in the autumn or winter months, it was not always easy to hold official celebrations because of the bad British weather. So it was with King Edward VII (reigned 1901 - 1910) whose birthday was on 9 November, and King George VI (reigned 1936 - 1952), whose birthday was on 14 December. Both these monarchs celebrated their official birthdays in the summer months. It was with King George VI that the tradition of holding the official celebrations on a Saturday in June was begun.

The official birthday of The Queen is celebrated on either the first or the second, and sometimes the third, Saturday in June. The day is always marked in the same way: by the Trooping of the Colour ceremony at Horse Guards Parade and then very often by a fly-past of Royal Air Force planes over Buckingham Palace. The Queen and many members of the Royal Family are present at both Horse Guards Parade and the Palace to witness the day's events.

The troops that participate in the Parade are taken from the Household Division and it is usually a Foot Guards battalion that gets the chance to troop its colour in front of The Queen each year.

The colour (or flag) is a long standing symbol of honour of the particular regiment to which it is attached. In the old days it would have acted as a rallying point on the field of battle and would have shown men attached to that regiment where they should meet, or where their comrades were fighting.

When the colour is trooped, this means that it is shown to all the men in the regiment by being marched slowly past them. In days gone by, it was of crucial importance that all the men in the regiment knew which colour was theirs, so that they could recognise it on the field of battle. In 1748, it was decided that this ceremony would also mark the official birthday of the Sovereign. However, it was only from the reign of King Edward VII (1901 - 1910) that the king or queen attended the parade in person every year.

The Queen first appeared on parade when she was a young Princess of 21 years old. Until recently, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh both rode on horseback to take the salute. From 1969 to 1988, Her Majesty rode the horse 'Burmese', but after the horse died, it was decided that she would ride in a carriage. The Duke of Edinburgh also rides in a carriage now that his horse has retired.

The Queen has attended the Trooping of the Colour ceremony every single year of her reign with the exception of 1955, when a national rail strike forced the ceremony to be cancelled.

THINGS TO SEE AND DO

Trooping of the Colour is normally broadcast live on British (and often worldwide) television from mid morning until its conclusion. If you are in London on that day, you can get tickets to go to Horse Guards Parade to see The Queen and other Members of the Royal Family watching the troops marching past. There is then a carriage procession back to Buckingham Palace.

Also on The Queen's official birthday, there are Royal gun salutes fired in London (from Green Park and the Tower of London), Edinburgh Castle, Cardiff and Belfast. If you are near any of these places, listen out for the noise. Also look to the skies in London and you might get a chance to witness the fly past of many planes from the Royal Air Force.