The Coldstream Guards have marked Her Majesty The Queen’s official birthday today by trooping their colour in front of the Royal Family and 7,500 spectators on London’s iconic Horse Guards Parade.
All the Royal Colonels accompanied Her Majesty on the parade, with The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and The Princess Royal riding on horseback; The Duke of York also rode for the first time in his new capacity as the Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.
These operational soldiers, for many of whom this was their first Queen’s Birthday Parade, are fresh from recent exercises in Dartmoor. They are famed across the world for their immaculate turnout and ceremonial prowess, but as a dual-role battalion they are equally busy with operational training and duties.
The battalion recently went through a rigorous process to select and train elite soldiers for its specialist platoons and later this year they will deploy to Kenya on exercise and to the Falkland Islands on duty. In 2020 they are also expected to deploy to Iraq to train local security forces.
In 1660 General Monck formed the Coldstream Guards from the republican New Model Army and marched them to London to restore the monarchy and put King Charles II on the throne. Their service to the Crown has been unbroken since then so it was entirely fitting that it fell to them this year to Troop their Colour during Her Majesty’s sapphire jubilee Coronation year.