The Colonel’s Review - HRH The Prince of Wales reviews his troops for the first King’s Birthday Parade

Swords, medals, buttons and breast plates may have shone, and hundreds of horses and soldiers showed their dedication and determination as they carried out complex battlefield drill manoeuvres to a spectacular programme of music, because this parade has to be deemed good enough for The King!

The Colonel’s Review is the final test of excellence for the Household Division before the soldiers and horses perform for The King on 17 June, which will be the first King’s Birthday Parade for 70 years.

The Welsh Connection

There’s an added poignancy in the fact that coincidentally the honour to Troop their Colour on the King’s Birthday Parade falls this year to the Welsh Guards. The King was Colonel of the Welsh Guards for 48 years before he handed responsibility to his son in December 2022, and he held the title of Prince of Wales for 65 years.  

The Welsh Guards’ final arbiter of excellence on this, their final rehearsal, was The Prince of Wales, who was reviewing his troops for the first time as Regimental Colonel of the Welsh Guards. It all looked splendid to the 8,000 ticketed audience attending the Review on Horse Guards Parade, but everything must be deemed of the highest standard before it can be performed for The King.

All The King's Foot Guards

For the first time in more than thirty years, the regiments taking part include all five regiments of the Foot Guards: GrenadierColdstreamScotsIrish and Welsh Guards. Also on parade are the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment made up of The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals who together will provide the Sovereign’s Escort; and The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery who on the day of The King’s Official Birthday will fire His Birthday Salute after the parade in The Green Park.

The music which will keep the parade precise and on time, is provided by the Massed Bands of the Household Division and will have a distinctly Welsh theme with new pieces of music composed by members of the Band of the Welsh Guards specifically for the occasion. Major Lauren Petritz-Watts will be the first female musician in The Royal Corps of Army Music to have her music performed on a Sovereign’s Birthday parade. Even the Drum Horses in the Band of the Household Cavalry can claim Welsh ancestry!

Flourishing The Colour

The Colour is being trooped by the Ensign, Second Lieutenant Freddie Hopkisson, 23, of the Prince of Wales’s Company, Welsh Guards, which is this year’s Escort to the Colour.  

“The Colour is very heavy, and you have to hold it in a stress position which takes a while to get used to, but that’s why you rehearse so much. Eventually your body adapts, and it becomes easier”  he explained.

“This parade will be huge. It’s such an honour and we’re all feeling it. To get to do this key role at such a young age, carrying the Colour and all it represents, is the absolute pinnacle of my life.

This parade will be huge. It’s such an honour and we’re all feeling it. To get to do this key role at such a young age, carrying the Colour and all it represents, is the absolute pinnacle of my life

ENSIGN, SECOND LIEUTENANT FREDDIE HOPKISSON

The Highlight for me will be the flourish – to flourish our Colour in front of the new Colonel of the Regiment on the Colonel’s Review and then the King, our former Regimental Colonel, on His first Official Birthday Parade next week, will be fantastic.

“It will be the first time since 1949 that a Welsh Guards Officer has flourished the Colour to a King on a birthday parade!” he added.

The King’s Birthday Parade will be the Household Division’s special opportunity to wish His Majesty a happy birthday and illustrates all that is important about soldiering:  discipline, detail, teamwork, commitment and endurance.

Dual Role

Though immaculate in red tunics and bearskin caps on parade for the Colonel’s Review, it’s important to realise that for the past three years the Welsh Guards have been among the most heavily committed of British Army Infantry Units on Operations. Tasked across the globe in support of NATO operations in the Middle East, at the forefront of Counter Poaching and nation stabilisation in Africa, and one of the lead regiments in the COVID Support Force supporting the government’s efforts to counter the pandemic across the whole of the UK. The Welsh Guards most recently were part of the multinational force that designed and implemented the UK training package for Ukrainian recruits to gain the infantry skills they need to defend their homeland.

After intense jungle training exercises in Belize and Jamaica this year, they returned to ceremonial duties in time to play a leading role in the Coronation of Their Majesties the King and Queen earlier this month, before commencing training for the King’s official Birthday parade.

Captain James Phillips was part of the team of Welsh Guards who helped deliver the initial training package to Ukrainian Recruits in the UK. On the Colonel’s Review he is the Subaltern to the Escort to the Colour.

“We had to turn civilians into soldiers in just a few weeks and that was a lot of pressure knowing what they were facing” he explained. “

But that just made us want to give them the best training we could to the highest standards to give them the best chance. It was hugely rewarding to see how quickly they progressed. 

Working with the Ukrainians was very humbling. They were ordinary people with jobs, families, who had given up everything to risk their lives to fight for their country. Anything we could do to help them gain the skills to stay alive, we did.”  

Historic First

Delivering a parade of this size and complexity on what will be an historic first occasion is a major feat but one all serving are proud and well prepared to deliver.

The Welsh Guards although the fifth regiment of foot guards are getting used to being “first”.

In 2020 during the COVID Pandemic, they were the first regiment to Troop their Colour on a Sovereign’s birthday in Windsor since Queen Victoria had her birthday parade there in 1895.

Proudly Welsh, Truly Representative

A proudly Welsh regiment, the Welsh Guards are Wales’ senior infantry regiment with a formidable reputation forged through the last century.

They are light role infantry leading from the front as a mobile and flexible attack force and can deploy anywhere in the world when needed.

More than 90 per cent of its troops are Welsh with a very high proportion speaking Welsh as a first language.

They also attract soldiers from all over the British Isles, as well as the wider Commonwealth. Trained at Catterick and honed in battalion, the Welsh Guards are a tight-knit family and a key component of the Household Division that in essence proudly represents all the nations of the United Kingdom.

The Lone Drummer

Lance Sergeant Chusa Siwale, originally from Zambia, is the lone drummer on the Troop which is a very important and exposed role in the parade. After the inspection by The Prince of Wales, the Massed bands played a troop slow march and at the point that they started the quick march he broke from the bands and marched alone to stand by the Escort to the Colour, where he played a drum score to signal to the Colour Party. He has served in the 1st Battalion the Welsh Guards for 12 years and this is his second time being the Lone Drummer as he had the role on the unique socially distanced COVID Troop ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2020. 

Chusa, who is a machine gunner in his operational role, has deployed on many overseas exercises that include the Falkland islands, Kenya and Belize, and operational Tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was attracted to the close-knit family nature of the Welsh Guards and said “Their diversity and inclusion is fantastic, I was immediately welcomed. I’m very proud to be in the Welsh Guards, it’s not just a regiment, it’s a family to me”.

Their diversity and inclusion is fantastic, I was immediately welcomed. I’m very proud to be in the Welsh Guards, it’s not just a regiment, it’s a family to me

LANCE SERGEANT CHUSA SIWALE, THE LONE DRUMMER

Chusa has become something of a celebrity in his home country since his performance in 2020, which was broadcast live in Zambia. Zambians will be tuning in again this year to see him on this very special King’s Birthday Parade.

It’s been a very intense year for everyone as the Welsh Guards have had to balance rehearsals for the Birthday Parade with the Coronation but Lance Sergeant Siwale said they aren’t letting the pressure get to them: “The Colonel’s Review is the final rehearsal, but because it is inspected by our Regimental Colonel The Prince of Wales it needs to be perfect!”

The Prince of Wales was appointed as the Welsh Guards’ Colonel by His Majesty The King in December 2022. He has a strong commitment to the Regiment and the wider regimental family of whom He is head. He visited the Welsh Guards on St David’s Day in March, and presented leeks to the regiment. The Prince of Wales’s Company is His own personal Company within the Regiment.

Raised by King George V in 1915, the Welsh Guards, who are based in Combermere Barracks in Windsor, have served with distinction at every opportunity through two World Wars and almost every British campaign since, including the Battle for liberation of the Falkland Islands, in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The Bedrock of Infantry Tactics

Many of the movements and drills carried out on this familiar annual military spectacle formed the bedrock of infantry tactics in days gone by, and much of the clothing likewise draws its relevance from the frontline battlefields of previous centuries. The annual event of Trooping of the Colour has now marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign for more than 260 years.