Queen Elizabeth II, garbed in green, waves as she and the royal family watches the flypast celebrating her 90th birthday.
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The adorable 13-month-old daughter of Prince William and Kate Middleton, along with brother Prince George, absolutely stole the show during Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday parade when they appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
The Queen will have a chance to re-live one of the highlights of her Diamond Jubilee year when a flotilla of boats processes town the Thames on Saturday as part of the three-day weekend of official 90th birthday celebrations. One soldier fainted and wound up face-down in full dress – but was quickly carted off.
All the pomp and pageantry of Britain was on display today for the annual ceremony of Trooping the Colour, a parade in central London held each year to honor the monarch’s official birthday, timed to coincide with the better weather of May and June. But it was the queen’s unusually bold dress and hat combination in a green so bright as to be nearly fluorescent which caught the eye of many.
On the parade ground in their famous scarlet tunics and bearskins were the Coldstream, Grenadier and Scots Guards – while the Irish Guards lined the Queen’s processional route from Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Family watched the ceremony unfold from the Duke of Wellington’s old office which overlooks Horse Guards and was directly behind the Queen’s dais where she sat with Philip.
The military spectacle – also known as the Queen’s Birthday Parade – takes on greater significance this year as the Queen will be marking a milestone anniversary – her 90th.
On Friday, the Queen attended a Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, attended by members of her family, politicians and well-known public figures.
The actual date of her birth is April 21, 1926.
The Massed Bands of the Household Division and the Mounted Band of the Household Cavalry also took part in the ceremony, along with the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
The guardsmen performing for their colonel in chief on the parade ground were fighting soldiers.
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With her detailed knowledge of the ceremony the Queen cast an expert eye over the troops as she passed.
