TROOPING THE COLOUR

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27374, 12 June 1954, Page 7

TROOPING THE COLOUR

Queen Takes Salute At Ceremony

_ LONDON, June 10. The Queen rode out in a State procession through the gates of Buckingham Palace today and took the salute at the historic ceremony of Trooping the Colour which annually celebrates her official birthday. Cheers echoed down the broad Mall, which was lined 10 deep with crowds of sightseers as the glittering procession moved down to the Horse Guards’ Parade at the far end. The Queen, wearing the brilliant scarlet uniform of Colonel-in-Chief of the Coldstream Guards—the first time she has worn this uniform for the trooping ceremony—rode side-saddle on the famous chestnut police horse, Winston. Behind her the Duke of Edinburgh, wearing for the first time the uniform of a Colonel of the Welsh Guards, and her uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, in the uniform of the Scots Guards, rode grey police mounts. A Sovereign’s escort of Household Cavalry, breast-plates gleaming in the occasional bursts of sunshine, and pennants waving at lance-tip, clattered ahead of the Queen. Ten minutes before the State procession emerged from the Palace, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Prince Charles, and Princess Anne, in an open carriage; had driven down the Mall. The Queen’s arrival at the parade was the signal for the start of a colourful 90-minute ceremony. The Ist Battalion of the Coldstream Guards, recently returned from duty in the Canal Zone, marched and counter-marched in the elaborate ceremonial of the oldest drill in the British Army. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Coldstream Guards, and two battalions of the Grenadier Guards, who trooped the colour last year, supported them. After the ceremony the parade moved off back along the Mall to Buckingham Palace with the Queen at their head. Birthday of Duke

The Queen’s actual birthday was April 21, when she was 28. Her official birthday today coincided with the thirty-third birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh. The Duke’s birthday was quietly observed at the Palace, where members of the Royal Family presented the Duke with gifts. There were special greetings from the Queen, Princess Anne, and Prince Charles.

The President of the United States today sent birthday greetings to Queen Elizabeth. ‘