Trooping the Colour - the Queen's official birthday

The Royal Family standing on the balcony after Trooping the Colour.

Yesterday tens of thousands of people lined The Mall and crowded in front of Buckingham Palace to watch the military procession of the yearly celebration of Her Majesty's official birthday, known as Trooping the Colour.

It was the 61st occasion that The Queen, who turned 87 on 21st April, has taken the royal salute.


Prince Harry shared the coach with The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duchess of Cambridge.



The Duke of Edinburgh's place at the Queen’s side was instead taken by her cousin, the Duke of Kent.

The Queen first took part in the Trooping the Colour in 1947 and first took the royal salute in 1951, when she deputised for her sick father, King George VI .

The Queen and The Duke of Kent.

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Queen's Birthday in Australia

This Monday is a public holiday to celebrate our Monarch. The Age seems to have resigned to the fact that Australia enjoys the Constitutional Monarchy and did not publish very nasty articles. Only in the final two paragraphs of an editorial that commented on the 666 recipients in this year's Queen's birthday honours list, The Age ranted in a resigned attitude about the "inevitable progression towards becoming a republic.":

As The Age has said before, awarding of Australian honours on a day supposedly devoted to our head of state is anachronistic and confusing.

The other time of year Australian honours are awarded is on Australia Day, as is appropriate. There is nothing wrong in retaining the long weekend, but it should be for a different, more relevant, reason. Would the Queen really mind all that much if Australians ceased to mark her birthday?

I do not want to comment on the editorial's unjournalistic last sentence. Haven't The Age's editors not learned one of the most important principles when writing a comment: Never finish with a question mark. But this is not the only journalistic principles The Age loves to ignore. Fair reporting from both sides of the Monarchy vs. republic dispute comes to mind.

Trooping the Colour in Australia
On the 12th June 2010 - the same day Britain honours Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's official birthday with Trooping the Colour, Australia paid tribute to her Monarch with a "Queen's Birthday Parade" at The Royal Military College at Duntroon.

Here's the ABC's short report on this great event.



Unfortunately there was neither a live coverage of the Australian nor of the British ceremonies on the Australian television networks.

The Royal Military College (RMC) of Australia trains and educates the future officers of the Army.

'Colours' originated from the distinctive badges or crests on medieval banners and were used in the British Army originally as a means of identifying the location of the headquarters of regiments in battle. In time the Colours became a focal point of regimental esprit de corps.

The original Colours were first presented to the RMC by His Royal Highness the Duke of York (later King George VI) during his visit to Australia in 1927. These Colours are now lodged in the Headquarters of the Royal Military College of Australia, Patterson Hall. The Queen's Colour was trooped for the first time on the Queen's Birthday Parade in 1956. The present Colours were presented by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in May 1988.

This year's parade comprised 350 members of the Corps of Staff Cadets from all three classes at the College. The success of recruiting and retention efforts at the RMC sees the largest number of cadets on parade since 1998.

The RMC Band provided musical accompaniment for the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

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Queen's Birthday stamp 2009

The 2009 stamp is on sale in Post Offices from today, 15th April until 13th May. Please contact your local Post Office to ask them to ensure they order in the stamps.

The Queen’s Birthday stamp issue for 2009 features the Trooping of the Colour Parade, which marks the Monarch’s official birthday and takes place on the second Saturday in June. Australians are not allowed to watch the parade on television, unlike the German TV audience who have the privilege to watch the Trooping of the Colour since 1977.

The ceremony has marked the Sovereign’s official birthday since 1748 and the stamps in this year’s issue show how The Queen has participated in the parade during Her reign; from riding at the head of the parade in regimental uniform to riding in a carriage. HRH Prince Philip accompanies The Queen at this event and is shown with Her on the stamp.

The miniature sheet features the annual trooping of The Queen’s Colour in Australia held at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon in Canberra. The parade is usually reviewed by H.E. the Governor-General. The Queen’s Colour was trooped in Australia for the first time at Duntroon on the Queen’s Birthday Parade in 1956, a practice which has continued since then.

The present colours were presented by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on 10th May 1988.

Australia Post has a Stamp Shop for online purchases.

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