- For the second year, the military commemoration of the Queen’s official birthday is held in Windsor Castle
- The Duke of Kent, Colonel and Scots Guards, will join the head of state for the traditional ceremony
- The changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace has been stopped since March 2020
The Queen has received her official birthday gift from the nation’s armed forces in a ceremony of pomp and pageantry in her honour at Windsor Castle.
The Duke of Kent, the Queen’s cousin, joined her on a dais in the castle’s quadrangle in his role as Colonel of the Scots Guards.
From her dais, the Queen tapped her foot along as she watched the ceremony unfold with Guardsmen in their scarlet tunics and bearskins and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in their breast plates and plumed helmets.
The birthday parade is a gift from the Household Division – the Army’s most prestigious regiments – which has a close affinity with the monarch and is keen to show its loyalty to the Crown.
After a year which has seen the Queen mourn the loss of her beloved husband the Duke of Edinburgh and experience family upheavals following accusations made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the ceremony was a positive event.
The Colour or ceremonial flag being trooped past the soldiers was the Colour of the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards with the regiment’s F Company given the task of performing the honour.
Queen smiles as Red Arrows fly over Windsor Castle
On parade in front of the Queen in bright summer sunshine was an array of socially distanced Guardsmen, mounted Troopers and the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
They were joined by a massed band of the Household Division – musicians from all of the five Foot Guards Bands and the 1st Battalion Scots Guards Pipes and Drums.
The servicemen and women on parade numbered almost 275, with 70 horses, compared with the 85 soldiers who took part in the ceremony last summer.
A rare sight on the parade ground were two officers who were father and son.
Colonel Jeremy Bagshaw, Chief of Staff at Army Headquarters London District, was stood close to the Queen’s dais while his 18-year-old son, 2nd Lieutenant Henry Bagshaw, Coldstream Guards, was formed up in front of the monarch.
A small handful of seated guests lined part of the quadrangle – a change from last year when only the military were present.
The playing of the national anthem as a royal salute was given by soldiers signalled the start of the ceremony and the Massed Bands marched past first in slow then quick time.
They performed the feathering technique, named as it resembles the Prince of Wales’s feathers when seen from above, and used to allow the marching musicians to turn 180 degrees and maintain individual distances.
A lone drummer played the Drummer’s Call that signalled the group of soldiers and officers known as the Escort for the Colour to get into position.
Lieutenant Hugh Dingwall was given the honour of carrying the Colour which has deep symbolic significance and it was trooped through the ranks.
The pandemic has meant for the second year in succession the military commemoration of the Queen’s official birthday is being staged in the quadrangle of her Berkshire home rather than in central London, but its scope has increased from last year.
Soldiers and musicians from the Massed Band of the Household Division marched onto the parade area at Windsor Castle ahead of the ceremony which allow the Guardsmen to show their precision marching skills while maintaining a social distance of just over two metres.
The senior military officer who planned the celebrations said his aim was to create a ‘memorable and uplifting day’ for the monarch.
Lieutenant Colonel Guy Stone and his team have been working for months to stage the event at Windsor Castle which has been dubbed a mini Trooping the Colour.
The Guardsmen taking part have been supporting local communities and the NHS across the UK during the pandemic or been serving overseas on military operations.
The Duke of Kent, Colonel, Scots Guards, will join the head of state for the ceremony and F Company Scots Guards will Troop the Colour of the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards through the ranks of guardsmen on parade.
