George And Charlotte At Trooping The Colour

Prince George and Princess Charlotte charmed the crowds at this weekend's Trooping the Colour flypast.

Appearing on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the National Anthem and to watch the RAF flypast to mark The Queen's Official Birthday, the royal duo teamed up with Princess Anne's eldest grandaughter Savannah Phillips to provide lots of cute moments for the photographers covering the event.

At one point, Charlotte slipped and had to be picked up by mum Catherine to be consoled. Savannah also put a hand over George's mouth to silence him during God Save The Queen! 

Happy Birthday Ma'am!

British Army Tweet

Interested in what happens during the Trooping the Colour?  Have a look:

Don’t miss live coverage of Trooping the Colour to mark the official birthday of Her Majesty The Queen on BBC One at 10.30am today. pic.twitter.com/lITY9jJM8k

— British Army (@BritishArmy) June 9, 2018

H.M. The Queen's Official Birthday

The Queen's official birthday is this coming Saturday and Trooping the Colour will be held as is tradition.

Senior members of the Royal Family travel from Buckingham Palace on horseback or horse drawn carriage along The Mall to Horse Guards Parade for Trooping the Colour. They then return to Buckingham Palace for the flypast.

This year Prince George and Princess Charlotte are expected to make an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch the RAF flypast and wave to the crowds below. Prince Louis who was born on April 23rd is still too young to join his older siblings. This will be George's 4th appearance and Charlotte's 3rd.

I witnessed the spectacle in 1992 when Prince Harry joined his mother Diana, Princess of Wales and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother for the trip to and from Horse Guards Parade. Older brother Prince William was away at Ludgrove Prep, his boarding school at the time.

If you would like to see photos of William and Harry attending the event in their younger years, have a look at my blog post from last year:

https://williamandharryschildren.blogspot.com/2017/06/wales-family-at-trooping-colour.html

From royal.uk website:

What happens during Trooping the Colour?

Once The Queen has arrived at Horse Guard's Parade in Whitehall, she is greeted by a Royal salute and carries out an inspection of the troops, who are fully trained and operational soldiers wearing the ceremonial uniform of red tunics and bearskin hats.
The Queen used to attend on horseback herself, but in recent years has travelled by carriage.
After the military bands have performed, the escorted Regimental Colour, or flag, is processed down the ranks of soldiers. Over one hundred words of command are used by the Officer in Command of the Parade to direct the several hundred soldiers.
Once the Foot Guards have marched past The Queen, she rides back to Buckingham Palace at the head of the soldiers, before taking the salute again at the Palace from a dais. 
Her Majesty is then joined by other Members of the Royal Family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace to watch a fly-past by the Royal Air Force. A 41-gun salute is also fired in Green Park to mark the occasion. 

Horse Guards Parade

George's First Trooping The Colour

Sunday 14th June, 2015

George with his nanny watching the Parade

Prince George made his first appearance at the Trooping The Colour on Saturday, only the third time he has made an official appearance in the U.K.

The little prince who is 22 months old, was first spotted at a Buckingham Palace window as the Royal Family left for Horse Guards Parade. George was cheekily poking out his tongue and seemed quite excited at the crowds and pageantry below. 

Trooping The Colour is the official celebration for The Queen's birthday. Athough the parade is held in June each year, Her Majesty's birthday is in fact on April 21. 

The Queen and her three heirs

And then, after the parade, the Royal Family made an appearance on the Palace balcony to watch the Red Arrows flypast. For the first time, George joined them, wearing the same powder blue outfit his father Prince William wore at his debut in 1984. 

George wearing dad William's outfit

William aged 2 in 1984