My Little Scarf Blog: A Royal Day Out

My sister wanted to see the Queen so I set about trying to get tickets for Trooping the Colour - seeing as it was a good opportunity to see several royals at one time too. You have to apply early in the year to the Army for tickets and your name goes in a lucky dip draw. I was astounded to strike lucky first time! 2 tickets were allocated to us - woohoo! So we set off to London the day before the event (Saturday 14 June 2014) as you have to be seated by 10am so we could not travel and be there in time on the day. We were seated quite high up which gave a good view of proceedings and in reality the royals were a long way off, but I have blown up the photos so you can see the royals better. It is much more interesting to be there in person than watching on TV, because you get to see the whole picture and whilst sometimes the time drags watching it on TV, the time flew by in person! Thankfully the day was overcast and there was a cool wind so we did not over-heat as we had done the day before in London! It even rained just after the Queen left the event! Sadly we missed seeing the fly past as we were caught up in the mayhem of a people jam leaving the event!

The Grenadier Guards were Trooping the Colour for 2014 and here are some pics:-


The day before - we went to suss out the venue! It was really hot.

Admiralty Arch.

Super flags adorned The Mall.

As well as Admiralty Arch.

On the day we asked this lovely
Grenadier Guard Sergeant about
his fabulous row of medals! He was
very happy to explain them all to us.

One of the more senior officers
of the Welsh Guards with
buzby hat and another impressive
row of medals.

The bands arrived first and played
some great music!

4 bands attended in total - you can see 2 here.

Then the foot guards arrived. Quite a sight
in their bright tunics.

Forming one of the many line ups.

The Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery arrived
behind us and took up position on the grass
verges opposite the parade ground. Later
they would go off to Hyde Park to perform the
Gun Salute which is quite a spectacle in itself
as I reported on in 2012 here.

The Officer in charge do the whole event
can be seen here on his grey horse.

First royals to arrive were the
Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla,
the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate
and Prince Harry.

Here you can see a bit closer - sorry the pics
are not very sharp as I have blown them up
so they have pixilated a bit.

Next the Countess of Wessex, Sophie,
Princess Eugenie,
the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward
and the Duke of York, Andrew.

You can just make them out.

And lastly Princess Alexandra and
the Duke of Kent (her brother)

Princess Alexandra and
the Duke of Kent.

A closer look at Prince Harry.

A closer look at Prince Edward
and Prince Andrew.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II arrives
with the Duke of Edinburgh.

And takes the stand at the top
of the parade ground.

Her Majesty commences her inspection
of the Guard alone.

Here looking rather serious. Apparently she has a very keen eye for detail and can spot anything that is not quite right a mile off!

Here if you can somehow zoom in you will see a
couple of people taking a selfie just behind the
Queen's carriage - they had their backs to
The Queen - I mean come on HM is right in front
of you, you do not turn your back on her for a selfie
or anything else!!! I was truly amazed when I saw
this photo at some people's bad manners!

Right in front of us we could see The Queen,
with left to right - Prince Charles, Prince William
and Princess Anne behind her saluting the
Household Cavalry Guards who were to the
left out of shot.

The Queen.

The Duke of Cambridge, Prince William.

The Princess Royal, Princess Anne
(dressed like a man LOL!)

The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles.

Some more of the proceedings.

The Colour (the red flag on the right) that was
being trooped passes in front of us - you have
to stand up when the Colour passes by as a
mark of respect, and also when the Queen
and other royals pass, and the Standard.
It is quite involved and there was a quite a
bit of standing up/sitting down!