Trooping the Colour 2025: Royal family unite for third birthday parade under reign of king charles III

The royal family is celebrating its biggest event of the year, coming together for the King’s birthday parade.

Also known as Trooping the Colour, the spectacle will see King Charles III and Queen Camilla lead members of their family, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, in a military parade before they gather on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch the Royal Air Force fly past.

It is the third time the event has been held in King Charles III’s honour, following his succession to the throne in September 2022.

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The royal procession included the Duchess of Edinburgh and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence in a barouche, followed by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

The Princess of Wales rode in the Ascot Landau with her children Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 10 and Prince Louis, seven.

King Charles and Queen Camilla were also in an Ascot Landau.

The Queen wore a silver embroidery outfit by Anna Valentine, with a hat by Philip Treacy and a Grenadier Guards brooch.

Catherine, Princess of Wales wore a aquamarine-coloured Catherine Walker outfit, hat by Juliette Botterill and the late Queen Elizabeth’s Bahrain pearl and diamond earrings.

Princess Charlotte matched her mum, wearing a dress in the same colour.

In a show of respect to the lives lost in the deadly Air India crash two days ago in Ahmedabad, the King asked members of his family to wear black armbands.

King Charles, Prince William, Princess Anne and the Duke of Edinburgh, who dressed in military uniform for the parade, all sported black armbands.

So did the coachmen and women from the Royal Mews and mounted officers.

A minute’s silence was held after the King has inspected the hundreds of guardsmen lined up on Horse Guards Parade.

India is part of the Commonwealth, of which the King is head of, and 53 British nations were killed in the crash.

Queen Elizabeth II held a similar moment of silence in 2017, when Trooping the Colour took place three days after a fire ripped through the Grenfell Tower apartment bloc in west London, killing 72 people.

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Once at the Horse Guards Parade, the Princess of Wales sat besides the King on the dais.

Kate is there in her role as Colonel of the Irish Guards and took the same position on the dais in 2023. She also wore an Irish Guards Regimental Brooch.

In 2024, due to her cancer treatment, the princess, alongside her children, watched the parade from a window of the Duke of Wellington’s former office nearby.

King Charles took part in the parade riding in a carriage alongside Queen Camilla, as he did last year, due to his ongoing battle with cancer, instead of on horseback as he did in 2023.

Prince William wore the Full Ceremonial Guard Order of the Welsh Guards, of which he is colonel.

Princess Anne rode in the parade in her role as gold stick, the person in charge of the King’s protection and colonel of the Blues and Royals.

Trooping the Colour involves more than 1400 soldiers of the Household Division and King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, including more than 400 musicians from the Massed Bands.

It will also include 250 soldiers from the Foot Guards, who will line the processional route along The Mall.

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What is Trooping the Colour?

Trooping the Colour is the annual celebration of the sovereign’s official birthday.

The ceremony is a tradition dating back to 1760 and the reign of King George III, who was born in June.

King Charles’ real birthday is November 14 and in 2025, the monarch will turn 77.

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