let's bring you live pictures now from london. if we can have a look and return and bring you some images where crowds are gathering for the trooping the colour. that's the image of the mall there. crowds, lining up already. and just to give you a bit of an overview, the event marks the official birthday of the british sovereign for more than 260 years and this year marks king charles iii's trooping of the

colour as sovereign. many horses, troops and musicians coming together for what is display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare to mark what is the king's official birthday. and the parade moves from buckingham palace and down to the mall, for horse guards�*s parade. these are the images that you are saying and the display culminates in a fly past by the raf. so, aircraft from the royal navy, the british army and of course the royal air force will be celebrating the king's birth with a fly past scheduled for

1pm. in two and a half hours�* time. 70 aircraft are expected to fly through the sky past buckingham palace, which is always the peak of the event and draws huge crowds and it follows the royal family appearing on the balcony to greet the crowd. and that is when, as we were hearing from a correspondent outside buckingham palace in earlier, that�*s when the crowds push down toward buckingham palace and around the gates to see the royal family appear on the balcony. and wave to the crowds. just talk you through what to expect in terms of how the day progresses,

the order of events around 10:a5am, in around seven minutes�* time, his majesty the king is due to leave buckingham palace escorted by the household cavalry. and then at 11 o�*clock precisely, injust household cavalry. and then at 11 o�*clock precisely, in just under half an hour�*s time, the king is due to arrive on horse guards parade to take the royal salute. and then he reviews his guards riding down the ranks, the footguards, the cavalry. during the parade, colour is trooped through the ranks past the king and then the household cavalry and king�*s troop royal horse artillery file past. and that�*s all before the

king heads up towards buckingham palace, scheduled around 1220 am in just under two hours�* time. let�*s speak now to our royal correspondence nicholas witchell who is there. nicholas, can you tell us more about what we are expecting to see today? so, very shortly we will see today? so, very shortly we will see king charles leaving buckingham palace with some of the royal princes and other principal members of the royalfamily princes and other principal members of the royal family and for the first time since 1986, we will see a british monarch actually riding to this parade, trooping the colour on down horse guards parade and making his way down the mall. it�*s been a long time since this has happened in just a reminder that this parade is called the kings birthday parades.

for many years it was the queen�*s birthday parade and it�*s an event when the army pays its tribute to the british sovereign as they have been doing for more than 200 years. this parade which goes back to the early years of the 18th century. that is what we will be seeing. it is significant because it�*s the first birthday parade of king charles�*s rain. it�*s the first king�*s birthday parade since 1951. it's king�*s birthday parade since 1951. it�*s the first time a king will have been on parade for the actual trooping ceremony. that was the last yearin trooping ceremony. that was the last year in which king george vi was well enough to attend the parade. there are some other first as we see some pictures from horse guards parade. it�*s the first time all five foot guard regiments are parading. normally at least one of them is on deployment somewhere else but, on

this occasion, all five troops are on parade. the weather this morning is quite suitable for a parade such as this. it�*s bright but quite cool. there is a high level of cloud this morning which will beat to the relief of the soldiers on parade for the full dress rehearsal which took place a week ago. last saturday, quite a number of the soldiers fainted because it was so hot. so, for their sake and for the sake of the horses who will be on parade it will certainly be a relief that the conditions are rather more appropriate and helpful to the parade. what we�*re seeing now is the different regiments of the footguards forming up on horse guards parade. they will soon take

up guards parade. they will soon take up the five positions of the parade that are involved. and within the next few minutes, ten minutes or so, we will start to see members of the royal family leaving from buckingham palace to make their way down to horse guards parade to join palace to make their way down to horse guards parade tojoin it. nicholas, in the past few years it�*s been a slightly different scale because there wasn�*t the same scale during the early years of the pandemic and then last year, it was part of the platinum jubilee celebrations. so, how has this year is differed in scale from previous and recent years? this is a return to the traditional trooping parade which mostly took place during the late queen�*s reign. during a pandemic, a much more scaled down

version took place at windsor castle which had 300 troops. but particularly the foot guard regiments, they were able to maintain this tribute to the monarch, even during the years of the pandemic. so, it was very scaled—down, windsor castle and then last year, it was part of the jubilee celebrations. now, the late queen elizabeth was not able to appear on horse guards parade last year but she made a brief appearance on the balcony at buckingham palace, following the military parade. she was able to be there for a short period during the fly past taking place. so as you can see there, the footguards, the precision of the drill. a drill they will have been practising and rehearsing for some weeks now and it�*s important to remind ourselves that though these are ceremonial soldiers on occasion such as this, they are also active

soldiers. they are regular soldiers. part of the british army available for deployment, just like any other regiment of the british armed forces. but they are the mass ranks of the band of the household division in the foreground there and the ranks of the footguards, lined up, ready for the inspection by the king. 0nce up, ready for the inspection by the king. once he goes down to horse guards. it was a tradition maintained until 1986 when she decided it wasn�*t sensible for her to be riding and went down to the parade in a carriage. it is quite a spectacle, of military pageantry and precision. the colour being troop todayis precision. the colour being troop today is that of the welsh guards and the whole ceremony is rooted in

military history. if you go back many centuries it was to indicate to the trait which was their colour, hence the term trooping the colour, to make aware of what was their standard on which flag they should rally to in battle so that the historical background to the ceremony and then it became adopted, as i say, by the parade which now is as i say, by the parade which now is a signifies the armed forces regard for the monarch and this is for the kings birthday, the official birthday injune, when it possible to put on a parade such as this. nicholas, you mentioned the full dress rehearsal last week. our viewers last week may remember seeing the footage of the soldiers

feinting in the heat last week. as you mention there, the weather is more favourable today but it doesn�*t change the fact that this is quite a feat of endurance for the people taking part? yes. particularly, as you say in conditions that were occurring last saturday and i�*m quite sure that the footguards and the household cavalry, you can see from the picture there, that it�*s rather cloudy. it is bright, high cloud. this threat of some rain showers but the weather is pretty much perfect for a parade such as this. so now we�*ll start to see the first of the carriages leaving buckingham palace. we won�*t see members of the royal family yet but in some of these early carriages, they will be minor members of the royalfamily making they will be minor members of the royal family making their way down the mall. we�*ll need to see if

prince george, princess charlotte and prince louis make an appearance. memorably last year they were in one of the carriages but i think on this occasion they will not be in a carriage procession but i�*m sure we will see them later on the balcony. you can see the balcony all dressed and ready for their appearance. music: national anthem the royal salute played by the mounted band of the national cabaret. the duchess of edinburgh and admiraltim cabaret. the duchess of edinburgh and admiral tim lawrence. the royal formally known as prince edward, the earl of wessex but they have been promoted so she is now the duchess

of edinburgh and in that carriage also, tim lawrence, the husband of princess and, the princess royal. the mounted band of the household cavalry drawn up. quite a good crowd here. a good cheer to these members of the royal family as they go past. the duke of gloucester and some other members in the large limousines being driven now to horse guards parade. in the next moment or two we will see the more senior members of the royal family leaving buckingham palace. but in the meantime, we see these carriages just starting the journey down the mall. this is very much in ceremonial london. you�*ll remember this from the coronation, of course,

on a much damp day it was then but very much the same themes. the same regiments, the same paraphernalia of british pageantry been very apparent. and that large limousine with a large canopy on the back of it. i can�*t actually see who is in that one but making their way. and there at the mall, dressed in union flags, the street liners from the foot guard regiments lining the mall, together with a large force of the metropolitan police officers and it will take them about 10—12 minutes to make their way down from here to horse guards parade where we�*ve seen detachments of the footguards are all drawn up for this, the king�*s birthday parade, more generally known as trooping the colour. and, nicholas, for our

viewers watching from all around the world, one question might be, how on earth do you prepare and go through the logistics because, of course, the logistics because, of course, the rehearsal much of london can be closed off to run through the practice of this? yes, the rehearsals last saturday, i mean, saturday is clearly not one of the busiest days in the centre of london. it is busy but the metropolitan police are well used to shutting of the area around buckingham palace for various occasions. this, though, is the biggest regular ceremonial occasion, trooping the colour, that there are other occasions such as state visits, and similar occasions where the same arrangements will be put into place. but this is a well practised plan by the authorities here, in this area of ceremonial

london, the area around buckingham palace, down the mall, and those who are familiar of london from around the world will know the geography here. it�*s very straight, straight avenue down to horse guards parade. that is adjacent to downing street, just off whitehall. ceremonial, governmental london. here are some of the other carriages coming out from buckingham palace. and there is the king. king charles iii. and a royal salute takes place.

so, the king leading the party of principle members of the royal family out of buckingham palace. behind him, the prince of wales, the princess royal on the far side and also the duke of edinburgh who is now the kernel of the newly formed regiment called the london guards, a reserve regiment of the foot guard regiment. the three royal kernels riding behind the king and in a carriage behind them we will see the queen, queen camilla and the princess of wales. nearest to the camera in red, camilla, queen camilla who is colonel of the grenadier guards. and she�*s wearing

that colourfor grenadier guards. and she�*s wearing that colour for the tunics of the foot guard and the hat which has been modelled on the bearskins of the footguards. and beside her, the princess of wales who is now colonel of the welsh guards but there, the king, taking the parade in his own right, as britain�*s monarch for the first time. he took the salute last year on the half of his mother who was not well enough to attend the parade itself. the king charles. this is a parade he has attended dozens of times over the years. giving his horse a pact to steady it down. i guess anyone it�*s no mean feat to remain on horseback for the

amount of time that is required here. particularly, for the king who is after all in his 70s now. let�*s have a look and see who in that carriage. yes, the three children of the prince and princess of wales. 0n the prince and princess of wales. 0n the far side, prince george, prince louis in the middle and princess charlotte. they are having a look around. their mother in green. and i think i said she is now colonel of the welsh guards but it is actually the welsh guards but it is actually the irish guards. that would explain the irish guards. that would explain the green outfit she is wearing. the princess of wales has taken over from her husband as colonel of the irish guards. the rearrangements they�*ve made over the past few months. and now the royal salute.

so the early carriages moving past horse guards pulls my monument there. —— monument there. the parade already all drawn up in the background there. many vips around horse guards parade. they will be an audience of ambassadors, other notables, from embassies and high commissions in london, senior politicians. as they make their way to the saluting base which is the day yes we can see there which the king will take his place and when they arrive on horse guards parade.

and one other thing we have to look forward to, there, a rather splendid view up horse guards parade from the admiralty arch end. there is the victoria monument in the distance, buckingham palace and the far distance and you can see everywhere is dressed with the union flags we saw for the coronation. they are now very much characteristically part of the backdrop to trooping the colour. as the detachments make their way down the mall towards horse guards parade. something we have to look forward to at the end of the parade which will last about half an hour, the king will then lead to the royal party back up the mall and then they will appear in the palace balcony for the fly past and we recall that on coronation day they were supposed to be a rather large fly past by

aircraft from the royal air force but had to be largely cancelled because of the poor weather on coronation day. but that fly past will now be taking place today, in full. more than 70 aircraft, an example of precision, they will be forming up and flying over buckingham palace in about two hours from now. quite a feat of horsemanship if you think about it, to ride a horse, steer a horse and play a musical instrument. they are the mounted band of the household cavalry and at the front, to drum horses, one of which, i�*m not quite sure which, is on parade for the first time. this drum horse

completed its training and it�*s making its first appearance at a major ceremonial occasion and well it�*s doing very well. the king, wearing the sash of the order of the garter. 0ne the king, wearing the sash of the order of the garter. one of the many medals of decoration he holds and you will see that several of the royal princes behind him have that blue sash, signifying the order of the garter. the king�*s horse seems quite lively.

generally, the cavalry ensure that the member of the royalfamily generally, the cavalry ensure that the member of the royal family who clearly aren�*t riding every day have well behaved mounts for this occasion. 0nce well behaved mounts for this occasion. once again, we see on the left, queen camilla, colonel of the grenadier guards and in the grain, the princess of wales, colonel of the princess of wales, colonel of the irish guards and the three children, prince george, prince louis and princess charlotte. i remember last year prince louis was keen to wave a lot until his elder sister discouraged him. but it delighted the crowds. you can see a good number of people lining the mall on either many of side. them are tourists but many also from london or from are tourists but many also from london orfrom parts are tourists but many also from london or from parts of the united kingdom, coming to london for this

major ceremonial occasion. the king now approaching horse guards parade. locally... my, that horse really is quite excited by it all, isn�*t he? they tend to try to ensure that the monarch, the king, arrives at the saluting deus by 9am. they try to time this precisely. it went slightly wrong for the coronation because they rehearsed it all in the early hours of the morning but when the king�*s carriage brought him on the king�*s carriage brought him on the morning of the coronation, it�*s been during the day, it all went rather more quickly than it had done so in the early hours of the morning. that�*s why he arrived outside westminster abbey a couple

of minutes early. the sovereign�*s escort of the household cavalry. life got in the red units, blues and royals in the blue. the princess royal, behind in the carriage with the princess of wales and the three youngsters. turning the corner there, and now approaching horse guards parade. and as we were saying, a lot of

rehearsals. notjust here in london on the parade ground here, but in parade grounds at various military bases. aldershot, pirbright and they do spend weeks and weeks rehearsing this because the drill is intricate. the manoeuvres, wheeling, turning and marching in the footguards take pride in trying to do it with great precision and this is the moment when they can demonstrate their drill techniques. of course, one of the sharpest pairs of eyes has always been that of the late queen because she had been attending trooping the colour, since the early years of —— just after the second

world war. the king crossing the parade ground. he will remain on his the world war. the king crossing the parade ground. he will remain on his horse. we�*ve got so used to the late horse. we�*ve got so queen arriving in a carriage and dismounting and taking the salute on the saluting base we mentioned a few moments ago. but it seems normal now for the king to remain on his horse and to inspect the ranks of the foot guard. we will soon have the national anthem. as you can see, it�*s a perfect day here in london. not too hot, dry, and a bit of a breeze which will make things easier for all the participants. but the

king now approaching the point at which he will take the salute and by my watch it�*s about one minute to 11am. so they are a few seconds early. guards! royal salute! presentarms!

and so, there we are. this first king�*s birthday