The ballot to apply for Trooping the Colour tickets is open, meaning you are in with a chance of celebrating The Queen’s official birthday at Horse Guards Parade in June!
You can now apply for tickets to attend The Queen’s Birthday Parade, more popularly known as Trooping the Colour. (Cpl Timothy Jones RLC/Crown Copyright)
Tickets, which are very limited in number, will allow you to watch one of the great spectacles in the royal calendar up close, seeing what members of the Royal Family do.
Over 1400 officers and men and two hundred horses are on parade, with over four hundred musicians from ten bands and corps of drums marching and playing to mark Her Majesty’s official birthday. This year, it will be the 1st Battalion Irish Guards who display their colour.
Tell me about… Trooping the Colour
You may apply for a maximum of 3 tickets, while there is no maximum limit for the Colonel and Major-General’s reviews in the weeks leading up to Trooping the Colour.
These reviews are a sneak-peek into the parade, if you will. The Colonel’s Review takes place a week before, on 10th June 2017. It is a practise run, fine-tuning the rehearsal. This year, the salute is to be taken by The Duke of Cambridge as Colonel-in-Chief of the Irish Guards. It generally rotates amongst members of the family with a colonel role (Anne, Charles, William, Duke of Kent), as well as Colonel’s in the Household Divisions. The Major General’s Review will be on the 3rd June.
The Queen began riding in a carriage in 1987 (John Pannell)
A ticket to the event will cost you £35.00, while the Colonel’s review is £10.00 and tickets are free of charge for The Major General’s Review. You have until 28th February to apply for tickets – do not delay!
In your letter, state which event you wish to attend, how many tickets you’d like (max of 3 for Trooping itself), and include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Send it to:
Brigade Major
HQ Household Division
Horse Guards
Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AX
Anyone from Canada, Australia and New Zealand wanting to attend Trooping the Colour should instead send their application to their High Commission in London. For tickets to the Major General’s and Colonel’s Reviews, send the letter to the above address.
You will be contacted in March should your application have bene successful, so do not send any money until then.
If you are unlucky to not get a ticket, why not join the crowds that line the Mall to see the regiments march and ride past, followed by the carriage processions to and from Horse Guards from the Palace.
Those that are quick enough will also manage to get to Buckingham Palace’s gates, to see the extended Royal Family appear on the balcony and watch the RAF fly-past. In 2016, Princess Charlotte made her first appearance at the event.
Failing that, the BBC televise the event each year.
