Bowing out on high note

A SIKH Coldstream Guardsman, the first to wear a turban on parade during Trooping the Colour, says he hopes it will be seen as a “change in history”.

Guardsman Charanpreet Singh Lall will be among more than 1,000 soldiers taking part in the Queen’s birthday parade in Horse Guards Parade, London, today. The 22-yearold, from Leicester, will wear a black turban instead of the Guards’ traditional bearskin.

He said: “I hope that people will look at it as a new change in history.

“I hope that more people like me, not just Sikhs, but people from other religions and backgrounds, will be encouraged to join the Army.” Guardsman Lall, who joined the Army in January 2016, was born in Punjab, India, and moved to Britain as a baby.

He said: “I’m quite proud and I know that a lot of other people are proud of me as well.

“Being the first turban-wearing Sikh to troop the colour and to be part of the escort is a really high honour for myself and hopefully for everyone else as well.

“It is a good feeling that I am going to have an influence on other people.

“My mother was crying on the day I passed out.

“Now I wonder what is going to happen to her when she sees me in this.” A DRUM Major will parade in his final Trooping the Colour to a tune he has chosen – from his time fighting in the Gulf War.

The spectacle on Horse Guards Parade today marks the Queen’s official birthday.

For Drum Major Steve Staite, 55, who has taken part in Trooping the Colour 26 times, it also ends almost 39 years in the Forces.

The father-of-two, from Preston, said: “Marching on to parade with the band playing Wadi al Batin [a battle honour from the 1991 Gulf War, in which he fought], which I chose, will be quite emotional.”

He added: “What better day to go out than the Queen’s birthday?”