CROWDS TURN OUT FOR TROOPING THE COLOUR REHEARSAL
MOST people wouldn’t rehearse for their grandmother’s birthday commemorations by donning a bearskin hat and riding a horse through Central London.
But then most people don’t have the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh – who himself turned 96 yesterday – as grandparents.
Their grandson, the Duke of Cambridge and Colonel of the Irish Guards, joined hundreds of soldiers for the Colonel’s Review on The Mall yesterday.
The event, watched by a huge crowd in the warm early summer sunshine, was the final rehearsal of next Saturday’s Trooping the Colour – the Queen’s annual birthday parade.
But the sunny weather got too much at one point and an Irish Guard collapsed before being attended to by colleagues and then taken away on a stretcher.
There were also royal celebrations in Cardiff yesterday as Welsh Reserve soldiers fired a gun salute outside City Hall for Prince Philip’s 96th birthday.
The event was organised by 160th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Wales, based in Brecon, and hosted by 104 Regiment Royal Artillery, who are based in Newport.
Morfudd Ann Meredith, the Lord Lieutenant of South Glamorgan, took the salute, with Deputy Commander 160th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Wales, Colonel Lance Patterson.
This was the second such Royal Gun Salute in June and next Saturday there will be another ceremony in Cardiff Bay, outside the Pierhead building, to celebrate the Queen’s official birthday. On that day there will also be a Military Festival of Music with a number of bands playing music in and around the Roald Dahl Plass – a free event to attend.