Sun shines on Queen’s birthday parade

It was an official birthday like no other. But as the sun shone on Windsor Castle on Saturday, local time, the first socially distanced military parade in honour of the Queen passed off without a hitch, to the visible delight of Her Majesty.

In her first ‘‘live’’ engagement since the coronavirus lockdown began, the Queen stepped out in the castle’s quadrangle to watch the scaled-back pomp and ceremony of the Welsh Guards in what has been described as a ‘‘mini Trooping the Colour’’.

Appearing pleased by the efforts of soldiers, whose ranks included the first female guardsman to parade for the annual celebration, the Queen stood without her family for a ceremony put together with just two weeks of rehearsal in honour of her 94th birthday.

It was the first time in the Queen’s 68-year reign that the event was held at Windsor Castle, with the customary appearance from the Royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony exchanged for the Queen watching keenly from a dais.

The wider Royal family were expected to watch the ceremony from their homes, with speculation that the Duke of Edinburgh could view the live spectacle from a window of Windsor Castle in his retirement.

Just 20 soldiers from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards took part, under the commanding eye of Lt

Col Henry Llewelyn-Usher, all

2.2m apart with adapted manoeuvres to suit the new

Covid-19-appropriate regime. Wearing a floral silk ‘‘jade grey and dusty pink’’ dress by Stewart Parvin outfit and hat by Rachel Trevor-Morgan, the Queen added the diamond leek brooch of the Welsh Guards for her first official appearance on duty since March.

Accompanied by Vice-Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt, Master of the Household; Lt Col Michael Vernon, Comptroller; and Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah, the Queen’s equerry, the monarch smiled broadly as she saw the assembled troops waiting to greet her with a royal salute.

The parade had been described ahead of time as a ‘‘personal tribute’’ to the Queen, particularly in light of her contribution to the nation’s morale during the coronavirus pandemic, with Huw Edwards, commentating on the BBC, calling it a ‘‘rather elaborate version of a familiar event at the castle, the Changing of the Guard’’.

Rhian Morgan from Newport, South Wales, become the first female Guardsman to appear on a parade for the Queen’s birthday, having joined the Welsh Guards earlier this year. –

GETTY IMAGES Queen Elizabeth II attends a ceremony to mark her official birthday at Windsor Castle on Saturday. In line with Government advice, it was agreed that The Queen’s Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping the Colour, would not go ahead in its traditional form.