Trooping the Colour 2025: Royal family celebrate biggest event of the year

The royal family has celebrated its biggest event of the year, coming together for the King's birthday parade.

Also known as Trooping the Colour, the spectacle saw King Charles III and Queen Camilla lead members of their family, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, in a military parade before they gathered on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch the Royal Air Force fly past.

It is the third time the event has been held in King Charles III's honour, following his succession to the throne in September 2022.

READ MORE: Kate wears outfit that is near-identical to Diana's at same event in 1988

The family appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace at the culmination of the event, with the King and Queen standing besides Prince William and Kate and their children Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven.

They were joined by the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent.

Absent from this year's balcony line up were the two adult children of Prince Edward and Sophie: Lady Louise and James, Earl of Wessex. Lady Louise was included in last year's Trooping the Colour, including the carriage ride to Horse Guards Parade, while her younger brother last took part in 2022.

READ MORE: How the royals made Trooping the Colour a family affair

The decision to exclude them from this year's celebration is likely due to the long-held belief that King Charles is striving for a slimmed-down monarchy, with the balcony only including those working in service of the Crown and those in the direct line of succession, as the Wales children are.

The 14 members that were on the palace balcony were those seen on VE Day in May.

The balcony appearance is the focal point of Trooping the Colour and all eyes are usually on the royal children, with George, Charlotte and Louis providing humorous antics over the years.

But in a sign of the youngest royal growing up, Prince Louis – who has become known for his cheeky ways during the noisy fly past since his first appearance at the event in 2019 – was uncharacteristically calm and, some might say, well behaved.

However, there was one moment that caught the eye of many: Prince George was spotted nudging his younger brother when Louis continued to wave at the crowds below, long after the other royals had stopped.

King Charles appeared visibly moved while standing on the palace balcony as he watched the RAF's aerobatic display team fly overhead, using for the first time a blend of sustainable aviation fuel and regular aviation fuel for propulsion.

The monarch and Queen Camilla were greeted with huge cheers from the watching crowds as they stepped out onto the balcony before being joined by the rest of their family.

Earlier, the royals travelled in procession from the palace to the Horse Guards Parade to watch the military parade portion of the day.

The royal procession, in order, included the Duchess of Edinburgh and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence in a barouche, followed by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

The Princess of Wales rode in the Ascot Landau with her children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

King Charles and Queen Camilla were also in an Ascot Landau.

The Queen wore a silver embroidery outfit by Anna Valentine, with a hat by Philip Treacy and a Grenadier Guards brooch.

The Prince of Wales, Princess Anne and the Duke of Edinburgh were on horseback.

The Princess of Wales wore an aquamarine-coloured Catherine Walker outfit, hat by Juliette Botterill and the late Queen Elizabeth's Bahrain pearl and diamond earrings.

Princess Charlotte matched her mum, wearing a dress in the same colour.

Kate's outfit bore a striking resemblance to the Catherine Walker coatdress seen on the late Diana, the then-Princess of Wales, at Trooping the Colour in 1988.

In a show of respect to the lives lost in the deadly Air India crash two days ago in Ahmedabad, the King asked members of his family to wear black armbands.

King Charles, Prince William, Princess Anne and the Duke of Edinburgh, who dressed in military uniform for the parade, all sported black armbands.

So did the coachmen and women from the Royal Mews and mounted officers.

A minute's silence was held after the King has inspected the hundreds of guardsmen lined up on Horse Guards Parade.

India is part of the Commonwealth, of which the King is head of, and 53 British nations were killed in the crash.

Queen Elizabeth II held a similar moment of silence in 2017, when Trooping the Colour took place three days after a fire ripped through the Grenfell Tower apartment bloc in west London, killing 72 people.

Once at the Horse Guards Parade, the Princess of Wales sat besides the King on the dais.

Kate was there in her role as Colonel of the Irish Guards and took the same position on the dais in 2023. She also wore an Irish Guards Regimental Brooch.

In 2024, due to her cancer treatment, the princess, alongside her children, watched the parade from a window of the Duke of Wellington's former office nearby.

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All the best photos from Trooping the Colour 2025

As the King saluted the servicemen who marched past, the monarch looked visibly emotional.

The Princess of Wales and the Queen stood either side of the King during the salutes.

King Charles had travelled to and from the parade riding in a carriage alongside Queen Camilla, as he did last year, due to his ongoing battle with cancer, instead of on horseback as he did in 2023.

One year on from her accident with a horse, Princess Anne rode to and from the parade.

In June, 2024, she spent five nights in hospital with head injuries that suggested she had been struck by a horse as she walked around her Gatcombe Park estate.

The Princess Royal rode in the parade in her role as gold stick, the person in charge of the King's protection and colonel of the Blues and Royals.

Prince William, who was on horseback again, wore the Full Ceremonial Guard Order of the Welsh Guards, of which he is colonel.

Trooping the Colour involves more than 1400 soldiers of the Household Division and King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, including more than 400 musicians from the Massed Bands.

It also included 250 soldiers from the Foot Guards, who lined the processional route along The Mall.

What is Trooping the Colour?

Trooping the Colour is the annual celebration of the sovereign's official birthday.

The ceremony is a tradition dating back to 1760 and the reign of King George III, who was born in June.

King Charles' real birthday is November 14 and in 2025, the monarch will turn 77.

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