Trooping the Colour 2016 caught me by surprise. I had set off for Buckingham Palace hoping to film Changing the Guard. Instead, I found myself beside The Mall watching the Major General’s Review procession: mounted troops, horse-drawn carriages, musicians and long ranks of Foot Guards.
From the Roberts London archive: this film was published on 29 May 2016. It records the rehearsal on 28 May, ahead of Queen Elizabeth II’s Birthday Parade on 11 June.
A London walk with an unexpected ending
The film begins with London on the edge of summer. My opening promise of sunshine quickly makes room for rain, which seems a fair introduction to a day out in the capital. There is a man-made beach by the Thames, a stop beside the Churchill statue and a look towards Shakespeare’s Globe.
The opening conversation also places the film firmly in 2016. The EU referendum was approaching, and the year marked the four-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Those reflections belong to the moment in which I recorded them. Before long, however, the walk turns towards Buckingham Palace and the Queen’s ninetieth-birthday year.
Looking for Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace
My plan was simple: arrive near the palace and catch the guards in their ceremonial uniforms. The reality was a wall of visitors. I walked closer for a look, then decided that pushing further into the crowd might make it very difficult to get back out.
Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial provided the familiar backdrop, but the space around them was packed. Rather than stay among the thickest crowds, I moved away from the palace along The Mall. I hoped that a position farther down the road would give me a clearer view of the troops.
Discovering the Major General’s Review
That change of position transformed the outing. I could hear drums farther along The Mall and realised that a larger rehearsal was under way. What I had stumbled into was the Major General’s Review, part of the preparations for Trooping the Colour 2016.
This was a rehearsal ahead of the Queen’s Birthday Parade, not the birthday ceremony itself. In the film, I explain that I knew about the following weekend’s rehearsal because members of my family had tickets. I had not expected to encounter this earlier review as well.
After asking a police officer when the procession would come along the road, I went back to find a spot beside the barriers. There was time to wait, look at the flags and talk to the camera. Then the parade arrived—and so did the rain. Umbrellas began opening among the spectators.
Carriages and mounted musicians on The Mall
The roadside view made it possible to see the procession at close quarters. Horses and riders passed beneath the Union flags, followed by carriages and further mounted groups. The red road surface and fresh green trees gave the ceremonial uniforms a vivid setting.
The carriages were part of the rehearsal. Their presence should not be mistaken for footage of the Queen travelling to her birthday parade. This film records the preparations and the movement of the procession past my position on The Mall.
Mounted musicians added another layer to the scene. The film moves between the approaching groups and closer views as they pass the camera. Music, hoofbeats and applause help convey what it was like to stand beside the route that day.
Foot Guards marching past
Next came ranks of Foot Guards in scarlet tunics and bearskin caps. From beside the barriers, the formations stretched across the view before continuing along the road. It was far more pageantry than I had expected when I set out that morning.
The procession is the centrepiece of the film, but it remains a personal London walk rather than a complete record of the review on Horse Guards Parade. My camera follows the groups passing along The Mall and the changing atmosphere among the spectators.
More than I had bargained for
Afterwards, I reflected on a trip that had turned into something quite different from the plan. The closing walk returns to everyday London: slow-moving visitors, the river and the practical business of getting through a busy city. Living here means sharing familiar streets with people seeing them for the first time.
I returned for the next rehearsal, which you can watch in my Colonel’s Review film from Horse Guards Parade. For the birthday weekend itself, there is also my Green Park picnic and Trooping the Colour outing.
Watch the Major General’s Review film
The original film runs for around twenty-six minutes. It includes the walk, the unexpected discovery of the rehearsal and the procession on The Mall. The photographs in this article are frames from that recording. Any visiting times mentioned in the video describe the 2016 outing, rather than a current timetable.
