Trooping the Colour 2023

Live Stream & TV broadcast coverage. King's Birthday parade date, start time, schedule and online ticket ballot.

Trooping the Colour, now also known as the King's Birthday Parade (previously Queen's Birthday Parade) is an incredibly popular event, taking place early summer each year and attracting huge crowds to The Mall and Buckingham Palace to watch this stunning display of pageantry and colour. This year of course sees King Charles in attendence and for the first time in 3 decades, the reigning monarch will join the parade on horseback!

The Trooping of the Colour has been taking place in London since way back in the 17th century. The event is designated to mark the King's official birthday, which is conveniently held in June which makes clement weather much more likely than if it took place on his actual birthday, which is in wintry November.

Tickets

Previously free and open to the public, the Trooping of the Colour is now subject to a public online ballot for both seated and standing tickets. Prices range from 10 to 30 pounds. You can apply to be in the ballot here: Trooping The Colour Ballot.

You can still see the event by watching live on TV or online - see below for details.

Date

The Trooping of the Colour (reviewed by His Majesty The King) will be held on 17th June 2023 from 10am.

There are 2 other Trooping of the Colour events before the big day - Saturday 3rd June Reviewed by Major General C J Ghika CBE and on 10th June, reviewed by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales - tickets are also available for these.

Start Time & Schedule

Scheduled for 10.00am, but can vary slightly either way.

At precisely 11am (as struck by the clock on the Horse Guards building) the royal party will arrive at Horse Guards parade on Whitehall to make the inspection of the Guards and the Household Cavalry.

It is expected that the King will then return to Buckingham Palace for the 41 gun salute by the King's Troop located in Green Park, before watching a Royal Air Force fly past from the balcony of the palace. The event will be completed by around 1pm.

If you aren't one of the lucky people with a ticket, but you want to be out in person, then the best spot is probably going to be The Mall or at the edge of St Jame's Park, it will be packed though, so you'd need to get ther early to get a spot.

Trooping the Colour route

The route of the Trooping the Colour is long established - the King will travel in her carriage down The Mall from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade and then back again.

TV & Live Streaming

The Trooping of the Colour is broadcast each year on the BBC, with live coverage of the whole event on BBC1 for those of you who can get to a TV, and also of course via the iPlayer for free online streaming, although again this is geo-restricted for UK residents only.

There is also widespread TV and online coverage of the event in countries around the world, with particular interest in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

You can watch the live stream here:

Trooping the Colour live stream

Hotels and Accommodation

London is of course very popular with visitors from around the UK and internationally all year round, so you likely won't notice a particular premium on prices for the Trooping the Colour weekend, but it is still very much advisable to reserve your accommodation well in advance.

You can begin your search for local hotels here.

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