Now Showing: Trooping the Colour

Every year on the Queen's Official Birthday, troops from around the UK and throughout the Commonwealth are paraded in front of Her Majesty at Horse Guard's Palace in London.

Until 1986 the Queen actually rode in the parade, which made an indelible impression on me at a very young age. I suppose it was the Jubilee Year - 1977 - and thereafter the sight of her there in that red tunic astride Burmese never failed to impress me.

Nowadays, of course, she rides in a carriage. In this clip, from 2004, she appears at the 2:20 mark.

Queen's Birthday Honours Announced

Cricketer Ian Botham, novelist Salman Rushdie, and Dame Edna Everage creator Barry Humphries were all honoured by the Queen on this, her official birthday, for services rendered in their respective spheres. Botham, already an OBE, today appends the honorific Sir to his name. Same for Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses caused such an uproar in 1988.

Honours were also bestowed upon Michael Eavis, who founded the Glastonbury Festival, Jane Tomlinson, who has advocated for people with cancer, and Peter Sallis, the voice of Wallace of Wallace & Gromit fame. No word yet from the chap who voices Gromit on how he feels about that.

Also in the list: celebrity hairdresser Nicky Clarke.
Not on the list: David Beckham. Aw.

[S O U R C E]

Happy Official Birthday Your Majesty

Rain fell on today's Trooping the Colour ceremony, in honour of the Queen's official birthday, but didn't dampen the spirits of the crowds at Horse Guards Palace to witness the historic tradition.

Here Her Majesty is joined on the balcony by (from left) Princess Eugenie, Prince William, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince of Wales. (That thing behind the Queen that looks like a wicker room divider is Camilla's hat.)

Outside, a protest by Fathers 4 Justice was thwarted.