Trooping the Colour 2013: The Queen's Birthday Parade and Flypast

The following video is the BBC's coverage of Trooping the Colour 2013. 

Trooping the Colour ceremony is the official celebration of the Queen's birthday.  Although The Queen was born on April 21, it has long been the tradition to celebrate the Sovereign's birthday publicly on a day in the summer when good weather in London is more likely.

Trooping the Colour is carried out by fully trained and operational troops from the Household Division (Foot Guards and Household Cavalry) on Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall, watched by members of the Royal Family, invited guests and members of the public.  It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier. On battlefields, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points. Consequently, regiments would have their ensigns slowly march with their colors between the soldiers' ranks to enable soldiers to recognize their regiments' colors.
  
Today's Trooping The Colour Flypast 2013 with the Band of the Royal Irish Regiment

In 1951 King George VI was too ill to attend the ceremony (he later had a lung removed in September 1951 due to lung cancer), so then Princess Elizabeth (the heiress presumptive) took the King's place and took the royal salute for the first time.  King George VI died eight months later.   

The following video is from the 1951 Trooping the Colour:

This film footage is from the Archive Collection held by the Alexandra Palace Television Society.