King and Queen cheered by crowds at Trooping the Colour BBC News

The pomp and pageantry of Trooping the Colour has taken place in London in the past few hours, celebrating the King's official birthday. Thousands of people lined the streets of the Mall in central London to get a glimpse of the royal family. The King travelled with the Queen in an open-top carriage for the ceremony, which showcases the British Army's ceremonial prowess. This year's display was led by the Grenadier Guards, who received new colours from His Majesty, the regiment's Colonel-in-Chief. Joining them was the Princess of Wales and her three children. The Princess took a leading role in the event as she continues her return to full-time royal duties. Just yards from Buckingham Palace, the traditional 41-gun salute was fired from Green Park. This year, it was the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery firing the field guns, and the sound carried across the huge crowds in the Mall and the surrounding area. The royal family then assembled on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the traditional fly-past by RAF aircraft. Huge cheers from both the royal family and the spectators. 29 aircraft took to the skies above the crowds on the Mall and over Buckingham Palace. Typhoon and F-35, a C-17 Globemaster and the Red Arrows flew over central London. After the fly-past, members of the royal family waved to well-wishers. Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis appeared visibly excited, chatting with their parents, William and Kate, throughout the display. Our royal correspondent Sarah Campbell has all the details on today's day of pageantry. Trooping the Colour is the annual moment when the royal family really gather en masse. It's full of pomp, it's full of pageantry, and people, members of the public, were here from early doors to line the Mall to get the best view possible when the King and Queen left Buckingham Palace, travelled by carriage up to Horse Guards, followed by the royal colonels on horseback, including Prince William and the Princess of Wales, Catherine, in a carriage with their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The section on Horse Guards, the military parade, that's the main moment. That was when the Grenadier Guards trooped their colour, or their flag, in front of the King. The King takes the royal salute. It's a moment of huge significance, I think, both to the royal family, to the King as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, but also to those troops showing their honour and how much the royal family mean to them. And after the military parade, back to Buckingham Palace, because if that was the army's chance to shine, then it's the RAF flypast. That's the RAF's chance to shine, and that flypast where all the senior royals join the King and Queen on the balcony, including, of course, the three children, who clearly love a flypast, finished, of course, in the most spectacular fashion, by the Red Arrows, with their red, white and blue smoke trails lighting up across the sky. A couple of things to say. There were thousands of people here supporting, cheering on the royals. There was also a small number, but a very vocal number, of anti-monarchy protesters here, waving yellow flags around. It has been, it's fair to say, a turbulent year for the royals, most notably because of the continuing scandal surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, which continues to be an issue for the royal family. But today, choosing the colour, it was about pomp, it was about pageantry and a beautiful blue skies and a picture-perfect setting. Well, thanks to Sarah Campbell and the team at Buckingham Palace. There are lots of lovely pictures on our website, if you'd like to just walk yourselves through what happened earlier today.