Saturday saw the annual Trooping of the Colour ceremony at Horseguards, an event that has taken place for centuries but which was notable for it being the first one wit King Charles III in attendance.
Normally it is a bit of a pain to do tours in Whitehall when Trooping of the Colour is on but I was asked to on this occasion. Over the last 10 years I’ve done tours during marathons, races, protests, parades, lockdowns, state funerals and even terrorist attacks.
Nevertheless it’s not always ideal and though tourists get to see a bit of the added spectacle, it also can be a bit more crowded and way more chaotic than usual.
London is my office and whilst it may be the biggest, coolest and most historical office in the world, I do have to share it sometimes with all manner of people and those who come to see an event are like those new people in an office who don’t really know how to operate the photocopy machine… do they still have photocopiers? I don’t know, I’ve not been in an office since 2013.
I’ve often wanted to watch the Royal Air Force flypast which traditionally seals the Trooping of the Colour but when you work in busy old London, 360 or so days a year, usually I just want to get out of there.
However having worked through the Queens jubilee, her funeral and much of the Coronation and indeed the Trooping of the Colour, I found myself just a few minutes walk from the Mall where I knew at 1pm there would be the big flyby.
I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s because I’m friendly, smiley or just as Londoners say, fortunate to have the ‘gift of the gab’ but I often end up being granted access to closed-off areas as others look on in equal wonder and not doubt fury. Most notably doing a Churchill themed tour a day or so before the Queens funeral where I was allowed to take my tourists through several areas where even the BBC news teams weren’t allowed though it did involve repeating my very honest pleas to several police and armed soldiers. My guests told me they thought I must be working for Mi5 but of course I wouldn’t be able to tell them if I were!
By comparison, getting through to the Mall this time was relatively easy. I was quite excited to see the flypast as the last real time I’d seen the Red Arrows was around 1979 and I quite like aircraft. I still remember the amazing flypast in the 90’s the commemorated the end of WW2, it was probably the largest fleet of aeroplanes above London since WW2 itself and featured planes of all eras.
I got myself the best position I could, right in the middle of the Mall and excited waited with tens of thousands of others, some of whom had been here for hours and watching the main Trooping of the Colour from the sidelines.
A child from Australia was hoisted on to his fathers shoulders, I’m not sure why as planes have a tendency to fly overhead and that extra bit of height wasn’t going to make much of a difference to him.
I had the misfortune of a rather loud and in my mind, slightly crazy lady who would clap furiously whenever a plane went by. Maybe she had a familial reason but even on the video you can hear she stands out as outright patriotism isn’t really the thing here.
There was mounting excitement as the waves of aircraft flew overhead, the helicopters including the fantastic Chinooks and then the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight with the famous Spitfire, Hurricane and the mighty Lancaster Bomber. I particularly love the sound of a Spitfire.
The flypast continues with a sample of all manner of more recent planes and included a very skilful formation in the shape of ‘CR’ flying overhead. Finally, perhaps the highlight of it all was the incredible Red Arrows, the aerial display team of the RAF and from the cheers I’m obviously not the only one who was anticipating their arrival.
When I say the Red Arrows was the best part, of course they were but I somehow managed to get a seat on the Underground train home which given the countless thousands of people all around was some achievement. A tour-guide thing of knowing all the short cuts, little used alleys and the tube stations to use and indeed avoid at big events.
I hope you enjoy the video I took below.
Stephen Liddell 