Trooping the Colour, the official celebration of the monarch’s birthday, takes place this weekend – but how much will it cost? And, perhaps more importantly, who’s footing the bill?
King Charles‘ first Trooping the Colour as monarch takes place on Saturday (June 17). It takes place on Horse Guards Parade, before the royals make their way to the Buckingham Palace balcony. Once there, a flypast is scheduled to take place, featuring the Red Arrows.
While Charles will celebrate his 75th birthday on November 14, the official birthday is a centuries-old tradition. And it means that the royals get to celebrate with the public in the summer – instead of in the middle of our bleak mid-winter.
Trooping the Colour cost: Who pays for all that pageantry?
More than 1,400 soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians will be taking part in this year’s parade. It is set to last for two hours and will be followed by an RAF flypast. There will also be a 41-gun salute. So the event will certainly not be lacking in any of the usual pageantry, despite Charles’ reported calls for a slimmed-down monarchy.
With the cost-of-living crisis raging for his subjects, King Charles’ birthday parade will certainly cost a pretty penny. But just how much will it cost – and who pays for the show of pomp and ceremony?
Trooping the Colour, unlike the recent coronation which was a state event, is classed as a ceremonial event. This means that costs are covered by Buckingham Palace. Money comes from either revenue from the Duchies of Cornwall or Lancaster, or the Sovereign Grant. The latter is the tax-funded allocation given to the royals from the Treasury. So, in a roundabout way, Brits could be footing part of the bill.
However, with the Met Police and the City of Westminster also involved, most of the cost will fall to them. And they are ultimately taxpayer-funded, too.
How much will the Trooping the Colour cost?
In total, the Express claims this weekend’s event could cost as much as £10 million.
A Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the 2021 Trooping the Colour ceremony cost the Ministry of Defence £59,662. This was up from £24,600 in 2019.
The MoD costs included transport, fuel, horse feed and temporary stables. However, with well-wishers flocking to the capital to catch a glimpse of the royals, keeping the crowds safe will be a huge task. And that’s one that falls to the Met Police.
In 2022, the Trooping the Colour event kick-started a four-day long weekend of celebrations for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The Met revealed that it spent an extra £8m policing proceedings. A quarter of that could have presumably been spent on Trooping the Colour – so a quarter of that adds £2m to the price tag.
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak, who was Chancellor at the time, set aside £28m in the 2021/22 budget to be spent on the Platinum Jubilee. A quarter of that would add £7m to the bill for the monarch’s birthday parade.
So, adding all the stats together, the cost could total around £9.5m this year.
ED! contacted Buckingham Palace for comment.
What does Trooping the Colour actually mean?
The custom of Trooping the Colour dates back to the time of Charles II in the 17th century.
Back then, the colours of a regiment – their flags – were used as a rallying point in battle. Therefore, they were trooped in front of the soldiers every day to make sure every man could recognise his own regiment.
In London, the Foot Guards used to do this as part of their daily Guard Mounting on Horse Guards Parade. And the modern Trooping the Colour parade is along similar lines – hence “Trooping” the “Colour”.
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