London, June 15: The sun shone on the traditional ceremony marking Queen Elizabeth II's official birthday yesterday, with husband Prince Philip by her side for the first time, having abandoned the saddle for a place beside her in the royal coach. The Duke of Edinburgh, who has recently been showing signs of fatigue, normally accompanies the royal carriage on horseback in full military dress uniform.
Dressed in a blue suit and matching accessories, the Queen was greeted by thousands of cheering well-wishers who had lined the streets of central London for hours to see the traditional trooping of the Colours parade.
It was the Queen's 51st trooping the Colour as monarch. She has attended the parade every year of her reign except 1955, when a national rail strike forced its cancellation.
Travelling in a separate coach, Princes William and harry, the sons of heir to the throne Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, also received an enthusiastic response from the crowd.
Charles, the Prince of Wales, rode on horseback in the uniform of the colonel of the Welsh guards, alongside his brother Edward, Duke of Kent and his sister Anne, the Princess Royal.
After the ceremony the royal family gathered on the balcony of Buckingham Palace as the queen took an aerial salute from an RAF fly past of 11 different aircraft.
Although the 77-year-old queen's official birthday is on 21 April, the celebrations take place in June in the hope of good weather.
Bureau Report