Thousands join Queen to celebrate birthday during Trooping the Colour ceremony
The Queen celebrated her official birthday today with the pomp and pageantry of the traditional Trooping the Colour ceremony.
Joined by all the adult senior royals, she inspected 1,000 soldiers of the Household Division at Horse Guards Parade in central London.
She was also honoured with a traditional flypast Royal Air Force Red Arrows.
The Queen arrived in an Ascot Landau carriage after the short drive down The Mall from Buckingham Palace, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh.
Wearing a powder blue satin silk coat, dress and hat with navy trim, all by Angela Kelly, with a Brigade of Guards brooch, the Queen then rode alone in the carriage - the first time she has ridden in it for this ceremony - to inspect her troops.
The royals will have been glad of today's balmy weather compared to last week's torrential downpour which soaked guards during the final rehearsal.
The Prince of Wales, who is Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, who is Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Cambridge, Colonel of the Irish Guards, were all on horseback for today's ceremony.
The Duchess of Cambridge, in an outfit similar in colour to that of the Queen, arrived in a coach alongside the Duchess of Cornwall, who was in peach.
There was no sign of Prince George of Cambridge.
The colour being paraded on Horse Guards this year was the flag of Nijmegen Company Grenadier Guards.
Four of the five Foot Guards regiments of the Household Division - the Welsh Guards, Grenadier Guards, Scots Guards and the Coldstream Guards - marched in the parade wearing their traditional bearskin hats and red tunics.
The Queen's actual birthday was on April 21, when she turned 88.