The Colonel's Review. Britain's finest complete final dress rehearsal ahead of The King's Birthday Parade

BGUK_3604313 - Thousands of spectators braved a wet and blustery morning on Horse Guards Parade Today as the Household Division and the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery completed the Colonel's Review — the final full public dress rehearsal before next Saturday's King's Birthday Parade. Lieutenant General Sir James Bucknall who took the salute and carried out the inspection — stepping in for HM The Queen, Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, who was attending the wedding of Peter Phillips alongside other members of the Royal Family. Lieutenant General Sir James Bucknall, a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and one of the most senior figures in the Household Division, brought the full weight of his experience to the role — and every soldier on that parade ground knew it. What the crowd witnessed this morning, through the rain, was six weeks of dedication, sacrifice and sheer hard work coming together in one magnificent display. Since late April, soldiers, musicians, horses and their handlers have been putting in early mornings and long days across barracks in Aldershot, Windsor, Knightsbridge and London, rehearsing every movement, every note, every step until it became second nature. Lieutenant Colonel Tom Spencer-Smith, Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, rode out through Horse Guards Arch as Field Officer in Brigade Waiting to take command of the parade Next Saturday, 13 June, His Majesty The King will take the salute at Horse Guards Parade, and the Grenadier Guards will troop their Colour in front of a male monarch for the first time in 90 years. The occasion will mark the 370th anniversary of the regiment's founding in Bruges in 1656, when a band of loyal men followed their exiled King into Europe and refused to leave his side.