uk monarchs can have two birthday celebrations. the queen turned 92 back in april but this was the official ceremony to mark her birthday. the so-called trooping of the color is actual an opportunity for the sovereign to inspect her troops. more than 1,000 soldiers took part in this event, 200 expert cavalrymen and about 400 soldiers as part of the marching band as well. one of the highlights of the day was when the royal family gathered upon the balcony of buckingham palace to wave to the crowd but also to inspect the fly-by of lancaster bombers, helicopters, fighter jets, and also those famous raf red arrows, as they flew by with the characteristic trails of red, white, and blue smoke. just as there was one new member of the royal family present at these celebrations in the form of the new dutch chess of sussex, there was also somebody else who was notably absent. the queen traveled back and forth on her own because the duke of edinburgh has retired