Trooping the Colour is one of the Royal Family’s biggest events each year, and the Mirror breaks down all of the costs associated with the King’s official Birthday Parade

Each year the King’s official birthday is celebrated with a large-scale day of pomp and pageantry at Trooping the Colour. With military precision, over 1400 soldiers will take part in the parade, which travels down the Mall from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade.

Members of the public line the Mall to watch the impressive display, which culminates in an RAF flypast that the Royal Family watches from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. And tickets are available by ballot each year to watch from Horse Guards Parade itself – although this year’s ballot has closed. The royal set-piece event requires a lot of moving parts to be managed to ensure the day goes off without a hitch.

This year will see King Charles take part in his official birthday parade from a carriage, but last year he appeared on horseback – the first time a monarch had done so since 1986 when the late Queen Elizabeth rode a horsecalled Burmese.

The late Queen is said to have preferred not to have another horse trained after Burmese was retired – per Guards Magazine – and afterward, she took part in the day from a carriage.

Britain’s King Charles III appeared on horseback in 2023 (Image:AFP via Getty Images)

While the King’s medical team has cleared him to attend the big day since returning to public-facing duties as he continues his cancer treatment, some adaptations will come into play to ensure his continued good health.

A lot goes into making Trooping the Colour such an impressive event, and ensuring it all goes smoothly, and we break down all the costs associated with the prestigious event.

How much do tickets for Trooping the Colour cost?

The ballot for this year’s Trooping the Colour has closed, but tickets are pretty reasonably priced if you are interested in applying for some next year. There are seated and standing tickets available that range from just £10 up to £30.

The two events that precede Trooping the Colour – the Major General’s Review and the Colonel’s Review – are smaller scale, but also a little cheaper for anyone keen to attend, ranging from £5 to £15.

The King’s Birthday Parade also has a strict dress code, with those lucky ticket-holders expected to wear morning dress, however, the earlier two events are more relaxed with these rules.

How much does Trooping the Colour cost the taxpayer?

In 2021, according to a freedom of information request answered by the Ministry of Defence, Trooping the Colour cost the department £59,662.70. This includes costs for fuel and transport as well as things like temporary stables, however, this isn’t everything that goes into the big day, and the figure used estimates, so may be incomplete.

As a ceremonial event, rather than a state event like the King’s Coronation or the late Queen’s funeral, Buckingham Palace pays for Trooping the Colour, using funds from the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster, as well as the Sovereign Grant, which the government gives to the royals in exchange for the monarch surrendering the profits of the Crown Estate.

The total amount of the Sovereign Grant is normally calculated as 15% of the Crown Estate’s net profits from the previous two years, and this means that the taxpayer is funding some of the costs of Trooping the Colour.

Equally, policing costs are funded by the taxpayer, and for a large scale event like this can be expensive. The Express reports that in 2022, an estimated £2 million was spent on policing the monarch’s birthday parade, which was also part of the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Overall in 2023, the publication estimated that King Charles’s first Trooping the Colour cost around £10 million.