Hi, everyone. And welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】. Hi, 安澜.

Hi, Lulu, hi, everyone.

Can I propose a topic today?

Okay.

Don't worry, it's nothing weird.

Are you sure?

I'm pretty sure.

Okay.

Lately also on Chinese social media, you see a lot of articles about your Princess of Wales, Kate, because there was a lot of gossip and discussion about how she is recovering from cancer and she hasn't really had any public appearance.

She finally appeared for the first time in months at a very important ceremony apparently called... was it something color?

The Trooping of the Color.

The Trooping of the Color, troop as in army, military? Yeah. 中文里我看到过有很多不一样的翻译版本, 有人把它翻译成什么彩旗飘扬, 彩旗游行, 或者只要按这个意思说是皇家阅兵式.

Yes, it's a very unique ceremony. I don't think it happens in many countries. I'm not sure if anyone does know, please correct me.

It's very ceremonial.

It is.

The Troop of the Color marks the official birthday of the British sovereign.

So like the British King or Queen, 这个皇室的要不是国王, 要不是女王的official birthday, 官方生日.

So that's not their real birthday?

The King or Queen has two birthdays, their real one and their official birthday in June.

Why in June, for any special reasons?

Mainly because of the weather.

I can understand. 我们之前聊英国的天气的时候, 就说特别是伦敦, 基本上你唯一能保证天气比较好, 也就是6月后半段7月前半段这个时候.

So no matter what the weather is like, the ceremony still goes ahead.

So the last Trooping of the Colour last week was actually done in pouring rain. It was really really heavy rain in London but they still carry on the ceremony. They just get wet.

Even in June?

Even in June.

So no matter what their real birthdays or when their real birthdays are or were, they always had the same official birthday?

It's normally a Saturday in June.

So it’s not a set date?

It’s not a set date. I see.

It looks like a pretty traditional historical ceremony. It is.

It dates back to the 18th century. So the color or colors refer to the regiments’ flag.

Regiments, what does that mean?

A regiment is a unit of soldiers.

Like, for example, infantry?

Yeah, so you have an infantry regiment, you have...

Navy maybe?

Navy, you can't, navy doesn't really have regiments because you have a ship.

Ok. 这是不是有点兵团那个概念? It is. 什么团步兵团这样.

So everybody has it’s own name. For example, the regiments that take part in Trooping of the Color are the King's own personal regiments.

He's guards.

I'm getting really confused. So not your military force?

Okay, this is why it gets a bit confusing.

You said the King's own military force.

The King is the commander in chief of the entire armed forces.

But only as a figurehead, right?

Well, he can't declare war. That's because the King is the commander in chief of all of the armed forces. Now a regiment has a Colonel in chief. So that's the person that's in charge of these regiments. And the King is the Colonel in chief of these regiments.

I see, the chief commander but kind of like a figurehead but still very important.

Very important. That's because soldiers they swear an oath of allegiance to the King.

Not your prime minister, not the prime minister. So the prime minister was he actually there for the ceremony, was he even invited?

He probably was there.

This is so very different. Let's see, you are saying these colors they refer to different regiment’s flag, they're all different colors. So Trooping of the Color basically means that they are shown to the troops.

Yes, that's because in the 18th century, when you have these massive battles and battlefields were very confusing. So soldiers needed to know what their colors look like, what the regiment’s flag was because they used the flag to gather the troops together to give commands. This was an opportunity for all the soldiers to see what their flags were like. Basically it's like a training session.

I think that's not unique in the UK, I think it happens across different cultures having the flag even since very, very early on, even when people were fighting with like cold weapon, like spears and so, they had these flags.

That's the only way you can communicate on a battlefield because battles tend to be very noisy.

I see. But I guess this is also one of those things that to reinforce or to boost soldiers morale and to say you belong to this regiment.

Exactly, and also to the monarch as well.

So the monarch would always take part in this ceremony, even though that nowadays every regiment has its color, we don't use them in battle anymore.

Yeah, now it's completely different types of battle.

Exactly.

But the ceremony was kept.

And just to show how important the colors are if a regiment lost its colors, that was one of the worst things that could happen.

Losing the colors meaning losing the flag.

If the enemy took it as a trophy, that was one of the worst things that could happen and regiments were disbanded because they lost the colors. It was such a disgrace.

I think that's definitely not unique to the UK, in some war games there like “夺旗”is to basically try to get your enemy’s flag. That is great dishonor.

It is.

So 安澜, could you... so now we talked about the background of the ceremony what actually happens on the day.

The modern ceremony takes place in the centre of London at Horse Guards Parade.

I think I've been there, Horse Guards Parade is right in front of Whitehall. Yeah. 在这个叫什么白厅的前面.

That used to be the original entrance the Buckingham Palace before they built them out.

So that used to be the entrance and that's why you still have the household cavalry, 骑兵, the ones who are on their horses, in the armor, those are the King's guards.

Nowadays they just drive the tourists away.

Pretty much, and you also have the foot guards. Now the foot guards are the ones who wear the bear skin hats and red tunics. They're the ones outside of Royal Palaces.

Aren't they really hot in those bear skin hats?

Apparently they're heavy, but they are actually kind of very well-ventilated. I see. So they're quite cool in summer. Quite hot in winter.

They are actual bear skin?

They are actual bear skins.

大家看到很典型的英国士兵那种帽子, 一个上面很大毛茸茸的是熊皮的.

Some countries they still use bear skins, I think in Scandinavian countries they still have the bear skin hat. There have been complaints, obviously, like animal protection, animal rights and they have tried to look in other ways that they can have fake fur, fake, faux fur, but it doesn't work.

I see, those are the foot guards. And then the household cavalry are the horse guards.

The King rides his horse, he's in uniform as commander in chief for the armed forces and he inspects the troops.

Inspects the troops, 就是阅兵嘛, infects the troops.

Then the soldiers march around the square and they are shown the colors.

When you say the square which square?

Horse Guards Parade, it's a parade ground, it's a square.

That, if I remember correctly, that's not very big.

It's not very big. That's because it's only normally one regiment. It's not the entire regiment.

Now when you look at the King's guards, you might think, okay, they're only ceremonial. Actually they're not, they are elite regiments in the British army.

So they are actual soldiers.

There are actual soldiers who have a lot of combat experience.

By the way, apart from the Royal Family, are there any other audience?

They invite guests to come along to the ceremony.

But it's not open to general public, is it?

It actually is, you can buy a ticket.

You have to buy a ticket. But it's a very formal occasion. So you have to make sure you wear a suit, you can't just wear shorts and T shirt. You have to dress very formally.

I see, so you can't just attend it as a tourist.

No, but you can watch it on TV.

I see.

And then at the end of the parade, the Royal Family goes back to Buckingham Palace and there's usually a flypast.

Like飞行表演什么的. They have these color. I don't know it was like color powder or something.

Normally red, white, and blue for the British flag, for the flag.

I see.

Now one thing you said, now the King this time the King was riding his horse. What about the Queen before, she was in her advanced years, she couldn't have been riding the horses.

What they would do is she would use a carriage. They would ride her around the square. I think she rode a horse close to her 70s.

That's impressive.

She was still riding a horse. Obviously she got older. She would stand on the platform or she would be driven around in a carriage because obviously she was in the 90s.

I see, that before we wrap up, I just want to ask you how do British like the general public in the UK see this ceremony? Do they think of it as something that they like or they enjoy watching on TV or do they think it's just...

To be also I think people have very strong opinions about it. It's something you watch on TV really. It's a very short ceremony. It's not like an entire day or something like that. It's normally just in the morning. So I don’t think people have very strong opinions about it. I just think it is one of those ceremonies that we do.

One of those royal ceremonies.

Yes.

Okay. On that note, we're going to wrap up here if you have any questions to ask or have any topics that you would want us to talk about. Leave us a comment in the comment section and thank you 安澜 for explaining that to us.

Thanks, Lulu. Thanks, everyone.

We'll see you next time. Bye bye.