The King has wished soldiers from the Grenadier Guards “great success” ahead of the weekend’s Trooping the Colour ceremony and quipped “no drinking tonight”.
Charles praised the guardsmen in his role as the regiment’s Colonel-in-Chief when he visited his King’s Company, which has a special affinity with the monarch, and told them “you’ll make us very proud of you”.
Thousands of spectators are expected to gather on Horse Guards Parade to watch the royal family join the nation in celebrating the King’s official birthday during the Trooping the Colour ceremony on Saturday.
The colour – regimental flag – being trooped this year is the King’s Colour of the Grenadier Guards presented by the King earlier this week during a Buckingham Palace ceremony and it will be escorted during Saturday’s spectacle by guardsmen from The King’s Company.
Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis is expected to be among the spectators with other senior Cabinet members, including the Prime Minister, after his predecessor John Healey quit on Thursday over a dispute about long-term funding for the military.
In an impromptu speech after awarding promotions to three guardsmen who became Lance Corporals, Charles told the guardsmen and officers of The King’s Company at Lille Barracks in Aldershot: “I know just how much effort goes into the parade you do tomorrow.
“Since Easter you’ve been practising rigidly and I can hear from Buckingham Palace the sound of the drums thumping away regularly so I know you’re all marching up and down trying to get ready for the parade.”
The Grenadier Guards have a close connection with the monarchy as they were raised in 1656 in Bruges, Belgium, by the exiled King Charles II to protect him during the period Olive Cromwell ruled England.
The King went on to say: “…ever since the last 370 years of your existence you have made us all in this country so incredibly proud of your effort, your service and your sacrifice over all those years, and I feel very proud and privileged to be here.”
The King’s Company will have the responsibility of carrying the King’s coffin on his death, and Charles provoked sympathetic laughter when he joked about his own demise.
“At least, as I was saying to some of you earlier, I know you’ll be there when I finally shuffle off this mortal coil, the most wonderful tradition, I think, that you maintain,” said Charles.
He chatted to many of The King’s Company when he toured stands showcasing their work from ceremonial duties to deployments overseas and how they are developing skills to use drones, the new face of modern warfare.
There was a lighter moment when the King made one group of guardsmen laugh when he joked “no drinking tonight” after praising their efforts preparing for Trooping.