Why Prince Edward is secretly training with Prince Andrew for the Trooping the Colour

It is one of the most magnificent events in the military calendar. Gleaming horses, shining armour, the jingle of reins and the synchronised clopping of hooves riding in time to the Georgian silver kettle drums carried by the Welsh Shire drum horses. Swords are held aloft, faces are stern and helmets flash in the sun. No matter whether you’re a Royalist or a Republican, it is almost impossible not to feel moved by the massed ranks of the Household Division on parade for Trooping the Colour.

And this year, riding at their head, along with his perennially elegant sister, will be the newly minted Duke of Edinburgh Prince Edward. Having become Colonel of the Scots Guard regiment in April, this will be only the second time that the prince has played such an active part in the ceremony.

Prince Edward has been spotted in recent weeks conducting rehearsals for the Birthday Parade, as it is colloquially known, with his brother Prince Andrew – with whom he often used to ride until the Duke of York’s disgrace in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Why the rapprochement? Because this is the pinnacle of the state ceremonial season. Prince Edward may have been riding since he was two, but this is only his second time on horseback at this particular event. And even this most accomplished of horsemen –  a regular fixture in Windsor Great Park, where he stables several horses – doesn’t want to mess this one up. Nor does he want to look less polished than the soldiers he’ll be riding alongside.

The troops have been practising day and night for weeks. The soldiers of the Household Cavalry have, in recent days, set their alarm clocks at 3am; to be mounted on their black chargers by 4am; ready to ride out into the early dawn to practise their drills and manoeuvres, ensuring they are in exactly the right place at the right time. Ahead of the parade, soldiers will have spent 12 hours preparing all their kit to ensure it is gleaming. The officers taking part in the ceremony will have committed to memory their words of command – 113 of them, to be given by heart by the Officer in Command. This Thursday (May 30), they will be inspected by the Brigade Major in a formal rehearsal on Horse Guards Parade, to ensure they are fit for presentation to His Majesty the King. On June 1, they will be reviewed by the Major General; on June 8 they will take part in the Colonel’s Review and on June 15 will be the real thing: the Trooping of the Colour itself.

“By the time the parade comes round it’s almost a bit of an anticlimax,” admits former commanding officer of the Household Cavalry, Dan Hughes.

Nevertheless, the event itself is a test of endurance as much as horsemanship. “It is a really long day,” says Hughes. “You’re on a horse for about five hours.”

Prince Edward won’t be mounted for quite as long as that. He and his fellow royal colonels – Princess Anne, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh, all in the military uniform of their regiment, will be met in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace by members of the Household Cavalry mounted regiment. (The Queen is Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, the Princess of Wales Colonel of the Irish Guards and the King the Colonel in Chief of the Household Division but they are unlikely to be mounted.)

From there, they will escort the King down to Horse Guards Parade, where the Foot Guards of the Household Division and the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, along with the massed bands, will be waiting. The King will inspect his troops, and the regimental colour, or flag, will be processed down the ranks of soldiers: some 1,400 in all. Once the Foot Guards have marched past the sovereign, the royal party will ride back to Buckingham Palace before taking another salute. Prince Edward will be mounted throughout.

As a lifelong rider he will, of course, have achieved “unconscious competence”, that state where the riding comes so naturally that all the focus can be on any words of command – a key part of the ceremony for those officers taking part, who will also have spent weeks practising their “parade voices”, getting their throat muscles attuned.

But those secret rehearsals with Prince Andrew were likely still necessary.

“The royals have all been riding since they can walk, but they also want their horse to be mentally and physically relaxed [with them riding them] and that doesn’t happen overnight,” says Waygood. “They’ve all played polo and done ponies, but this is about putting a bit of finesse into what they do so they will sit up straighter – get their shoulders straight and their heels down. It’s about finishing it off with presentation.”

Prince Edward will be riding one-handed, holding the reins with his left hand, his right hand down by his side – traditionally in case of a need to draw his sword but practically so he can salute – which means he will need to ride purely from his legs. And, of course, there will also be the “really hot” uniform to get used to: the heavy wool tunic with its high collar, sash and ceremonial braiding and the 1.5lb bearskin of the Scots Guards, under which only a few inches of face can be seen. Average June temperatures in London hit around 21 degrees, so Edward will need to ensure he’s properly hydrated before he goes on parade, says former Riding Master of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, Richard Waygood. (But he will hopefully be able to avoid any urgent calls of nature; if you’d ever wondered where the expression “fill your boots” came from, just take a look at the thigh-high jackboots worn by soldiers in the mounted division and let your imagination do the rest.)

We do not know, yet, what horse Prince Edward will be riding, but there is a tradition that the royals often ride Canadian Mountie horses at the Birthday Parade. He will likely be hoping not to repeat the experience of the King last year, who was assigned a young Mountie horse called Noble, a beautiful mare, but one who had not done a big parade before, and spent much of her time semi-jogging and attempting to go sideways.

But even if he gets something similar, it shouldn’t be a problem. Because, whisper it: but, although Edward may have roped his brother in for practice, he is, says one insider, “the better rider”. Which means that this year’s Trooping the Colour should be a breeze.