Horse Guards Parade

Horse Guards Parade is a large open space in central London, just off Whitehall. It stands where Henry VIII once held jousting tournaments at the Palace of Whitehall. For centuries the area has hosted military reviews, parades and royal ceremonies. The Horse Guards building beside it once served as the British Army’s headquarters. Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, worked and lived there when he commanded the forces. The site is best known for Trooping the Colour, the monarch’s official birthday parade held every June. The ceremony involves about 1,400 soldiers who march the regimental colour past the sovereign. Beating Retreat, a musical display by the Household Division bands, takes place each summer. Remembrance Sunday also centres on the parade, where veterans march past the Guards Memorial. In 2012 the space hosted Olympic beach volleyball with temporary seating for 15,000. Visitors enter through the arches of Horse Guards from Whitehall. On the east side stands a Turkish cannon captured in 1801 and French mortars from the Siege of Cádiz. Statues of Field Marshals Roberts, Wolseley, Kitchener and Mountbatten line the parade ground. The Guards Memorial by Gilbert Ledward remembers the First World War dead. The double-sided clock with a black number two faces the Banqueting House opposite.