国际英语新闻：British Queen celebrates her official birthday with parade

At the end of the parade the troops escort the Queen back to Buckingham Palace where she then views a flypast by planes from the Royal Air Force.

This year the flypast culminated with a colorful display by the RAF aircraft display team the Red Arrows, whose plans emitted red, white and blue smoke as they flew over the palace and the watching crowds.

The parade is not intended as a show of military might, but as a show of loyalty to the Queen. The uniforms are called ceremonial uniforms and are those worn in battle over a 140 years ago, and they make a very colorful spectacle.

Britain's Princess Eugenie (L), Princess Beatrice (2nd L), Prince William (3rd L), and other members of the royal family watch a fly-past from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after attending the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London June 12, 2010.

There are even soldiers on horseback, and normally they would be seated in armored vehicles. They are joined by artillery soldiers with horse-drawn guns which saw service in the First World War, and normally they would be using modern rockets.

All the troops on parade are professional soldiers and many will have seen service in the war in Afghanistan.

This is the 58th Trooping the Colour during the queen's reign, and she has attended almost all of them, only being absent when she was pregnant.

For many years she donned a uniform and rode a horse to review the troops, but she now rides in a horse-drawn carriage, accompanied by her 89-year-old husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.