For as long as I've worked at HELLO!, I have always covered Trooping the Colour. And I can attest, it is one of the royal family's most colourful events in the diary, which this year falls on Saturday 15 June.
It's pomp and pageantry to the maximum where royal ladies look impeccable in their tailored day dresses and hats, the men don traditional military uniform, the royal carriages are dusted off and polished for a spectacular procession through central London, and the Royal Air Force put on an unrivalled jaw-dropping aerial display over Buckingham Palace.
Family traditions
But at the heart of Trooping the Colour is a family celebrating the monarch's birthday. So it's also an opportunity to see the royals at their most convivial. Beyond the traditional grandeur of the event, some of my favourite memories of Trooping are seeing the royal children make an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony.