Day 277
October 4, 2010Horse Guards Parade is a large parade ground off Whitehall in central London.. It is the site of the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the monarch’s official birthday, and Beating Retreat.
It was formerly the site of the Palace of Whitehall’s tiltyard, where tournaments were held in the time of Henry VIII. It was also the scene of annual celebrations of the birthday of Queen Elizabeth I.
The parade ground is open on the west side, where it faces Horse Guards Road and St. James’s Park. It is flanked on the north by the Old Admiralty and the Admiralty Citadel and here on the east by William Kent’s Horse Guards — formerly the headquarters of the British Army — and on the south by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the rear garden wall of 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister.