London is a year-round festival! The city hosts cultural exhibitions, exciting sport events - from the Boat Race to the Cricket World Cup - and a whole range of shows and collectors' fairs. Then there is ballet, music and theatre, guard changes and royal ceremonies.
Daily Events
Buckingham Palace
The Queen's Guard is changed at 1130 usually every other day.
Horse Guards, Whitehall
1100 weekdays, 1000 Sundays, The Queen's Life Guard is changed
daily throughout the year.
Tower of London
Talk about precise! At 21:53 every night the Chief Warder of
the Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London locks the outer gates of the
Tower and delivers the keys to the Resident Governor at Queen's House.
Attendance is limited, so apply in writing well ahead to the Resident
Governor.
Annual Ceremonies
The Queen's Birthday Parade
2nd week June. Horse Guards Parade. SW1. The Trooping the Colour
ceremony is one of Englands most famous ceremonies, and is as traditional
as the Changing of the Guards. This colourful ceremony is accompanied
by an annual parade of music and pageantry in celebration of the Queens
Birthday.
Queen's Official Birthday Gun Salute
June 16. To mark The Queen's official birthday the King's Troop
Royal Horse Artillery Fires a 41-gun salute in Green Park and the Honourable
Artillery Company fires a 62-gun salute at the Tower of London also honouring
the Duke of Edinburgh.
The Knollys Red Rose Rent
June 24. Every year on the Feast of John the Baptist, since 1381,
one red rose is plucked from Seething lane and presented to the Lord Mayor
on the altar of All Hallows by the Tower. The Rent of One rose is paid
in recognition of Sir Robert Knollys who built an unauthorized footbridge
across Seething Lane.
Swan Upping
Last Monday in July. Since Medieval times both the Dyres and
Vintners Livery Companies, as well as the crown, have the right to keep
swans on the Thames River. Every year 6 wooden Skiffs pass along the Thames
River, through Marlow Lock, to mark the cygnets, or baby swans.
Doggetts Coat and Badge Race
Late July or early August. Possibly the oldest rowing race in
the world, this event was begun by Irish actor Thomas Dogett in 1715 to
mark the crowning of George I. Six water boatmen race against the tide
from London Bridge to Albert Bridge. The prize is a scarlet livery with
a large silver badge.
Election of the Lord Mayor
September 29. Every year since 1546 a new Lord Mayor is selected
at the annual Meeting of the city Counsel in The Guildhall.
Quit-Rents Ceremony
Late October. The City Solicitor pays the Queen's Remembrance
token rents for properties long ago leased - two faggots of wood, a billhook,
and a hatchet pays for land in Shropshire, and sixty-one nails and six
horseshoes for a long-gone forge in the Strand. The origins of this ceremony
go back so far they have been forgotten
Trafalgar Parade and Service
October 21 (or nearest Sunday). In honour of Nelsons victor at
Trafalgar in 1805, wreaths are laid at the foot of Nelson's Column in
the Square.
RAC Veteran Car Run
1st Sunday in November. In the very early years of the motorcar,
a man with a red flag had to walk in front of all cars. This event, also
known as the London to Brighton Rally and only open to cars built between
1895 and 1904, commemorates the repeal of the "Red Flag Laws" in 1905.
The Lord Mayor's Show
Second Saturday in November. In a colourful procession nearly
800 years old, the Lord Mayor must make his way to the Royal courts of
justice to pledge his allegiance to the crown. With more than 3 million
spectators each year, this event was the first to be broadcast on live
TV.
Installation of the Lord Mayor
November 8. Luncheon at Mansion House with the old and new Lord
Mayors and representatives of the livery Companies, followed by a procession
to the Guildhall for the official transfer of office.
Festival of St. Cecilia
Last Sunday of the Liturgical year. Coinciding with the feast
of Christ the King, St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music, is remembered
with organ and choral music at St Sepulchres (Holborn).