A Royal toast in Panama

PANAMA. Politicians, ambassadors, British citizens and Panamanian guests packed the residence of The United Kingdom’s Ambassador to Panama, Richard Austen on Thursday evening, to celebrate the official birthday of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

Guests were welcomed by Mr Austen, and Panama’s first vice-president, and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro, responded on behalf of the government.

The loyal toast to the Queen followed.

The Queen’s “official birthday is celebrated on June 11, because the weather in London is better for the ceremony of Trooping the Colour.

A keynote in the calendar of British pageantry, troops of the Household Division (Foot Guards and Household Cavalry) perform the ceremony of Trooping the Colour each year.

Although the Queen was born in April, Trooping the Colour is held in June, the month of her coronation in 1953.

Since the early 18th century, each regiment's colors (two flags or banners) were paraded before its own troops so that soldiers would recognize and rally to them in battle.

And this tradition continues, nowadays for the benefit of the Queen who then receives a royal salute.

At the close of proceedings the Queen returns to Buckingham Palace in a carriage and appears on the balcony of the palace to wave to the crowds and watch a fly-past of RAF and occasionally other planes.

The Queen’s real birthday is marked every year on April 21 with Birthday Gun Salutes, which tend to be loud and spectacular, offering a magnificent spectacle.