Diamond Jubilee: Queen’s coronation anniversary gets 41-gun salute in London

Saturday, June 2, 2012
3:58 PM

The anniversary of the Queen’s coronation was marked in London today with a 41-gun Royal Salute.

The salute, fired by The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, coincided with gun salutes fired from official Saluting Points around the UK, including the Tower of London.

Fired by six guns, it followed the Major General’s Parade which drew crowds to Horse Guards Parade.

After the parade 72 horses and six First World War era 13-pounder gun carriages returned to Horse Guards Parade for the salute, which started at 1pm, lasting just over seven minutes.

The Coronation Gun salute is normally fired from Green Park, but Horse Guards Parade was used as part of a series of public events in the Royal Parks to mark the Diamond Jubilee.

A basic salute is usually 21 rounds, but in Hyde Park and Green Park an extra 20 rounds are added because they are Royal Parks.

The Tower of London is thought to hold the record for the most rounds fired in a single salute - 124 are fired whenever the Duke of Edinburgh’s birthday coincides with the Saturday designated as the Queen’s official birthday.

The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, is a ceremonial unit of the British Army - its duties include the firing of Royal salutes in Hyde Park on both Royal anniversaries and state occasions, and providing a gun carriage and team of black horses for state and military funerals.

It also has an operational role as part of the territorial defence of the United Kingdom and men and women of the King’s Troop are trained as fighting soldiers - six men or women are currently deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq at any one time.

The unit will return to Horse Guards Parade on Tuesday, when they will fire a 60-round Royal Salute from their six guns as the “heart beat” to the Diamond Jubilee Procession.

The first gun will fire when the Queen leaves Westminster Hall accompanied by the Household Cavalry Mounted Escort and continue to fire throughout her return journey to Buckingham Palace.

The guns will fire at 60-second intervals for one hour - one round for each year of the Queen’s reign.