This is John Batcher.

Conversation with my good colleague Gregory Coppley, Defense and Foreign Affairs.

About three elements of the kingdom that are unfamiliar to me, I'm learning.

The first here is the Trooping of the color, the marching and band

music in a horseguard's yard near Buckingham, attended by the King and the Senior Royals, and large numbers of people

to watch the bare skin hat-wearing, red-coated men marching with their rifles on their shoulders and the horsemen

similarly garbed in red and bare skin hats, writing in tandem.

Wonderful, it's quite beautiful.

At the same time, what is it for?

And Gregory explains about leadership

in a kingdom, in an empire once upon a time. I especially like the

empire music. I understand we are a republic, we're not a kingdom, but once upon a time we were part of that

kingdom and it remains a fascination. Here's Gregory Coppley on the use of the trooping of the color for the king, King Charles III.

More of this later.

Well they're all actually highly significant events at which the king shows himself to his people and basically shows that he's there, his dynamic and capable of leadership, which is one of the historical virtues of physical leadership is that you have to show yourself to be recognized as the leader.

Now the tripping the color happens on the sovereign's official birthday every year and that's

that's June 14th every year.

it's regardless of when the sovereign is actually born.

I see a lot of hasty researchers in the US media saying it's on the Queen's birthday.

It's not the Queen's birthday anymore.

It's the King's birthday.

It's the Sovereign's birthday.

...