King Charles takes salute at Trooping the Colour for first time as Sovereign

Britain’s King Charles arrived at Horse Guards Parade and inspected the troops in his first Trooping the Colour as monarch.

According to reports King Charles was accompanied by Prince of Wales Prince William, Princess Royal Anne and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Charles is the first monarch to ride at the event in more than three decades.

The historic event began with a procession from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade in central London.

Some 1,400 soldiers, 400 musicians and 200 horses took part, led in the parade by Juno, a 10-year-old shire mare, alongside three other Drum Horses -- Perseus, Atlas and Apollo.

The annual Trooping the Colour parade marks the British sovereign´s official birthday.

The colourful display of regimental precision and pageantry is the first of 74-year-old Charles reign.

Charles actual birthday is on November 14 but British sovereigns celebrate twice -- once in private and again in public.

The late Queen Elizabeth last rode her horse Burmese, a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, at the parade in the mid-1980s.