Presentation of Colours

This article is about the specific ceremony of awarding a new or replacement Colour
For the act of parading an existing colour on ceremonial occasions, see Trooping the Colour.

The Coldstream Guards laying up their old colours and receiving the new colours in October 2013.
The regimental colours of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, displaying the battle honours awarded to the regiment.

The Presentation of Colours is a military ceremony that marks an anniversary or significant event in the history of a particular regiment or similar military unit. This involves the presentation of a new version of the regimental colour to a regiment or equivalent formation in their respective armed forces service branch. This is a traditional ceremony that was pioneered by the British Armed Forces, and is today used in most Commonwealth countries.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ "Presentation of Colours". Royal.uk. The Royal Family, The Royal Household. n.d. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  2. ^ Traditions of Canadian Forces - Military Customs and Traditions - Flags and Colours - chapter 12 (PDF). Canadian Armed Forces, Government of Canada. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 October 2018 – via CMP-CPM.Forces.gc.ca.
  3. ^ Brown, Michèle (3 September 1983). Ritual of Royalty: The Ceremony and Pageantry of Britain's Monarchy. Great Britain: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 9780137810475 – via Google Books.