This year, the royal family put on quite a show. Between Kate Middleton’s electric blue Catherine Walker coatdress, Prince William on horseback and Princess Charlotte’s nod to the late Queen Elizabeth II,

After arriving at Buckingham Palace by car, Kate and the children, Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, 7, traveled in a traditional horse-drawn carriage down The Mall. Charlotte sat beside her mother, while her brothers faced backward across from them.

The annual display of British military might serves as a seasonally tweaked birthday celebration for the sitting monarch.