Met Police to cut back policing at Trooping the Colour as private firm set to take over
The Metropolitan Police is set to cut its policing presence at Trooping the Colour and other major royal ceremonies, and a private security company is expected to take over most of the duties. The Telegraph reported the plan on 30 October 2026, under the headline "Met to cut down protection for Trooping the Colour."
Trooping the Colour is the King's official birthday parade, held each June in central London. The changes will also affect gun salutes, the ceremonial firing of artillery to mark an occasion, and the Changing of the Guard, the daily ceremony at royal residences.
Figures published by Royal Central, a royal news website, put the scale of the current arrangement in numbers. Over the past 12 months, Metropolitan Police officers were deployed on about 17,800 occasions to support military ceremonial events. The support cost an estimated £10.6 million over the same period. Royal Central reported on 31 October that the reduced policing is due to take effect next month.
The Met said it had held discussions with the Ministry of Defence about the proposed changes. In its statement, the force said future support for military events would be decided by assessments of threat, harm and risk, with officers deployed "where operationally necessary."
The Ministry of Defence said it continues to work collaboratively with the Met on ceremonial events.
Not everyone is reassured. Lord Dannatt, a former Chief of the General Staff, the most senior post in the British Army, said internal security is the responsibility of the Met. He questioned the decision to hand protection at royal events to a private firm. James Cartlidge, the Shadow Defence Secretary, described the reported changes as "very concerning." Mike Martin, a Liberal Democrat MP, called the decision to reduce police protection at major ceremonial occasions "outrageous."
Ceremonial policing sits in a grey area that many people never think about. The parade and the guard are military events, but the security around them has been handled by police officers. The change moves that work toward a private contractor, and the details of who does what on the day are the part still to be seen.
