King George VI officially turned 53 last week (his real birthday is Dec. 14). Some 1,500 soldiers of His Majesty's Guards were given a special ration of barley sugar, designed to carry the Guardsmen through the rigorous birthday ceremony (see cut), the first full-dress "Trooping the Color" to be held since 1939. Footguardsmen of the Welsh Guards donned scarlet tunics and towering bearskins, to stand at rigid attention. They were joined by plumed horsemen of the Household Cavalry. To take the salute, the King himself, not yet sufficiently recovered from his leg ailment to ride horseback, drove over from...
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