Guards' Competition and Grand Day
At the end of each summer term the school parades for Grand Day. This is a special parade of much greater complexity and length than its weekly counterpart performed each Sunday, and is similar in style and length to the Trooping the Colour on Horse Guards. The purpose of Grand Day is to display the school at its finest to a visiting dignitary, who is either a member of the Royal Family or a member of the British armed forces General Staff. Grand Day has its origins in the school parading before its founder, the then HRH Prince Frederick Duke of York and Albany when the school was founded in 1803.
In the build-up toward Grand Day the Guards (each corresponding to boarding houses) undergo the Guards' Competition. The purpose is to test skill at ceremonial drill and standards regarding kit turnout. The outcome of the Guards' Competition ranks the Guards' Order of Precedence for Grand Day. The winning and therefore senior Guard is referred to as Number One Guard, with the others in declining order.
Grand Day is watched not only by Royalty and Generals, but also by parents of the Cadets. Also among the crowds are Chelsea Pensioners who themselves are Dukies.
Read more about this topic: Duke Of York's Royal Military School
Famous quotes containing the words competition, grand and/or day:
“The praise of ancient authors proceeds not from the reverence of the dead, but from the competition and mutual envy of the living.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
“Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.”
—Don Marquis (1878–1937)
“and if the day
is no day for miracles, then the preparations
are an order one may rest in.
But one doesn’t want
rest, one wants miracles.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)