The King's Colour Squadron, formerly the Queen's Colour Squadron, is the unit of the Royal Air Force charged with the safe-keeping of the King's Colour for the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. Since its formation, it has been formed exclusively by Officers and Gunners of No. 63 Squadron RAF Regiment. The Squadron is tasked with representing the Royal Air Force at events and ceremonies, both at home and abroad. In addition to Royal Air Force events, the Squadron has the privilege of mounting the King's Guard at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and The Tower of London each year, and regularly has the honour of welcoming visiting heads of state on their arrival to the United Kingdom. The Squadron also supports State ceremonial tasks. This routinely includes providing ceremonial guards for the State Opening of Parliament, the National Service of Remembrance parade at the Cenotaph, and large UK hosted events such as the G7 Summit in Cornwall in 2021. The Squadron is also responsible for the ceremonial repatriation of serving Royal Air Force personnel from overseas and members of the Royal Family; in 1997, following the untimely death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Squadron provided the bearer party that recovered the coffin from Paris. The Squadron provided the Bearer Party and Guard of Honour when an RAF C-17 delivered Queen Elizabeth II's coffin to London from Scotland on her death in September 2022. History The Royal Air Force formed a ceremonial drill unit based at the Royal Air Force Depot at Uxbridge, Middlesex, in the early 1920s and first performed public duties when it mounted the King’s Guard at Buckingham Palace on 1 April 1943 for King George VI. This honour was bestowed upon the Royal Air Force which, at the time, whilst eligible to mount the guard due to being a formed military unit for 25 years, were ineligible due to not being an infantry unit. This led to the Royal Air Force Regiment, despite being only created by Royal Warrant a year prior, mounting the King’s Guard on behalf of the Royal Air Force, a duty which it has carried out every year since. In 1960, the RAF Drill Unit was charged with the task of guarding and escorting the Queen's Colour for the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom, and was renamed the Queen's Colour Squadron. It was a pure ceremonial unit for 30