On a handful of fixed royal anniversaries, the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery fires 41 rounds in Green Park or Hyde Park at noon, and the Honourable Artillery Company fires 62 from the Wharf at the Tower of London at 13:00. Both are free to watch from the street, and the next one in London is the King's Birthday on Saturday 14 November 2026.
A royal gun salute is blank artillery fire used as a mark of respect or welcome. The Royal Family's own explanation of the tradition is neat: just as an open hand showed that no weapon was held, an empty gun chamber showed friendly intent. Nothing is aimed at anything, and nothing is hit.
For a visitor the park salute is much the better spectacle, because it comes with horses. Teams gallop six thirteen-pounder guns across the grass, unhitch them, and fire in sequence at ten-second intervals. The Tower salute is static, louder, and better if you happen to be by the river anyway. Our guide to St James's Park and Green Park covers the park itself.
Royal gun salutes in London
- Cost
- Free, watched from a park or a public wharf
- Green Park or Hyde Park
- 41 rounds, first round usually at noon, King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, six thirteen-pounder guns
- Tower of London
- 62 rounds at 13:00, Honourable Artillery Company, four twenty-five-pounder guns on Tower Wharf
- Interval
- Ten seconds between rounds, so the Tower salute runs about ten minutes
- Fixed dates
- 6 May, a Saturday in June, 17 July, 8 September, 14 November
- Extra salutes
- State visits, the State Opening of Parliament, prorogation
- Best spot for the horses
- Green Park, on the Constitution Hill side
- Watch out for
- Tower Wharf closes at least an hour before the salute
Why 21, 41 and 62 rounds
The arithmetic is the part nobody explains, and it is simple once you see it. The basic royal salute is 21 rounds. In Hyde Park or Green Park an extra 20 are added because the ground is a Royal Park, which makes 41. At the Tower of London the count reaches 62, and the Tower publishes that figure plainly: salutes there are 62 rounds unless otherwise stated.
Ten seconds between rounds means the timing is predictable. Forty-one rounds take a little under seven minutes; 62 take a little over ten. That matters if you are trying to fit a salute into a morning, because the whole event, horses included, occupies well under half an hour.
The fixed dates
Five occasions recur on the same calendar date every year, and the weekday changes. These are the ones a visitor can plan around:
| Occasion | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coronation Day | 6 May | Marks the coronation of 6 May 2023 |
| The King's official birthday | A Saturday in June | The same day as Trooping the Colour; 13 June in 2026 |
| The Queen's Birthday | 17 July | Queen Camilla's birthday |
| Accession Day | 8 September | The date the King acceded in 2022 |
| The King's Birthday | 14 November | His actual birthday, as distinct from the official one |
For the rest of 2026 that leaves one: the King's Birthday on Saturday 14 November. Looking into 2027, Coronation Day falls on Thursday 6 May and the Queen's Birthday on Saturday 17 July. The King's official birthday parade for 2027 had not been announced when we checked, and the King's Birthday on 14 November 2027 falls on a Sunday, which is the sort of case where a ceremonial date sometimes moves, so check the Tower's own listing rather than assuming.
You can see both salutes on the same day, in that order. The park salute starts at noon and the Tower salute at 13:00, and Green Park to Tower Hill is about 20 minutes on the Jubilee and District lines with a change. It is one of the better free hours in the London calendar, and it belongs on our list of free things to do in London.
The King's Troop, and where to stand for the horses
The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery brings the guns in behind teams of horses, which is the reason to choose the park over the Tower. The guns are galloped into position, detached, and fired on command, with white smoke drifting across the grass and the sound coming up through the ground.
Which park is used depends on the occasion. For state visits the Royal Family's guidance names Green Park by Constitution Hill as the viewing point for the salute, and that is the best general advice: it puts you on the side of the park where the Troop arrives and leaves. For salutes fired in Hyde Park the ground is larger and the crowd more spread out.
Arrive by 11:30. The interesting part is not only the firing: it is the arrival, the unhitching, and then the horses coming back for the guns afterwards. Stand where you can see the open grass rather than pressed against a railing, keep dogs and small children back from the noise, and expect the ground to shake.
The Tower of London salute, and what closes
At the Tower the guns sit on the Gun Park on Tower Wharf, facing the Thames: four twenty-five-pounders, fired by the Honourable Artillery Company at 13:00. Watching from outside the paid area is possible along the riverside, and the sound carries across to Tower Bridge and the south bank.
Two practical consequences if you are visiting the Tower that day. The Wharf closes at least an hour before the salute and parts of it stay closed through the set-up and the firing, so the view of the river from the Wharf is unavailable for much of the middle of the day. And the 13:00 Yeoman Warder tour is cancelled, with tours resuming at 13:30. Our guide to how long the Tower of London takes works round both, and the Tower of London covers the visit itself.
A salute day is the wrong day to book the Tower for a tight schedule. You lose the Wharf for over an hour and the 13:00 Warder tour entirely, and the crowd on the riverside walk thickens from about 12:30. If your Tower visit is the fixed point of the trip, pick a different date and watch the park salute instead.
State visits, the State Opening and the salutes you cannot diarise
Beyond the fixed anniversaries, salutes are fired when a visiting head of state meets the Sovereign in London, Windsor or Edinburgh, at the State Opening of Parliament, and on the prorogation of Parliament. In March 2026, for example, the Tower fired at 12:00 rather than 13:00 for the state visit of the President of Nigeria, which shows that even the time is not guaranteed.
State visits usually begin with a ceremonial welcome on Horse Guards Parade and a carriage procession along The Mall, so the salute is one part of a longer morning. The Royal Family names The Mall and the memorial garden near the Queen Victoria Memorial as the viewing points for the procession, with the salute in Green Park by Constitution Hill. There are normally two incoming state visits a year, and the dates are published only a few weeks ahead. Our guide to Horse Guards and Whitehall explains the geography of that end of St James's Park.
Where the official sources disagree
One discrepancy is worth knowing, because it will mislead you otherwise. The Royal Family's gun salutes page describes the State Opening of Parliament as taking place "usually November or December". Parliament's own record shows the last three State Openings on 7 November 2023, 17 July 2024 and 13 May 2026. The seasonal pattern the royal page describes no longer holds, so use Parliament's announcement for the date and the royal page for the salute mechanics.
14 November 2026: a crowded Saturday in the City
The King's Birthday salute on Saturday 14 November 2026 falls on the same day as the Lord Mayor's Show, which sets off from Mansion House at 11:00 and is also free to watch. That puts a procession through the City in the late morning and a 62-round salute at the Tower at 13:00, about a mile apart, with an hour to walk between them along the river.
It makes a genuinely good free day out, and it is the sort of thing our month guides are for: London in November sets out the rest of that week, including Remembrance Sunday the weekend before, and the Lord Mayor's Show has the route and the timings.
How it compares with the other free ceremonies
A gun salute is short, loud and undersubscribed. Compared with Changing of the Guard, where the crowd at the palace railings forms an hour ahead, a salute in Green Park is uncrowded and you can see everything. Compared with Trooping the Colour it is over in ten minutes rather than two hours. And unlike the Ceremony of the Keys it costs nothing and needs no booking. For anyone with one free morning and a liking for horses, it is the most reliable piece of ceremony in London that nobody queues for.
Frequently asked questions
How many guns are fired in a royal salute in London?
Forty-one in Green Park or Hyde Park, because the basic 21-round salute gains an extra 20 when it is fired in a Royal Park, and 62 at the Tower of London. Rounds are fired at ten-second intervals, so a Tower salute lasts a little over ten minutes.
What time are gun salutes fired in London?
The park salute usually begins at noon and the Tower of London salute at 13:00. State visits can vary: the Tower fired at 12:00 for the state visit of the President of Nigeria in March 2026. Check the Tower's published salute dates before travelling.
Do you have to pay to see a gun salute?
No. Salutes in Green Park and Hyde Park are watched free from the park, and the Tower salute is listed by Historic Royal Palaces as free. You do not need a Tower of London admission ticket to hear it, though parts of Tower Wharf are closed for at least an hour beforehand.
When is the next gun salute in London?
The King's Birthday on Saturday 14 November 2026 is the next fixed date. After that, Coronation Day on Thursday 6 May 2027 and the Queen's Birthday on Saturday 17 July 2027. Additional salutes are fired for state visits and parliamentary occasions, announced a few weeks ahead.
Where do the horses come in?
Only at the park salutes. The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery brings six thirteen-pounder guns in behind teams of horses, gallops them into position and unhitches them before firing. The Tower salute is fired from fixed twenty-five-pounder guns on the Wharf with no horses involved.
Sources
- The Royal Family - Gun Salutes (checked September 2026)
- Historic Royal Palaces - Gun salutes at the Tower of London, with the 2026 dates (Internet Archive copy, 11 March 2026; the live site blocks our requests) (checked September 2026)
- The Household Division - State Visits, including viewing points (checked September 2026)
- UK Parliament - State Opening of Parliament, recent dates (Internet Archive copy, 8 September 2026) (checked September 2026)
- The Lord Mayor's Show - date and route (checked September 2026)