Happy Birthday Fritz

The royal palace of Sans Souci, the residence of King Frederick II of Prussia.

King Frederick II of Prussia was born on January 24, 1712 so today we (me, at least) honor the orginal der Alte Fritz on his birthday by holding a regimental review of the Potsdam garrison. 

The King wakes up early at his royal residence in the palace of Sans Souci and hurries to the parade ground where he will inspect the troops.

The Potsdam garrison marches from its barracks and onto the parade ground.
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The regiments wheel right from column into line formation to present their colors to the King.

The King rides along the ranks to inspect the troops.

Once the colors of all of the garrison regiments have marched under the review of the King, the regiments will form into their brigades and have Frederick review the troops by brigade.

The first brigade goes through its paces:

Satisfied that everything meets His keen standards, the Garrison marches past the King in review by brigades.
The first brigade consists (from right to left) of the Alt Braunschweig, Prinz Moritz and von Diericke regiments.

The first brigade makes a smart wheel to the right and passes the review stand.

Now it is the turn of the second brigade to show off in front of the King:

The second brigade includes the cream of the crop of the Prussian army. Marching right to left are  the Guards, the Winterfeldt and the Itzenplitz regiments.

Exactly on que, the brigade wheels to the right in order to pass the review stand.

And now the entire garrison forms to march in column past the King.

The entire garrison forms up by companies and makes one more passing of the King  on the review stand.
The King is pleased with what he sees

It is a good day in Potsdam because the King is pleased with the performance of his troops upon the parade ground. The King will reward each inhaber with a small purse of gold ducats.

And now, the King will return to Sans Souci and take his Greyhounds for a walk or practice one of his own flute compositions.

The view of Sans Souci and its terraced garden.