I've never been far from the sounds of marching bands during my 10 years as a cabinet minister.

But there has never been anything quite like the last few weeks, when dress rehearsals have been taking place just outside my office windows for one of the ceremonial highlights of the year.

My office in the old Home Office was stark and utilitarian.

It was a short walk from Horse Guards Parade, where every year the Trooping the Colour parade takes place, and very close to the Wellington barracks where there is a parade ground.

My office in the Foreign Office was even closer to Horse Guards.

It was rich and ornate and decorated in an elaborate Victorian Gothic style.

It felt rather like a room in a stately home and reflected the style of the Foreign Office building as a whole, which was built at the height of Britain's imperial powers in the middle of the 19th century as a statement that we ran the world.

Since the whole of the maisonette in which I lived as a child could have been safely accommodated with room to spare, it always felt just a little odd working there.

In contrast, my Whitehall office as Leader of the Commons has the best of both worlds.

It's on the ground floor of a delightful 18th century town house, called Dover House and built originally for the then MP for Portsmouth in the 1750s, and occupied by, among others, by the Grand Old Duke of York (he of the nursery rhyme).

All sorts of goings on seem to have taken place here.

It was one of the focal points of London's social whirl in the 19th century.

It's quieter these days - most of the time. My office is just the right size, calm and a great place to work.

A bonus is that it has its own small garden, which looks out directly on to Horse Guards Parade.

That has meant that my meetings this week have occasionally had to compete with rehearsals for Trooping the Colour.

A huge grandstand has been erected directly outside my office, workmen have been tapping, banging and crashing as they put up various fences, tents and stages.

They've also been testing the Public Address system by playing so loudly that most of London must be able to hear.

The best bit, of course, has been when the marching bands have been practising.

Across Horseguards lies St James Park, and that has become a "backstage" area for the event, with horses, cavalry men and guardsmen taking a breather from the heat in the shade of the trees.

If you'll forgive the pun, Trooping the Colour is one of our most colourful ceremonies, rich in pomp and ceremony.

It marks the Queen's official birthday, and dates back to the 18th century.

The ceremony derives from the time when the flags (the "colours") of a regiment were used as a rallying point in battle and were "trooped" before the soldiers every day so they would recognise them.

It's easy to dismiss such events as out of date, but I think such events, in providing a sense of our history, form an important part of our present, not least because it is an opportunity to reflect our pride in our armed forces.

Try to catch it on television - from what I've seen and heard so far it promises to be as terrific as ever.