Sovereign's Parade: Newest Officer Cadets Commission Into Army

The latest group of newly-commissioned British Army officers have marked the end of 44 weeks of training with The Sovereign's Parade at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

The Countess of Wessex represented the Queen at the parade, which sees the passing out of officer cadets.

Sophie inspected the troops before giving a speech in front of friends and families.

"As you stand here today you may be experiencing a mixture of emotions," she said in a speech.

"Nerves, excitement, exhilaration, pride, relief, and exhaustion.

"All of these feelings are justified.

"You will march off the parade square and up the historic steps of Old College.

"As you climb each step think of the thousands of officers who have gone before you."

Two hundred and forty-three officer cadets passed out during the ceremony, including 38 cadets from 24 overseas countries including Bangladesh, Colombia, Ukraine and the US.

Among those was 2nd Lieutenant Cole Ryder Manhart from the US Army.

In 2017, he gave up a lucrative career playing American football in the NFL to join the military. 

"I think it set me up very well," he told Forces News.

"There's a lot of the same little things that go into playing in the NFL that go into being successful at Sandhurst - discipline, teamwork, loyalty, integrity, those sort of things."

The former Pittsburgh Steelers player's last paycheck as an American footballer amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"You don't get into this line of work [with the military] to make the same type of money you make when you're playing in the NFL," said 2nd Lieutenant Ryder Manhart.

"But it's very rewarding and it's the intangibles that make this career so rewarding."

Also watching the ceremony was the King and Queen of Malaysia, who were there to see their son graduate.

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Father Emir of Qatar, was also in attendance to watch three family members commission into the Qatar Army.

The officer cadets officially commissioned into their respected armies on the stroke of midnight.