Unlike the multiple No Kings protests taking place across North America today, in London, a decidedly King-ly celebration got underway. A tent-pole event in the Royal Family calendar, Trooping the Colour — so called because it’s when various battalions present their “colours,” or flags once used to make them easy to spot on the battlefield, to the monarch — is also the official birthday celebration of King Charles. (Never mind that his actual birthday is in November.)
Last year, the headline was all about royal health: The King had only just officially returned to work after his cancer diagnosis — he’s still in treatment, more than a year later — while this occasion last year also marked the Princess of Wales’s first public appearance after months of feverish speculation about her whereabouts, which turned out to be because she herself was being treated for cancer, too.
This year, it’s all about a return to normal — blessed, for once, by fair weather for the King’s b-day bash.
Here are some of the big moments from Trooping the Colour
The royals paid tribute to the Air India crash victims
At King Charles’s request, there was a minute of silence to honour the more than two hundred people who died — many of them British — on a London-bound Air India flight that crashed on Thursday. Members of the Royal Family who actually marched in the parade, like Prince William, also wore a black armband.
Kate Middleton wore a new dress
If you’re a follower of the fashion of Kate Middleton, or Princess Catherine, you’ll know she hasn’t debuted any new outfits over the last year. (Re-wearing your clothes, how novel!) Even last year’s Trooping outfit, a black and white Jenny Packham, was a dress she’s worn previously, refreshed with a new bow.
Today, however, she stepped out in a brand new wool coat by Catherine Walker, a designer she’s long favoured for these “coat dress and a big hat” sort of royal occasions. There are no prices on the British designer’s website for this “Bria” style, but her coats usually come in around the $5,000 mark.
Given the 80s-esque cut — wide lapels, statement shoulders — and the fact that it’s a designer she also patronized frequently, it’s inevitable that this look, as with everything the princess wears, could be interpreted as some kind of sartorial nod to the previous Princess of Wales, Diana, particularly since it’s in a shade of teal/turquoise that Diana gravitated to. (Or, it’s just a vaguely military-esque dress that felt appropriate to a formal day occasion?)
Kate paired this new Catherine Walker with a bespoke Juliette Millinery hat, and the Bahrain Pearl earrings, her go-to bit of royal bling often seen as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth, who also loved them.
And as an aside: It would seem Kate has allergies! Whether to horses, the spring flowers or just the dust being kicked up as the troops paraded, she was spotted having a bit of a sneezing spell while sitting next to the Queen and King.
The Wales kids made an appearance
This is one of a handful of times Will and Kate appear in public for official royal events. And on this occasion, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis joined them, spotted riding in a carriage with their mother. Louis and Charlotte waved enthusiastically at the crowd while George, who turns 12 in a few weeks, seemed to light up once all the planes began flying overhead later on.
Continuing a running tradition of matching-ish outfits, Charlotte wore a dress in a very similar shade to her mother’s. The 10-year-old was also spotted wearing a horseshoe pearl brooch that belonged the late Queen — a famous horse lover, fitting for an event with such an equine presence — and which we first saw the princess wear at her great-grandmother’s funeral. Her brothers, for their part, wore red ties in what is likely a nod to their dad’s uniform jacket.
Prince William, who later joined his family for the traditional balcony photo opp, was riding in the parade. (For the second year in a row, Charles opted to take part in a carriage, likely due to his health.)
Over on their social media, the Waleses continued their tradition of posting “behind the scenes” snaps ahead of big events, this time a carousel featuring a video of a Prince William, in dramatic slow motion, striding out in his bearskin-hatted uniform and mounting his horse, and showing the family about to load into their carriage for the parade.
A minimalist approach to the balcony guest list
Back in Queen Elizabeth’s day, the balcony at Buckingham Palace heaved with assorted extended members of the Royal Family gathered to watch the grand finale of Trooping the Colour, the flypast of various planes, capped by the Red Arrows patriotically spewing red, white and blue smoke across the sky.
This year, however, there was just the most select handful of working members of the Royal Family on the balcony, in line with the King’s “slimmed down” approach to the family business. Present were Princess Anne and her husband, Prince Edward and Princess Sophie (without their two kids), Will and Kate with their children, and the Duke of Kent, a royal cousin.
Among the notable — if not unexpected — absentees? Scandal-shadowed Prince Andrew, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who, as we all know, would have been there had they not quit The Firm back in 2020.
