From the sprigs of shamrock to the scene-stealing regimental Irish wolfhound, there’s always been something particularly joyful about the royals’ annual appointment with the Irish Guards on St. Patrick’s Day.
For the Princess of Wales, however, this year’s parade must feel particularly imbued with the spirit of a four-leaf clover. Not only is it her first time attending solo as Colonel of the regiment, it also marks a return to an event she missed last year — and another solid signal that she’s firmly back in the royal saddle.
Without the context of the year that came before this — the major surgery, the mystery absence that would soon be revealed as cancer, a frenzy of conspiracy that filled the information gap, the treatment and recovery that followed — the Princess of Wales standing on a dais clad head-to-toe in green Alexander McQueen to watch soldiers march past, would hardly be remarkable.
In fact, everything was exactly as you’d expect it to be, as it always has been: the ceremonial presentation of a boutonniere of shamrocks, fastened to her coat with an anchor thread put especially there for that purpose, continuing a tradition that dates back to Queen Elizabeth’s grandmother’s time; the gold shamrock brooch she’s worn since 2011, and which the Irish Guards have “loaned” to royal women for the occasion for decades. The same customary post-parade glass of Guinness she and William used to raise together back when he was Colonel and she was his plus-one was spotted in her hand when she met with the regiment afterward. (Kate, we’re told, left money behind the bar for the troops to have a tipple, too.)
When you’ve had the kind of awfully abnormal 2024 Kate had, of course, normal is likely all you long for. At the risk of over-sentimentalizing it à la the tabloids—“an emotional return,” is how the Daily Mail characterized it, despite no particular evidence the princess herself was overly moved bar an overheard conversation about how she’d “missed” attending the parade — this sort of paint-by-numbers royal occasion is probably exactly what she’s here for this year.
It’s also the latest sign that Kate, as much as we’re told she is still recovering from her cancer treatment, is firmly back in the royal swing of things. Last Monday, for example, she joined the rest of the family for the Commonwealth Day Service, perhaps most infamous as the scene of Meghan and Harry’s last formal royal gig as working members of the family.
And this past weekend, she and Prince William were back out together for the Six Nations Rugby game, cheering for opposite sides in their roles as patrons of the England and Wales teams, respectively. She missed last year’s big game because of that “planned abdominal surgery.” The couple were also back in Wales for St David’s day a few weeks ago, her first visit to the country she’s princess of since her illness.
This flurry of “returns” and “first time backs” are as much a function of the calendar — royals love a routine, and like to do the same thing at the same time every year — as they are any particular signal of Kate’s strategy moving forward. And certainly, there are signs, like the fact that she is continuing a pattern of wearing almost exclusively “old” clothes, or she’s been heard opening up about things like “work life balance is hard” to troops today, that things aren’t quite as they were before.
But this Paddy’s Day, for now, feels refreshingly normal.
