It’s a day of celebration in London. On Saturday 15 June the Trooping The Colour, the flag parade, which celebrates the king’s birthday, regardless of his actual date of birth. A party that has never been awaited like this year, especially after the announcement of Kate Middleton, arrived as a surprise on the eve of the event: “I can’t wait to participate with my family,” the princess said with a touching message published on Instagram. And when she appeared together with her three children George, Charlotte and Louis and her husband William for a moment everyone forgot Charles III, he was also in the car together with Queen Camilla.
The first photos of Kate Middleton’s public return.
HENRY NICHOLLS/Getty ImagesThe arrival of Kate Middleton
After arrival, everyone moved in closed carriages, an obligatory and last minute choice due to the uncertain weather, a light but persistent rain characterized the princess’s return. The sovereign, certainly, did not take the world’s attention for Kate badly, on the contrary: “I’m delighted”, he would have said when they informed him that his beloved daughter-in-law would be joining the celebrations. Both were diagnosed with cancer earlier this year (the details are rightly kept private) but what matters is that both are recovering. The king, to tell the truth, would have liked it lead the parade on horseback, as per tradition, but evidently he didn’t have the doctors’ approval. A desire linked to the desire not to convey the image of a monarchy in difficulty, but certain things must necessarily take second place when compared to health. Not even William, after all, was on horseback, thanks to the rain. After the parade, the family appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the ritual salute and the passage of the RAF aerobatic team which closed the event. At the Horse Guards Parade at St. James’s Palace there were 1,400 soldiers in full dress uniform, 200 horses and 400 musicians.
The arrival of Kate Middleton and children
Yui Mok – PA Images/Getty ImagesThe arrival of Kate Middleton and children
Yui Mok – PA Images/Getty ImagesThe other royals
With the king and the family of the heir to the throne, i Dukes of Edinburgh, Edward and Sophiethe Princess Anne with her husband with her husband Timothy LawrenceThe Duke of Kent hey Dukes of Gloucester. A decidedly smaller group compared to the past, when the entire family looked out from Buckingham Palace. A precise choice by Charles III, eager to have a more streamlined monarchy that is in step with the times, where only senior royals, i.e. those who actively work, have a position of importance during events like this. However, circumstances also had an influence. The family today is reduced to the bare bones also due to issues external to the king’s choices, from Megxit, which has probably cut it off definitively Harry and Meghan Markle, to the personal affairs of the prince Andrew, who after being involved in the Epstein scandal is no longer a senior royal. the monarchy today has a new structure, but what matters most is that the king and his daughter-in-law are better. She has made it known that she is not out of danger yet, but she has an entire people on her side.
The origins of the festival
The expression, literally Flag Parade, also known as Sovereign’s Birthday Parade, does not coincide with the sovereign’s birth, just as it did not coincide with that of Elizabeth II, born on April 21st. The reason is purely meteorological. The idea came to George II, born on 9 November 1683: the British weather was too uncertain for a celebration in that month, so the king decided to set it for the second Saturday in June, a choice that all sovereigns after him have maintained good grade, in the name of tradition. The origin of the parade, however, is even older than George II: it refers to the tradition of using the flags of the different regiments to signal the rallying points during battles. Once the wars ended, the scenario changed. Today the parade takes place at the Horse Guards Parade at St. James’s Palace, in front of the sovereign and his family, who participate on horseback or in a carriage and then watch the final stages from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, with the passage of the RAF to conclude the party.
