A gray and rainy day was forecast in London, despite the 25 degrees that the thermometers marked. It is no wonder that the month of June is rainy in the British capital, in fact one in three days it rains. But when it comes to a national celebration, there is no valid excuse not to take to the streets. Dressed in the flag of the United Kingdom or with motifs in tribute to Charles III, the British and some curious tourists took over the city on the Thames to celebrate Trooping The Colour, a military parade in honor of the king’s birthday, regardless of the real date in which years.
This day so marked in the calendars of the English was even more so for its protagonist, Charles III, who was making his debut as sovereign and who, moreover, was recovering a tradition that had been lost for more than thirty years. The King rode down the iconic Mall from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade, a feat that had not happened since Queen Elizabeth’s horse, Burmese, carried her during the ceremony in 1986. It was also visited by Prince Guillem, heir to the throne, who wanted to accompany his father on horseback in this Trooping The Colour. Queen Camilla; Kate Middleton and her three children, Princes George, Carlota and Louis; Princess Anne; her husband, Sir Timothy Laurente, and the current Dukes of Edinburgh did not want to miss this annual event either.
The Princess of Wales, in her role as colonel of the Irish Guards, might even have worn a military uniform and paraded on horseback. However, she took one of the carriages alongside her children and the queen consort and wore an emerald gown by designer Andrew Gn with a striking cross brooch. A style that she completed with a headdress and sapphire earrings surrounded by diamonds from Lady Di.
The parade began at ten o’clock in the morning at Buckingham Palace until it reached Horse Guards Parade, where Charles III took the royal salute from the seven regiments of the Household Division and was reviewed before the attentive gaze of the his family and hundreds of spectators. A few minutes later, the monarch joined his family to see the 1st Battalion English Guards before returning to the starting point again. Finally, the most anticipated moment was when the royal family went out on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to witness the traditional air flight, in which nearly 70 aircraft from the Royal Navy, the British Army and the Royal Air Force participated. The big absentees were Meghan Markle and Prince Henry, and this was the first time that the son of Diana of Wales was not present in this family tradition.
