From the BBC:
“Kate returns to public events
at Trooping the Colour”
Catherine, Princess of Wales has
made her much-anticipated first public appearance of the year at the annual
Trooping the Colour parade. The princess, who is currently undergoing treatment
for cancer, could be seen smiling and waving from the Buckingham Palace balcony
at the end of a ceremony filled with pomp and pageantry. King Charles III, who
is also receiving treatment for cancer, inspected troops from a gold carriage,
rather than on horseback. Thousands watched on in the heavy rain to witness one
of the biggest events in royal calendar. There were cheers from the waiting
crowd as they caught their first glimpse of Catherine and the King heading from
Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade.
They emerged in golden carriages
to a sea of mobile phones, with people desperate to catch a photograph of the
royals through the windows. The princess was pictured smiling, sitting
alongside her children Prince George, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte -
with six-year-old Louis giving a little wave to the crowd. It was Catherine's
first public appearance of the year, as she is currently undergoing
chemotherapy treatment for cancer. In a statement released on Friday, the
princess said she was "not out of the woods yet", and had "good
days and bad days", but was "looking forward to attending the King’s
birthday parade this weekend with my family". In a change from last year,
she watched the ceremony from a balcony with her children, instead of joining
other senior royals on a dais. Louis danced along to a march by the Scots
Guards, and was spotted yawning while watching the parade. His sister,
Charlotte, was seen wiping steam off their carriage's windows, as they were on
their way back to Buckingham Palace.
The King, meanwhile, has only
recently made a return to public duties himself, after being diagnosed with
cancer in February. But since the general election was called last month, the
palace has postponed any engagements "which may appear to divert attention
or distract from the election campaign". He was joined by Queen Camilla,
as the pair made their way to the event in a glass-sided carriage. As it
emerged from behind the Buckingham Palace gates, huge cheers could be heard
from the watching crowd. He inspected troops from within his carriage with the
Queen by his side - last year he did so on horseback. Prince William, Princess
Anne and Prince Edward did still take to their horses, donning full military
uniform as they took part in the parade.
Taking the lead in this year's
ceremony, as the sovereign's escort, were the Irish Guards. That role is
rotated between five different regiments of the Foot Guards. During the parade,
their flag was "trooped" through the ranks of soldiers. Made up of
troops from the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth, it was described as
"unique" by Sgt Michael Flood, one of the regiment's soldiers. Meanwhile
his colleague Gdsm Colati Kitione, who is from Fiji, said it was an
"honour and a privilege" to be asked to take part. The regiment's
mascot - an Irish wolfhound named Seamus - also made an appearance during the
parade. As a serving Guardsman, he parades alongside a drummer, and was
inspected alongside the other soldiers, before taking his place at the front of
the regiment. Back on parade today were three of the five horses of the
household cavalry that bolted and ran through the streets of London in April. One,
Tennyson, featured in the Sovereign's Escort, while two others - Trojan and
Vanquish - were part of the ceremonial guard for the official entrance to the
palaces.
A 41-gun salute rang out from
nearby Green Park, leading up to an RAF flypast over Buckingham Palace. The
Royal Family - including the King, Queen, William and Catherine - came out onto
the balcony at the palace to take in the view. As is tradition, the flypast
finished with the Red Arrows acrobatic team flying overhead - leaving trails of
red, white and blue in their wake. Earlier in the day, the man in charge of the
flypast - Air Vice-Marshall Mark Flewin - said he was "very
confident" it would go ahead, despite the bad weather. It was a grey and
blustery day in central London for this year's Trooping the Colour - with heavy
showers soaking the troops towards the end of the ceremony. But that didn't
stop people turning out in large numbers to witness the annual display of pomp
and pageantry first-hand - and umbrellas could be seen lining the streets of
The Mall, and in the stands at Horse Guards Parade.
Among those watching on in the
stands was Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was spotted taking a photograph of
the parade on his phone. Carol and Brian Haddow from Scotland were among
thousands who caught a glimpse of Kate and the Royal Family on the Mall. Mrs
Haddow said like “anybody going through chemotherapy, it's a big thing for her
to come out and do this”, adding that the princess seemed “fine, happy to be
involved”. She added: "It's a great thing to have a king or queen." One
of the soldiers who helped plan Saturday's event praised Kate, saying that it
was “incredibly special” for the princess to attend on what he said was the
closest thing the UK gets to a “national day”. Garrison Sergeant Major Stokes
told the PA news agency: “It is probably the only day we see the entire Royal
Family together in public and I think the Royal Family really appreciate the
day as well”.
Trooping the Colour has been
taking place for over 260 years, and has long been used to mark the official
birthday of the British monarch - Saturday's parade was the King's second since
taking the throne. Anti-monarchy protesters from the group Republic could be
seen scattered among those watching on. They were waving big yellow flags
reading 'Not My King', which seemed to make some of the parading horses jumpy. In
the days before the event, the Metropolitan Police banned the group from using
amplified sound, but loud protest chants could be heard mixed in with cheers.
^ It was a nice ceremony. ^
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.