Princess Charlotte is mum Kate’s mini-me at Trooping the Colour alongside George and Louis
The royal family showed up to the Trooping the Colour to mark King Charles’ official birthday in sunny London today.
Crowds, the royals and the horse guards were graced with glorious weather after a week of rain as the iconic military event and parade dazzled in Whitehall.
All eyes were on the Princess of Wales and her three children, who stood out from the sea of red uniforms and bearskin hats in their colour-coordinated ensemble.
Kate Middleton, 44, wore a baby-blue outfit with a matching hat and white heels. Meanwhile, Princess Charlotte, 11, who wore a white dress with a ribbon in her hair, looked like a mirror image of her mother, sitting opposite her in the horse-drawn carriage. Future king Prince George, 12, and Prince Louis, eight, were mini versions of their dad, the Prince of Wales, donning blue ties and similar suits, while William wore his red, ceremonial military uniform.
After arriving from Buckingham Palace at the Horse Guards Parade around the corner in front of crowds lining up The Mall with Queen Camilla, the King inspected the troops with Prince William, the Colonel of the Welsh Guards, in tow.
Anne, the Princess Royal, who is the Colonel of the Blue and Royals, and Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, as the Colonel of the Scots Guards were also in attendance along with around 8,000 family members of the guards and officers.
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Trooping the Colour is a nod to the centuries-old traditions of the various royal troops and ranks, who carried or ‘trooped’ different colours to help them stand out on the battlefield.
The head of state always wears the uniform of the regiment that is trooping its colour, so he was dressed in a Grenadier Guards tunic and forage cap. Queen Camilla honoured her regiment – the Grenadier Guards – with a red silk crepe Grenadier Guards uniform dress by Fiona Clare, a black beret with white plume by Philip Treacy, featuring her Grenadier Guards cap badge and her Grenadier Guards brooch on her shoulder.
Each guard had marched hundreds of miles in rehearsals for the annual big day before parading in front of the watchful eye of their highest commander, the King, who stood saluting in the dais alongside Kate and Camilla.
For the soldiers, today’s ceremony had a highly emotional angle as one of their own, Lance Bombardier Ciara Sullivan, 24, with the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, died last month after falling from a horse at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.
What is Trooping the Colour?
Today’s pomp marked the King’s official birthday, although the monarch was born on November 14. The alternative summertime birthday has a very British reason behind it – the weather.
He follows a tradition from the 18th century and the rule of King George II, who was also born in November, one of the greyest months of the year, unsuitable for large outdoor festivities, which is why the sovereign’s official birthday is in June.
One royal figure who has been causing grey hairs to the reputation of the firm, the former Prince Andrew, was not present today after being largely excluded from official gatherings in recent years due to his friendship with the convicted paedophile financier, Jeffrey Epstein. Images of the disgraced former Duke of York featured on the banners held by protesters from the anti-monarchy group, Republic, outside Buckingham Palace. Placards were emblazoned with ‘Down with the king’ and ‘Not my king’ slogans, which the protesters chanted as the troops passed.
