The British Royal Family assembled in London for the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony to celebrate the official birthday of King Charles. The event featured a military procession through The Mall and a traditional appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony.

The 45 battle honours of the Grenadier Guards

Central to this year's festivities was the trooping of the King's Colour of the Grenadier Guards. As the report says, King Charles presented these new Colours earlier in the week, noting that they bear 45 battle honours ranging from Tangier to the Gulf. This military tradition, which dates back to the 18th century, originally served a practical purpose on the battlefield, allowing soldiers to identify their regimental flags through the smoke of combat.

The ceremony included a royal carriae procession along The Mall, guarded by a Sovereign's Escort from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. The procession featured royal colonels, including the Prince of Wales (Colonel of the Welsh Guards), the Princess Royal (Colonel of the Blues and Royals), and the Duke of Edinburgh (Colonel of the Scots Guards), culminating in a flypast by the Red Arrows.

From 40 royals to a sparse group of working members

The visual composition of the Buckingham Palace balcony has undergone a significant transformation. While Trooping the Colour was once the largest public gathering of the monarchy—often featuring more than 40 membrs of the "Firm"—the current group is limited strictly to working royals. This shift reflects a broader trend toward a leaner monarchy, prioritizing those with official duties over the extended family.

Among those present were the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. The group also included the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent, who, according to the report, is now the oldest working royal at 90 years of age.

Queen Camilla's appointment as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards

The military leadership of the Grenadier Guards has seen a notable shift in recent years. queen Camilla was appointed Colonel of the regiment in December 2022, filling a vacancy created after Prince Andrew returned the title to the late Queen Elizabeth II in January 2022. The report notes that Prince Andrew was stripped of his honorary military affiliations following calls from 150 veterans for the monarch to remove his eight British military appointments.

This transition underscores the ongoing effort to distance the active monarchy from the controversies surrounding Prince Andrew. Queen Camilla's appointment came three months after the death of Elizabeth II, ensuring that one of the British Army's oldest regiments maintained its royal connection despite the internal turmoil of the royal family.

The absence of Prince Harry and the daughters of Prince Andrew

Despite the public celebration, several high-profile family members were missing from the festivities. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who reside in Montecito, California, were notably absent from the proceedings. Furthermore, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie did not attend the event,marking a continued departure from the ceremony they last attended in 2022.

The absence of the daughters of Prince Andrew remains a point of curiosity , as they were last seen on the palace balcony with Queen Elizabeth II in 2019. While the report confirms their absence, it does not provide a specific reason for why Beatrice and Eugenie opted out of the 2024 celebrations, leaving the current state of their relationship with the working royal core an open question.