The announcement by the Palace last week that the Princess of Wales will not be present at the traditional rehearsal of Trooping the Color came as no particular surprise.
As much as I am sure she values her role as Colonel-in-Chief of the Irish Guards and would have loved to be present at the formal review of “her” troops on June 8, Kate will be keen to focus on her recovery as she continues the cancer treatment.
His absence will once again leave a great void in the hearts of the Royal Family. It’s still unclear if she will lift everyone’s spirits by joining her family for the royal event on June 15.
We will have King Charles, who is continuing his own cancer treatment, waving from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, but he will not appear on horseback as he has in previous years. This is no surprise either. In recent months, as Her Majesty’s reign has been sidetracked by illness, it has been the quieter royals who have kept the business going.
Prince William and Kate, who will not be present at the traditional Trooping the Color rehearsal this year, wave alongside their children and King Charles and Queen Camilla during the event in June last year.
Harry and Meghan with Charles for Trooping the Color in 2018
It’s been years since Princess Anne, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (Edward and Sophia) and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester became the center of so much attention. Queen Camilla, once vilified by much of the public, is now taking center stage and even non-working relatives on the fringes of the Royal Family, such as Princess Beatrice, are attracting attention.
Last month, William, now returning to work on a limited basis while his wife continues her treatment, invited Beatrice and some of his other royal cousins (Princess Eugenie, Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall and her husband Mike) to help him organize a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. garden party It was a timely demonstration of how the “other” royals can play their part. Neither cousin is likely to become taxpayer-funded working royals, but they have proven they can step in from time to time to support the institution.
Had they not stepped away from the monarchy in 2020, Harry and Meghan would have been key figures in this turbulent period, and others who are now front and center might not even have a role.
In fact, his attitude could certainly teach the Sussexes, ensconced in their California mansion, a thing or two. He also contrasts with the Prince and Princess of Wales, who for years have been championing a style that involves fewer public outings but plenty of social media exposure.
Kate will be keen to focus on her recovery while continuing cancer treatment.
Nothing better illustrates the dramatic change in fortunes of some members of the Firm than the prominent role now played by Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh. As Colonel of the Scots Guards, he will ride proudly in all his finery in the Horse Guards Parade at Trooping the Colour. He’s even been rehearsing his disgraced brother for the lead role.
Andrew, who remains banished from public life following the fallout from his relationship with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, has been imparting experience from his two Trooping appearances, in 2018 and 2019, in the ring at Windsor Castle.
A decade ago, senior royal advisers told me that the view within the Palace was that neither Edward, his wife Sophie nor Andrew would have a role to play when Charles became king. But Edward, 60, who left the Royal Marines in 1987 a third of the way through the 12-month commando training course, has seen his star rise dramatically while Andrew’s has plummeted.
When Edward replaced the Duke of Kent (another stoic worker) as colonel of the Scots Guards in April, a defense source described him as effectively the king’s number two in William’s absence. They said: ‘He has been very well received in the army. He pays a lot of attention to the work and likes it. I think people are starting to see the work he does supporting the King.”
Wife Sophie, 59, recently became the first member of the Royal Family to visit war-torn Ukraine and regularly attends engagements with and without her husband. She is another silent asset who does her bit.
In a new reign in which so much attention is focused on making the monarchy more powerful through the King’s efforts to encourage action against climate change or food waste, and on William and Kate’s campaigns to end with homelessness or giving children a better start in life, the other royals represent a continued faith in more traditional royal duties.
Sophie, 59, recently became the first member of the Royal Family to visit war-torn Ukraine. Pictured with President Zelensky
Perhaps the best advocate for this is Princess Anne, who has helped keep the show going by taking on a third of the family’s official engagements in the first four months of the year. After returning from a three-day visit to Norway last month, she didn’t stop to rest. Less than 24 hours later, Anne attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace on the same day she visited a yacht club in Gosport.
This last engagement received no attention from experienced royal correspondents like myself. But Anne doesn’t care about the applause and praise. She can easily skip five or six events in a day, shake hands, listen to how volunteers maintain a community service, say “well done, keep up the good work” and quickly move on to the next visit.
Princess Anne meets guests during the Sovereign’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution garden party at Buckingham Palace in May.
In an interview with Vanity Fair to mark her 70th birthday three years ago, Princess Anne defended what some might deride as her “ribbon-cutting style” of visiting charity shops, hospitals and community pools, celebrating the ordinary. people who keep this country going.
She suggested that the younger generation of royals might be in too much of a rush to change the Firm’s tried-and-true approach, describing herself as “the boring old bimbo in the back who says ‘don’t forget the basics.'” Nowadays, they look to much more: “Oh, let’s do it in a new way.” And I’m already at the stage: “Please don’t reinvent that particular wheel”… We’ve been there, we’ve done that. Some of these things don’t work. you need to get back to basics.’
William and Kate’s more selective approach to royal duties and their passionate campaigning may well be something that appeals to younger people and makes the monarchy more relevant. It is something that should be supported.
But it seems clear that the Firm will need royals like Anne, Edward, Sophia and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester in the future to cover the difficult issues. Under a future King William V, say, 20 years from now, it is not easy to see who that might be. By then, the active Royal Family could be reduced to William, Kate, George, Charlotte and Louis. Many more charities and other organizations will have to give up real support unless there is someone willing to do the heavy lifting.