Here are some photos from Saturday’s Trooping the Colour, which is King Charles’ annual birthday parade, despite the fact that he’s actually a Scorpio. Each year into Charles’ reign, Trooping loses more and more significance. For years during Queen Elizabeth’s reign, it was such a big date on the royal calendar. QEII loved to have her whole family on the balcony, all of cousins, her children, her grandchildren and even great-grandkids. That balcony used to be heaving with royals and royal-adjacents. Nowadays, the all-white balcony is sparse and so are the crowds. Photographers are hesitant to do wide shots of the balcony, and the newspapers are even more hesitant to publish the wide shots of both the pale-and-stale balcony and the sparse crowds.
For this year’s Trooping, Queen (Consort) Camilla repeated a funky look which she wore to this same event in 2023 (it was her first Trooping as queen consort). It’s a red militaristic coatdress, which is supposed to mimic her husband’s Irish Guards dress uniform. She had it specially made back in 2023, so I suppose she wanted to get more use out of it. In many of the photos of Camilla, she looks totally over it, btw. I keep thinking about the Hans Gruber line in Die Hard: “And Alexander wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.” That’s Camilla’s attitude at this point – she’s reached the top of the mountain, vanquished her enemies (her husband’s first wife, her stepsons and the British media), got the crown and there are no more worlds left to conquer. The only thing keeping her alive is the hate in her heart.
Surprisingly, I thought the best-dressed woman of Trooping was… the Duchess of Edinburgh?? Sophie wore a new Roland Mouret dress which is either white or a very, very pale pink. Her Jane Taylor hat is pink. This is the best Sophie has looked in a while?
The Gloucesters were included on the balcony, as were Princess Anne, Tim Laurence, the Duke of Kent and Prince Edward (who also wore his dress uniform, despite having never served).
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.
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- Royal family on the balcony during Trooping the Colour 2026 ceremony in celebration of King Charles III’s official birthday Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: London, United Kingdom When: 13 Jun 2026 Credit: Mischa Schoemaker/Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- London, UK, 13 June 2026. The King and Queen leave Buckingham Palace on the King’s Birthday Parade for the Trooping The Colour Buckingham Palace, London, UK.,Image: 1109873067, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no , Credit line: Lee Floyd/Avalon
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- London, UK, 13 June 2026. The Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the King’s Birthday Parade, Trooping The Colour Buckingham Palace, London, UK.,Image: 1109908088, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no , Credit line: Lee Floyd/Avalon
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- Sophie – The Duchess of Edinburgh and Sir Tim Laurence (Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence) attend The King’s Birthday Parade known as Trooping The Colour at Horse Guards Parade, London, England, UK on Saturday 13 June, 2026.,Image: 1109921336, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend The King’s Birthday Parade known as Trooping The Colour at Horse Guards Parade, London, England, UK on Saturday 13 June, 2026.,Image: 1109921356, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- (L-R) – Prince Edward – The Duke of Edinburgh, Sophie – The Duchess of Edinburgh, Sir Tim Laurence (Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence), Princess Anne – The Princess Royal attend The King’s Birthday Parade known as Trooping The Colour at Horse Guards Parade, London, England, UK on Saturday 13 June, 2026.,Image: 1109921504, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- (L-R) – Queen Camilla, King Charles III, Prince William – The Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Catherine – The Princess of Wales, Prince Louis and Prince George attend The King’s Birthday Parade known as Trooping The Colour at Horse Guards Parade, London, England, UK on Saturday 13 June, 2026.,Image: 1109921529, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Sophie – The Duchess of Edinburgh attend The King’s Birthday Parade known as Trooping The Colour at Horse Guards Parade, London, England, UK on Saturday 13 June, 2026.,Image: 1109928451, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend The King’s Birthday Parade known as Trooping The Colour at Horse Guards Parade, London, England, UK on Saturday 13 June, 2026.,Image: 1109928453, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend The King’s Birthday Parade known as Trooping The Colour at Horse Guards Parade, London, England, UK on Saturday 13 June, 2026.,Image: 1109928461, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no , Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Royal family on the balcony during Trooping the Colour 2026 ceremony in celebration of King Charles III’s official birthday Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Prince William of Wales, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Prince Edward Duke of Edinburgh, Sophie Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Anne Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Princee Edward Duke of Kent, Prince Richard Duke of Gloucester, Brigitte Duchess of Gloucester Where: London, United Kingdom When: 13 Jun 2026 Credit: Mischa Schoemaker/Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
Much is being made online about the Duke of Kent being isolated and ignored and off to the side on the balcony. In the video, the kids are at first spread out in a single line and appear closer to the Duke but it’s William who tells them to gather close to him and Kate so that Charlotte and Louis are standing in front of them. Anyways, it’s always odd how few interactions they show the public of them interacting with their wider family. I feel like they must talk beforehand about not showing the public too much bc it could end up in the papers. But this ended up looking like the whole family couldn’t care less about their older relatives. Do those kids even know the Duke of Kent, lol. Anyways, another slimmed down and joyless balcony.
“Joyless” is a perfect description!
I’ll never understand how people like Edward aren’t mortified to dress up like that despite never having served in the military. I would feel like such a fool.
This is @Lorelei, with respect to Edward, it’s not just that he never served— if he had had the courage of his convictions and just bucked the trend and said, sod it, I’m going into set design, but stuck with it, people would have grudgingly respected it. And he might have been taken seriously, if he put in the effort. That’s just a random example. But he enlisted in the Royal Marines and actually dropped out of basic training. Which is really — like, at that point, you almost feel sorry for the guy.
I am amused that Edward is all togged up like a pantomime character right next to retired Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, who’s not even wearing his medals.
It seemed incredibly weird and hostile that William pulled his family to literally stand in the middle of the balcony as though HE were the monarch. He’s standing so close to the king that it looks as though he’s practically elbowing him out of the way. That used to be Kate’s M.O. Either she has trained him well, or his PR people told him that he needs to centre himself and tower over his father instead of letting the king and queen stand in the middle, because it makes HIM look kingly, being the tallest one and in the middle of that group. And after all of that, not one of his embiggening papers put him on their front page. 😀
Duke of Kent is one of the hardest working royals or was until recently. Of course, William would have nothing in common with him.
Love “stale and pale”.
Those hats are ugly. I see the York princesses and their husbands got no invite
Love that pathetic looking balcony that no one wants to see anymore it’s exactly what they wanted only the racist on display.
Apparently, there were protests and booing at the Trooping of the Color yesterday. You can hear the boos faintly as Kate and the kids parade in their carriage.
Sophie’s dress would’ve been perfect to wear to last week’s wedding! /s
The perfect gaslighter white 😆
Yeah. Still, she could use what our mothers called, FOUNDATION!
It’s inexcusable that Camilla NEVER appears to have a well-fitting bra on underneath whatever frumpy dress she’s wearing.
And although he’d obviously never admit it, I wonder if Charles sees these photos and has any regrets about what he did to the Sussexes. On the one hand, his ego prevents him from wanting anyone up there who will pull attention from him, but everyone always pays more attention to the women and whatever they’re wearing anyway. On the other hand, I’d imagine he doesn’t want it to look like he’s presiding over such a lame event that no one cares about.
Watching the monarchy die in real time is entertaining and not at all tragic. Otoh, seeing people who never served dress up in military/colonial cosplay is pretty infuriating. Gives new meaning to the term “empty suits”.
From photos I’ve seen Trooping didn’t look “sparsely attended”. The crowd actually looked considerably larger than in previous years. I was surprised to see so many people and can’t figure out the reason for the increased crowd numbers.
Yeah, I saw some photos of what looked like some decent crowds in the walkway area leading up to that big circle area below the balcony. But for some reason there’s very few photos of the balcony with the crowds in them at the same time so it makes it hard to tell or confirm. I wonder why there weren’t any of those photos. We’ve gotten them in the past or maybe I just haven’t seen them?
Can you link to the pictures of the crowd you’re referencing? I haven’t been able to find any.
Were the photos from the media? Because I saw people online saying that the derangers were posting lots of images from the late Queen’s jubilee and claiming that those were taken during this year’s trooping.
That’s what I’m wondering. I saw photos of crowds on SM but none that had the current balcony in a photograph with the crowds. And truly maybe there was a really good crowd I have no idea. But I haven’t seen any photo or video that showed a crowd with the current balcony. Not to say there isn’t one but I haven’t seen.
It was beautiful weather in London yesterday. We had our annual family cricket club day on the local common and it overlapped with a local fair. It was heaving. Absolutely packed. Gorgeous weather.
Sophie looks surprisingly good.
Wasn’t Laurence in the Navy? Edward gets to wear a uniform and he doesn’t?
This is @Penelope, AFAIK, Tim was a vice admiral. Or still is. Possibly retired. But by any reckoning, he outranks Edward. As well as most other people in the Navy.
At least he’s not celebrating his birthday with a cage match.
Why isn’t the actual Vice-Admiral in a uniform while the others are?? If its because he’s retired….well Edward never had anything to retire from so it just looks silly.
The balcony just looks sad and empty. I get that reducing it to “working royals” knocks out Harry and Meghan and apparently the family is willing to do a lot if it removes those two from the equation. I also get the idea of the “slimmed down” monarchy. but this just looks sad. QEII still had the full family on the balcony for Trooping – it was for other events that it would just be a few senior royals. This is a sad and aging balcony, even with the Wales children there.