The King and Queen were joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the annual RAF flypast, but there were many notable faces missing
While a select group of the senior working members of the Royal Family took pride of place on the Palace balcony at Trooping the Colour today, others were notably absent from their coveted spot to watch the RAF flypast.
King Charles was centre stage, with Queen Camilla by his side. Prince William and Princess Kate, along with their three children George, Charlotte and Louis, were also present on the balcony. Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh also made an appearance, alongside the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Anne’s husband Vice-Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and the Duke of Kent.
The royals who missed out on a spot on the balcony were Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie – who were also absent last year – as they are non-working royals.
The sisters have also been embroiled in a recent scandal surrounding their rent of apartments in royal London residences, which were exposed in a report by the National Audit Office.
Zara and Mike Tindall, as well as the children of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh James, the Earl of Wessex and Lady Louise Windsor, were also absent. Lady Louise Windsor was last on the Buckingham Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour in 2024.
Unsurprisingly, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were also left out of the Trooping celebrations.
Andrew, who was stripped of his titles last year and was arrested in February, has not participated in Trooping the Colour in 2019, which was also the last time the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were at the annual event before they quit their royal roles.
In years past, the late Queen Elizabeth would often invite the entire Royal Family to join her on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the RAF flypast, but that all changed for the return of the grand Trooping the Colour event in 2022, which coincided with the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
For the first time, the Queen decided to only invite working members of the royal family to the balcony, meaning both Harry and Meghan, along with disgraced Andrew, were omitted from the royal line up.
At the time, Buckingham Palace said the monarch’s decision to only include royals carrying out official public duties was taken “after careful consideration”.
However, the Queen made an exception for one little-known, non-working royal – her son-in-law, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence. Sir Tim is the husband of Princess Anne and is often at her side during her countless royal engagements.
