In the last two years, the British Royal Family has celebrated a number of milestones—both happy and sad. In 2022, the Queen celebrated 70 years on the throne and Britain (and the world) enjoyed the celebrations and spectacles that accompanied that historic event. Then, later in the year, we witnessed the funeral of the Queen followed by the impressive coronation of King Charles III just a month or so ago. In short, we have been saturated with the maximum pomp and pageantry the royal family can provide.
But in a regular royal season, June’s Trooping the Colour and the Order of the Garter are the high points of historic pageantry in the royal calendar. Add to that Royal Ascot and the start of Wimbledon at the end of the month, and June is undoubtedly one of the best months of the year for royal watchers.
When the first few pictures started coming through on the Saturday of Trooping, I quickly scanned the balcony shots looking for the Queen at the center of her family. Force of habit, I suppose. It only took a second to remember there is a new monarch leading the institution. But there were other significant changes to the balcony, too.
Last year, for her Jubilee, the Queen announced only senior working royals would join her on the balcony for the historic shots. It felt like the Queen was finding a politic way to exclude Harry and Meghan without singling them out. But Charles has been wanting to the slim the monarchy for a while, and this year the group on the balcony was again limited, this time to the Wales family and Charles’ working siblings and their spouses, plus the Duke of Kent and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester standing off a little to the side. Neither Princess Anne’s two children (Zara and Peter) nor the Edinburghs’ children (Louise and James) were on the balcony, as they have been in years past.
A number of royal fans have commented that the balcony was not as exciting this year. I do think that the busy balconies of years gone by, packed with extended members of the family, were a lot of fun. It was interesting to study the pictures and see who was there and what everyone was wearing. It is certainly true that all those many people have a different relationship to Charles than they did to the Queen, and I can understand why Charles would want the balcony to reflect that. To some extent, we are simply seeing how radically a family tree changes as one generation cedes to the next. But I, too, miss the busy, colorful balconies of past years.
Kate’s Fabulous Fashion in June
Overall, June was a pretty busy month for Kate. She kicked it off with a spectacular surprise—the Prince and Princess of Wales attended the Jordanian royal wedding in Amman. Kate wore a formal gown by Elie Saab to the ceremony itself.
Like all the other guests, she