The vibes were definitely weird at this year’s Trooping the Colour. It literally rained on King Charles’s parade, the reappearance of the Princess of Wales is just as mysterious as her disappearance, Prince William seemed especially closed off, and we also saw all three Wales kids together for the first time in six months. Other notable moments: Princess Anne and Prince Edward both wore their honorary military dress uniforms and rode on horseback in the parade; Lady Louise was allowed on the balcony with her parents, but her brother James, formerly Lord Severn and currently the Earl of Wessex, was not included at any point.
While the Princess of Wales’s reappearance got a lot of attention and people were analyzing her healthy-seeming appearance, I’d just like to note that King Charles looked really thin, drawn and tired at Trooping. Buckingham Palace has made it perfectly clear that he still has cancer, although they say his treatment is going well and that’s why he’s been keeping up a public schedule for much of the past two months.
Something else happened at Trooping: the king was booed and Republic staged another “Not My King” demonstration. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a big Republic protest, although they said several months ago that they’re still committed to protesting the monarchy. I think the last big one was for the opening of Parliament last year? Although they did protest outside the Royal Maundy service in March of this year, which Queen Camilla attended without her husband.
BREAKING NEWS We’ve just told Charles that he’s not our King at the Trooping the Colour parade. Together, despite attempts to block our protest, we rallied for an elected head of state. #NotMyKing #AbolishTheMonarchy pic.twitter.com/sOgEaSyye7
— Republic (@RepublicStaff) June 15, 2024
A little bit of tension on The Mall as crowds who have come to support the Royal Family at this Trooping the Colour event, compete for volume with those who have come today to campaign for the UK to have an elected Head of State. @RepublicStaff pic.twitter.com/31fVvfrKFo
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) June 15, 2024
The rain stopped. Now it’s time to stop another reign. Let’s #AbolishTheMonarchy. #NotMyKing #TroopingTheColour pic.twitter.com/UcKV7IPHVe
— Republic (@RepublicStaff) June 15, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.