King's grandchildren truly step into their roles at Trooping the Colour

Telegraph

11 hours ago

Prince Louis gave the crowds what they wanted at Trooping the Colour, waving so enthusiastically from the Buckingham Palace balcony that his elder brother had to remind him to stop.
The seven-year-old youngest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales kept waving as the crowds below cheered, until he received a tap on his arm from Prince George, the 11-year-old future king, to let him know everyone else had stopped.
As the Royal family walked back inside the palace at the end of the RAF flypast, Prince Louis raised his arm one more time to acknowledge the crowds below.
All three Wales children behaved impeccably in front of the cameras, as onlookers noted how they had grown. They smiled and waved at the crowds calmly, with none of the lively, ear-covering antics of recent years.
Prince Charlotte, 10, was seen in conversation with her mother throughout the day, wearing a horseshoe brooch given to her by the late Queen Elizabeth II and dressed to coordinate with the Princess of Wales in turquoise.
Prince George, now only a few inches shorter than his mother, and Prince Louis wore matching red ties.
Their father, the Prince of Wales, rode in the parade in a bearskin hat with a beard on show, while the three children travelled by carriage to and from Horse Guards Parade before watching the long ceremony from the windows of the former office of the Duke of Wellington, under the eye of their long-serving nanny Maria.
The Duchess of Edinburgh was seen entertaining Prince Louis, whose two front teeth are growing in after he was seen with a gap at VE Day, by pointing out elements of the ceremony.
On the balcony of Buckingham Palace later, the three children watched the military helicopter and aeroplanes fly overhead.
Gone were the animated gestures and gasps of their younger years, replaced by conversation and asking questions of their father standing behind them.
As they recognised the sounds of the national anthem, the seventh rendition of God Save the King heard during the day's proceedings, all three stood up straight with their hands by their sides.
When a cheer went up at the end, Prince Louis followed the lead of his grandfather the King to resume waving as people on the Mall below cheered.
It was a very different Louis from previous years, when he gained something of a reputation for entertaining admirers with his reactions during royal events.
During the VE Day celebrations earlier this year, th e young prince appeared to playfully imitate George as the siblings watched the military procession from the Queen Victoria Memorial, copying the way his brother flicked his hair.
He similarly stole the show at last year's Trooping the Colour ceremony, dancing during the quick march of the Scots Guards to Highland Laddie.
During the 2023 Trooping the Colour parade, Louis, then five, held his nose as his carriage passed some horse manure, and in 2022, he covered his ears with his hands and looked to be screaming during the noisy flypast for the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee.