3 days ago
Secrets of the ever-shrinking Buckingham Palace balcony revealed ahead of slimmed down Trooping the Colour lineup
As final preparations get underway for the Trooping the Colour celebrations marking King Charles' official birthday on Saturday, talk has inevitably turned to the fabled Buckingham Palace balcony.
Each year the gloriously pompous military parade down the Mall sees a different regimental colour 'trooped', as members of the five-Foot Guards regiments take it in turns to lead the parade.
This time, the Coldstream Guards will 'Troop their Colour' for Charles.
The celebrations will conclude with arguably the main event: a RAF fly-past watched by members of the royal family from the balcony.
Few images endure like a balcony shot, so much so that if you ask someone to picture the royal family in their mind, they will probably envision Trooping the Colour.
This weekend, Charles and Queen Camilla will be flanked by the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Princess Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence will also join the lineup alongside Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh.
Rounding out the small group are the hard working but less-known Duke of Kent and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
It is understood Edward and Sophie's two children will not join their parents after their noticeable absence from celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
Appearing on the Buckingham Palace balcony is a time-honoured tradition dating back to the reign of Queen Victoria.
For the late Queen Elizabeth II, who always maintained she had to 'be seen to be believed', the balcony was a direct line to the crowds below.
In one of her last public duties as Queen before her death, the ailing monarch willed herself to stand on the balcony during her Platinum Jubilee for the final time.
As a time capsule, the annual Trooping the Colour balcony appearance creates a fascinating through line for the House of Windsor.
The 1991 balcony lineup featured a beaming Princess Diana and Fergie standing shoulder to shoulder, completely unaware of the impending chaos that would soon end both their royal marriages.
The Duchess of York would never grace the balcony again after details of her illicit affairs with two Texan oil tycoons hit the tabloids months later.
Meanwhile, Diana would make one final balcony appearance in 1992 before her own separation meant she was cast aside by the royal family.
Elizabeth II's reign saw dozens of extended family members crowded onto the balcony, an ever-evolving representation of the Windsor family tree.
The Queen would often pad out the enormous balcony with esoteric cousins and in-laws who have largely been forgotten by royal history.
Other years, she extended the invite to visiting royals from other monarchies.
In 1985, the Queen even coaxed the visiting Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan onto the balcony to watch the spectacle.
Perhaps taking cues from the Brits, the Japanese royal family now have their own balcony tradition on New Year's Day (albeit behind a thick pane of bulletproof glass).
Elizabeth II's more-the-merrier approach continued until 2019, when 39 extended members of the royal family crowded onto the balcony.
That year, her favourite son Prince Andrew still managed to squeeze onto the balcony despite the swirling Epstein saga that would soon end his life in the public eye.
The COVID years are represented by the complete cancellation of Trooping the Colour in 2020 and a scaled-down event in 2021 with just a stoic Queen Elizabeth II watching on.
The lonely photos were taken just months after Prince Philip's death.
Prince Harry, once the monarchy's star performer, shared the balcony with his wife Meghan Markle just two times before the couple quit royal duties and moved to California.
For the Sussexes, the balcony appearance is now an awkward annual reminder that they remain adrift from the monarchy and effectively confined to the pages of history.
In 2022, it was reported the Sussexes were begging to be allowed to rejoin the sacred tradition as a condition of showing up at the Platinum Jubilee.
Likely keenly aware of the balcony's singular place in the public imagination, the request was flatly turned down by the palace.
One of the earliest surviving balcony photos from 1923 featured King George V and Queen Mary alongside a young King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth on their wedding day.
Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, would continue to appear on the same balcony for another eighty or so years until 2001, just months before her death.
In that eight decade period, she would share the balcony with her daughter Queen Elizabeth II, her grandson King Charles III, as well as her great-grandson Prince William.
The balcony has endured through World Wars, cancer battles, tell-all books and the changing tides of politics in the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth.
It is this remarkable continuity that elevates the annual event from mere pomp to something far more meaningful - a living, breathing testament to good old fashioned unity.
