Queen steps back from major royal event, Trooping the Colour

The Queen has delegated a key royal event to Prince Charles as it was revealed that the disgraced Prince Andrew is set to make a dramatic return to duties.

The Queen has taken another step back from another significant royal duty. Picture: AFP

For the first time in 70 years, the Queen will not receive a Trooping the Colour salute as she continues to delegate responsibility to senior members of the royal family.

The Queen has attended the event to take the royal salute every year of her reign, except in 1955 when it was cancelled due to a British rail strike.

The Queen’s official birthday parade, known as Trooping The Colour, is a display of military pageantry involving 1500 officers and soldiers and 250 horses from the Army’s Household Division on Horse Guards Parade.

The royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour in 2019. Picture: Getty Images

The royal duties will be delegated to Prince Charles, Prince William and Princess Anne during the military display at the Horse Guards Parade on June 2, because of the Queen’s ongoing mobility issues, reports The Sun.

The 86-year-old Duke of Kent will also not be riding on horseback with them this year, as he traditionally has as colonel of the Scots Guards.

Trooping marks the beginning of the national celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on June 2.

The Queen will be at the event, but her participation has been modified for her own comfort.

The Queen takes part in the Trooping the Colour procession at Buckingham Palace in 1981. Picture: Getty Images

She won’t be on horseback, as she has been in the past, but instead, plans are being made to have her travel in a carriage from Buckingham Palace to inspect the troops.

For the last two years, she has been seated on a dais during the scaled-back Covid-restricted events.

Then it’s hoped she’ll appear on the traditional balcony moment with her family – not including Prince Andrew and Prince Harry, who have been barred from the event.

Joining the Queen on the balcony will be Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Edward, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and Princess Anne.

The momentous line-up also includes the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra, and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince William have recently taken a much larger public role as the Queen suffers ongoing health issues. Picture: Getty Images

They will stand alongside Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and the Wessexes’ children Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, for the historic occasion.

Meanwhile, according to The Sun, the disgraced Prince Andrew is set to make a dramatic return to duties for a key event alongside the Queen.

Taking place at Windsor Castle on June 13, the Garter Day ceremony is one of the most important in the royal family’s calendar.

The controversial prince will also will be listed in the next day’s Court Circular.

The Duke of York will attend the event privately as a Knight.

However, there are fears his presence could overshadow the Queen’s celebration, bringing unwanted controversy to the proceedings.

The out of favour Sussexes won’t play a large role in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Picture: Getty Images

A source reportedly told The Telegraph in London that Prince Andrew’s attendance is “standard practice”.

This return will comes just days before the disgraced prince will be listed with a stripped HRH title.

Prince Andrew is also expected to attend a St Paul’s church service on June 3. There are reports that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will also attend the service.

None of them will be joining the family on the royal balcony and neither will Princesses Beatrice or Eugenie.

The Queen with Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Margaret, and Princess Diana at Trooping the Colour in 1989. Picture: Getty Images

QUEEN’S PET PASSIONS FEATURE IN JUBILEE

Meanwhile, Corgi dogs, horses and swans are all being put through their paces in a historic warehouse in Coventry ahead of their starring roles in a parade to mark the Queen’s 70-year reign.

One of the procession’s tableaus, entitled “The Queen’s Favourites”, has been commissioned from Imagineer, an outdoor events company based in the English West Midlands city.

Director Jane Hytch said the royal commission came as a “total surprise”, but that the job was a “huge honour”.

Life-size models of corgi dogs will have a starring role in a parade to mark the Queen’s 70-year reign. Picture: AFP

The parade, touching on more personal aspects of the 96-year-old Queen’s life, will move through central London to Buckingham Palace on June 5.

“When we were given the queen’s favourites … we thought about what does she love outside of all her duties?” said artistic director Kathi Leahy.

Dogs and horses were the obvious choices.

In particular, Leahy focused on the Queen’s most famous canine companions, the short-legged, big-eared corgis.

A pack of 20 corgi puppets, mounted on wheels, will be stars of the show. The lead puppet is named Susan, after the first corgi given to Princess Elizabeth by her parents for her 18th birthday.

Jane Hytch, Chief Executive of Imagineer, hugs a life-size model of a corgi dog beside a giant model of a crown in the company's workshop in Coventry. Picture: AFP

Each one has its own expression. One, with full brown eyebrows, has been nicknamed Groucho Marx.

To make the puppets as lifelike as possible, each of the young handlers was asked during rehearsals at “Corgi training camp” to “really look at their dogs and think about the character”.

“Are they mischievous? Are they young? Are they old?” explained Leahy. The parade also has a special place for horses, another of the queen’s great passions.

It will bring to life 10 of her most beloved companions: from Peggy, the Shetland pony given to her by father King George V when she was four, to Burmese, the mare she rode several times during annual “Trooping of The Colour” ceremonies to mark her birthday.

Imagineer designer Trudy Rees-Marklew makes a prop in the shape of a swan. Picture: AFP

Some of the horses are depicted with gears, in a tribute to Coventry’s rich industrial past.

It was on the site of Imagineer’s workshop that the first British motor car was built, at the end of the 19th century.

To celebrate the city’s heritage, a giant Lady Godiva puppet, created for the 2012 London Olympics, will also take part in the parade.

It pays tribute to the 11th century figure who, according to legend, rode naked through the city on horseback to persuade her husband the Earl of Mercia to lower taxes.

A 10-metre high puppet of Lady Godiva will also be featured. Picture: AFP

The procession, bringing together 140 cast members, will also evoke the annual counting of swans on the Thames. By ancient tradition, all swans in England belong to the crown.

It will also use boats dear to Prince Philip, in a tribute to the queen’s husband, a former naval commander who died in April 2021 at the age of 99.

Hytch noted that with a global television audience watching the pageant, “there’ll be a lot of adrenaline, a lot of excitement” for the Imagineer crew.

“We’ve rehearsed and rehearsed, so I think we will do a great job.”

– with AFP

Originally published as Queen steps back from major royal event, Trooping the Colour