Queen’s Jubilee: Queen cancels appearance after suffering ‘discomfort’ during parade
The Queen will miss a Jubilee event after suffering “discomfort” during the Trooping the Colour, as Meghan and Harry reportedly cause tensions to fray after arriving 15 minutes late.
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Queen Elizabeth II suffered “discomfort” during the start of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations and will miss at least one pre-scheduled engagement during the four-day event.
While she participated in the Beacon lighting event, Buckingham Palace said in a statement that Monarch would miss a church service in her honour on Friday UK time.
“The Queen greatly enjoyed today’s Birthday Parade and Flypast but did experience some discomfort,” a spokesperson for the royal family said in a statement.
“Taking into account the journey and activity required to participate in tomorrow’s National Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral, her Majesty with great reluctance has concluded not to attend.”
The statement concluded, “The Queen is looking forward to participating in tonight’s Beacon lighting event at Windsor Castle and would like to thank all those who made today such a memorable occasion.”
The extent of the queen’s participation in the historic jubilee had already been in doubt due to her difficulties walking and standing, and a recent bout of Covid.
QUEEN LIGHTS BEACON
Appearing from the sovereign’s entrance and walking with the help of a cane, she took a few steps forward to trigger the lighting display that lit up the principal beacon of more than 3500 across the UK, its overseas territories, and the Commonwealth.
She touched the “Commonwealth Nations Globe” from the Quadrangle at Windsor Castle to start the lighting of the “Principal Beacon” outside of Buckingham Palace in London.
Prince William took part from the palace in the dual ceremony.
SERVICE ‘EMPTY’ WITHOUT THE QUEEN
Julie Montagu, Viscountess Hinchinbrooke, said the service was going to look “very empty”, given the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and Prince Andrew have both already pulled out of the event due to Covid.
“I do think that there might be that moment of awkwardness because then you have Harry and Meghan coming,” she said on Piers Morgan’s Uncensored.
“And we know that they still have a great relationship with the Queen, but the Queen will be missing.”
Morgan said there was “no question” that the service would be more tense and to expect “a bit of drama”.
He added that palace officials were already annoyed with the late arrivals of Meghan and Harry during the Trooping the Colour parade, and that tensions could grow without the Queen to glue the family together.
“I was told by a very good source it was pretty tense today that behind the scenes there was some disquiet from palace officials that Meghan and Harry apparently turned up 15 minutes late, not for the actual start of the parade, but 15 minutes late from where they were supposed to be,” he said.
“Apparently it was all quite frosty behind the scenes and the rest of the family went out in the garden and were milling around and they just disappeared.
“There’s already a lot of tension there and the only glue it seems in this whole tension is the Queen, and she’s now not going to be there.”
ROYALS JOIN QUEEN ON BALCONY
The royal family joined the Queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch an impressive flypast marking Her Majesty’s 70 years of service.
Princess Anne, Prince Charles and Camilla, Prince William and Kate and their children Louis, Charlotte and George stood beside the 96-year-old monarch.
Prince Harry and Meghan were absent from the balcony because they are no longer working royals. Instead, they watched the parade from inside the Major General’s Office, along with some of the Queen’s other grandchildren, including Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
The office has a view of the parade grounds and the couple were driven there in a car with blacked out windows.
They were photographed with Zara Tindall’s children, with Meghan enjoying the spectacle.
Disgraced royal Prince Andrew was not invited to the party and banned from the balcony.
The Queen wore her Guards brooch and a blue Angela Kelly outfit which appears in her official Platinum Jubilee portrait.
Earlier Her Majesty was joined on the balcony by Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, 86, who was in full military uniform as she watched troops file past at the Trooping the Colour parade conclusion.
She remained inside Buckingham Palace for the two-hours long event – the first time she has not been outside on the Horse Guards area near Whitehall for the parade.
Prince Charles, on horseback, stepped in for his mother who held on to a stick as she watched the parade of horses past Buckingham Palace.
Prince William and Princess Anne were also on horseback and sat ramrod straight during the exercises.
Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, arrived in a carriage with Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, and her step-grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Princess Charlotte stole the show with a gentle moment as she calmed her little brother, Prince Louis, who was wearing a navy-style suit similar to one his father wore in 1985.
Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, wore a stunning white Alexander McQueen dress and Philip Treacy hat.
Prince George wore a navy suit, white shirt and blue tie, while Prince Louis’s sailor-style white and navy top was reminiscent of an outfit worn by Prince William at the 1985 Trooping event.
They were cheered by thousands of royal watchers in stands set up outside Buckingham Palace.
The parade marked the start of four days of public events to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s historic moment, in what could be the last major public event of her long reign.
The celebrations had a controversial start when protesters stormed the Mall as the royals arrived. At least seven people were arrested.
Earlier, Prince William and Kate said they were “looking forward” to the party.
“We’re looking forward to celebrating and seeing how you’re joining us in marking this #PlatinumJubilee weekend,” the Cambridges’ said in a tweet.
The 262nd running of the event, which traditionally marks the Monarch’s public birthday celebration, has extra significance in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year.
QUEEN’S THANKYOU TO AUSTRALIA
In a statement released by Buckingham Palace the Queen, 96, thanked Australians.
“Thank you to everyone who has been involved in convening communities, families, neighbours and friends to mark my Platinum Jubilee, in the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth,” she said.
“I know that many happy memories will be created at these festive occasions.
“I continue to be inspired by the goodwill shown to me, and hope that the coming days will provide an opportunity to reflect on all that has been achieved during the last 70 years, as we look to the future with confidence and enthusiasm.”
Buckingham Palace also released a new photograph of the Queen, who will have a more limited role at the Trooping the Colour this year.
She was photographed in an Angela Kelly coat and dress embellished with pearl diamante trim to mark the Jubilee.
Ranald Mackechnie took the photograph in the Victoria Vestiuble at Windsor Castle on May 25, with the castle’s Round Tower and the statue of King Charles II in the background.
The Queen is due to be on the Buckingham Palace balcony, with a slimmed down royal family for the traditional photograph.
A total of 1450 soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians will be involved in the Trooping the Colour.
Ambulance service worker Gilbert Falconer, 65, travelled from Scotland to witness the event, which is held to mark the queen’s official birthday.
“We know it’s a special occasion because it might be the last day we’ll see Her Majesty in a public event,” he told AFP.
“This is very significant,” added another spectator Daniel Marmah.
“It’s the first time we’ve had a monarch who’s lasted for so many years.”
QUEEN SENT CAR TO PICK UP HARRY AND HIS FAMILY
Earlier, the Queen sent a car to pick up Prince Harry, Meghan and their children for an emotional reunion.
Her Majesty was determined that the prodigal Prince be welcomed back into the fold, sending a bulletproof Range Rover to fetch him from Farnborough Airport, England.
The private airport is 30 minutes drive from Windsor Castle where the Queen was set to kick off four days of celebrations to mark her 70 years on the throne.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex brought Archie back for the first time since Megxit, while Lilibet – named after the Queen – was not born when they departed for California.
In a sign that the Queen was determined to make the Platinum Jubilee a success, she sent three of her own protection staff to pick up the Sussex family.
“The Queen believed it was the right thing to do,” an insider said.
Prince Harry has filed legal action after his right to police protection officers was withdrawn when he quit official duties.
But a compromise was reached this week, with the Californian couple and their children to be part of the Queen’s security bubble.
The run-up to the event has not been without controversy, with British media reports that Prince William’s horse may have been “drugged” during last weekend’s rehearsal to make it more compliant as the future king carried out his Colonel’s review of troops on Horse Guards Parade.
Speaking from London, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said that the four days of “spectacular” Platinum Jubilee celebrations would be a display of “the best of British” and a fitting “thank you to the Queen” for what has been a “truly amazing and unique” reign.
“Trooping the Colour dates back 260 years as a ceremony and the importance of it was that the smoke of battle, it differentiated friend from foe,” he said.
“Also, it is symbolic of the important links of the royals to the military, which go back to the days that kings led armies in battles and so forth.
“These days, there the very special links that the royals have with different regiments — this is the Household Division … it’s a terrific spectacle.”
WHAT’S ON DURING THE FOUR-DAY PARTY
Trooping the Colour kicks off a massive four-day long weekend in Britain, with hundreds of thousands of people due to hold street parties.
Pubs will be allowed to stay open until 1am – two hours later than normal.
Following the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday, members of the royal family will attend the Epsom Derby.
The racing-mad Queen is expected to miss the event although this has not yet been confirmed.
Later that day, the Platinum Party at the Palace will kick off at 8pm on Saturday local time (Sunday, 5am AEST).
The concert will feature stars such as Sir Rod Stewart, Queen, Diana Ross, Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli and Sir Elton John.
On Sunday, at 2.30pm London time (Sunday, 11.30pm AEST), the grand finale of the Platinum Jubilee Central Weekend will cap off the spectacular line-up of celebrations.
Thousands of performers will take part in Sunday’s Platinum Jubilee pageant, which will tell the story of the Queen’s 70-year reign and the UK’s changing social landscape in four radically different acts.
The first act, titled For Queen and Country, will be a military spectacle honouring the Queen’s role as Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces.
Military personnel from Australia and New Zealand will join members of the UK Armed Forces from all three services for the event.
The second act, called The Time of Our Lives, will showcase British life from 1952, the beginning of the Queen’s reign, until the present day.
The next act, Let’s Celebrate, will be a party-style mash of street theatre, urban dance and will feature the “very best” of iconic festivals such as the Notting Hill Carnival and Mardi Gras.
At the finale of the carnival procession through the streets of London, singer Ed Sheeran will perform his ballad Perfect as images of the Queen and her late husband Prince Philip adorn the giant screens around the stage.
Originally published as Queen’s Jubilee: Queen cancels appearance after suffering ‘discomfort’ during parade
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