Royal fans banned from Queen’s scaled down birthday celebrations
Some things were the same but almost everything was different as the Queen’s official birthday was marked for the first time without the rest of her family or fans in 125 years at Windsor Castle.
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Some things were the same but almost everything was different as the Queen’s official birthday was marked for the first time in 125 years at Windsor Castle.
Her Majesty, 94, broke into a smile as she returned to her apartments discussing how the makeshift Trooping of the Colour was performed after just two weeks of rehearsal.
The Queen, as she always does, kept a keen eye on the marching soldiers of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards on Saturday night Australian time.
The parade had 51 soldiers - kept apart at a 2.2m distance - compared with the 1800 that normally take part at a ceremony in central London near Buckingham Palace.
Queen Victoria, in 1895, was the last monarch to have a Trooping of the Colour at Windsor Castle.
Some of the soldiers who took part had been manning COVID-19 testing centres, but switched to the ceremonial role for the uplifting moment, which was the Queen’s first public event since the pandemic hit.
Lance Corporal Chusa Siwale, 29, originally from Zambia, said it was a “huge privilege” to take part during a “very difficult” time for the Commonwealth.
“Only four weeks ago I was involved with testing key workers for COVID-19 as part of the Welsh Guards’ contribution to the battle against the virus; now I am on parade performing in front of Her Majesty,” he said.
“This is a very proud day for me.”
Her Majesty sat on a dais several metres away from the soldiers, who twice played the anthem God Save The Queen.
Richard Fitzwilliams, a royal expert and former editor of the International Who’s Who, said that the Queen was taking steps towards normal life.
“This is a small but important ceremony, life is going back to normal as much as it can be,” he said.
The UK’s coronavirus death toll stands at more than 52,000, and the Queen has been in a protective quarantine bubble at Windsor Castle with Prince Philip, who turned 99 this week, since March.
They will likely remain there until a vaccine has been found for the virus as the royal family cannot risk them getting ill because they were in the high risk group because of their age.
Prince Charles, 71, has been staying at Balmoral in Scotland so he was separated from the Queen as he is next in line to the throne.
He contracted the virus in March but recovered.
The public, who are usually a feature of the Trooping of the Colour, was banned from attending but there were some cyclists outside the castle when the music was played.
Prince William and Kate and their children remained in Norfolk, three hours north of London, where they have been waiting out COVID-19.
Traditionally, the royal family gathers on the Buckingham Palace balcony for a spectacular Royal Air Force flypast.
Princess Charlotte stole the show last year with a gorgeous enthusiastic double wave, with Prince Louis also looking cute at the children’s first major public event.
Prince Andrew was also on the balcony last year, however he has quit royal duties following a disastrous BBC interview where he tried to defend his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Prince Harry and Meghan, who had only given birth to baby Archie a month earlier, also attended last year but have since quit the royal family, in what has been an extraordinary 12 months for the Queen.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk