Trooping the Colour 2: 2023 -

[wbenson]

Just watched some coverage on my local TV news channel. The correspondent described the event as Britain's 'national day', which took me by surprise. It's an extremely important event in the royal calendar, but I'm not sure that description really fits.

What do you all think? Is this Britain's 'national day'? Is it that important for the nation as a whole?

It's not Britain's national day in Britain (nothing is), but British diplomatic missions use it as the national day, so there would have been receptions at embassies and consulates, etc.

Will the Trooping be as exciting for British people if it's only, say, TM King William V and Queen Catherine, TRH The Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, and TRH The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh?

The balcony appearance is ~10 minutes out of a 2+ hour event, and before 2012 it wasn't even covered live on television. However exciting it is for British people, I'm not sure the quantity of people on the balcony will matter much either way.

 

[Prinsara]

The horse was named Sir John in honour of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald.

That's questionable considering there were at least two more "Sir John"s following him as PM, which is why he's specifically known as "Sir John A.", for short.

Still think it was more likely to be the racehorse, imho.

 

[silmai]

The horse was named after Sir John A. MacDonald

https://lethbridgecollege.ca/wider-horizons/fall-2016/news-and-notes-alumnus-presents-gift-fit-queen

 

[Countessmeout]

That's questionable considering there were at least two more "Sir John"s following him as PM, which is why he's specifically known as "Sir John A.", for short.

Still think it was more likely to be the horse, imho.

No. Originally named Fergus, Sir John was indeed renamed by the queen for Sir John A MacDonald.

https://lethbridgecollege.ca/wider-horizons/fall-2016/news-and-notes-alumnus-presents-gift-fit-queen

They were all RCMP horses.

Charles-Noble the horse given to him as king
Anne- Sir John (formerly Fergus)
Edward- George who was gifted in 2009 (renamed for George V)
William-Darby who was gifted in 2019 with another horse in honor of the 50th anniversary of gifting the queen her first horse


I don't see why the queen naming a RCMP gift after some random race horse would make more sense then the 1st PM of the country who gifted it to her.

 

[maria-olivia]

I saw the video.
King Charles and the other Royals were on her horse using only the left hand and the right one along their body.
This must have a meaning could someone help me??

 

[lucien]

I agree we'll probably only see "working royals" on the balcony - along with the Wales' children. That doesn't preclude other members of the royal family attending watching from the Horseguards office window as they usually do.

My biggest question is what the other members of the RF will do after - at the Jubilee they watched from St James roof I think didn't they? I do hope Charles hosts lunch for them at least.

Or some may have found their way to a pizzeria in Woking...

 

[Alisa]

This is the official birthday celebration for the King so why extended members of the family can’t be seen to celebrate the occasion by standing on the balcony is beyond me, it looks unnecessarily petty to me.. There are other ways to make clear who are working royals. I hope there is a rethink.

I agree 1000% . This was actually one of the few times the public could see the extended relatives of the sovereign and now all that has gone to naught. Sad really!

 

[Granada]

I completely agree with some posters comments about being disappointed that the Queens other grandchildren and now great grandchildren are not included on The Balcony. It would be nice, in future, to see Peter and Zara's Families, The York Girls Families, and Louise and James.

Its just lovely to me to see the extended Family. Everyone knows Andrew is out-done. Harry and Meghan removed themselves, purposely and with continued spite. I doubt anyone really cares at this point. Its public knowledge.

Hopefully, in future this can be reviewed and maybe revised.

 

[tommy100]

TBF Zara and family didn't seem to attend all that often in recent years anyway, if I recall correctly she was often at an eventing competition the Trooping weekend.

I agree, personally I'd love to see the wider family at this event, like we do at Christmas and Easter it doesn't seem all that different to me. I guess maybe Charles seems to be focussing on this more as a working event for the Royal colonels rather than his personal birthday event.

I do think there are ways to be more creative about the family attending which it seems at least some of the Kents did anyway. I wonder if the Linleys and Chattos did as well or not. It would be interesting to know which is any of the family didn't attend despite being invited now there is no balcony appearance.

 

[Misskitty]

The trouping of the colors

I apologize if this has been answered-- I'm new and navigating this site on my phone so it's well difficult to navigate. Does anyone have a link where I can watch the trouping of the colors that was just on? Thank you!

 

[Lumutqueen]

It's not Britain's national day in Britain (nothing is), but British diplomatic missions use it as the national day, so there would have been receptions at embassies and consulates, etc.

Which is exactly what Huw Edwards was talking about when he mentioned it on BBC News. He fully acknowledged it not being a "national day" in the true sense, but almost something we could all celebrate.

 

[Susan D]

It may be a signal that the York princesses were not on the balcony. Therefore, Princess Beatrice must have been in Amman as a private invitee.

 

[Somebody]

It may be a signal that the York princesses were not on the balcony. Therefore, Princess Beatrice must have been in Amman as a private invitee.

Whether she was or wasn't at the balcony has no relation to her attending the wedding of Hussein in a private capacity. Previously lots of family members were on the balcony that had clearly no official role (such as Princess Alexandra's granddaughters).

William and Catherine were the official representatives (of which each country had only 2 at the wedding ceremony!); Beatrice and Edo attended as friends of the groom - just like Liechtenstein had prince Johann-Wenzel and his (new) wife attending as friends of the groom - in addition to the official representation by the hereditary prince and princess.

 

[Alison H]

I apologize if this has been answered-- I'm new and navigating this site on my phone so it's well difficult to navigate. Does anyone have a link where I can watch the trouping of the colors that was just on? Thank you!

The live coverage was on the BBC, and their streaming doesn't work outside the British Isles, but if you search You Tube there will be videos of it on there.

 

[irish_royalist]

While I think King Charles and his family are doing a wonderful job, I'm sure I speak for more than myself when I admit that the person I missed most today, on the balcony or otherwise, was the late Queen Elizabeth. Change is difficult!

 

[Alison H]

Yes, it still feels strange that she's no longer here. I bought some stamps earlier this week, and I did a double take when I saw the King's portrait on them.

 

[Moran]

It was rather impressive, although the Queen looked a little too glum to me in the carriage. I hope she's well.

What about the bearskin thing? How do they breathe? My imagination fails me.

 

[tommy100]

I think it would be nice to see the wider RF, even if they invite them to watch the fly past from the balcony then they head inside leaving the "core" working royals to wave.

 

[Iluvbertie]

It may be a signal that the York princesses were not on the balcony. Therefore, Princess Beatrice must have been in Amman as a private invitee.

We know she was there privately as she wasn't mentioned in the Court Circular as attending while William and Catherine were.

Same as the 'big lunch' on Coronation weekend - she and Eugenie attended that event privately while the rest of the family attended officially, even though BP announced in advance they would do that visit.

 

[Iluvbertie]

TBF Zara and family didn't seem to attend all that often in recent years anyway, if I recall correctly she was often at an eventing competition the Trooping weekend.

I agree, personally I'd love to see the wider family at this event, like we do at Christmas and Easter it doesn't seem all that different to me. I guess maybe Charles seems to be focussing on this more as a working event for the Royal colonels rather than his personal birthday event.

I do think there are ways to be more creative about the family attending which it seems at least some of the Kents did anyway. I wonder if the Linleys and Chattos did as well or not. It would be interesting to know which is any of the family didn't attend despite being invited now there is no balcony appearance.

There is a big difference between this event and Christmas/Easter. This is an OFFICIAL event while the other events are PRIVATE - with the public able to see a little bit.

The Christmas/Easter church service isn't in the CC while this one is.

It will be interesting to see (in about two or three hours when the CC is available in The Times) who is listed as attending this event. I am assuming it will only be those we saw on the balcony with the possible addition of the Earl of St Andrews who I believe accompanied his father to assist him. EDIT - only those on the balcony mentioned in the CC ('other members' is the generic term to suggest there were other people present. That is the way that the late Queen referred to extended family in the early days of her reign at events such as the funerals of George VI and Queen Mary and her own coronation as well as Trooping but as the years went by she was more likely to have them all listed. Charles had them all listed for the coronation and now back to a more limited listing)

 

[Curryong]

I like the fact that Princess Anne's horse is named "Sir John".
The name John has not been used for a Prince in the Royal Family in decades.
At least a royal horse has the name.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have a history of gifting horses to the Stables at Windsor. In the Past there has been a horse called Jerry, another called James, an Elizabeth, who foaled a Victoria, and another called George, besides the famous Burmese which the late Queen rode for years when she used to review the troops on horseback at the TOC.

https://www.everythingzoomer.com/ar...-the-rcmp-a-timeline-of-their-horsey-history/

This what the article says about ?Sir John?.

2016: Sir John Arrives
‘Sir John was a 90th birthday gift to the Queen and, in May of 2016, after presenting the horse, the Musical Ride was performed at Windsor Castle in honour of the monarch?s milestone. Sir John eventually became Princess Anne?s horse to ride at the Trooping the Colour ceremony.’ End quote.

 

[LauraS3514]

I saw the video.
King Charles and the other Royals were on her horse using only the left hand and the right one along their body.
This must have a meaning could someone help me??

IIRC, it's because the right hand is kept free to use a sword in battle.

 

[maria-olivia]

Thank you so much ! MO

 

[Tatiana Maria]

Looking at a photograph, the balcony does not strike me as any more sparsely occupied than the balcony during, say, National Day in Norway or the King's birthday in Sweden. (Of course everyone also has the right to criticize King Harald V and King Carl XVI Gustaf for not including more relatives on their balconies, but I personally haven't seen such criticism recently.)

 

[FigTree]

I was there. It was lovely. The military and the music parts. The royal part was meh and the balcony boring. I liked seeing all of them when the Queen was alive. Always great to try to figure out who everyone was. Never knew.

I just think a lot of the glamour is almost inevitably just gone now. They are just a bit boring. But that’s fine. The military themselves were very good.