Starting in the heart of London at Trooping the Color paradethe key event of today's celebration of official (non-registered) birthday of 75-year-old King Charles III. The monarch, who returned to public activity for over a month in the wake of progress in treatment for the cancer diagnosed at the beginning of the year, leads the procession in a carriage with Queen Camilla (and not on horseback this year). While in another carriage, the presence of the Princess of Wales, Kate, with Willam and their three children stands out, returning to the public after more than six months as announced, while she too is battling cancer and the effects of chemotherapy.
The parade is attended by thousands of people crowded along the Mall, outside Buckingham Palace, despite the gray day and the forecast of rain, and millions of viewers. Charles and Camilla are in a covered carriage, followed by a second carriage with Kate sitting next to the small and gesticulating Louis, and with the other children George and Charlotte in front, all smiling, while Prince William is on horseback.
Behind them, the other senior royals, with the Duke of Edinburgh, Edward, last-born of the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and then Princess Anne, Charles' second sister.
The solemn procession is flanked as usual by soldiers on horseback in traditional uniforms, amidst trumpet blasts and ritual cannon salutes, while the flags with the Union Jack and the various royal standards flutter in the wind. At 11am precisely, King Charles arrived in the quadrant where the inevitable units of the Royal Guard are lined up in his honor, with their red jackets and tall bearskin hats, to review them on foot to the tune of the national anthem God Save the King.
The official public birthday celebration of British sovereigns has taken place in June by custom since the late 1700s, although the birth dates are different (Charles will turn 76 in November).
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attended the parade with First Lady Akshata Murty, which ended in the large square of Horse Guard Parade, in the citadel of Whitehall, in the heart of London, near St James Park.
Around 1400 soldiers and officers in full uniform took part in the event, which took place according to a precise choreography starting from 1748, to the sound of music or various marches performed by military bands as regiments such as that of the Scottish Guard, the Irish Guard or Welsh Guard, under the different department colours. The sovereign, the absolute protagonist in uniform, witnessed it in the center of the quadrant, on a covered platform, with Queen Camilla next to him, amidst showers of rain and a few rare rays of sunshine.
Sunak was seen sitting in the visitors' box with other guests, and was filmed taking photos with his mobile phone. The conservative prime minister – in the midst of an electoral campaign that sees Sir Keir Starmer's Labor opposition favored – returned just in time from the Italian G7 summit in Borgo Egnazia, Puglia; while later today he is expected in Switzerland to participate in the Western-led summit for “peace in Ukraine”.
Kate, impeccable as if nothing had happened in her usual elegance despite the illness (except for her apparently slimmer profile) was instead noticed smiling from a small balcony, attentive in following the evolutions of the departments alongside her three children: in particular little Louis, close to her all the time, and as always casually steals the show between jokes and gesticulations.