This year, Queen Elizabeth’s cousin Prince Edward will reportedly step in to fill the role typically performed by the monarch’s late husband Prince Philip at Trooping the Colour.
Sources confirmed to Page Six on Tuesday that Edward will serve as the Queen’s “plus one” to her annual birthday celebration held on June 12. The Queen and Prince Edward are related through their fathers, Prince George, the former Duke of Kent, and King George VI. This also isn’t the first time the current Duke of Kent has taken on this particular responsibility for his royal cousin. He previously escorted Queen Elizabeth at the parade in 2013 after Prince Philip was hospitalized due to an operation on his abdomen.
This year’s Trooping the Colour will also once again be a more modest affair due to the ongoing pandemic. The coronavirus forced the royals to scale back the grand occasion last year with hopes of a return to normal in 2021 to celebrate the Queen’s 95th birthday. But after speaking with government officials, it was called off for a second time. Buckingham Palace announced via a statement in March: “Following consultation with Government and other relevant parties it has been agreed that The Queen’s Official Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping the Colour, will not go ahead this year in its traditional form in central London.” Instead, the royals will hold a scaled-back parade in the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle, as they did in 2020, where it’s expected that the monarch will be joined by Prince Charles and Camilla, as well as Prince William and Kate Middleton, according to the Daily Mail.
— An Intimate View of a Young Queen Elizabeth II
— The Sacklers Launched OxyContin. Everyone Knows It Now.
— Exclusive Excerpt: An Icy Death at the Bottom of the World
— Lolita, Blake Bailey, and Me
— Kate Middleton and the Future of the Monarchy
— The Occasional Terror of Dating in the Digital Age
— The 13 Best Face Oils for Healthy, Balanced Skin
— From the Archive: Tinder and the Dawn of the “Dating Apocalypse”
— Sign up for the “Royal Watch” newsletter to receive all the chatter from Kensington Palace and beyond.