UK Royals Unite On Palace Balcony As Princess Kate Returns To Public View After Cancer Diagnosis

LONDON – A military parade on Saturday marked the Princess of Wales’ first public appearance since her cancer diagnosis early this year, as Britain put on a birthday spectacle for King Charles III.

Following months in which cancer treatment had sidelined both the king and Kate, the wife of Prince William, the heir apparent, the yearly event was also a display of stability by the monarchy.

Following the King’s Birthday Parade, Charles, Queen Camilla, William, Kate, and their kids were joined by other royal family members on a balcony of Buckingham Palace in a symbolic show of solidarity. As the official birthday celebrations ended, the family waved to the assembled audience and watched military planes fly by.

Princess Kate | AP news Image

UK Royals Unite On Palace Balcony As Princess Kate Returns To Public View After Cancer Diagnosis

Since December, Kate had not made an appearance in public. She announced in March that she was having treatment for an unidentified type of cancer.

“As anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days,” Kate said in a statement issued on Friday. She added that she still has “a few more months” of treatment ahead of her.

Officials stress that Saturday’s engagement does not signal a complete return to public life, and Kate declared she is “not out of the woods yet.”

Every June, crowds gather to watch the birthday parade, popularly called Trooping the Colour. It starts with a horse and musician procession, followed by hundreds of troops in ceremonial uniforms from Buckingham Palace.

The 42-year-old princess made her first public appearance as she rode in a horse-drawn carriage with her children George, 10, Charlotte, 9, and 6-year-old Louis from the palace down the magnificent Mall. Watchers applauded when they saw Kate wearing a wide-brimmed Philip Treacy hat and a white Jenny Packham dress.

She observed the event with the children from the window of a building overlooking the Horse Guards Parade, a ceremonial parade area in downtown London. Louis watched mostly but yawned loudly at one point in the proceedings.

For the occasion, when soldiers parade past the monarch waving their regimental flag, or “color,” Prince William mounted a horse in military garb. The days of a regiment’s flag serving as a crucial rallying point amid battle are the source of the precision marching and martial music displays.

Princess Kate | AP news Image

UK Royals Unite On Palace Balcony As Princess Kate Returns To Public View After Cancer Diagnosis

Unlike last year when he rode on horseback, Charles, who is also receiving treatment for an unidentified type of cancer, traveled in a carriage with Queen Camilla. Saluting as elite Foot Guards units marched past, the monarch examined the soldiers from a dais on the parade ground.

A company of the Irish Guards, with Kate as its honorary colonel, was the first to display their colors this year. Five regiments alternately do so. Seamus, the Irish wolfhound mascot, led the soldiers in scarlet tunics and bearskin caps onto the parade field.

The 75-year-old Charles recently eased back into public life after disclosing his cancer in February. He went to events last week honoring the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe on June 6, 1944.

The king’s birthday comes in November, one of the many oddities of British royal tradition. Saturday is not that day. Charles was born on the second Saturday in June, the same day his mother Queen Elizabeth II was born. Though the early sun on Saturday gave way to a windy, rainy day in London, the date was selected because of the generally decent weather.

The rain held off for most of the event, but as the gathered troops led the royal carriages back to Buckingham Palace, they encountered wet but ecstatic spectators.

As the family stepped out onto the balcony to watch a flyby featuring the Royal Air Force aerobatic team, the Red Arrows, trailing red, white, and blue plumes of vapor, a blue sky reappeared.

Thousands of royal supporters applauded while a few anti-monarchist demonstrators yelled, “Not my king.”

Those who endured the stormy weather were treated to a show of grandeur and accuracy, including more than 200 horses, 250 military musicians, and 1,400 troops. Trojan, Tennyson, and Vanquish—three of the five military horses that caused mayhem in April when they fled and ran amok through central London—were among the horse contestants.

Princess Kate | AP News Image

UK Royals Unite On Palace Balcony As Princess Kate Returns To Public View After Cancer Diagnosis

The horses were exercising regularly close to Buckingham Palace on April 24 when they were startled by noise from a nearby construction site and bolted through the city’s streets, smashing into cars and creating mayhem during rush hour.

According to the army, the remaining two horses are healing nicely and should soon return to the battlefield.

SOURCE – (AP)