Queen Elizabeth’s annual Trooping the Colour birthday celebration may have looked a little different this year – however it was still a party. Her Majesty’s birthday parade had to undergo a full makeover due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The celebration normally involves all of the senior members of the royal family, gathering on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. This year, keeping the tradition alive (and safe) the monarch decided to forgo the celebrations with her family and instead have a small, brief ceremony at Windsor Castle. Here’s how the Queen rang in her traditional birthday celebration.
An Honor
To mark the Queen’s 94th birthday, and in accordance with the strict social distancing guidelines, the royal arrived in the Quadrangle to a royal saltute where she watched soldiers from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, whose color was set to be trooped on Horse Guards, perform military drills.
A little boogie
Her majesty was into the music! During a musical performance by the Band of the Household Division, the 94-year-old was spotted moving her head and doing a little dance along to the music.
Royal Style
The shift in the occasion didn’t mean that the royal couldn’t dress to the nines. The Queen chose a stunning powder blue Stewart Parvin dress coat. In true Queen Elizabeth fashion, she wore a matching hat and carried her signature black purse on her arm. Throughout the pandemic, Queen Elizabeth has been choosing to stick with calming blues for her attire and today was no different.
She accessorized with her Welsh Guards brooch - a platinum and diamond brooch, which is a symbol found on the Welsh Guards’ cap badge and is a national emblem of Wales.
The honor is hers
After celebrating his 99th birthday with a sweet new portrait, Prince Philip did not attend his wife’s birthday celebration. The royal retired from royal duties in 2017. His final public engagement, his wife’s birthday celebration.
No little royals
Royal watchers are sad that there will be no sweet balcony moments from the little royals. Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and their cousins typically aww the crowds with waves, smiles and sometimes tears. It would have been the perfect debut for their cousin Archie Harrison who wasn’t born during last year’s ceremony.
A family affair
Outside of holiday services, Trooping is the only time all of the members of the royal family are together. For years, generations of the monarchy have taken the balcony for the iconic moment in honor of the Queen’s birthday. Per tradition, Prince William, Prince Harry and Princess Anne done their military attire, while Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle show off their amazing royal style. While the family didn’t celebrate together, they joined in with the rest of the nation as they watched the broadcast live on television.
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