Over the years, Trooping the Colour has remained one of the royal highlights of the year, when the family get together and enjoy the flypast.
Each year, thousands of well-wishers gather around to catch a glimpse of the monarch’s family – however, the number of royals invited to show their faces on the balcony of Buckingham Palace has been whittled down year by year.
In 2023, just 14 members of the Royal Family took to the historic spot to mark the King’s birthday celebrations, while this year, the balcony was not much fuller, with 15 members watching the flypast.
This year, King Charles – who is thought to prefer the idea of a slimmed-down monarchy – and Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, their three children, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and their daughter Lady Louise – who made a surprise appearance – were stood in the main area of the balcony.
Whereas Princess Anne, her husband, Sir Timothy Laurence and the Duke of Kent were further to the right, with a small space between the Princess Royal and Lady Louise.
Trooping the Colour 2024 (pictured L-R): Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester, Prince George, Prince of Wales, Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte, Princess of Wales, King Charles, Queen Camilla, Duchess of Edinburgh, Duke of Edinburgh, Lady Louise, Princess Anne, Sir Timothy Laurence and the Duke of Kent
Trooping the colour 2019, where 44 royals were present on the Buckingham Palace balcony, compared to just 15 this year
Trooping the Colour 2023, where only 14 royals were present on the Buckingham Palace balcony
Another significant difference was the position of certain royals. Last year, Prince William stood next to his father, but this year, the monarch chose to stand next to his daughter-in-law Kate.
Perhaps King Charles made the touching gesture in recognition of the cancer battle he and Kate are both fighting.
There was a sizeable gap between the senior working royals and lesser known members of the Firm such as the Duke, 78, and Duchess, 76, of Gloucester.
This noticeable space between the two groups could be Charles making a clear point about the future of the Royal Family.
In 2019, the balcony was so full that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were barely visible behind the Queen and the Princess Royal.
In total, there were around 42 royals who gathered around the late Queen on the balcony four years ago. Similarly, in 2017, around 47 royals piled onto the balcony for a glimpse of the annual flypast and to see well-wishers.
Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and their children, Lady Gabriella Kingston, Lord Frederick Windsor, were invited onto the platform in 2019 – but it appears they have not made the cut in recent years.
Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Peter Phillips, his now-ex-wife Autumn Kelly and their children Savannah and Isla were also missing from this year’s and last year’s Buckingham Palace celebrations.
Trooping the Colour 2019, where 44 royals were present on the Buckingham Palace balcony, a stark difference to last year
Trooping the Colour in 2022. Pictured (L-R): Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, Brigitte, the Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra, The Duke of Kent, Sir Timothy Laurence, Princess Anne, Camilla, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Louis, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Prince William, Sophie Wessex, James, Viscount Severn, Lady Louise, Prince Edward
Flora Ogilvy and James Ogilvy, the grandchildren of Princess Alexandra, who was a first cousin to the late Queen Elizabeth II, were present at Trooping the Colour in 2017 and 2019, but were absent this year.
Zenouska Mowatt, the daughter Marina Ogilvy who is a second cousin of King Charles, was pictured on the balcony in both 2017 and 2019 but by 2022, she was nowhere to be seen.
The Duke of Gloucester, first cousin to Queen Elizabeth and first cousin once removed to her children, and his wife The Duchess of Gloucester appeared on the balcony last year with the senior working royals.
However, their daughter Lady Rose Gilman, her husband George Gilman and their granddaughter Lyla Gilman were last pictured on the balcony in 2019.
The family of the Duke and Duchess of Kent were invited to watch the flypast with the rest of the royal family in 2017. Their daughter Lady Helen Taylor, her husband Tim Taylor and their daughters Eloise and Estella were gathered together, but for the past couple of years only the Duke of Kent has shown his face.
George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews and his children Lady Amelia Windsor and Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick, were snapped on the balcony in 2017.
However, two years later in 2019, only George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews and his wife Sylvana Tomaselli, Countess of St Andrews made an appearance and neither one of them was present on the balcony in 2023 or this year.
Changes to Trooping the Colour were noticeable in 2022, when 18 royals were pictured watching the flypast – less than half of the amount in previous years.
The late Queen, Charles, Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children, Princess Anne and her husband, Sir Timothy Laurence and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were present.
Sophie and Edward’s children were also invited onto the balcony, Lady Louise Windsor, James, Earl of Wessex.
Last year, royal fans expressed their disappointment at the scaled-down balcony appearance. Those who love the Firm said they missed seeing so many members of the family come together – and have branded last year’s pared down balcony as ‘boring’.