Trooping the Colour, the annual celebration of the monarch's birthday, is one of the most significant events in the Royal Family's calendar. This year, it comes amid a challenging period for the House of Windsor, with both Kate, Princess of Wales, and King Charles undergoing cancer treatment. While the King has been cleared to attend, Kensington Palace has not confirmed whether Kate will be present.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who stepped down as working royals in 2020, will not attend this year's event. However, during the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee in 2022, the couple did participate, though they were notably absent from the Buckingham Palace balcony for the RAF flypast.
In his memoir 'Spare', Prince Harry recounted an awkward moment involving Meghan and Kate at the 2018 Trooping the Colour, just weeks after Harry and Meghan's wedding. After the flypast, as the royals returned inside Buckingham Palace, Kate asked Meghan what she thought of the event. Meghan replied, 'Colourful,' a lighthearted quip that was met with what Harry described as 'a yawning silence' that threatened to swallow them all.
Harry's book details tensions between Meghan and the rest of the family, including a dispute over a bridesmaid dress fitting and an incident where Kate grimaced when Meghan asked to borrow lip gloss. He also accused William and Kate of 'stereotyping' Meghan and said William described her as 'difficult'.
Relations between the two couples remain strained, with William and Kate not seeing Harry during his recent UK visit for the Invictus Games. However, after Kate's cancer diagnosis was made public, Harry and Meghan privately reached out and issued a statement expressing their support, saying, 'We wish health and healing for Kate and the family.'
