The Princess of Wales, who normally takes on the role of Inspecting Officer, won’t attend this year’s rehearsal, the Palace has confirmed.
It has been confirmed Princess Kate will not be attending the Trooping the Colour 2024 rehearsal on June 8 as she continues to recover from her cancer diagnosis, say Palace sources.
Instead, the role of Inspecting Officer normally carried out by the Princess of Wales, will be conducted by Lieutenant General James Bucknall K.C.B., C.B.E, as Kate continues her recovery.
It comes as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was earlier accused of sparking confusion after announcing confirmed attendance at the Trooping the Colour without consulting Kensington Palace.
Trooping the Colour is held every year as an official birthday event for the monarch, even though Charles’s actual birthday is on November 14. It dates back centuries and became an annual event from 1760.
King Charles’s official birthday parade will be held on June 15 and is one of the biggest military ceremonies of the year featuring around 1,600 parading soldiers, 400 musicians, 200 horses and is wrapped up with an RAF flypast over Buckingham Palace.
It is still unclear whether the Princess of Wales, who is undergoing preventative chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis, will attend the official birthday celebrations on June 15.
Many were hoping that Princess Kate, who has been absent from royal duties since December as she currently undergoes treatment for a type of cancer, would make a royal return for this year’s birthday celebrations for King Charles, but after the latest update, such a prospect seems highly unlikely.
A spokesman said previously: “Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands.”
If Kate is set to attend, it will be one of her first engagements of the year after planned abdominal surgery back in January. Kate previously said that she had undergone abdominal surgery in January and that at the time she was told her condition was non-cancerous. But the future Queen, in a heart-wrenching statement revealed that later tests found cancer had been present.
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed the reigning monarch will take part in Trooping the Colour 2024 next month but will inspect the soldiers from a carriage instead of on horseback