Kate Middleton has apologised for missing out on a key rehearsal for Trooping The Colour.
The Princess of Wales Kate Middleton has written a letter to the Irish Guards, who are presenting their colours to the King this year, saying: ‘I hope I am able to represent you all very soon’.
Insiders have long emphasised that every cancer ‘journey’ is individual and believe speculation over whether Kate Middleton will attend key events such a trooping create unnecessary pressure at a time when she has asked for space and privacy.
It means the Princess of Wales will miss what would have been her first Colonel’s Review, which had been due to take place today.
The event is a dress rehearsal for Trooping The Colour and would have seen her take the salute as the new Colonel-in-Chief of the Irish Guards.
The Colonel’s Review comes before the King’s official birthday celebrations on Saturday June 15, including their traditional Buckingham Palace balcony appearance.
The Colonel’s Review is identical to The King’s Birthday Parade, with the exception that some additional mounted officers ride on the latter.
Taking part will be over 1400 soldiers of the Household Division and The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, including 400 musicians from the Massed Bands, all of whom will parade on Horse Guards for the second of two formal Reviews.
The Colonel’s Review also includes 250 soldiers from the Foot Guards who will line the processional route along The Mall.
The Irish Guards have responded to the Princess’s letter on Twitter, writing: ‘The Irish Guards were deeply touched to receive a letter from our Colonel, Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales this morning.
‘We continue to wish Her Royal Highness well in her recovery and send her our very best wishes.’
While palace officials have been forced to cancel a number of public engagements in light of the General Election, key national and ceremonial events such as Trooping are not affected.
Earlier this year on March 5, the Ministry of Defence removed a claim made on its website that Kate would attend events to mark Trooping the Colour.
Details of her cancer have not been disclosed but she has said that she was having ‘preventative chemotherapy’.
Kensington Palace said it is confident the princess will make a full recovery.
Trooping the Colour traditionally involves the royal family gathering on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after a display of pomp and military pageantry.
Usually the monarch rides down from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade via The Mall to inspect the troops. He then rides back to the palace for the traditional balcony appearance with the wider Royal Family and flypast by the RAF.
Tickets had gone on sale via the Army website advertising Kate reviewing a ‘practice’ parade for the first time on June 8 in her role as honorary colonel of the Irish Guards.
It also announced that Charles would be reviewing his own official birthday parade on June 15 at Horse Guards.
But within minutes of the tickets going on sale, there were warnings that the MoD may have ‘jumped the gun’.
Kensington Palace sources made clear that they were ‘not consulted’ on the MoD announcement and said that any confirmed attendance by the Princess would be made ‘only’ by themselves.
Buckingham Palace also confirmed at the time that planning for future engagements was continuing despite the King’s cancer treatment, yet stressed that changes could be made nearer the time depending on his health.
The confusion added to a sense of unease around the Royal Family at that point, over fears that two of its most senior members would be largely out of action for substantial periods.
This also came before Kate Middleton revealed in an emotional video on March 23 that she was undergoing treatment for cancer.
At that point, Kate Middleton was recuperating from what was described as ‘planned abdominal surgery’ and it was seen as unlikely that she would return to duties until after Easter.
Until her cancer announcement, her absence from public events and the scant detail given about her condition and recuperation had led to wild social media conspiracy theories about what might be wrong with her.
She made clear that she needed to focus on both her recovery but also supporting her young children at a difficult time, asking for her family to be given time and space while she completed her treatment.
Although there has been no official update on her health since, The Mail understands that the princess has been seen out and about more with her family in recent weeks, which will be taken as a positive sign by many.
However earlier this week Kensington Palace stressed that she very much still needs time and space to recover.
Queen Elizabeth II attended Trooping the Colour in a carriage after 1987.
The Royal Family postponed engagements ‘which may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign’ after Rishi Sunak last week called a surprise summer General Election for July 4.
But they have continued with garden parties at Buckingham Palace and the King and Queen’s D-Day 80th anniversary appearances in Portsmouth and Normandy in June are expected to go ahead as scheduled.
The Army said the Number 9 Company, Irish Guards, has been chosen to troop their colour, which means the regiment will march its ceremonial flag through the ranks at the King’s official birthday event.
The Band of the Irish Guards with the Pipes and Drums will march the troops onto the parade ground, led by regimental mascot Turlough Mor, an Irish Wolfhound also known as Seamus.
The music is set to have a ‘distinctly Irish theme’, including Celtic folk tunes and new music composed for the parade.
The annual Trooping the Colour has marked the official birthday of the British sovereign for more than 260 years.
Charles marked his first Trooping as King last year, riding onto Horse Guards in Whitehall as the nation’s head of state six weeks after his coronation.
During the celebrations, Charles and Camilla waved from the Buckingham Palace balcony as thousands of well-wishers in The Mall sang the National Anthem and gave three cheers.
The King and Queen were surrounded in 2023 by the family’s core group of working royals, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children.
Also on the balcony were the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent.
Trooping changed when the Covid pandemic hit in the spring of 2020. National lockdowns were enforced, and Queen Elizabeth took part in drastically scaled-down ceremonies, alone. Trooping was temporarily moved from Horse Guards Parade to Windsor Castle.
When Trooping the Colour returned in 2022, it was a double celebration as the nation also marked the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – 70 years of her record-breaking reign.
Although all members of her family were invited to join the party, including Prince Harry and Meghan, as well as Prince Andrew, only ‘working royals’ were invited to appear on the balcony.
This meant that the Queen avoided offending either the Sussexes, who had quit royal duties, or Andrew, who had been stripped of them.
But some argued it also ended decades of tradition, with the minor royals now banished from view.