Yahoo Finance Queen to have scaled back Trooping the Colour for second year in a row
The Queen's annual birthday parade – Trooping the Colour – will be a scaled back affair for the second year in a row, it's been announced.
The Queen, who turns 95 next month, had to forego the usual huge celebration in London last year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it had been hoped it would return in 2021.
However Buckingham Palace confirmed on Friday afternoon that it would not go ahead.
A statement from the palace read: "Following consultation with Government and other relevant parties it has been agreed that The Queen’s Official Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping the Colour, will not go ahead this year in its traditional form in central London.
"Options for an alternative Parade, in the quadrangle at Windsor Castle, are being considered.
"The annual Garter service, usually held in June, will not take place this year."
Last year the Queen watched a smaller version of Trooping the Colour in the quadrangle at Windsor, where she had been living since March, having left London early on in the pandemic.
She's been in Windsor almost full time since, managing to enjoy some of her annual summer trip to Balmoral, but not moving back to Buckingham Palace.
The official Trooping the Colour website had been displaying tickets for the event, on 12 June, but on Friday afternoon displayed an error message.
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The event would have been held on 12 June, just nine days before the date the UK government has set for when all restrictions related to coronavirus can be lifted.
The cancellation of the London event may also raise questions about when and whether Harry and Meghan will return to the UK this summer.
It had previously been thought the couple would come back for family events like the Queen's birthday parade, which this year falls two days after the Duke of Edinburgh's 100th birthday.
The couple are also now expecting their second child in the summer.
However Prince Harry is also due to come to the UK in July for the unveiling of a statue of his mother, Princess Diana, in the garden at Kensington Palace.
The statue will be unveiled on what would have been Diana's 60th birthday, and will see the reunion of the two brothers.
Trooping the Colour usually takes place on the second Saturday in June and marks the Monarch's official birthday.
The day was chosen more than 260 years ago by George II who repurposed the military occasion for his birthday, because the weather was better. His birthday was in November.
The Queen's real birthday is in April and is usually marked quietly with family. This year restrictions are still likely to be in place around the date she turns 95.
