Princess Anne is well-known in the Royal Family as the hardest-working member who doesn’t suffer fools. Her devotion to not only the monarchy but also to her brother, King Charles, has stood her in good stead, and she was granted the position of Gold-Stick-in-Waiting at the coronation in 2023.
This prestigious role, which makes her responsible for the monarch’s safety, is just one of the Princess Royal’s many honours – and we will see her take on another tomorrow at Trooping the Colour. Standing out from her two brothers and nephew, the Princess will ride in the parade in her role as Colonel of the Blues and Royals – the second-most senior regiment in the British Army.
However, there is a very unique reason why the Princess will never get to take on a specific role in the parade, while The Queen and the Princess of Wales do.
This year’s Trooping the Colour will see the Coldstream Guards troop their regiment’s flag – otherwise known as the Colour – in front of King Charles at Horse Guards Parade on June 14.
The Coldstream Guards are part of the Household Division, which is made up of two regiments of the Household Cavalry (the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals) and five regiments of Foot Guards (the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards).
Each year, one of the five regiments of the Foot Guards take turn to Troop their Colour in front of the monarch. When this happens, the Royal Colonel of the regiment is also present to take the salute from the dais on Horse Guards Parade.
While the parade will be slightly different this year as the Coldstream Guards are the only Foot Guards regiment not to have a Royal Colonel, it showcases the position that Princess Anne will not get the opportunity to play as the two regiments of the Household Cavalry (the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals) do not play the same role in the parade.
The Princess will join her brother, Prince Edward, and her nephew, Prince William, and ride on horseback in the parade. King Charles, however, will ride to the parade ground in a carriage, as he did last year.
Aside from riding in the 2023 parade, the last time a reigning monarch rode in Trooping the Colour was in 1986 when Queen Elizabeth took to the saddle for the final time after Burmese, the beloved black mare that she rode from 1969 to 1986, retired. From then on, she chose to ride in an open horse-drawn carriage.