Princes Kate of Wales appeared in public for the first time since announcing her cancer diagnosis.
On Saturday, the princess attended King Charles III‘s birthday parade, known as the Trooping the Color, held six months before his birthday amid his own cancer diagnosis. Middleton occupied the window seat in a carriage, smiling and waving to onlookers, and appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace.
The parade is the most anticipated ceremony of the monarchy on the calendar, featuring 1,400 extravagantly dressed parading soldiers, 400 musicians, and 242 military horses.
The Princess of Wales was joined by nearly all members of the royal family.
The king (or queen) usually rides on a horse in the parade, but due to King Charles’s health he opted to instead ride in a carriage.
After a procession down the Mall, the parade ended at Buckingham Palace, where Middleton appeared alongside her husband, children, king, and the rest of the royal family.
The royal family watched a Royal Air Force contingent do a flyover at the conclusion of the ceremony.
The Princess of Wales was the target of intense speculation earlier this year, after people noticed that she had disappeared from public view for months. After a preponderance of conspiracy theories, she finally revealed that she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing treatment.
Notably, she missed the recent D-Day celebrations attended by King Charlies, commemorating the Allied landings in Normandy and the liberation of France from Nazi occupation. She announced her intention to attend the Trooping the Color and other events over the summer on Friday, as well as sharing her optimism.
“I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days. On those bad days you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well,” the princess wrote on Instagram. “On the days I feel well enough, it is a joy to engage with school life, spend personal time on the things that give me energy and positivity, as well as starting to do a little work from home.”
She added that she’s “not out of the woods yet.”
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Trooping the Color is believed to have originated during the reign of the last King Charles, King Charles II, who reigned 1660-1685. It was determined in 1748 that the ceremony should mark the monarch’s birthday, which it has ever since.
The ceremony features regimental colors, which were vital in maintaining cohesion and discipline on the battlefield before the onset of modern warfare. The United Kingdom’s five regiments of Foot guards, Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish, and Welsh, rotate each year, with only one taking part per year. This year’s parade featured the Welsh Guards.
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