When King Charles persuaded his mother the late Queen Elizabeth to make one final appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony, his real motivation was absolutely heartbreaking
The late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations were a historic occasion – not just because it marked 70 years of Britain’s longest reigning monarch on the throne but because it was heartbreakingly the last time she appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
However, she very nearly didn’t appear at all. Thanks to a last-minute intervention from King Charles – then-Prince of Wales – the late Queen was persuaded to make the iconic balcony appearance, which the Royal Family makes each year as the culmination of Trooping the Colour, where they wave to crowds below and watch the traditional RAF flypast.
During the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the late Queen hadn’t been feeling well, and had cancelled some appearances, but Charles’s intervention ensured that she was present at the end of the Jubilee parade, and the culmination of the celebrations – and he had a seriously heartbreaking motivation when he persuaded her to come.
Charles, it was reported at the time, made a last-minute phone call to persuade his mother to push through despite feeling unwell and appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace one last time. His intervention was enough to persuade her and she appeared to the waiting crowds below, who had gathered to celebrate her long reign.
Royal experts came together to discuss the historic moment in a Channel 5 documentary – Secret of the Royal Palaces. The experts noted how much had gone into making the Jubilee celebrations possible, as the late Queen’s health and mobility was deteriorating behind closed doors, and how she ended up making her final balcony appearance, something she had been doing since she was just a child in the 1920s – during her grandfather and father’s reigns.
One expert even revealed that Charles had an incredibly touching motivation behind working hard to persuade his mother to appear: wanting her to really witness just how beloved she was by the public she had spent her life serving. Royal expert Emily Andrews explained, “She felt it was her duty to come to London, to acknowledge the crowds….But it wasn’t just about duty, it was about Charles wanting the queen to see how much she was loved. She always put duty above personal pain, above family, above personal sacrifice. Duty always comes first.”
Another expert – commentator and broadcaster, Afua Acheampong-Hagan – said, “When the queen stepped out on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, looking absolutely resplendent in that green outfit, the crowds goes absolutely wild,” adding that “The pinnacle of the Platinum Jubilee was seeing the Queen on that balcony and you could see the emotion written all over her face. I think she was so very, very glad that she managed to see her people if you will, one last time.”
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