During the Trooping the Colour celebrations in 2016, Prince William was told off by the Queen for a break in royal etiquette on the Buckingham Palace balcony
Trooping the Colour is just around the corner, with Buckingham Palace and the Royal Family preparing to celebrate the King’s official birthday.
During the event, which is a landmark event in the royal calendar, the family join together on the famous Buckingham Palace balcony to marvel in the Royal Air Force flypast. While this part of the day’s celebration is often the most memorable, it is not always smooth sailing for the royals. Several years ago, back in 2016, one member of the royal family was ‘scolded’ by the late Queen for an unexpected reason. Prince William seemed to irk his late grandmother while standing on the balcony during the flypast, earning him a stern word from the monarch.
As Princess Charlotte, who was making her Trooping the Colour debut just after her first birthday, was being held by Kate, young Prince George was being looked after by William.
Standing at the front of the balcony, George – who was just three years old at the time – peered over the ledge to wave to the thousands of people gathered around the Palace. As William crouched down to speak to his young son and explain the flypast, he was temporarily out of sight from the huge crowd of onlookers.
The Queen was clearly unimpressed that the crowds would not have been able to see him, Her Majesty appeared to berate her grandson by saying: “stand up William. Don’t crouch.” Of course, the prince did as he was told and rose immediately, looking rather sheepish.
The telling off during the fly past was not the first occasion the monarch has put her foot down with her grandson, as William explained in a Sky News documentary to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday in 2016.
At the time, the Prince of Wales spoke candidly about an incident in his childhood that landed him in hot water with his grandmother, as he and his cousin Peter Philips were caught misbehaving while riding a quad bike at Balmoral.
He said: “We were chasing Zara around who was on a go-kart, and Peter and I managed to herd Zara into a lamppost and the lamppost came down and nearly squashed her.”
“I remember my grandmother being the first person out at Balmoral running across the lawn in her kilt. She came charging over and gave us the most almighty b******ing, and that sort of stuck in my mind from that moment on.”
As heir to the throne, William made his Trooping the Colour balcony debut before his first birthday in 1984. In 2011, newly married William took part in his first Trooping the Colour parade and rode on horseback , which he is expected to do again this year.
The Trooping the Colour event, which takes place every year in June, has been held to mark the sovereign’s official birthday since the accession of King George IV in 1820, except during the world wars and a national strike in 1955. In 2020, a scaled-back version of the celebration was held at Windsor Castle due to the Covid pandemic.
Trooping the Colour 2025, officially known as The King’s Birthday Parade, will take place on Saturday June 14, in London.