King Charles, one of the most accomplished equestrians in the Royal Family, will not appear on horseback for his official birthday celebrations, and it is understood he will not ride at the parade again.
He will instead travel in a carriage for the procession from Buckingham Palace to the Horse Guards Parade and back, according to the Sunday Times.
The monarch briefly revived the tradition in 2023, where it was the first time the monarch had ridden in the parade since Queen Elizabeth II did in 1986. The King took the salute in 2023 riding Noble, a seven-year-old black mare presented by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in a tradition that dates back to 1904.
The accomplished and former polo player rode the horse with great control, despite one television commentator likening the mare’s occasional skittish behaviour to “as if it was going into the starting stalls at Newmarket”.
King Charles, 76, was admitted to hospital for treatment of an enlarged prostate in January 2024 and shortly after was diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer. Therefore, at last year’s Trooping the Colour, he travelled with Queen Camilla in a carriage to be safer and on advice from doctors.
Charles has been receiving weekly treatment since he was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of the disease in early 2024.
Princess Anne, however, plans to ride in the parade this year in her role as gold stick, the colonel of the Blues and Royals, alongside the Prince of Wales as colonel of the Welsh Guards and the Duke of Edinburgh as colonel of the Scots Guards and London Guards.
It will be the first time that Anne has ridden a horse in public since she was hospitalised following a suspected horse injury last year.
Trooping is one of the highlights of the royal calendar, drawing crowds from across the country and the world. It features the traditional Buckingham Palace balcony appearance and has marked the sovereign’s official birthday with a ceremonial parade for more than 250 years.
From 1979 to 2017, it was always held on the Saturday from June 11 to 17; however, in 2018, it was held on June 9 and in 2019, on June 8. This year it is scheduled for June 14. King Charles’s birthday is not on that date, however, as he was born on November 14.
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).