Since the death of Prince Philip, we’ve sadly had to see Queen Elizabeth II alone on a couple of occasions. Certainly, the image of her at the funeral was one of the saddest moments of her entire reign.
From there though, in most of her public appearances members of her family have made a point to accompany her. For her birthday she’ll be getting a new plus one by her side. The man chosen for the job will be her cousin Prince Edward the Duke of Kent!
Queen Elizabeth II takes her seat for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Berkshire.
📷Jonathan Brady – see more at https://t.co/jR0m7r0ZiZ#PrincePhilipfuneral pic.twitter.com/5MDwG5FJvd
— PA Images (@PAImages) April 17, 2021
This will not be the first time that the Duke of Kent has to step in to accompany The Queen to an event. The Duke had also stepped in for the Duke of Edinburgh back in 2013. On that occasion, it also happened to be a Trooping the Color parade.
This is the military parade given to celebrate the Queen’s official birthday. That day the Duke of Edinburgh was recovering from surgery to his abdomen. The Duke was 92 at the time and that ceremony marked one of the first he ever missed in his career!
Choosing the Duke of Kent as her plus one is an interesting choice. Of course, the Duke and the Queen are first cousins. Prince Edward is the son of Prince George the younger brother of the Queen’s father who went on to become King George. A lot of George’s on the Winsdor family tree!
He also has family ties to the late Duke of Edinburgh. The Duke of Kent’s mother was Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark who was a first cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh. A nice touch to showcase a tight-knit family and some traditional royal inbreeding!
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla escorted the Queen to open parliament a couple of weeks back. Does the emergence of the Duke of Kent mean they are no longer needed for the parade? Not quite, on Her Majesty’s official birthday celebration we usually see the whole family come out.
Other than the famous Windsor weddings this is the day when we get to see the whole family waving from Buckingham Palace’s balcony. Expect to see plenty of royals including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their sons and daughter on the guest list!
A very simple ceremony opening of the Parliament by her HM Queen Elizabeth II.#BBCNews pic.twitter.com/BsbB1CqiBN
— S. Francis Hector (@154Pledge) May 11, 2021
The Queen’s official birthday is traditionally celebrated in the UK on the second Saturday of June. That’s about 2 weeks before Prince Harry is set to arrive back in the UK for his mother’s 60th birthday celebration. This could also be right around the time when Meghan is in or recently out of labor.
That doesn’t mean that we can cross the southern California branch of the Royal Family out of the guest list just yet. The couple has expressed their desire to be part of the Jubilee celebrations in 2022. Showing up for the Queen’s official birthday could be a token of good will to mend things with the family!
