The 96-year-old decided to limit the attendance on the balcony during the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of her accession to the British throne to members of the royal family who take on official duties, and they will greet the crowds from the balcony during the military parade “Tropping the Color”. It is expected that 18 members of the family will appear on the balcony, which is much less than what was previously recorded.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, who withdrew from royal life and moved to California in 2020, were excluded from attending the balcony, but they will come to the United Kingdom with their two children.
Also excluded from the balcony was Prince Andrew, the Queen’s youngest son, who was stripped of his military titles following an assault suit brought by a woman in New York that dropped a financial settlement the prince reached with the plaintiff last March, in which he paid millions of dollars.
After two difficult years for the royal family, the balcony, which is decorated with a red and gold cap during major occasions, is not supposed to see any tensions.
Over the years, the balcony became a facade for the British royal family, and following it was an element of its members interacting with the crowds gathered behind the fence of Buckingham Palace, the image of the British monarch saluting the crowds spread all over the world.
This method of greeting the crowd goes back to Queen Victoria, who introduced this custom into royal life in 1851 at the opening of the Great Exhibition.
Seven years later, the family appeared on the balcony during the wedding of the eldest daughter, Princess Victoria. Since that occasion, the balcony has witnessed the most remarkable moments in the life of the royal family and the history of Britain.
On August 4, 1914, crowds demanded that King George V appear following the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. In November 1918, thousands of Britons welcomed the King and Queen following the signing of the First Armistice of Compiegne.
The balcony then witnessed the presence of members of the royal family during wedding ceremonies, jubilees, coronations and other major official occasions. In 1935, Princess Elizabeth, then 9, greeted the crowds from the balcony to mark the 25th anniversary of her grandfather George V’s accession to the British throne. Two years later, she greeted fans from the balcony at the coronation of her father, George VI.
On May 8, 1945, Prime Minister Winston Churchill joined the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in celebration of the Allied victory over Germany.
Princess Elizabeth appeared on the balcony in 1947 on the occasion of her wedding to Prince Philip, and then once more in 1953, when she became queen, on the occasion of her coronation.
Nor is the appearance of the royal family on the balcony spontaneously; The queen is in the center dressed in bright colors, while the high-ranking men appear in full traditional military uniform and the women wear distinctive hats.
Historic moments are sometimes recorded, some of them unusually daring, such as Prince Charles and Princess Diana who exchanged a kiss on the balcony following their marriage in 1981, following in the footsteps of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, and then Prince William and Kate Middleton.
However, the importance of the balcony lies not so much in highlighting the image of the family as in expressing the image of the monarchy itself.
