Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis could not resist a playful glimpse of the crowds gathered below before stepping onto the Buckingham Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour. Pictures showed the two youngest royals peering through a window of the palace, trying to catch a sight of the thousands of spectators who had lined central London to mark King Charles III’s official birthday.
The moment came ahead of the annual flypast, which concluded the parade that started at 10.30am and ended at 12.25pm at the palace. The Red Arrows, reduced from nine Hawk T1 jets to seven because of maintenance on the ageing fleet, led the display at 1pm, flying directly over the iconic landmark. Last year’s flypast involved 29 aircraft, including four Chinooks, a BBMF Lancaster, two Texans, an A400M Atlas, six Typhoons, two Juno helicopters, a C-17 Globemaster, and two F-35B Lightnings, alongside the acrobatic team. The full list of aircraft for 2026 has not yet been released.
“Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis peeked through a palace window ahead of Trooping the Colour flypast.”
The King and the Royal Family appeared on the balcony to watch the display as the crowds cheered. The parade and flypast were broadcast live on the BBC, and spectators also gathered along The Mall and surrounding areas. Before reaching London, the Red Arrows took off from RAF Waddington around 11am, flying over the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts, then turning over Colchester, Reading, and Chelmsford around midday. After the display, the jets headed towards Windsor and Slough, continuing to Northampton and Colsterworth.
The event is part of the Red Arrows’ summer schedule, which includes the RAF Cosford Airshow tomorrow and several flights across the United States in July before returning to the UK in August and travelling to mainland Europe.