Often dubbed the “hardest working royal”, Princess Anne takes her royal duties seriously, and her actions proved so during Trooping the Colour, claims a body language expert. The Princess Royal, in her roles as Colonel of the Blues and Royals and Gold-Stick-in-Waiting, joined the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh on horseback this morning for her brother’s birthday parade.
The King’s official birthday – otherwise known as Trooping the Colour – was marked with an exquisite display of military pomp and pageantry, but at his request, it also marked a tribute to those killed in the Air India plane crash. Speaking on behalf of Betfair Slots, body language expert, Darren Stanton, spoke about Anne’s posture while she was stood on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
He said: “We can see Princess Anne with her arms behind her back – that’s a very authoritarian posture. She’s a very strong woman. She’s standing separately, her arms behind her, while everybody else has their arms to the side.”
Commenting further on her posture, the expert added: “This isn’t unlike Anne, she’s known as the hardest working Royal and she always takes her duties very seriously.”
Anne’s appearance is set to be the first time she has ridden in public since she was taken to hospital last June with head injuries said to be consistent with being struck by a horse.
Speaking after the incident, Anne – who returned to public duties three weeks later with a black eye – said she could not “remember a single thing”.
The Prince of Wales rode horseback as colonel of the Welsh Guard. Prince Edward rode as colonel of the Scots Guards and London Guards. Anne’s husband, Sir Timothy Laurence, rode in a carriage with the Duchess Sophie.
The occasion was full of the traditional pageantry but, at the King’s request, there were marks of respect to remember the victims of the Air India crash, with the Royal Family in the parade wearing black armbands.
Although King Charles’s actual birthday is 14 November, monarchs historically have had an “official” birthday for public events such as this, held in the summer in the hope of better weather.
More than 1,300 soldiers took part in the ceremony at Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall. This year the Red Arrows went green, as they used a more environmentally friendly blend of fuel, including sustainable aviation fuel and a biofuel for the trademark vapour trail.
The colour, or regimental flag, trooped this year was the King’s Colour of Number 7 Company, Coldstream Guards, a prestigious regiment known as the sovereign’s bodyguard.
