Back To School For George & Charlotte

As with millions of other families, the Cambridges will be busy this week organising their children for a return to school after the summer break.

Prince George, 5, will be starting year one at Thomas's Battersea on Thursday. Although he attended Reception last year and will keep the same friends, George will have a new teacher and classroom as well as more advanced work to adjust to.

Princess Charlotte, 3, started at Willcocks Nursery School in Kensington in January. She will return to her routine on Wednesday.

The royal youngsters have had a wonderful summer break with baby brother Louis and mum and dad Catherine and William.

The family of five first celebrated Louis's baptism on 9th July and the following day the children watched the RAF Centenary flypast from a Buckingham Palace window while the adults stood on the balcony.

Mustique in the Caribbean was the venue for a beach holiday with their grandparents Carole and Michael Middleton. It was here George celebrated his birthday.

Then the family spent a large amount of time at their country residence, Amner Hall on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. Amner allows the children to run and play in privacy as well as enjoy the property's tennis court.

Towards the end of the holiday the Duke and Duchess and children headed to Balmoral Castle in Scotland to visit the Queen and Prince Philip. Here George took part in his first grouse shoot which is quite a milestone for a royal youngster. 

All in all a lovely holiday before school begins again.

RAF Centenary Flypast

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended a church service Westminster Abbey on Tuesday. This was to mark the centenary of the R.A.F.

The Queen and other senior members of the Royal Family were out in force to mark the occasion. Following the service, Her Majesty gave a speech in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace.

100 aircraft flew over Buckingham Palace, watched by the Royal Family from the balcony. Helicopter-lover Prince George and sister Princess Charlotte watched from behind windows of the Palace.Excitedly they waved to crowds and at one point Charlotte poked her tongue out to those below.

 

What a spectacular display! ✈️@RoyalAirForce #raf100 pic.twitter.com/B9pPlyOqFk

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) July 10, 2018

George And Charlotte At Trooping The Colour

Prince George and Princess Charlotte charmed the crowds at this weekend's Trooping the Colour flypast.

Appearing on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the National Anthem and to watch the RAF flypast to mark The Queen's Official Birthday, the royal duo teamed up with Princess Anne's eldest grandaughter Savannah Phillips to provide lots of cute moments for the photographers covering the event.

At one point, Charlotte slipped and had to be picked up by mum Catherine to be consoled. Savannah also put a hand over George's mouth to silence him during God Save The Queen! 

Happy Birthday Ma'am!

H.M. The Queen's Official Birthday

The Queen's official birthday is this coming Saturday and Trooping the Colour will be held as is tradition.

Senior members of the Royal Family travel from Buckingham Palace on horseback or horse drawn carriage along The Mall to Horse Guards Parade for Trooping the Colour. They then return to Buckingham Palace for the flypast.

This year Prince George and Princess Charlotte are expected to make an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch the RAF flypast and wave to the crowds below. Prince Louis who was born on April 23rd is still too young to join his older siblings. This will be George's 4th appearance and Charlotte's 3rd.

I witnessed the spectacle in 1992 when Prince Harry joined his mother Diana, Princess of Wales and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother for the trip to and from Horse Guards Parade. Older brother Prince William was away at Ludgrove Prep, his boarding school at the time.

If you would like to see photos of William and Harry attending the event in their younger years, have a look at my blog post from last year:

https://williamandharryschildren.blogspot.com/2017/06/wales-family-at-trooping-colour.html

From royal.uk website:

What happens during Trooping the Colour?

Once The Queen has arrived at Horse Guard's Parade in Whitehall, she is greeted by a Royal salute and carries out an inspection of the troops, who are fully trained and operational soldiers wearing the ceremonial uniform of red tunics and bearskin hats.
The Queen used to attend on horseback herself, but in recent years has travelled by carriage.
After the military bands have performed, the escorted Regimental Colour, or flag, is processed down the ranks of soldiers. Over one hundred words of command are used by the Officer in Command of the Parade to direct the several hundred soldiers.
Once the Foot Guards have marched past The Queen, she rides back to Buckingham Palace at the head of the soldiers, before taking the salute again at the Palace from a dais. 
Her Majesty is then joined by other Members of the Royal Family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace to watch a fly-past by the Royal Air Force. A 41-gun salute is also fired in Green Park to mark the occasion. 

Horse Guards Parade

Charlotte's Trooping Debut

Princess Charlotte of Cambridge made her Trooping the Colour debut today.
 
The official festivities were in honour of The Queen's 90th birthday.

Princess Charlotte was held by her mother the Duchess of Cambridge whilst big brother George was busy looking at the crowds and trying to take in the sights and sounds around him.

Prince George who will be 3 next month, was wearing the same outfit his father William wore to Prince Harry's Christening in December 1984. 

At last year's Trooping, George wore his father's outfit from William's own Trooping debut back in June1984. It seems the Wales children's clothing has been well stored and cared for over the decades. 

Queen's Official Birthday Events

William aged 3 and Harry 9 months 1985

The Queen's birthday is on 21st April but the official celebration is held in June- usually the second Saturday. The reason the official celebrations are not until June is that the chances of good weather are higher in the Summer. 

Yesterday most members of the Royal Family attended a Thanksgiving Service at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Today, the annual Trooping the Colour will take place. Let's hope little Princess Charlotte makes an appearance on the palace balcony!

The Trooping the Colour starts with Queen Elizabeth and members of the Royal Family travelling from Buckingham Palace, down The Mall to Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall.The ceremony is explained on the royal.gov.uk website:

What happens during Trooping the Colour?

Once The Queen has arrived at Horse Guard's Parade in Whitehall, she is greeted by a Royal salute and carries out an inspection of the troops, who are fully trained and operational soldiers wearing the ceremonial uniform of red tunics and bearskin hats.
The Queen used to attend on horseback herself, but in recent years has travelled by carriage.
After the military bands have performed, the escorted Regimental Colour, or flag, is processed down the ranks of soldiers. Over one hundred words of command are used by the Officer in Command of the Parade to direct the several hundred soldiers.
Once the Foot Guards have marched past The Queen, she rides back to Buckingham Palace at the head of the soldiers, before taking the salute again at the Palace from a dais. 
Her Majesty is then joined by other Members of the Royal Family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace to watch a fly-past by the Royal Air Force. A 41-gun salute is also fired in Green Park to mark the occasion. 

Horse Guards Parade

Catherine Speaks About George

source: Duchess of Cambridge

The Duchess of Cambridge has had a steady stream of royal engagements in the past few weeks. 

The year ahead is going to be busy for Catherine and William with a tour of India and Bhutan in the northern Spring as well as attending the Queen's 90th birthday celebrations. They will also be joined in France by Prince Harry, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla in late June to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Somme. 

Recently Catherine attended her first engagement in her capacity of Patron of the Air Cadets. This patronage was passed to the Duchess by Prince Philip who is slowly reducing his patronages as he ages. 

As the first female Honorary Air Commandant of the RAF Air Cadets, Catherine took part in a church service at the RAF church, St Clement Danes, followed by a reception at the Royal Courts of Justice.

source: Blog Author

The Express newspaper wrote about Catherine divulging son George's love of aeroplanes: 

She told cadet Lucinda Conder, 19, that she had shown George, who is two and a half, pictures of Spitfires after a royal engagement.

"He is now obsessed with the air cadets and wants to join," said Ms Conder, a medical student from Hammersmith in west London, who was the top female cadet of 2015. "We are going to have to push that one when he gets to age 12."

George's love of aviation is not surprising given that he has flying in his blood from both sides of the family:

• Before having children, the Duchess's mother Carole was a flight attendant with British Airways and father Michael worked as ground staff for the airline.

• Michael's father Peter flew with the RAF

• Prince William has flown both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters in the RAF and is currently a pilot with East Anglia Air Ambulance.

• Prince Harry flew helicopters with the RAF and did stints in Afghanistan twice.

• Prince Charles also flew aircraft in the armed services as did his brother Prince Andrew, most notably RAN helicopters in the Falklands War.

And since helicopters are a frequent mode of transport for the royal family, George will no doubt see them coming and going from Kensington Palace and the Sandringham Estate.