Who’s who in the royal line-up for the Queen’s balcony appearance?
Eighteen royals including the monarch watched the flypast on the first day of the Jubilee weekend.
Heirs to the throne, future queens and minor royals who have dedicated decades of their lives to supporting the monarch joined the head of state for her special Jubilee balcony appearance.
The Queen limited those taking to the famous frontage of Buckingham Palace for the flypast to working members of her family after “careful consideration”, the Palace said.
It meant there was no place for the Sussexes, who caused a crisis by quitting as senior royals and accusing an unnamed royal of racism, nor her disgraced second son the Duke of York, who has stepped away from public life.
The key players on the royal stage included future king the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, who was backed by the Queen in her Jubilee year to one day take the title of Queen.
There also was second in line the Duke of Cambridge, and the Duchess of Cambridge also a future Queen, and their three children Prince George – a future monarch – Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
The Queen’s other children – the Princess Royal, known for her hard-working, no-nonsense approach to royal duties, and the Earl of Wessex – took pride of place with their spouses Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and the Countess of Wessex, along with the Wessexes’ children – Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn.
The dukes and their sister Alexandra are close to the monarch and have spent their lives working quietly and dependably behind the scenes carrying out royal engagements.
This Jubilee line-up was a marked change from the Diamond Jubilee, with a return to the wider supporting cast of royals – more similar to the Golden Jubilee celebrations
In 2012, a slimmed-down version of The Firm stepped out to greet the mass crowds celebrating the Queen’s 60-year reign.
The decision was said to be part of Charles’ vision of streamlining and modernising the institution.
Ten years earlier during the 2002 Golden Jubilee, 20 members of the royal family had packed the balcony of the Queen’s London home to watch a traditional flypast.
