Cancer-stricken King Charles to present new colours to Kate’s Irish Guards regiment ahead of the Trooping the Colour parade this Saturday in London

King Charles III will today present new colors to the Irish Guards – the regiment for which his daughter-in-law the Princess of Wales became colonel last year.

The monarch will inspect the guards and officers during the parade Windsor castle before the Chaplain General inaugurates the colors with a blessing.

The new colors will be the colors used in the Entering the color during the King’s official birthday parade at the Horse Guards Parade London this Saturday.

Charles, colonel of the Household Division’s seven Guards regiments, will inspect soldiers during the parade from a carriage rather than on horseback.

The 75-year-old monarch recently returned to public duties as he continues to be treated for an undisclosed form of diabetes cancer.

Kate and Charles during a visit to a medical rehabilitation center in Loughborough in 2020

Charles greets Kate at a Commonwealth war cemetery in Ypres, Belgium, in July 2017

In March 2023, Kate took over the role of Colonel of the Irish Guards from her husband Prince William.

The Princess sent a letter to the regiment to apologize for not being able to receive the salute and to wish them good luck with the Colonel’s Review – the final rehearsal for the King’s birthday parade – in London last Saturday, June 8 .

Kate, who is undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with cancer, spoke of her pride in them and added that being a colonel ‘remains an honour’.

The Princess was represented at the Colonel’s Review by General James Bucknall, who acted as Chief Inspector for the day in the Princess’s absence.

Colors – decorated with a regiment’s emblems and battle decorations – were originally used as rallying points for troops on the battlefield.

Troops take part in the Colonel’s Review during the Horse Guards Parade in London on June 8

Household Division troops take part in the Brigade Major’s Review in London on 30 May

They still accompany soldiers on operations and, more obviously, on ceremonial duties.

The presentation of new colors to No 9 and No 12 Company begins with the Band of the Irish Guards marching them to Windsor Castle.

They will be led by the regimental mascot of the Irish Guards: an Irish wolfhound named Turlough Mor, but affectionately known as Seamus.

This Saturday the King will be accompanied by the Irish Guards Regimental Lieutenant Colonel, Major General Sir Christopher Ghika KCVO CBE.

A royal salute will be given and the national anthem will be played.

During the Colonel’s Review last Saturday, Seamus was led across the square by a drummer in a scarlet coat. The dog was presented to the regiment as the soldiers lined up.

2023 — (From left) Prince George, Kate, Prince Louis, Prince William, Princess Charlotte, King Charles and Queen Camilla at Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Color on June 17 last year

2022 — William, Kate and their children attend Trooping the Color in London on June 2, 2022

2019 — William and Kate at Trooping the Color with their children in London on June 8, 2019

Field Officer in Guard Brigade Lieutenant Colonel James Coleby shouted orders to the regiment while riding a white horse named Onyx.

A mock-up of the royal carriage, similar to the one in which the King will be held in a week’s time, arrived at the Horse Guards Parade in time to reach the salute base at 11am sharp.

A royal salute was given and the national anthem was played in full. The Household Calvary and the Mounted Band walked around the square in the carriage.

Horses marched in pairs in front and behind the carriage, with two divisions in front and two behind, before the group finally left the parade and walked through the mall to prepare for the mock 41-gun salute, which will take place this Saturday . .

A total of 250 musicians, 20 pipers, 240 military workhorses and almost 1,000 dual role soldiers from the British Army’s Household Division took part in the event last Saturday.