THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

George, Charlotte, and Louis Are the Royal Family’s Salvation

The new crop of young royals is the family’s get-out-of-jail card after a decade of scandals and PR disasters.

The Trooping the Colour parade in London threatened to fall flat.

King Charles, ailing with cancer, presided over a seriously reduced royal family, riding in a carriage rather than on horseback amid failing health on Saturday.

After the departures of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Prince Andrew, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, and various other minor royals, the royal balcony, sparsely populated with just 14 souls, looked a pale shadow of itself under Queen Elizabeth II, when it would be crammed with eccentric uncles and batty aunts with wild hair. Dysfunctional though the family was, it at least spoke to the most essential of royal requirements: fecundity.

Thank God, then, for the three young Wales children: George, Charlotte, and Louis, on whose slender shoulders it is no exaggeration to say the entire fate of the royal family now rests.

The royals were blessed with sunshine for Saturday’s event in contrast to last year, when torrential rain curtailed the event, and as the Royal Air Force aerobatic team, the Red Arrows, painted the skies above Buckingham Palace red, white, and blue, the crowd roared their approval and some even broke into God Save the King.

TROOP COLORS

Harry-Shaped Hole Haunts King Charles’ Birthday Parade

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Princess Kate dazzled in a striking aquamarine coat dress by Catherine Walker, paired with a hat by Juliette Botterill. She completed the look with the Irish Guards regimental brooch and a pair of earrings once worn by Queen Elizabeth II.

But it was the royal children—especially Prince Louis—who stole the spotlight. The 7-year-old, sporting a cheeky gap-toothed grin, was full of mischief. Throughout the procession, he beamed at his older brother and enthusiastically waved to the crowds from the Buckingham Palace balcony—so much so that Prince George had to eventually gently tap him to signal it was time to cut it out.

Even as the royal family turned to go inside after the Royal Air Force flypast, Louis cheekily raised his arm for one last wave to the crowd.

This year, Louis showed a slightly more composed side compared to previous appearances, where he became known for his unfiltered—and often hilarious—reactions at royal events.

Earlier this year, during the V-E Day celebrations, he was seen mimicking George’s hair flick as they watched the military parade from the Queen Victoria Memorial.

Last year, he danced during the Scots Guards’ march to “Highland Laddie,” and in 2023, he pinched his nose at the smell of horse manure during the parade. He famously covered his ears and appeared to scream during the thunderous flypast for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, when he was also caught sticking his tongue out at his mother.

The children were all over the royals’ social media and newspaper front pages in the United Kingdom on Sunday, and royal planners will no doubt be heaving a sigh of relief that the next generation of royal stars appears to have been born.

Of course, it’s Father’s Day today as well, meaning the royal kids are making another appearance on social media, wishing their dad well.

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Tom SykesEuropean Editor at Large

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