Prince William and Princess Kate will have a tricky decision to take this summer at King Charles III's birthday parade.
Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte and Prince George usually arrive in a horse-drawn carriage with their mother before stealing the show from the Buckingham Palace balcony, warming hearts with cheeky behavior.
However, it is relatively unlikely that Kate will attend this year's "Trooping the Colour" parade on Saturday, June 15, as she continues chemotherapy following a cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Prince William is expected to take part in the parade, on horseback, meaning that if the kids are to attend then they would need to tag along with a relative.
However, even then the trio would make for a very poignant sight without their mother, raising questions about whether they go at all.
Ingrid Seward, author of My Mother and I, told Newsweek: "The kids probably love it and it's probably a real treat for them. You can imagine how much they'd love it.
"It might be 'you should stay behind with mummy,' mightn't it, really. William will be on horseback so there just won't be a carriage. I don't think the kids will appear without her."
Trooping is first and foremost a military parade, though some of the best pictures often come as the family gathers on the balcony to greet crowds and watch a flypast by the Royal Air Force (RAF).
It has historically been a moment when the royals show themselves to the world united as a family and this has at points created a charged atmosphere.
The large number of relatives on the balcony helped fuel Charles' drive to slim down the monarchy in the 1990s, according to Robert Lacey's book Battle of Brothers.
"Charles's idea was to reduce the public face of the monarchy to just the sovereign and their consort, plus those children and grandchildren who were directly in the senior bloodline," he wrote, "with no more uncles and cousins to be reckoned up by the dozen, no more aunts.
"In a time of austerity, Charles felt that the profusion of royal relatives who spilled onto the palace balcony in all their uniforms and jewellery on ceremonial occasions gave out quite the wrong message."
More recently, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were denied a spot on the balcony at Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.
However, it is still possible neither the king nor Kate will make Trooping the Colour due to their experiences with cancer.
If so, that would leave the most sparsely populated balcony photo in modern times as Prince William and Queen Camilla lead the family alongside Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Sophie, the duchess of Edinburgh.
That may place pressure on the king to attend Trooping from the palace balcony despite health concerns.
It is of course still possible Kate will also decide to make a balcony appearance with her children, which would be a highly dramatic way to make her first live appearance in front of the public since Christmas Day.
Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more
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