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Prince & Princess of Wales

Prince Louis steals the show as he makes his Buckingham Palace balcony debut

The youngest member of the Cambridge Family stole the show on Saturday at Trooping the Colour as Prince Louis appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the first time.

The one-year-old royal waved to the crowd assembled below and pointed to the flypast in the sky above. He also joined in a round of applause as the spectacle came to an end. He had been seen earlier peering through a window at Buckingham Palace as his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, returned from Trooping the Colour.

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Louis, who celebrated his first birthday in April, was carried on to the balcony in the arms of his mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, and immediately started waving at the thousands of people gathered in the Mall below. His brother, Prince George, and his sister, Princess Charlotte, were slightly more subdued as they took their places next to their parents on the balcony.

The Duchess of Cornwall shared some smiles with Prince Louis who at one point turned round and pulled a face at her which Camilla laughingly copied back. As the flypast began, Louis tried to escape from Kate’s grasp and ended up being cuddled by his father, the Duke of Cambridge, who pointed out more of the planes taking part in the flypast to his youngest child.

The Royal Family and the big crowd gathered to celebrate with them enjoyed a spectacular display from the Royal Air Force. This year’s flypast included several planes from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight including a Dakota, a Hurricane, a Spitfire and a Lancaster. It ended, as is traditional, with a formation of Red Arrows who flew over Buckingham Palace trailing red, white and blue smoke behind them.

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The Queen was joined by many of the Royal Family for the balcony appearance which concludes the Trooping the Colour. On one side was the Prince of Wales while her second son, the Duke of York, stood on her other side. He is the Colonel-in-Chief of the Grenadier Guards who trooped their colour this year.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also appeared on the balcony in what is Meghan’s first official outing since the birth of the couple’s son, Archie Harrison, on May 6th this year. Their five week old baby stayed tucked up indoors.

And Prince Louis wasn’t the only person making a Buckingham Palace balcony debut as Princess Eugenie was joined by her husband, Jack Brooksbank, for the occasion. The couple, who married in October last year, also took part in the carriage procession to Horse Guards’ Parade earlier in the day.

But it was Louis who stole the show, breaking into applause as the flypast came to an end, much to the amusement of his parents. As the Royal Family disappeared back into the Palace, the Prince of Wales was seen holding Louis’ hand as the Duke of Cambridge carried his youngest child inside.