Queen Abdication: Queen Elizabeth II Hinting She's Leaving Soon?
Despite the cancelation of her birthday royal tradition known as Trooping the Colour, Queen Elizabeth II marked her special day with a "military ceremony" in her royal residence at Windsor.
The longest-reigning monarch and her husband Prince Philip have been spending self-isolation in the English county of Berkshire since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a Buckingham Palace spokesperson, Her Majesty was the only royal present at the ceremony along with "soldiers from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, who are currently on Guard at Windsor Castle." The Band of the Household Division was also present to perform a feature music.
Typically, the grounds of the palace is filled by over 1,400 parading soldiers, 200 horses, and 400 musicians to take part in the traditional celebration. However, due to the social distancing and mass gathering restrictions, the event had to be trimmed down.
The 94-year-old monarch was spotted wearing a turquoise dress with a matching hat as she watched the event from a small tent alongside Vice Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt and Lieutenant Colonel Mike Vernon.
View this post on InstagramDid you watch Her Majesty’s Official Birthday ceremony at Windsor Castle this morning? Typically, the Sovereign’s Official Birthday is marked with a Parade called Trooping of the Colour. This year, for the first time since 1955, Trooping of the Colour didn’t take place in its traditional form. Instead, the @welshguards performed a pared back ceremony for The Queen, with music from the Band of the @householddivision. Her Majesty, the Battalion’s Colonel-in-Chief, took the Royal Salute at the ceremony and watched a series of military drills - swipe to see a timelapse of this morning’s impressive display. Copyright: Press Association / @ministryofdefence A post shared by The Royal Family (@theroyalfamily) on Jun 13, 2020 at 4:28am PDT
"The Queen enjoying today's military ceremony at Windsor Castle, held to mark Her Majesty's Official Birthday," the official Royal Family Twitter account captioned.
The Queen enjoying today’s military ceremony at Windsor Castle, held to mark Her Majesty’s Official Birthday. pic.twitter.com/ZABtAZxUWN — The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 13, 2020
Queen Elizabeth II Abdicating?
In an interesting turn of events though, the Daily Express cited that Queen Elizabeth II cut a lonely figure during the ceremony.
Body language expert Alison Ward claimed that she appears to be "slipping gently away from public duties" despite looking "relaxed and happy in her teal outfit."
"She clearly delighted in seeing her old favorites, the Welsh Guards in their different format to the traditional Trooping the Colour," Ward explained.
The expert also pointed out that her position in the tent highlighted how "set back" she was from things.
"She looked so tiny in that seat set back from everyone, almost like she's slipping gently away from public duties. At least that's what her energy is hinting at."
Although there are speculations that the royal might step back from her position, royal commentator Phil Dampier told the Daily Telegraph that Queen Elizabeth II will never give up her crown anytime soon.
One reason that Dampier said that was the exit of three senior royals, which is considered a huge blow to the royal family.
Last year, Prince Andrew decided to resign from public duties following his association with the deceased financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Months later, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle followed and announced their decision to step back from their roles in The Firm and seek independence outside the royal family.
Moreover, BBC presenter Huw Edwards claimed that the Duke of Edinburgh may have been watching the royal ceremony and admiring the military parade from within the walls of the castle.
Following this, blogger and royal fan Gert's Royals took to Twitter to share his observation as he pointed out that Her Majesty had company throughout the celebration.
"Castle staff watch Trooping the Colours from the Windows of various buildings at Windsor Castle," he wrote.
