Royal family hit the road to home nations in jubilee boost for Union
SENIOR members of the Royal family are to visit Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in a Union-boosting Platinum Jubilee tour, as the nation comes together to celebrate the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – the future Prince and Princess of Wales – will travel to the country during the extended bank holiday weekend in June, while the Princess Royal tours Scotland. The Earl and Countess of Wessex will visit Northern Ireland over the same weekend, as the Royal family attempts to underline the importance of the home nations.
Under plans announced by Buckingham Palace, working members of the family will “attend engagements in each nation, including public events marking the occasion”.
It has also emerged that the youngest of the Queen’s descendants will join the jubilee celebrations, with 10 of her great-grandchildren riding in a carriage for a pageant at the Royal Windsor Horse Show next Sunday.
The three Cambridge children – eight-year-old Prince George, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, – will ride a horse-drawn carriage for the Gallop Through History gala performance, according to The Sunday Times.
They will be joined by the Queen’s eldest great-grandchildren, Savannah and Isla Phillips, who are 11 and 10, Mia, Lena and Lucas Tindall, aged eight, three and one respectively, one-yearold August Brooksbank, son of Princess Eugenie, and Sienna Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Beatrice’s seven-month-old daughter.
The children were captured on video recently appearing to rehearse getting in and out of the carriage during a family gathering at Windsor Castle, perfecting their poses for a photographer. It has not been confirmed whether Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-windsor, the Sussex children, will join the event, which takes place two weeks ahead of the main Jubilee weekend they are now expected to attend.
Lady Louise Mountbatten-windsor, 18, will take an even more important role in the show, driving the carriage once owned by the Duke of Edinburgh in a tribute to her late grandfather.
The trips to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over the jubilee weekend follow in a tradition set by the Queen, who has tried to meet as many members of the public as possible in her previous milestone celebrations.
This year, at the age of 96, she will join select events in London and Windsor while younger members of the family travel more widely.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are likely to be in the capital, attending events over the four-day weekend in June, with the Duchess set to host a jubilee lunch party.