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(NewsNation) — All eyes this weekend will be on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
On Saturday is the annual Trooping of the Colour, where over 1400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians mark the Sovereign’s official birthday.
But while the crowd will enjoy the fanfare, all eyes will be peeled on the balcony, where every year the royal family congregates and waves to the crowds as the Royal Air Force jets do fly-bys.
“All anyone cares about this year is if Catherine (Kate Middleton) is going to show,” my inside source said.
The princess has largely been out of the public eye since announcing a “planned abdominal surgery” and her subsequent cancer diagnosis.
Since then she has been “bullied” into making small, carefully managed public appearances, including a video announcing her subsequent cancer diagnosis.
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FILE – Britain’s Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge visits the Urban Nature Project at the Natural History Museum, in London, June 22, 2021. The Duchess of Cambridge, who turns 40 on Sunday Jan. 9, 2022, has emerged as Britain’s reliable royal. After Prince Harry and Meghan’s stormy departure to California in 2020, the death of Prince Philip last year, and now sex abuse allegations against Prince Andrew, the former Kate Middleton remains in the public eye as the smiling mother of three who can comfort grieving parents at a children’s hospice or wow the nation by playing piano during a televised Christmas concert. (Geoff Pugh/Pool Photo via AP, File) -
FILE – Britain’s Prince William, left, and Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales, attend a ceremonial welcome for the President and the First Lady of the Republic of Korea at Horse Guards Parade in London, England on Nov. 21, 2023. (Chris Jackson/Pool Photo via AP, File) -
Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales, and Prince William, Prince of Wales, leave the Copper Box Arena in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park after taking part in an event with Coach Core, in London. -
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, walk together after Harry slid down the track on a skeleton sled a second time while attending an Invictus Games training camp, in Whistler, British Columbia. Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP) -
Prince Harry and Meghan visit children at the Lights Academy in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May 10, 2024. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have arrived in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) -
FILE – A Paqui One Chip Challenge chip is displayed in Boston, Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. A medical examiner says a Massachusetts teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge died from ingesting a substance “with a high capsaicin concentration,” according to autopsy results The Associated Press obtained late Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Capsaicin is a chili pepper extract. Harris Wolobah died on Sept. 1, 2023, after eating the chip. (AP Photo/Steve LeBlanc, File) -
FILE – Britain’s Prince William and Britain’s Prince Harry walk beside each other after viewing the floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England on Sept. 10, 2022. Prince Harry flew more than 5,000 miles to see his father after King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer. But he did not see his estranged brother, William, during a visit that lasted scarcely 24 hours. William, meanwhile, returned to public duties for the first time since his wife, Kate, was admitted to a London hospital Jan. 16 for abdominal surgery. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File) -
Prince William and Catherine, the new Prince and Princess of Wales, accompanied by Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, proceed to greet well-wishers outside Windsor Castle on 10th September 2022 in Windsor, United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, died at Balmoral aged 96 on 8th September 2022 after a reign lasting 70 years. (photo by Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)
While press rumors have speculated that Middleton won’t return to the public eye at all this year, my source says that is not true.
“She is out all the time in the village where she lives (Norfolk). She picks her children up from school almost every day,” the source said.
As for the Trooping of the Color, “It’s a conundrum the Palace is trying to sort out as we speak. (Kate) doesn’t want the day to be all about her — it’s supposed to be celebrating King Charles and the birth of the monarch. She doesn’t relish the attention. However, she (and the Palace) also know that if she doesn’t show… It then becomes all about Kate and her cancer and could potentially be an even bigger story.”
It’s a damned if you do, and a damned if you don’t situation — especially as it’s King Charles’ day and all anyone cares about is Middleton.
In other royal news, the prince and princess of Wales’ children still have two more weeks of school left in the British school year and another major announcement is expected to be made this summer: What school will Prince George attend next year? Will he attend Eton like his father and uncle, Prince Harry? Will he go to Marlborough like his mother? I’m told the announcement will be made soon.