King Charles to skip horseback ride at upcoming birthday parade

UK King Charles III will travel in a carriage for the procession from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade and back on June 14.

The King, who is still receiving weekly treatment for cancer, is not expected to ride at the parade again, Caliber.Az reports, citing British media.

He rode as sovereign in 2023, the first time the monarch had ridden in the parade since Queen Elizabeth in 1986, when she was astride Burmese, her trusty mare. After Burmese was retired, the Queen travelled in a carriage from 1987 until her final appearance in 2022, when she took the salute from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

The King’s illness has curtailed the “monarch in the saddle” tradition he briefly revived. It is one of the very few concessions he has made while adjusting to living with cancer and working a full diary. In January last year he was admitted to hospital for treatment to an enlarged prostate. Shortly afterwards he was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer.

At last year’s birthday parade Charles travelled with his wife in a carriage. This was seen as a safer and more comfortable option following his prostate procedure.

The King, an accomplished former polo player who was also an amateur jockey, no longer rides for pleasure, unlike his three siblings. The Duke of York, who stepped back from public life in 2019, regularly rides in Windsor, and Queen Elizabeth was in the saddle at the age of 96, two months before her death.

By Khagan Isayev