Meghan Markle Makes Debut on Buckingham Palace Balcony With Royal Family

Meghan Markle Royal Family
Meghan Markle appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the first time.Getty

The family was all together for the annual Trooping the Colour.

Meghan Markle made her debut on the Buckingham Palace balcony with the royal family on Saturday.

As part of the annual Trooping the Colour, in which the soverign's birthday is celebrated with a parade and military fanfare, the new Duchess of Sussex joined the new in-laws less than a month after her wedding to Prince Harry.

It was the first time she has been photographed alongside this many of her fellow royals, who included Princes William and Harry, Kate Middleton, Prince Charles, Camilla, Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, Prince Harry's cousin Peter Phillips, his wife Autumn Phillips and their daughters Isla Phillips and Savannah Phillips.

Like her new sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, Markle curtsied to Queen Elizabeth II as she rode past in a carriage.

In the ceremonial celebration of the queen's birthday, which is actually in April, over 1,400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians come together each June in a display of military precision and horsemanship. 

With the streets lined with crowds waving flags, the parade moves from Buckingham Palace and down the Mall to Horse Guard's Parade, alongside members of the royal family on horseback and in carriages.

The display closes with a grand Royal Air Force fly-by.

When the queen first arrives, she's greeted by a royal salute before she carries out an inspection of the troops, who are fully trained and operational soldiers wearing the ceremonial uniform of red tunics and bearskin hats.

The queen is then joined by other members of the royal family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace before a 41-gun salute is fired to mark the occasion. 

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