Princess Diana’s First Trooping The Colour Photo Resurfaces Following This Year’s Event

Princess Diana’s first Trooping the Colour photo recently resurfaced after this year’s event held at the Buckingham Palace.

According to People, the Princess of Wales attended her first Trooping the Colour event in June 1981 just before she married Prince Charles. At that time, the princess wore a custom Bill Pashley blue floral suit. She was photographed riding a horse-drawn carriage with Prince Andrew.

Princess Diana didn’t ride the carriage with Prince Charles at that time, because the Prince of Wales rode on horseback as part of his role as a royal colonel of the Household Division.

The Trooping the Colour in 1981, which was meant to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday, took a dark turn after Marcus Simon Sarjeant fired pistols at Her Majesty. After being wrestled to the ground by the police, Sarjeant allegedly told them that he fired six pistols in an attempt to assassinate the Queen and become famous.

Queen Elizabeth II remained uninjured. Her former guard, Alec Galloway, recalled the incident during his interview with Sky News two years ago. He said that he saw the shots being fired directly at the Queen.

“I looked over my shoulder and I could see this lunatic trying to kill Her Majesty. I felt anger as I reached for him and grabbed his hair. I used all my strength to pull him over the barrier and knock the pistol to the ground,” he said.

Meanwhile, Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton didn’t follow in Princess Diana’s footsteps when it came to their first Trooping the Colour event. Markle was already married to Prince Harry when she attended the gathering on June 9.

Middleton was also married to Prince William when she joined the royal family to the Trooping the Colour in 2011. According to People, the two Duchesses seemingly followed the “no ring, no bring” rule of the royal family. This means that girlfriends and boyfriends are not allowed to join the royals at the Buckingham Palace balcony for the event.

For instance, Princess Eugenie didn’t bring her fiancé, Jack Brooksbank, on Saturday. The couple has yet to tie the knot on Oct. 12.