King to attend Garter Day service

The King will attend the annual Garter Day service at Windsor Castle next Monday, Buckingham Palace has announced.

In the colourful Order of the Garter procession, senior royals and Knights and Ladies Companion will parade to St George’s Chapel in their extravagant velvet robes and plumed hats.

After the service, the King, Queen and other members of the Royal family will return to the castle by carriage.

This year, the Duchess of Gloucester will be invested into the ancient order of chivalry, having been made a Royal Lady Companion in April.

Air Chief Marshal Lord Peach, a retired RAF officer who chairs Nato’s military committee, Lord Kakkar, a professor of surgery, and Lord Lloyd-Webber, the composer, will also be invested and installed as knights.

Prince Andrew is not expected to take part in the procession, having not done so for the past two years.

It comes amid ongoing tensions over the future of Royal Lodge, the Duke’s sprawling Windsor home, which the King wants him to vacate. 

The King is unwilling to continue funding his brother’s lifestyle, which includes a significant security bill, but the Duke has so far refused to budge.

The Duke is likely to join the King and the rest of his family for the investiture in the castle’s Garter throne room and the traditional lunch that takes place afterwards in the Waterloo Chamber, both behind closed doors, but will not be photographed alongside other royals in his robes.

The event falls just two days after Trooping the Colour, the King’s official birthday parade, during which the monarch will take the salute from a carriage rather than on horseback.

The two high profile events come as the King continues to receive cancer treatment. Buckingham Palace aides have insisted on calibrating his working days, reducing his appearances at D-Day anniversary events last week to ensure he does not overdo it.

Following the announcement of the snap general election, the palace postponed royal engagements “which may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign”.

However, this did not include the big set piece events of the royal calendar.

The Duchess of Gloucester’s investiture was described as the “ultimate accolade” for the 77-year-old, whose work supporting the monarchy has often gone under the radar.

She married Elizabeth II’s cousin, the Duke of Gloucester, in 1972. Just six weeks later, his elder brother, Prince William of Gloucester, died in a flying accident and the couple were propelled into royal duties.

Joe Little, the managing editor of Majesty magazine, said: “The late Queen was pretty frugal when it came to handing out honours to those who were not blood members of the Royal family. This is a real show of public recognition for her work by the King.”