Kate Middleton will not attend Color Squad rehearsals in June

Kate Middleton will not attend main rehearsals for Trooping the Color in June.

On May 30, Kensington Palace confirmed that the Princess of Wales, 42, would not fulfill her usual role as inspecting officer at the Colonel’s traditional review on June 8. Instead, the honor will fall to Lieutenant General James Bucknall, KCB, CBE.

Princess Kate, 42, has kept a low profile since revealing on March 22 that she had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. However, she has recently been spotted with her family and out on solo errands, sources recently told PEOPLE. It remains to be seen whether or not she will attend Trooping the Color on June 15.

Prince William said earlier this month that his wife was “doing well”, although palace sources say she is not expected to return to work until she is given full permission to do so by her medical team.

It is also understood that King Charles, 75, will attend Trooping the Color amid his cancer treatment, and will conduct the review while sitting in the Ascot Landau carriage alongside Queen Camilla. The King rode his horse in this national event, which was held last June, in the first band of his royal reign, reviving the equestrian tradition for the first time in 37 years. His late mother, Queen Elizabeth, last rode in the procession on her beloved Burmese horse in 1986 and has chosen a carriage in the years since.

King Charles resumed front-line duties in late April after Buckingham Palace announced he had been treated for cancer in February, and his wife, Queen Camilla, said he was “delighted” to return to public work.

News of the troops comes after King Charles and Prince William canceled their public engagements last week after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on May 22 that a general election would be held in July. At the time, Buckingham Palace said the royals would postpone outings “that may appear to distract or divert attention from the campaign,” and some wondered whether Trooping would stop.

Members of the British royal family are constitutionally apolitical, and typically leave the public space during election campaigns to draw public attention to the election and the key issues it raises. But political activity does not negate all outings, and the Ministry of Defense has ensured that the King’s Birthday Parade is determined by the national calendar and must therefore go ahead.

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Trooping the Colour, the British Army’s official birthday parade, has been associated with this special occasion since 1748 and is usually held in June. The Ministry of Defense has confirmed that troops will conduct as previously planned on 15 June, stabilizing speculation amid Princess Kate and King Charles’ cancer diagnoses as well as the UK’s upcoming general election on 4 July.

The Irish Guards, who are supported by Princess Kate as Colonel, are ready to ‘show their colour’, or ceremoniously present their regimental flag, this year, as the task rotates between the five regiments of the Home Guard Foot Guards each year. The colonel’s review usually takes place a week before the troops, and is a formal state ceremonial parade.

“The purpose of the colonel’s review is to decide whether they are ready for the King,” an Army source previously told PEOPLE, and Prince William, 41, took over the task in June 2023 when it was the Welsh Guards’ turn last year. .