Where Was Prince Edward's Son James At Trooping The Colour 2024?

Catherine, Princess of Wales' return to the public eye at this year's Trooping the Colour certainly stole the show. However, just because Kate, her husband William, Prince of Wales, and their three children were surprisingly all together for the event alongside King Charles III and Queen Camilla, that doesn't change the fact that the working royals are a particularly small group at the moment. 

As such, the absence of any royal family member at a major public event gets folks' attention. For example, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were present at Trooping the Colour with their 20-year-old daughter Lady Louise Windsor, but their son James, Earl of Wessex was notably absent. Luckily, this probably doesn't mean that King Charles III has found himself in yet another family feud. James is simply away at school.

Prince Edward is the youngest child of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. It's only fitting that the 60-year-old prince was present to celebrate his brother King Charles' 75th birthday alongside their sister Princess Anne. Unsurprisingly, their other brother was not present since Prince Andrew is no longer a working royal and reportedly has some bad blood with the king. Edward's 16-year-old son James was also absent. He is reportedly in Surrey at school, and according to Hello!, his GCSE exams, which are taken at the end of the school year, likely conflicted with his ability to travel to London for the royal celebration.

In addition to his absence this year, James, Earl of Wessex and his sister Lady Louise Windsor were both no-shows at last year's Trooping the Colour. Last year's event was the first to celebrate King Charles III. In 2022, the annual celebration honored what turned out to be Queen Elizabeth II's last birthday.

While James wasn't able to get away from studying and exams for the day this year, Louise made the trek from Scotland. Louise attends the University of St. Andrews, which is where her cousin Prince William went, as did his wife Kate Middleton.

In a time when the royal family is clearly in flux — between Charles and Kate's cancer diagnoses, the six-month-long absence of Kate and her two younger children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and an apparent persisting feud between Prince Harry and the rest of the royals — it is heartening to see a happy family reunion take place. It is particularly sweet to see Prince Edward and his family supporting Charles since the brothers were reportedly close in their youth. After Charles took over the throne in 2022, he made both Edward and Anne counselors of state, which makes the pair working royals who can take on some of Charles' roles.

Despite James, Earl of Wessex's absence, it was noteworthy that his sister Lady Louise Windsor was front-and-center. She was among the main royals who gathered on the Buckingham Palace balcony at the end of the celebration. Despite making our worst-dressed list for the event, wearing the same Suzannah London dress she wore to King Charles' 2023 coronation, she certainly grabbed some attention. It's possible that Louise's prominence at the event indicates that she, and perhaps James, will become more important fixtures in the monarchy in the future. 

Louise and James are not in the public eye as often as their cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who are Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's daughters. However, Beatrice and Eugenie were notably missing from this year's Trooping the Colour. Their absence feels particularly significant, considering that it comes a few months after reports that the princesses are angry at Charles for not giving them royal roles. Surely there is no shortage of tension in all areas of the royal family, but it seems that Prince Edward and his family are staying in the fold and out of the drama.