The Sussexes

Welcome back from your honeymoon, you two! Now, get in this carriage and wave! In case you're wondering -- and I know you are -- Meghan is wearing Carolina Herrera (a shout-out, I assume, to her own Americanness, as well as because Carolina is an obvious choice when you want to pop up somewhere looking very chic and elegant and ladylike), and the hat is Phillip Treacy. I think she looks lovely; this color works on her very well. Harry, I assume, is just delighted to finally have his own carriage!!! 

Cams and Kate

Meanwhile....TWO GIANT HATS ENTER. ONE GIANT HAT LEAVES. (For my money, I prefer Kate's giant complicated vertical lid to Camilla's giant horizontal one, but I'd never bet against Cams in a fight.)

Cams and Kate

As far as Kate's dress goes, it is Alexander McQueen, as it usually is for this event. If I were held at gunpoint and the assailant told me I could leave unharmed if I could only predict what designer Kate woud wear to Trooping the Colour, I would totally live, you guys. Current Age Me doesn't LOVE the puffed sleeves, but eight year-old me would have been ALL IN.

THE QUEEN

"I swear to God, if I get home and Philip has eaten all the cake...there will be hell to pay and I mean it this time."

Princess Anne

Ever alert, ever vigilant: It's Princess Anne.

Princess Eugenie and Sophie Wessex

I'm always interested to see how the carriage seating arrangments shake out; this year, Sophie and Lady Louise got to ride with the Yorks. Eugenie looks great in green; she has a history of wearing beige to this event and this fantastic color gives me hope that she's also going to look super at Ascot this year. (Which starts in ten days, so prepare your eyeballs for hats.)

Eugenie and Sophie

What...is happening..with Sophie's dress? It is Emilia Wickstead, and the combination of Wickstead's bizarro fit about Meghan's wedding dress and the fact that she put a woman in a dress that's being held to her neck BY A SCRUNCHIE is giving me REAL CONCERNS about what's going on with her.

Sophie in Emilia Wickstead

The fact that she is the only person who the photographers hustled to get a snap of like this makes me think that even the photogs were like, "WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?" But. What is happening here?

Princess Beatrice

Bea drew the short straw for the neutral frock at Casa York; you can see her dress better in the wider balcony shots and the video I posted and it is underwhelming. 

Cams and Kate and Meghan and Harry and Isla Phillips

I love all these shots of people chatting on the balcony; I have to say, though, I get why Charles is rumored to want to streamline the number of people who are allowed out there when it's his turn. Part of the fun for ME is seeing them all crammed in there, but Meghan and Harry cannot be delighted to still be lurking around behind everyone. LET US SEE THE NEWLYWEDS!

Kate and Meghan

"Don't worry. William made a HUGE pitcher of Pimms this morning. Come back to the house after this is all over, and we're gonna get wasted."

Meghan and Harry

They still seem quite blissed out, as it should be. (I believe that's Harry's cousin Peter Phillips they're talking to right there, as the two little Phillips girls were front and center with the wee Cambridges.)

The Cambridges and Savannah and Chaz and Meghan's Head

EVERYONE loves a flypast.

Balcony Shenanigans

"I just need to see over this thing to complete my current experiment on gravity. If only my mother would let go of this death grip she's got on the back of my dress."

Princess Charlotte

I feel you, kid.

Poor Charlotte

If I understand it correctly, at some point poor Charlotte fell off the chair she was perched on and needed to be comforted. SCIENCE IS PAIN, KID.

Kate and Charlotte

"Later, I plan to make a study of chairs and whether or not they present a clear and present danger to toddlers. IT IS GOING TO DESTROY THE CHAIR INDUSTRY."

Balcony Shenangians

What did I tell you about Beatrice's dress? It is a sad trombone of a frock.  On the other hand, how cute are the kidlets looking at their programs? And how true to form is it that we can only see like half of Harry's head behind Kate's hat?

Balcony Shenangians

That dress on Kate paired with that suit on Wills makes them look VERY Cinderella and Her Prince today. REMEMBER THEM, AMERICA?! THEY TOO ARE A FAIRYTALE LOVE!

Balcony Shenangians

I am not sure who the girls are behind the kids; I think Wills is leaning over to talk to Autumn (at first I thought it was Zara, but she and Mike are absent, presumably because she's about to have a baby), but I will need the wiser royal eyes of Fug Nation to ID the younger girls.  Also: George, you adorable little giggly scamp. I still love you.

Balcony Shenangians

The Artist Formerly Known as Cheeks McGee looks SO RESIGNED to his fate here. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, kid.

Balcony Shenangians

And here is our big ass wide shot, the better to peruse. (You can click on the arrow icon on the right if you're on your desktop to see it huge and move it around and zoom.) Who is that dude in the glasses with the Duke of Kent all the way to the left? I HAVE QUESTIONS.

Meghan Makes Her Trooping the Colour Debut!

Kate and the kids (and everyone else) showed up, too.