King Charles opted for a very unexpected accessory for this year’s Trooping the Colour parade.
This ceremonial event was held to mark the monarch’s official birthday. It took place last Saturday, 13 June ’26. The event saw the extended royal family gather in central London.
As the Colonel-in-Chief of the regiments of the Household Division, the King was decked out in his traditional red uniform with two rather untraditional handmade bracelets.
Although it has yet to be confirmed, it seems likely that the colourful accessories were a gift from the King’s 11-year-old granddaughter, Princess Charlotte, who is a dedicated Swiftie.
For those not familiar with it, the handmade friendship bracelets were a major theme of Taylor Swift’s recent record-breaking global Eras tour.
This trend originated from a line in her 4-year-old ’22 hit, You’re On Your Own, Kid, with the lyrics that state So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment & taste it.
Prince William was seen taking his daughter & eldest son, Prince George, to one of London’s performances during the tour. The royals took a selfie with Swift backstage at this venue.
Princess Charlotte has since been witnessed wearing multiple friendship bracelets at public events. So Swift’s inclusion in the King’s Swiftie-esque moment is highly likely.
In fact, her dad, Prince William, has also been seen wearing a very similar style of accessory. That was included a couple of years ago in his ’24 trip to South Africa.
Prince William’s embrace of the Swift tour besides associated memorabilia may appear to signal that he may have moved on from his cringe-worthy ’13 encounter with the star, during which he admitted to feeling like he was ‘in a trance’.
In a segment for the Apple Fitness+ Time to Walk audio series, done 5 years ago in ’21, the future king shared that Swift had asked him to join her & Jon Bon Jovi onstage for a performance of Living on a Prayer during a fundraiser at Kensington Palace.
