Kate returns to public life at Trooping the Colour, wearing Irish Guards brooch

The Princess of Wales has made her return to public life at the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

Arriving by carriage with her three children, Kate wore an Irish Guards regimental brooch.

As Colonel of the Irish Guards, last week Kate wrote a letter saying how proud she was of the entire regiment and wished them luck for Trooping the Colour.

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The Princess, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment, missed the final Trooping rehearsal the previous weekend, but looked in great spirits as she arrived for the King's official birthday celebrations on Saturday.

Given the King's battle with cancer, the elaborate ceremony of military pomp and pageantry was awaited by thousands of spectators waving Union Jacks along The Mall.

Kate was surrounded by other members of the family, with her husband the Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, on horseback, as was the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Edinburgh, Colonel of the Scots Guards.

In a change from last year, Kate did not join senior family members on a dais, but watched the spectacle from the Duke of Wellington's former office with her children.

King Charles is Colonel in Chief of the regiments of the Household Division, which include the Life Guards, the Blues and Royals and all five regiments of Foot Guards – the Welsh, Scots, Irish, Coldstream and Grenadier – on parade for the official birthday, alongside the mounted Band of the Household Cavalry and the massed Foot Guards bands.

The military spectacle, also known as the Birthday Parade, is a gift from the Household Division.

Charles first attended it in 1951, aged three, riding in a carriage with his grandmother, the Queen Mother, and aunt, Princess Margaret, and first rode as Colonel of the Welsh Guards in 1975.

This year the King rode in a carriage with the Queen, a departure from last year because of his illness.

The King inspected the officers and guardsmen on Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall from the coach rather than from a horse.

The Queen wore her Grenadier Guards military brooch, to reflect her position as Colonel of the regiment.

During the pageantry, the colour was first trooped through the ranks of soldiers before the guardsmen marched past the King, first in slow, then in quick time, with the King acknowledging the command of "eyes right" with a salute.

For the first time in more than 100 years, soldiers on parade were allowed to have beards.

The rule change, which applies across the Army, was approved by the King earlier this year.

Previously facial hair was only allowed for religious, medical or role-specific reasons.