Queen Elizabeth II made her final appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony during her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022. It was reported at the time that given her age and mobility issues, the monarch wasn't well enough to attend all of the festivities to celebrate her reign. But she delighted fans with not one but two balcony appearances days apart.
The queen's second appearance on the famous balcony though almost didn't happen. But her oldest son, then-Prince Charles, thought his mother stepping out to see the adoring crowds was crucial and he was able to convince her to do so with seven little words.
The royal family matriarch stood on the balcony alongside Charles, Camilla, Prince William, his wife, and their three children first during Trooping the Colour on June 2. She watched a flypast and was seen chatting with her great-grandson Prince Louis when he made his way next to her.
However, the queen reportedly had not been feeling well in the lead-up to her second balcony appearance and only decided to do it after Charles called her and said a few words to coax her into it.
According to the Daily Mail: "The queen only decided that she would go to London about three hours before the balcony appearance. She was not feeling brilliant but the [former] Prince of Wales had called her and told her [that] she really ought to come if she could."
A source told the publication that when Charles called his mother and said there were "so many people desperate to see you," it was those words that convinced her to muster up all her strength and join the family on the balcony.
Three months after that appearance Queen Elizabeth died at Balmoral Castle with Charles and Princess Anne by her side.
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After that day in June, the royals did not gather on the balcony again until May 6, 2023, and they did so with a new monarch.
Joining King Charles III on the balcony following his coronation ceremony were the page boys, as well as Queen Camilla (formerly Camilla Parker Bowles), Camilla's sister Annabel Elliot, Camilla's friend Fiona Mary Petty-Fitzmaurice, the Prince of Wales and Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton) and their children, Prince Edward and his wife the Duchess of Edinburgh (formerly known as Sophie, Countess of Wessex) with their son and daughter, Princess Anne and her husband Timothy Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, and Princess Alexandra.