queen elizabeth trooping the colour
Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, along with other members of the British royal family, look up at the RAF flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace as part of Trooping the Colour parade in central London, Britain, June 9, 2018. Reuters/Peter Nicholls

The British Royal family might forgo tradition next year. Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the family will likely not appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour in June 2019 because the palace will be off limits at that time.

In 2016, the UK government had approved a £369 million (AU$657 million) budget for the restoration of the Buckingham Palace, Her Majesty’s official London residence, over the course of 10 years. The renovation is done by sections, and by April next year, it’s east wing’s turn to be revamped.

The east wing of the palace is where the balcony is located. If the renovation in the Centre Room, which has the access to the balcony, wasn’t completed by June, the royals wouldn’t be able to watch the ceremony from there.

A senior courtier told the Daily Mail that they hoped the renovation would not prevent the royals from accessing the balcony for Trooping the Colour next year. However, he admitted that it was possible that the monarch and her family wouldn’t be able to watch it from there. “It will be assessed. It needs to be safe.”

Another aide said that they expected it would be “very much business as usual.” He added that because the works were internal, there would be no scaffolding on the outside of the palace.

The Royal family watch a Royal Air Force flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace June 12 following the Trooping the Colour
Britain's royal family fronted by Princes Harry (L) and William (2L), Princess Anne (3L), Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (4L), the Duke of Edinburgh (5L), the Countess of Wessex (4R), the Earl of Wessex (2R) and Prince Charles (R) look up at a Royal Air Force flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the annual Trooping the Colour Parade held to mark the Queen's birthday in central London June 14, 2003. Reuters/Michael Crabtree
The Royal family watch a Royal Air Force flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace June 12 following the Trooping the Colour
The Royal family watch a Royal Air Force flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace June 12, 1993 following the Trooping the Colour ceremony to mark the Queen's official birthday celebrations. L-R: Princess Margaret, Queen Mother, Duchess of Kent, the Queen, Duke od Edinburgh, Duke of Kent, Prince of Wales, Princess Alexandra, Princess Michael of Kent Reuters/Dylan Martinez

The renovations will also affect the Royal family’s private apartments. It is understood that the Queen and Prince Philip will be moved to other apartments in the palace once the works reached their sections. Precious artworks would have to be removed before the arrival of the workers in April. Some of them would be loaned to galleries and museums around the country and the world, but others would be placed into commercial storage, the paper said.

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