On June 14, two very different parades took place on opposite sides of the Atlantic. In London, thousands gathered Saturday for the Trooping the Colour, also known as the King’s Birthday Parade. Although King Charles III will not turn 80 until Nov. 14, the royal family traveled through central London by carriage, flanked by military bands, horseback soldiers, and a cheering crowd.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., another parade unfolded: President Donald Trump’s 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Grand Military Parade and Celebration. Like the British ceremony, it was staged with grandeur and symbolism. There were troops, flags, and patriotic fanfare — and it happened to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday and Flag Day.
The juxtaposition couldn’t have been more striking: a king and a populist, each leading the nation in a moment of public ritual. But only one parade was hailed by the media as dignified tradition; the other was condemned as egotistical pageantry. (RELATED: O Canada!)
A Crown for Them, Contempt for Us
Nowhere was the contrast more glaring than in the American response to Trump’s parade. Hours before the evening event, thousands of “No Kings” protesters clogged the streets of major cities, small towns, and countries beyond our borders, including Canada and Mexico. Funded by dark money NGOs like Indivisible, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and 50501, the movement showed not just a coordinated resistance to Trump himself, but a broader hostility to the very idea of American exceptionalism. What was advertised as a protest against “authoritarianism” quickly revealed itself to be a rejection of patriotism, military honor, and the founding ideals that built this nation.
Contrast this with the media’s glowing coverage of the British monarchy — a literal blood-based ruling class — and the hypocrisy becomes impossible to ignore. When King Charles dons his crown and rides in a fancy carriage, CBS News headlines photos of Princess Kate and celebrates the royal family’s commemoration of Air India plane crash victims.
When Trump shines his birthday spotlight on America’s defenders, the same outlet headlines how “rare” such displays are in the U.S. while running multiple articles providing readers city-specific “what to know” guides for “No Kings” demonstrations in Michigan, New York City, Northern California, Los Angeles, and Texas. CBS News, which is still facing a lawsuit from President Trump over the network’s edited 60 Minutes interview clip of Kamala Harris, even promoted “No Kings” day merch in a story published Friday. (RELATED: The Agony Of 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley)
The media reduced the U.S. celebration to three words: “Trump’s military parade.” That shorthand, adopted by outlets like CNN, NBC News, and the New York Times, wasn’t unbiased reporting. It was a loaded dismissal, meant to frame the event as a self-aggrandizing, militaristic, and vaguely un-American spectacle. Stripped of context, the propaganda press made America’s parade sound like something out of North Korea instead of a patriotic tribute that transcended party lines and marked 250 years of constitutional liberty.
British papers weren’t any better. The BBC’s preemptive reporting attached the “No Kings” protest to its headline about “Trump’s military parade,” featuring an image of a woman running past a large tank in D.C. — an obvious attempt to evoke Tiananmen Square, not the National Mall. Meanwhile, in its coverage of the Trooping the Colour, the same BBC’s story said King Charles III was “cheered by crowds” celebrating the monarch’s official birthday. And while the Guardian ran a piece tracing the U.S. parade “from Mesopotamia to MAGA,” its coverage of the King’s parade was out of sight.
They Don’t Hate Kings — They Just Hate America
Let’s be honest: Democrats and their media allies don’t actually hate kings. They just hate leaders who govern with the consent of the governed, especially if those voters are from the heartland, flyover states, or wear a uniform. Trump’s parade didn’t bother them because it looked regal. It bothered them because it was proud. It refused to apologize for America’s strength, for its history, or for the men and women who still believe this country is worth defending.
Ironically, the people waving “No Kings” signs are the very ones most eager to be ruled by elite, unelected institutions: international bodies, activist judges, and administrative state agencies. They claim to hate tyranny, but they’re perfectly content being governed by “experts” they never voted for, just so long as those “experts” hate the same people they do. (RELATED: Cameras and Cash Fuel ‘No Kings’ Protests Against Trump)
In reality, it’s not the monarchy they oppose — it’s independence. Trump’s parade celebrated 250 years of defiance, of choosing self-rule over hereditary power. The Trooping the Colour celebrated a family lineage. One looked to the Constitution; the other to a crown.
Two Parades. One Choice.
So yes, there were two parades on June 14. One celebrated the symbolism of hierarchy. The other celebrated the spirit of a republic — messy, loud, proud, and free. And only one of them sent the media into a meltdown.
Let them praise the King. We’ll keep the Constitution.
READ MORE from Julianna Frieman:
Cameras and Cash Fuel ‘No Kings’ Protests Against Trump
Why Should We Invite the World to Our Worst City for the Olympics?
CBS Runs a Trick Play With Belichick’s Girlfriend to Cover Up Trump Lawsuit
Julianna Frieman is a writer based in North Carolina. She got her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is pursuing her master’s degree in Communications (Digital Strategy) at the University of Florida. Her work has been published by the Daily Caller, The American Spectator, and The Federalist. Follow her on X at @juliannafrieman.
