Category Archives: Monarchy

Met police officers accused of sleeping while on duty protecting royal family

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Unspecified number of officers from royalty and specialist protection team being investigated, force confirms

Police officers accused of being asleep when they were supposed to be protecting the royal family at Windsor Castle have been placed under investigation.

An unspecified number of officers from the Metropolitan police’s royalty and specialist protection team are being investigated after concerns were raised, the force confirmed. The Sun, which first reported the story, said up to 30 officers were involved.

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King Charles agrees with me on Iran nuclear weapon ban, claims Trump

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Remarks by US president likely to cause embarrassment for aides of UK monarch, who usually remains neutral

Donald Trump has said King Charles agrees with him that Iran should never be allowed nuclear weapons.

Trump made the remarks at a White House state dinner on Tuesday in honour of the visiting Charles and Camilla, after the two men sat down to bilateral talks earlier that day.

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King Charles visits Trump: what are the potential pitfalls for the monarch?

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The king faces possibly his most important ever speech and a thin-skinned president, in the shadow of the Sussexes and the Epstein scandal. What could go wrong?

On his high-stakes four-day state visit to the US, King Charles will have to walk a diplomatic tightrope as the guest of an erratic Donald Trump against the backdrop of Iran and security concerns after Saturday night’s shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner.

Many challenges lie ahead as he takes up his UK government-decreed task to “reaffirm and renew” bilateral ties amid a worsening “special relationship” on the 250th anniversary of American independence.

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Queen Elizabeth II’s official biographer named as historian Anna Keay

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The author, who will interview members of royal family for book, says being chosen for role is a ‘profound honour’

Anna Keay, a historian whose most celebrated book is about Britain’s republican period, has been confirmed as Queen Elizabeth II’s official biographer.

Keay will interview members of the royal family and the late queen’s friends and servants. She will also have access to the monarch’s personal and official papers held in the royal archives.

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King signs up David Beckham to his Chelsea flower show team

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Ex-footballer to decorate gnome for annual event after organisers lift ban on the ornaments dating back to 1927

Rare roses and stunning irises are usually among the most coveted items at the Chelsea flower show. But this year, the star attraction might be pink, sequined – and decorated by David Beckham.

The former England football captain is co-designing a garden at the May event with King Charles and as part of that effort he has been given a garden gnome to paint. It will be auctioned off for charity.

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Prince Harry sued for defamation by charity he co-founded

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Legal action follows war of words with Sentebale chair after Duke of Sussex’s resignation as patron

The Duke of Sussex is being sued by Sentebale in the latest twist in the bitter fallout over the African charity he co-founded.

The charity has lodged papers in London’s high court over defamation claims naming Prince Harry and the former Sentebale trustee Mark Dyer as defendants.

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Reeves criticises Trump for starting Iran war with no ‘clear plan’ to get out of it – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Starmer says he understands why people are concerned about the cost of living.

He says he has already set out a five-point plan to deal with the crisis.

Just look at what’s happening today. Today your energy bills will be cut because of the action that we took at the budget. And whatever happens in Iran, that price is now fixed until July.

The most effective way we can support the cost of living in Britain is to push for de-escalation in the Middle East, and a reopening of the strait of Hormuz, which is such a vital route for energy.

To that end, we’re exploring each and every diplomatic avenue that is available to us.

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Zelenskyy says Europe is a ‘global force’ that can stand against any other power in address to MPs – as it happened

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Keir Starmer previously reassured that the war in Iran would not distract the UK from supporting Ukraine

Nigel Farage is speaking now at the Reform UK event.

The website promoting the lottery is up. It is called nigelcutmybills.com.

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Royals and celebrities warned to watch words as lip-reading videos go viral

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Advisers say to ‘assume the cameras are always rolling’ as exchanges can be decoded in seconds and posted online

Royals and celebrities are being warned by their representatives and advisers to watch what they say when they are out of the house – or palace – as a lip-reading phenomenon means videos can be posted online and translated in seconds.

Prince William was recently embroiled after a video of him speaking to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was translated by an expert lip-reader who was working as part of a forthcoming Channel 5 documentary, Lip-Reading the Royals.

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Duke and Duchess of Sussex hit back at ‘deranged’ author’s claims in new book

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Royal couple criticise Tom Bower’s ‘fixation’ on them and describe released extracts as ‘conspiracy and melodrama’

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have launched a scathing attack on a “deranged” author whose new book claims Queen Camilla once told a friend: “Meghan’s brainwashed ‌Harry.”

The royal couple hit out at Tom Bower, the author of Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family, criticising his “fixation” on the pair.

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Princess of Wales calls for end to ‘stigma’ around addiction

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Forward Trust patron says ‘compassion and love’ is needed to end fear and shame felt by those affected

The Princess of Wales has called for an end to the “stigma” surrounding addictions, saying the experiences of those dependent on drugs, alcohol or gambling are “shaped by fear, shame and judgment”.

Catherine, who is a patron of the charity Forward Trust supporting recovering addicts, said more open conversations were needed to bring the issue “out of the shadows” and for society to show “compassion and love” to those affected.

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Latest Epstein emails cast further doubt on Andrew’s claim of cutting ties

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Messages sent months after former prince said he ended relations and also appear to confirm Virginia Giuffre photo

Newly released Jeffrey Epstein emails have cast further doubt on Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s account of when he cut ties with the child sex offender and his denials about meeting his accuser Virginia Giuffre.

In March 2011, four months after he later claimed to have ended his relationship with Epstein, the former prince told him and the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell “I can’t take any more of this” in response to allegations put forward by the Mail on Sunday.

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Palace’s statement on Andrew is ‘vindication’ for Virginia Giuffre, says her family

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Women’s rights groups say announcement sends important message to survivors of abuse

The historic statement from Buckingham Palace stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his title is an “acknowledgment” that something happened to the late Virginia Giuffre, her family has told the Guardian.

In its announcement on Thursday, the palace said Andrew Mountbatten Windsor – as he is now known – will also leave his mansion in Windsor, Royal Lodge, as his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to cause controversy.

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UK politics: Worries about immigration are ‘manufactured panic’ says charity as poll shows issue not a local concern – as it happened

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YouGov poll say only 26% of people say immigration is an issue locally but more than half believe it to be a national issue

There were six council byelections yesterday. Here are the results, from Election Maps UK.

Reform gained two seats, from Labour and from an independent group.

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Prince Andrew to be stripped of titles and forced to leave Windsor home

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King’s brother will become known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, Buckingham Palace says, in latest fallout from Epstein scandal

Prince Andrew is to be stripped of his royal titles and will move out of his home at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, Buckingham Palace has announced.

King Charles has initiated a “formal process to remove the style, titles and honours of Prince Andrew”, who will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the palace said.

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Not in this together: King Charles cuts Andrew loose to save royal family’s repute

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Jettisoning of ex-prince became unavoidable when king’s loyalty to his brother collided with task of keeping public on side

To strip his brother of his titles and to evict him from his home is the most consequential action King Charles has taken since he ascended the throne in 2022.

The defenestration of Prince Andrew, now to be known only as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, and the removal of his cherished privilege of royal status is an act of utmost ruthlessness by a king. Ascending the throne at 73, Charles always knew he would play a caretaker role for the monarchy and so could not allow rot to set into an institution that lives and dies by public consent.

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Prince and Princess of Wales win privacy case against Paris Match

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French magazine publishes judicial notice after using paparazzi images of family holiday in Alps

The Prince and Princess of Wales have won a privacy case against a French magazine after it published paparazzi photographs of them and their children on a private family ski holiday, Kensington Palace said.

William and Catherine launched legal action after their break was featured in Paris Match magazine in April, with a series of images documenting their activities with their children at a French resort in the Alps.

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Prince Andrew in advanced talks about moving out of Royal Lodge, reports say

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Buckingham Palace trying to increase pressure on prince to give up home for which he pays ‘peppercorn’ rent

Prince Andrew is reportedly in advanced talks with King Charles’s senior aides about moving out of his Royal Lodge home after a week in which his “peppercorn” rent tenancy has come under scrutiny.

Pressure has mounted on the royal family for Andrew to vacate the 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park amid the continuing controversy over his links to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the posthumous publication of the memoirs of the prince’s sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.

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MPs lodge parliamentary motion to strip Prince Andrew of dukedom

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Ministers face growing pressure to act amid fresh allegations over prince’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

MPs have moved to lodge a parliamentary motion to strip Prince Andrew of his dukedom, in a rarely permitted move in the Commons.

The government is facing mounting pressure over the prince’s residence in the 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor, where it was revealed that he has not paid rent for more than two decades.

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Prince Andrew tried to hire ‘internet trolls’ to hassle Virginia Giuffre, book claims

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Andrew hid behind Balmoral’s ‘guarded gates’ to escape court papers, accuser says in memoir Nobody’s Girl

Prince Andrew’s team tried to hire “internet trolls to hassle” his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, while he hid behind the “well-guarded gates” of Balmoral Castle to avoid being served court papers, according to allegations in her posthumous memoir.

Giuffre wrote of the 2022 confidential settlement of her sexual abuse civil claim against the royal, widely rumoured to be $12m (£9m), that her lawyers “were going to ask for the moon” and her team had agreed it “had to be more than mere money”.

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