Buckingham Palace says monarch has ‘reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for next few days’
The Queen has cancelled a planned two-day visit to Northern Ireland after advice from her doctors that she should “rest for the next few days”.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “The Queen has reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for the next few days.
Continue reading...Monarch ‘politely but firmly’ turns down title because she ‘does not believe she meets relevant criteria’
The Queen has received many accolades over her 95 years, but one she is refusing to accept is the Oldie of the Year award, believing she does not meet the criteria and explaining that “you are as old as you feel”.
She “politely but firmly” declined the award, which is given annually to celebrate the achievements of members of the older generations who have made a special contribution to public life, although she sent organisers her “warmest best wishes”.
Continue reading...Duke of Cambridge says world’s greatest minds need to focus on trying to fix the Earth instead
The Duke of Cambridge has criticised the space race and space tourism, saying the world’s greatest minds need to focus on trying to fix the Earth instead.
Prince William’s comments, in an interview with Newscast on BBC Sounds, will be aired the day after William Shatner made history by becoming the oldest person in space.
Continue reading...The prime minister was responding to book arguing old laws would prevent same-sex marriage for a monarch or their heirs
A Dutch monarch can marry a person of whatever gender they choose without forfeiting their right to the throne, prime minister Mark Rutte has said.
Rutte was responding to questions from parliament that arose from a recent book, Amalia, Duty Calls, which argued that old laws would appear to exclude the possibility of a same-sex couple on the throne, despite same-sex marriage being legal in the Netherlands since 2001.
Continue reading...A court in New York has granted the royal’s lawyers permission to see the confidential agreeement between his accuser and the late financier
Prince Andrew will have a chance to review a 2009 settlement agreement that he hopes will shield him from a civil lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing a woman two decades ago, when she was underage.
In an order made in New York on Wednesday, US district judge Loretta Preska granted permission for Andrew’s lawyers to receive a copy of the confidential agreement between the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre.
Continue reading...This filmed version of the Broadway show, with its accidental comedy and cringeworthy lines, is a guilty-pleasures singalong in waiting
And … so … it’s … springtime for glamour and victimhood, winter for Windsors and Charles. Netflix have now given us the filmed version of the entirely gobsmacking and jawdropping Broadway show Diana: The Musical, shot at the Longacre theatre on West 48th Street last summer with no audience while the show itself was on pause due to the Covid pandemic. And while you’re waiting for Pablo Larraín’s movie Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Diana, this will have to do. Although there is a danger it will cause you to hyperventilate.
Not since the Cats movie have I literally shouted from my seat: “What? What? WHAT?” Only by having Diana ride on stage on the back of a Jellicle cat could this be more bizarre. If it was deliberate satire it would be genius, but it’s not. It’s a saucer-eyed retelling of the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, with bobbing chorus lines of footmen and flunkies who with a costume change morph into step-in-time phalanxes of snarling tabloid hacks, while Diana solemnly warbles downstage about her loneliness and determination in a pool of follow spotlight.
Continue reading...Issue of whether royal had been notified about the case had previously been contested
The Duke of York has received court papers relating to a sexual assault lawsuit, US officials have confirmed.
The complainant, Virginia Giuffre, is seeking damages after alleging Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her, a claim he vehemently denies.
Continue reading...Prince reportedly ‘met at least nine times’ with William Bortrick, the alleged fixer at heart of the claims
Clarence House is facing fresh questions over further revelations in the royal “cash for honours” scandal involving middlemen who reportedly took cuts for setting up meetings between wealthy donors and the Prince of Wales.
Prince Charles “met at least nine times” with William Bortrick, the alleged fixer at the heart of the claims, who is said to have received thousands of pounds to secure an honour for a Saudi billionaire and brokered a personal thank-you letter from Charles to a Russian donor, the Sunday Times reported.
Continue reading...Ruling on Duke of Edinburgh's will made to protect ‘dignity’ of Queen and her constitutional role
The Duke of Edinburgh’s will is to remain secret to protect the “dignity” of the Queen because of her constitutional role, the high court has ruled. Philip – the nation’s longest-serving consort – died aged 99 on 9 April, just two months before he would have turned 100.
After the death of a senior member of the royal family, it has been convention for over a century that an application to seal their will is made to the president of the family division of the high court. This means the wills of senior members of the royal family are not open to public inspection in the way a will would ordinarily be.
Continue reading...Sir Ken Olisa, first black Lord-Lieutenant for London, reveals he has talked about racism with royal household
The Queen and the royal family are supporters of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, one of the monarch’s representatives has said.
Sir Ken Olisa, the first black Lord-Lieutenant for London, revealed to Channel 4 that he had discussed the topic of racism with members of the royal household in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in the US.
Continue reading...Clarence House says Prince of Wales supports investigation after he and trusted aide reported to police
The Prince of Wales has “no knowledge” of the alleged honours and citizenship controversy, Clarence House has said, after Charles and his most trusted aide were reported to the police over the claims.
At least two complaints have been made to the Metropolitan police over allegations that a wealthy Saudi businessman was offered help to secure an honour and British citizenship after donating to Charles’s charities.
Continue reading...Michael Fawcett, who was CEO of Prince’s Foundation, faces claims about honour for a Saudi businessman
A former aide to the Prince of Wales has stepped down temporarily from his role as a charity boss while an investigation into allegations about his conduct takes place.
Michael Fawcett, a former assistant valet to Charles, has stepped down as chief executive of the Prince’s Foundation amid claims about an honour relating to Saudi businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz.
Continue reading...Kristen Stewart’s entirely compelling Di has no escape from the dress-up game of monarchy in Pablo Larraín’s unreverential movie
Sandringham, Christmas 1991. Bare trees, frosted fields, dead pheasants on the drive. Inside the grand house the dining table has been laid in readiness, but one of the principal guests – arguably the main course – is running late and lost. She grinds her car to a halt, tosses her perfect hair in frustration. “Where the fuck am I?” asks Diana, Princess of Wales.
And so begins this extraordinary film, which bills itself as “a fable from a true tragedy” and spotlights three days in the dissolution of Charles and Di’s marriage. Working off a sharp script by Steven Knight, Chilean director Pablo Larraín spins the headlines and scandals into a full-blown Gothic nightmare, an opulent ice palace of a movie with shades of Rebecca at the edges and a pleasing bat-squeak of absurdity in its portrayal of the royals. Larraín’s approach to the material is rich and intoxicating and altogether magnificent. I won’t call it majestic. That would do this implicitly republican film a disservice.
Continue reading...Secret documents reveal scale of funeral strategy and government anxieties over resources
The UK government’s vast security operation to manage the immediate aftermath of the death of the Queen include official social media blackouts and a ban on retweets.
These plans, codenamed Operation London Bridge, which were first revealed in a Guardian Long Read in 2017 and have now been seen in full by Politico, detail the scale of the arrangements for the funeral and government anxieties about whether the UK has the resources to execute them.
Continue reading...Lawyers say Duke of York has lost in court of public opinion and is unlikely to engage with civil case in US
The Duke of York faces an “uphill struggle” to combat the impact of the sex offences allegations made against him and has already lost in the court of public opinion, leaving his reputation “highly tarnished” and a return to royal duties impossible, experts have said.
Following a damaging two weeks in which Andrew’s accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre lodged a civil lawsuit in New York alleging he had sex with her when she was 17, and a source claimed he was a “person of interest” in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, the duke is now caught “between a rock and a hard place,” said one expert.
Continue reading...Gerry Layton, a royal supporter from Leeds, bought the cake topping and marzipan base for his collection of memorabilia
An ardent royalist has bought the topping from a slice of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding cake for £1,850 ($2,565) at auction, more than 40 years after the couple married.
The large piece of cake icing and marzipan base features a detailed, sugared design of the royal coat of arms in gold, red, blue and silver. It was given to Moya Smith, a member of the Queen Mother’s staff, who preserved it with cling film and dated it 29 July 1981.
Continue reading...40x40 project encourages people to donate 40 minutes of their time to help women return to workplace
The Duchess of Sussex has used her 40th birthday to launch an initiative to help women back into work after the huge job losses caused by the Covid pandemic.
The project, which was launched with a comedy film featuring a juggling Prince Harry, is called 40x40 and is focused on encouraging people around the world to donate 40 minutes of their time to help women return to the workplace.
Continue reading...Actor best known for Vera Drake takes over from Olivia Colman for fifth series about the UK royal family
The first image of Imelda Staunton in character as the Queen in season five of The Crown has been revealed.
Staunton has taken over from the Golden Globe winner Olivia Colman, as the fresh series ushers in a new era for the royal family. Netflix gave fans a first glimpse of Staunton as the monarch while she was still filming the next instalment of the Netflix show.
Continue reading...Monarch used secretive procedure to become only person in country not bound by a green energy rule
The Queen’s lawyers secretly lobbied Scottish ministers to change a draft law to exempt her private land from a major initiative to cut carbon emissions, documents reveal.
The exemption means the Queen, one of the largest landowners in Scotland, is the only person in the country not required to facilitate the construction of pipelines to heat buildings using renewable energy.
Continue reading...Penguin Random House announces book is expected in late 2022 with proceeds going to charity
The Duke of Sussex has agreed a publishing deal to write his memoirs and said he would do so “not as the prince I was born, but as the man I have become”.
The global deal for his “literary memoir” was announced by Penguin Random House, with publication expected in late 2022 and proceeds to be donated to charity.
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