Category Archives: Monarchy

King Charles and Queen Camilla pay recovering Pope Francis surprise visit

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British royals wish pontiff well in recovery from pneumonia during their state visit to Italy

King Charles and Queen Camilla paid a surprise private visit to a convalescing Pope Francis on Wednesday afternoon during their four-day state visit to Italy.

The royal couple visited Francis, 88, at his home in Casa Santa Marta in Vatican City, where he is recovering from a serious bout of pneumonia in both lungs. An official audience had previously been removed from the royals’ schedule due to the pontiff’s ill health.

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Starmer rejects claim there are ‘strong arguments’ for suspending fiscal rules amid US tariffs – UK politics live

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The PM doubled down on his insistence the government won’t change its fiscal rules, describing them as ‘ironclad’ and ‘non-negotiable’

One person probably more enthusiastic than most about the prospect of Universal opening a theme park in the UK is the Lib Dem leader Ed Davey. He is a great fan of outdoor activity-related photocalls, and he’s been at it again today, and the Gloucester Ski and Snowboarding Centre in Matson, Gloucestershire.

Almost 40 MPs and peers have signed a letter organised by Jeremy Corbyn calling for an independent inquiry into the government’s role in the war in Gaza.

Many people believe the government has taken decisions that have implicated officials in the gravest breaches of international law.

These charges will not go away until there is a comprehensive, public, independent inquiry with the legal power to establish the truth.

Last month, I wrote to the Prime Minister calling for an independent inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Today, more than 30 MPs have supported that call.

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Belgian prince loses legal battle to receive social security benefits on top of royal allowance

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Prince Laurent had argued that his work entitled him to the same benefits as independent entrepreneurs but a court in Brussels disagreed

A Belgian prince has lost a legal battle to claim social security benefits on top of his royal allowance, with a court ruling his claim – the first of its kind in the country’s nearly 200-year history – “unfounded”.

Prince Laurent, the youngest of three children of the former king and queen, had argued that his work entitled him to the coverage granted to independent entrepreneurs – and that he was acting out of “principle” rather than for money.

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King Charles will have to tone down support for net zero after Badenoch says 2050 is ‘impossible’

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Constitutional expert says Tory leader’s break from political consensus over target for greenhouse gasses will require monarch to choose his words carefully

King Charles will have to temper his public support for net zero after Kemi Badenoch broke the political consensus over the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Senior royal sources have conceded that the 76-year-old monarch, who has spent more than half a century highlighting environmental challenges, will have to choose his words more carefully now that the Conservatives under Badenoch have said it will be impossible for the UK to hit net zero by 2050.

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Prince Andrew wrote birthday letters to Xi Jinping, ex-adviser told court

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Released court statement says alleged Chinese spy helped draft private letters to Chinese president

The Duke of York sent letters directly to China’s president, the prince’s former senior adviser told a special immigration tribunal, with an alleged Chinese spy advising him on how to write them.

Dominic Hampshire, who worked for Andrew from 2019-22, said Andrew had “always had a communication channel” with Xi Jinping that was “accepted” and may even have been encouraged by Buckingham Palace and the late queen.

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Donors quit Prince Harry’s charity when he left UK, says Sentebale chair

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Sophie Chandauka claims there is ‘significant correlation’ with drop in funders and prince’s move to the US

Donors abandoned the charity Prince Harry founded in memory of his late mother when he left the UK, the chair of Sentebale has said amid a bitter media row in which she accused the prince of trying to “eject” her through “bullying” and “harassment”.

Sophie Chandauka told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme that there was a “significant correlation” between a drop in funders and the Duke of Sussex’s departure to the US after the controversy caused by his rift with the royal family.

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Prince Harry accused of bullying ‘at scale’ by chair of charity he founded

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Sophie Chandauka says duke unleashed ‘Sussex machine’ but source close to ex-trustees claims accusation baseless

The chair of a charity set up by Prince Harry has accused him of “harassment and bullying at scale” after he and several others quit the organisation earlier this week.

The Duke of Sussex was said to have initiated the campaign by the “unleashing of the Sussex machine”.

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Police admit arrest of anti-monarchy heckler in Oxford was unlawful

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Symon Hill paid £2,500 by Thames Valley police over his arrest at proclamation of Charles III’s accession in 2022

Police have admitted acting unlawfully in arresting a trainee Baptist minister who called out “Who elected him?” at a local proclamation of the accession of King Charles III.

After a two-and-a-half-year battle, Symon Hill, 47, has been paid £2,500 in compensation from Thames Valley police over his arrest in September 2022.

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King Charles ‘determined to play part’ in diplomacy as he welcomes Trudeau

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Monarch keen to put his soft power to use amid Trump’s incendiary rhetoric on Canada and tension over Ukraine

King Charles is “very conscious” of his global responsibility and unique diplomatic role, and is determined to put that to use, a royal source said, after his meeting with the Canadian prime minister on Monday.

Charles met Justin Trudeau at his Sandringham estate in Norfolk, a day after he received the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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Starmer may have weaponised the Windsors, but soft power is the royals’ great asset

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Just as in the Oval Office this week, history shows the royals can be deployed to serve British interests – whether they like it or not

As Donald Trump waved his personal invitation from King Charles III to pay a second historic state visit in the Oval Office, there was no disguising his delight before the TV cameras.

Keir Starmer had retrieved the letter from his jacket pocket and handed it to the US president with the dramatic flourish of Neville Chamberlain’s “I have in my hand a piece of paper” moment.

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Norman Foster on shortlist to design Queen Elizabeth II memorial

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Architect who was once highly critical of King Charles is part of team that is one of five finalists for scheme

The shortlist of teams competing to design a national memorial to the late Queen Elizabeth II has been unveiled and includes an architect once highly critical of King Charles.

Five finalists are in the running for what has been described as one of the most significant design initiatives in modern British history, in tribute to the UK’s longest-serving monarch.

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Prince Andrew aide fights to prevent release of statement about ‘Chinese spy’

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Media group led by Guardian seeks release of document written by Dominic Hampshire in support of Yang Tengbo

Lawyers for an aide to Prince Andrew are fighting to prevent his statement in support of a man accused of being a Chinese spy, who briefly became a trusted business partner and associate of the prince, from being released to the press.

The Guardian is leading a group of media organisations seeking the release of a witness statement written by the prince’s fixer and close friend Dominic Hampshire, originally at the personal request of the businessman Yang Tengbo.

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Stop shielding UK royals from parliamentary scrutiny, says Labour peer

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Lord Foulkes believes rules must change after series of scandals involving Prince Andrew

Rules banning scrutiny of the royal family in parliament must be changed in light of the continuing scandals about Prince Andrew, a Labour peer has said. Lord Foulkes is seeking a meeting this week with the clerk of the ­parliaments Simon Burton, who is head of the House of Lords administration, to discuss what Foulkes says is a growing list of concerns about the activities of the royal family.

Foulkes, a junior minister under Tony Blair, said he has been refused permission to table a question ­proposing a ­public register of royal interests.

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MI5 files suggest queen was not briefed on spy in royal household for nine years

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Documents indicate monarch was informed Anthony Blunt was Soviet agent in 1973, though he confessed in 1964

The late Queen Elizabeth II was not told for almost 10 years that Anthony Blunt, a surveyor of the queen’s pictures and a member of the royal household, had confessed to being a Soviet double agent, previously secret security files suggest.

Declassified MI5 documents throw intriguing new light on how the security services closely guarded news that the art historian, of the notorious Cambridge Five spy ring, had confessed in April 1964, with records indicating the queen was only informed in 1973.

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Coroner issues warning about antidepressants after suicide of royal’s husband

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Thomas Kingston, son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, had been prescribed SSRIs

A coroner has issued a warning about the effects of antidepressants prescribed by a Buckingham Palace doctor to the son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent before his suicide.

Thomas Kingston, 45, whose marriage to Lady Gabriella at Windsor Castle in 2019 was attended by the late Queen, killed himself last February after “suffering adverse effects of medication he had recently been prescribed”, an inquest found last month.

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Danish king changes coat of arms amid row with Trump over Greenland

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Design shows intent to keep control of Faroe Islands and Greenland – which Trump says he would like the US to buy

The Danish king has shocked some historians by changing the royal coat of arms to more prominently feature Greenland and the Faroe Islands – in what has also been seen as a rebuke to Donald Trump.

Less than a year since succeeding his mother, Queen Margrethe, after she stood down on New Year’s Eve 2023, King Frederik has made a clear statement of intent to keep the autonomous Danish territory and former colony within the kingdom of Denmark.

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Lidia Thorpe defiant after Senate censures her protest against King Charles: ‘I’ll do it again’

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Senator rips up paper copy of motion against her and says she was ‘denied my right’ to be present during vote

Lidia Thorpe has ripped up a paper copy of the Senate motion censuring her protest against King Charles, promising “I’ll do it again” and saying she is not concerned about the parliamentary rebuke.

The independent senator was censured by the Labor and Coalition on Monday, as was the United Australia party senator Ralph Babet after he posted a tweet containing several offensive slurs.

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Mysterious 300-carat diamond necklace fetches £3.8m in Geneva auction

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Worn at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, the necklace has possible links to the downfall of Marie Antoinette

A mysterious diamond-laden necklace with possible links to a scandal that contributed to the downfall of Marie Antoinette has sold for $4.8m (£3.8m) at an auction in Geneva.

The 18th-century item of jewellery containing approximately 300 carats of diamonds had been estimated to sell at the Sotheby’s Royal and Noble Jewels sale for $1.8-2.8m.

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Exiles ask King Charles to rescind honour awarded to king of Bahrain

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Buckingham Palace accused of ‘burying’ news of GCVO bestowed on King Hamad, whose regime is accused of torturing opponents

King Charles has been asked by exiles from Bahrain to rescind an honour he bestowed this week on the ruler of the Gulf kingdom.

Charles was told in a letter by the exiles: “It is personally difficult for us to view this honour as anything other than a betrayal of victims who have suffered at the hands of King Hamad and his brutal regime.”

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King Charles to lay wreath and lead nation in Remembrance Sunday silence

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Prince and Princess of Wales will join the king and senior politicians to remember those who have died in conflict

King Charles will lay wreaths at the Cenotaph and lead the nation in a two-minute silence at 11am to remember the dead who gave their lives in two world wars as well as those who have died in other conflicts involving British and Commonwealth forces.

The Prince and Princess of Wales will join the king and senior politicians for the national service of remembrance at the Cenotaph to honour all those killed.

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