Category Archives: Monarchy

Spend a day volunteering to mark coronation, urges palace

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People are being encouraged to ‘support their local areas’ in a drive to mark the three-day celebration in May

Britons will be encouraged to spend a day volunteering in their communities to mark the King’s coronation. The Big Help Out will take place on Monday 8 May and is intended to create a “lasting legacy” of the coronation weekend.

Buckingham Palace said it hoped to convince as many people as possible to “join the work being undertaken to support their local areas” on the day, which has been designated as an extra bank holiday.

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King Charles redirects £1bn windfarm profits towards ‘public good’

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Wind energy agreements have generated windfall that would normally go towards monarchy

The King has asked for profits from a £1bn-a-year crown estate windfarm deal to be used for the “wider public good” rather than as a funding boost for the monarchy.

Under the taxpayer-funded sovereign grant, which is currently £86.3m a year, the King receives 25% of the crown estate’s annual surplus, which includes an extra 10% for the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.

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‘Medieval institution’: Commonwealth Guardian readers on Prince Harry’s Spare

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Comments range from ‘the monarchy is valuable’ to ‘Harry and Meghan are having their cake and eating it’

Last week, the tell-all autobiography by Prince Harry, Spare, was released and sold a combined 1,430,000 copies on its first day on sale in the US, Canada and the UK.

Here, readers from Commonwealth countries share their thoughts on Prince Harry, his new book and whether the controversies surrounding the royal family have changed their views towards the monarchy.

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Revealed: ministers sought Charles’s consent to pass conservation laws affecting his business

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The government wrote to the then Prince of Wales in 2019, seeking approval for legislation that had implications for his estates

The government asked King Charles for permission to pass its post-Brexit “world-leading” Environment Act because laws requiring landowners to enhance conservation could affect his business interests.

Environment minister Rebecca Pow wrote to the then Prince of Wales in 2019 to ask if he would accept section seven of the environment bill, which became law in November 2021.

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‘The monarchy’s a laughing stock’: readers react to Prince Harry’s Spare

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Views range from sympathy for the Sussexes in light of treatment by royals and tabloids, to regarding them as being ‘as entitled as the others’

Prince Harry’s tell-all autobiography has become the UK’s fastest-selling nonfiction book ever. The memoir has been controversial, with Harry making claims that Prince William physically attacked him and accusing his father of putting his own interests first.

The Guardian asked readers – some of whom had already begun reading the book – for their views on the memoir and the publicity around it. Many said their views on the royal family had been changed, while others said it strengthened existing positions. Other readers also made the point that the book was more balanced than had been presented by parts of the media.

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Prince Harry’s book could be ‘beginning of end’ for royals, warns Charles’s biographer

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Catherine Mayer says anger over racism, misogyny and wealth in the royal family can undermine public consent for a monarchy

The “absolutely catastrophic” implications of attacks on the behaviour of the royal family in the new memoir from the Duke of Sussex are being ignored, according to Catherine Mayer, the royal analyst and biographer of King Charles.

Early publication of the Spanish edition of Spare has put the focus on personality clashes, some of it fed by the royal publicity machine, and this could threaten the constitutional monarchy, whether or not the British public is calling for such a change, Mayer believes.

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Army veterans criticise Prince Harry’s claim he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan

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Col Tim Collins says ‘we don’t do notches on rifle butt’ and kill-count talk could increase Harry’s personal security risk

High-profile British veterans have criticised the Duke of Sussex’s claim he had killed 25 Taliban soldiers while serving with the British army in Afghanistan and warned the high-profile admission could increase the risk to his personal security.

The retired army veteran Col Tim Collins, best known for delivering a rousing speech before the start of the Iraq war in 2003, said the prince’s kill-count talk was crass and “we don’t do notches on the rifle butt”.

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King Charles highlights cost of living crisis in first Christmas broadcast

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Monarch pays tribute to the volunteers and charity workers helping those in financial difficulty

King Charles has highlighted the cost of living crisis and the “great anxiety and hardship” of many struggling to “pay their bills and keep their families fed and warm” in his first Christmas broadcast.

In the message, with the nation in the grip of economic woes and against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the king dedicated a major part of his broadcast to those helping to ease the plight of others.

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King Charles’s Christmas message – text in full

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Monarch reflects on the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in first Christmas Day broadcast

I am standing here in this exquisite Chapel of St George at Windsor Castle, so close to where my beloved mother, the late Queen, is laid to rest with my dear father.

I am reminded of the deeply touching letters, cards and messages which so many of you have sent my wife and myself and I cannot thank you enough for the love and sympathy you have shown our whole family.

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King Charles chooses chapel at Windsor for first Christmas message

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Monarch expected to pay tribute to late mother during festive address from St George’s chapel

King Charles has chosen to broadcast his first Christmas message from St George’s chapel at Windsor Castle, where the committal service of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, was held three months ago.

In a photograph released before the broadcast on Christmas Day, the king is seen standing in the quire for his inaugural festive address to the country and the rest of the Commonwealth.

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King Charles III bank note designs revealed by Bank of England

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Monarch’s portrait on £5, £10, £20 and £50 likely to enter circulation in 2024

Designs for bank notes featuring an image of King Charles III have been revealed by the Bank of England, with plans to enter circulation by mid-2024.

Announcing the design for the first time in the run-up to the coronation in May, the UK central bank said the king’s portrait would appear on existing designs of all four of its polymer bank notes currently in circulation – £5, £10, £20 and £50.

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Jeremy Clarkson condemned over Meghan column in the Sun

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Outcry after presenter writes he is ‘dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets’

A Jeremy Clarkson column in the Sun about the Duchess of Sussex has provoked outcry online, with social media users labelling it “vile”, “horrific” and “abusive”.

In an article for the paper published on Friday, Clarkson wrote that he loathed Meghan “on a cellular level”. He said he was “dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”.

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Safety fears force Ngozi Fulani’s charity to pause work after palace racism incident

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Sistah Space says many domestic abuse services temporarily halted after founder spoke of encounter with Susan Hussey

A charity led by a black domestic abuse campaigner who was asked where she “really came from” by the late queen’s senior lady-in-waiting has had to pause its operations because of safety fears.

Sistah Space said it was “forced to temporarily cease” working after its founder, Ngozi Fulani, spoke out about her treatment by Susan Hussey at a reception at Buckingham Palace. The charity supports women of African and Caribbean heritage who have been affected by domestic and sexual abuse.

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Harry and Meghan hit back at criticism over sharing of personal clips in Netflix show

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Duke and Duchess accuse press of creating false narrative that privacy was a key reason behind their step back from duties

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have hit back at attacks over their sharing of personal video clips and photographs in their Netflix documentary.

A spokeswoman for Harry and Meghan said the narrative that privacy was a key reason behind the couple stepping back from royal duties and quitting the UK was a false one.

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Tory MP plans legislation to strip Harry and Meghan of royal titles

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Bob Seely says he was considering proposing private member’s bill even before recent controversy over Netflix documentary

A Conservative MP has said he is planning to bring forward legislation in an attempt to strip the Duke and Duchess of Sussex of their royal titles. Bob Seely told the PA news agency he could propose the short private member’s bill early next year in an attempt to amend the 1917 Titles Deprivation Act.

If passed, it would see MPs vote on a resolution that could give the privy council the power to downgrade Harry and Meghan’s royal status.

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Harry & Meghan live: reaction as highly anticipated Netflix documentary launches

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First chapter of what has been described as an ‘unprecedented’ look behind the scenes at conflict in British royal family arrives at 8am UK time

“I just really want to get to the other side of all of this” Meghan says during the opening montage of the documentary, which includes a voiceover by Harry, and starts at the point where the couple have performed their last royal engagements having announced they were stepping back from royal duties. “I think anyone else in my situation would have done exactly the same thing” Harry says. There is clearly a lucrative role in playing sad piano music for Netflix documentaries out there.

I’ve no idea how many people will be tuning in as soon as the documentary arrives – 8am does seem an odd time to launch a prestige series – but I, and presumably a load of other journalists, have just pressed play.

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Harry and Meghan win racial justice and mental health award

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Duke and Duchess of Sussex honoured for their activism days ahead of revelatory Netflix show

A US human rights charity has awarded Harry and Meghan its Ripple of Hope award for their activism on racial justice and mental health.

In a statement celebrating their award, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said “a ripple of hope can turn into a wave of change”. The couple received the award on Tuesday night in New York, two days before the release of a tell-all Netflix show expected to include damning revelations about the royal family.

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Prince Harry speaks of ‘suffering’ of women marrying into royal family

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‘We know the full truth,’ Harry’s voiceover says in trailer for his and Meghan’s Netflix docuseries

Prince Harry has highlighted the “pain and suffering” of women marrying into the British royal family, in a new trailer for the Sussexes’ highly anticipated behind-the-scenes docuseries.

Netflix has promised an “unprecedented and in-depth documentary series” over six episodes where the couple “share the other side of their high-profile love story”.

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Earthshot fund gives £1m to UK scientists fighting climate crisis

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Scientists who have replaced plastic packaging with seaweed among those to be given prize by Prince of Wales

Scientists who have replaced plastic packaging with seaweed are among those who have been given a £1m prize by the Prince of Wales’s Earthshot fund.

The prize is aimed at rewarding innovative solutions to tackle the climate and biodiversity emergencies, and is named after former US president John F Kennedy’s Moonshot challenge in the 1960s, which united millions of people around the goal of putting a person on the moon within a decade.

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Quebec moves to end Canadian elected officials’ oath to King Charles

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‘It is a relic from the past’: strong opposition to oath from three political parties of French-speaking province

Quebec’s premier, François Legault, said that his government would introduce legislation next week to end elected officials’ required oath to Britain’s King Charles, as pressure mounts in the Canadian province to cut such ties with the monarchy.

Fresh legislation from the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) follows a separate bill introduced on Thursday by the left-leaning Québec Solidaire party that would allow elected officials to just take an oath to the people of Quebec.

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