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...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...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...Speaking at G7, president addresses autocracy and democracy, climate crisis and Donald Trump’s legacy
Joe Biden agreed on Sunday with Vladimir Putin’s latest assessment that US-Russia relations are at their lowest point in years but insisted that while the two countries may have fundamental disagreements, “we are not looking for conflict”.
The US president also addressed the issues of autocracy versus democracy, the climate crisis, future pandemics and problems caused by his predecessor Donald Trump, while holding a press conference to mark the end of the G7 summit in the English county of Cornwall.
Continue reading...US president gives insight into his discussions with monarch in short visit after G7 summit in Cornwall
Joe Biden revealed the Queen had asked him about his Russian and Chinese counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, during their 45-minute talk over tea at Windsor Castle, in the aftermath of the G7 summit on Sunday.
It was an exceptionally rare, if limited, insight into political discussions involving the British monarch: the contents of her regular weekly audiences with the British prime minister of the day are kept confidential.
Continue reading...The Queen caused G7 world leaders to break out into laughter as she cracked a joke when they posed for a photo at an evening reception hosted by the monarch on Friday. ‘Are you supposed to be looking as if you're enjoying yourself?’ she asked as they posed for photographers, to which Boris Johnson could be heard replying: ‘Yes, definitely. We have been enjoying ourselves in spite of appearances’
Continue reading...BBC correspondent says palace source claims Sussexes did not ask for permission to use name for daughter
Buckingham Palace has become embroiled in a row over whether the Queen was consulted over the naming of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s daughter.
Harry and Meghan’s decision to name their second child Lilibet, a childhood nickname of the Queen, was seen as an attempt by the couple to try to mend their rift with the royal family.
Continue reading...Prince of Wales is said to want Buckingham Palace, Sandringham and other royal homes to go from ‘private spaces to public places’
The Prince of Wales reportedly plans to give people greater access to the royal palaces when he becomes king.
Charles wants Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, Windsor Castle, Sandringham and Balmoral to be transformed from “private spaces to public places”, according to the Sunday Times.
Continue reading...Honorary position challenged by Labour after Queen’s cousin allegedly told reporters he could be hired for £10,000 a day to contact Putin’s team
Claims that the Queen’s cousin was willing to use his royal status to sell privileged access to Vladimir Putin’s regime have raised questions over whether he should keep his honorary position in the British army, according to Labour.
Prince Michael of Kent allegedly told undercover reporters posing as investors from South Korea that he could be hired for £10,000 a day to make “confidential” representations to the Russian president’s team.
Continue reading...Sophie, who updated public on grieving royal family, and Edward look set to take on increasingly high profiles
In the immediate aftermath of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death, the royal who most regularly visited Windsor, gracing television screens and newspaper photographs, was the Countess of Wessex.
Through Sophie, 56, wife of Prince Edward, 57, the public learned how the royal family was navigating its grief.
Continue reading...With the poignant sight of the widowed Queen, the world glimpsed an era that is not just ending, but inevitably on its way
You could barely see her, but you could glimpse the future. Maybe it was the sepulchral gloom of the dark wooden stalls of St George’s chapel, or perhaps it was the restraint of a TV director keeping their distance, respecting the privacy of the moment, but the Queen was hardly visible in the live coverage of her late husband’s funeral on Saturday. Masked and in an unlit corner, the monarch was all but unseen.
When the camera did catch her, it made for a poignant sight: the widow alone, an image that “broke hearts around the world,” in the words of the Washington Post, but one that will resonate in the UK especially. Even the sternest republican has long admitted that an extraordinary bond exists between Elizabeth and the people who have been her subjects for nearly seven decades. Now, if anything, that bond will be strengthened.
Continue reading...Prince Philip’s funeral was an unusual affair, watched by the monarch from her familiar seat in the family chapel
Nearly everything about the setting itself must have felt touchingly familiar. Just before 3pm the Queen took her usual place in the corner oak pew under the ancient banners of the Knights of the Garter in St George’s Chapel, Windsor – her family’s “home” church. It was a seat she had occupied countless times for Sunday communion, for christenings and weddings and funerals. Only this time, for what must have seemed the first time, her consort and husband, her “strength and stay” of almost 75 years was not sitting beside her. During yesterday’s funeral service for Prince Philip, the monarch remained steadfast as ever, head down, perhaps grateful for her black mask, with only the ever-present cameras for company. In her bubble of one, however, socially distanced from the sparse congregation around her, it went without saying that she had never looked quite so alone.
Until last March the only funerals that many of us had ever watched on screens had probably been royal ones. Princess Diana’s, maybe the Queen Mother’s. The long months of pandemic have made virtual send-offs horribly commonplace, though. Death and farewells have come to Zoom and Facebook Live. That fact gave a particular poignancy to yesterday’s events, attended by only 30 of Philip’s family and closest friends, instead of the planned 800.
Continue reading...Richard Eyre, the National Theatre director who cast the actor in some of her earliest roles, pays tribute to her after her death
Part of the tragedy of Helen McCrory dying at such a young age, leaving a husband and two young children, is that professionally she had everything to look forward to. She had established herself as a very considerable actor in the theatre and on film and television.
She had a brightness about her, a luminosity: she was, in short, a star. She lit up a stage or a screen – you knew you were in the presence of a force of character and talent.
Continue reading...Queen will behave with dignity and courage but will need the support of the nation, says Justin Welby
The Queen may behave “with extraordinary dignity and extraordinary courage” but the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral at Windsor Castle on Saturday will be an “anguished moment” for her, the archbishop of Canterbury has said.
Justin Welby spoke as Buckingham Palace revealed there will be no sermon and no eulogy to Prince Philip, who for seven decades played a prominent role in the nation’s public life.
Continue reading...Actor was also known for her roles in the films The Queen and The Special Relationship
The actor Helen McCrory has died at the age of 52. McCrory was best known for her roles in the films The Queen and The Special Relationship and the Harry Potter franchise, and TV series including Peaky Blinders.
Her husband, fellow actor Damian Lewis, announced her death on Twitter, saying that McCrory had died “peacefully at home”. Lewis said: “I’m heartbroken to announce that after an heroic battle with cancer, the beautiful and mighty woman that is Helen McCrory has died … surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family.”
Continue reading...Body language experts will aim to dissect estranged princes’ movements and the Queen will pay silent tribute to her husband
All eyes will be on the sibling princes, not seen together since their frosty appearance at Westminster Abbey’s Commonwealth Day service more than a year ago, just before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex departed for good. Brought very close by the death of their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, they are now separated by more than the Atlantic. It falls to cousin Peter Phillips to fill the physical and emotional gulf between the two as they walk apart behind their grandfather’s coffin.
Continue reading...Brothers will be separated by cousin Peter Phillips as they walk behind coffin, Buckingham Palace reveals
The Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex will walk apart for their grandfather’s funeral, which is likely to see the Queen sitting alone, details released by Buckingham Palace reveal.
Prince William and Prince Harry, whose troubled relationship was further strained after the Sussexes’ controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey, will be separated by their cousin Peter Phillips as they walk behind the coffin of the Duke of Edinburgh on Saturday.
Continue reading...Duke of Edinburgh’s family say his death was ‘peaceful and gentle’ as they prepare for funeral on Saturday
The Queen has described the death of the Duke of Edinburgh as leaving “a huge void” in her life, Prince Andrew has revealed, saying it had brought home to him the loss suffered by so many during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Duke of York said the Queen had “described his passing as a miracle”, thought to refer to the fact Prince Philip died peacefully at home with her and not alone in hospital amid Covid regulations.
Continue reading...Analysis: though she will probably find it hard without Prince Philip, the Queen is unlikely to step down
The Queen, newly widowed, will find it “difficult” without the support she has leant on over 73 years of marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh, but royal observers have dismissed any speculation that she might consider stepping down.
The former prime minister Sir John Major acknowledged that her position as monarch was “a very lonely position”. He told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “There are a limited number of people to whom she can really open her heart, to whom she can really speak with total frankness, to whom she can say things that would be reported by other people and thought to be indelicate.”
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