Animals and plants feature heavily in coinage that allows ‘everyone to celebrate British nature’
A new collection of coins bearing the face of the king has been unveiled by the Royal Mint, breaking tradition with designs inspired by plants and animals found across the four nations.
The eight designs, overseen by King Charles, depict the flora and fauna found in different parts of the UK and reflect his interest in conservation and nature.
Continue reading...Monarch’s recognition will come as country prepares to celebrate 60 years of independence from Britain
King Charles will acknowledge the “painful aspects” of Britain’s past actions in Kenya during a state visit later this month.
The visit follows an invitation from the country’s president, William Ruto, whose country will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its independence from Britain on 12 December. The two countries have enjoyed a close relationship in recent years despite the violent colonial legacy of an uprising in the early 1950s, which led to a period known as “the emergency”, which ran from 1952 until 1960.
Continue reading...The very personal work, owned by Charles I, discovered after being left in storage for years
“A woman’s name raises doubts until her work is seen,” wrote the artist Artemisia Gentileschi to a collector of her paintings in 1649, going on to assure him that her canvases “will speak for themselves”. It took three-and-a-half centuries for the name of Gentileschi to triumphantly step out from the shadows of art history, but it has taken even longer for one of her forgotten paintings to re-emerge from the dark. A remarkable find made in a royal storeroom at Hampton Court, followed by hours of careful conservation effort, has led to the unearthing of Susanna and the Elders, a genuine lost Gentileschi.
“It really is super-exciting,” Anna Reynolds, the deputy surveyor of the king’s pictures, told the Observer. “You just could not see the quality of the painting beneath the grime until now, but absolutely it is true and this find has come about as a result of Artemisia’s recently restored reputation. It had been misattributed and left in storage for many years and no one had taken a closer look.”
Continue reading...Trip designed in part as show of friendship to reset UK-French relationship after Brexit years
King Charles was welcomed at a lavish state banquet at the Palace of Versailles on Wednesday night, at the start of a state visit to reinforce the renewed London-Paris relationship after the near total collapse in trust during the Boris Johnson years after Brexit.
In Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, the famed 17th century gallery built by the “Sun King” Louis XIV to project the power and majesty of the French monarchy, King Charles and Emmanuel Macron were to make toasts celebrating French-British relations after a pre-dinner music recital.
Continue reading...Lloyd’s of London and Church of England also to be approached over role in past exploitation
Caribbean nations are preparing formal letters demanding that the British royal family apologise and make reparations for slavery.
National reparations commissions in the region will also approach Lloyd’s of London and the Church of England with demands of financial payments and reparative justice for their historic role in the slave trade.
Continue reading...Monarch writes of ‘great affection’ for Queen Elizabeth II and releases a favourite official portrait of her
King Charles III has paid tribute to his late mother Queen Elizabeth II and re-pledged his own service to the nation in a message marking the first anniversary of her death and of his accession.
In a signed message he wrote: “In marking the first anniversary of her late Majesty’s death and my accession, we recall with great affection her long life, devoted service and all she meant to so many of us.
Continue reading...King Charles and Queen Camilla to dine at Palace of Versailles banquet and meet sports stars
King Charles will address members of both houses of the French parliament and will have a bilateral meeting with French president, Emmanuel Macron, during a state visit to France with the queen later this month.
The visit, originally due in March, was postponed when pension-reform protests in France spiralled into violent clashes.
Continue reading...No 10 spokesperson says UK ‘certainly’ wants to support Ukraine on the pathway to joining Nato after reports of rift
Joe Biden has arrived at Downing Street for his first time as president ahead of tomorrow’s Nato summit in Lithuania.
After stepping out of US presidential vehicle “the Beast”, he shared a warm handshake with Rishi Sunak on the doorstep and smiled to press before disappearing behind the door to Number 10.
Continue reading...US leader’s three-country tour aims to ‘showcase the president’s leadership on the world stage’ at a key time for the war in Ukraine
Joe Biden heads to Europe on Sunday for a swift tour dominated by the war in Ukraine, with membership of the expanding Nato military alliance and the US approval of cluster munitions likely to be key talking points. His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the trip would “showcase the president’s leadership on the world stage”.
The US president will arrive at night in London, ahead of meetings with the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and King Charles, and then head to a key Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, before travelling to Helsinki to welcome Nato’s newest member, Finland.
Continue reading...Fees for accessing UK seabeds help boost profits to £443m while King Charles says some of surplus will go towards public good
The crown estate has generated record profits of almost half a billion pounds from Britain’s offshore windfarms, as talks continue over how much of the windfall should be shared with King Charles.
The royal property manager made £443m in profits in its last financial year, up by almost £130m from the year before, in large part thanks to payments made by renewable energy companies for the right to access the seabed.
Continue reading...Bullying campaigner and founder of UK buddy system for Ukrainian refugees also among hundreds recognised
Suzanne Richards lost her son Joel, 19, brother Adrian, 49, and father, Pat, 78, in the 2015 terrorist attack in Sousse, Tunisia. Her other son Owen, then 16, was also shot and injured by the gunmen but survived the attack in which 38 people were killed.
Their memories live on in the Smile for Joel charity, supporting families who are victims of homicide, which she and Owen run from her home in Wednesbury, West Midlands.
Continue reading...Knighthood for late novelist Amis is dated 18 May as honours cannot be given posthumously
Two giants of the literary world, the novelists Ian McEwan and the late Martin Amis, are recognised in the king’s first official birthday honours along with the fashion colossus Dame Anna Wintour.
The Booker prize-winning McEwan, whose acclaimed titles include Amsterdam, On Chesil Beach and Atonement, becomes a companion of honour, the highest award for outstanding achievement, of which there are only 65 at any time.
Continue reading...Sources say newly crowned King is letting property go as it is ‘unlikely’ he will be able to use it as before
King Charles is giving up his home in Wales on the edge of the Brecon Beacons with the lease due to expire later this summer.
Llwynywermod was bought for £1.2m by the Duchy of Cornwall estate on behalf of the then prince in 2007 after he spent 40 years searching for the right property.
Continue reading...Scheme that began to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee in 2012 has thrived, project audit finds
Wildflower meadows planted a decade ago to celebrate 60 years of the late queen’s reign have thrived, with 101 new fields of flowers created since the scheme was launched.
King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, worked with Plantlife and the Wildlife Trusts to launch ”coronation meadows”, identifying 60 species-rich meadows from which to take donor seeds – one meadow for each year of the queen’s reign at the time.
Continue reading...More than £13m of subsidies mainly paid to tenants of Duchy of Cornwall have done little to restore nature in national park
King Charles and Prince William could be dragged into a bitter fight over £13m of taxpayer funds paid over the past decade for nature restoration on Dartmoor national park.
The funds have partly been paid to tenants farming land in the national park that is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, a land and property estate controlled by the heir to the throne.
Continue reading...Matt Barrett’s Instagram posts from Westminster Abbey cause embarrassment after Irish delegation sets precedent by attending
When Ireland’s leaders attended the coronation of King Charles III, it was hailed as a milestone in relations between Dublin and London.
The Irish president, Michael D Higgins, the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, and Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, set the precedent – their predecessors had shunned previous coronations – to show respect to their neighbour.
Continue reading...Lord president of privy council says coronation was ‘humbling day’ and democracy ‘is about dissent’
Penny Mordaunt has revealed how she took painkillers before her role of carrying the ceremonial sword during King Charles’s coronation.
Mordaunt, wearing a custom-made teal outfit with a matching cape and headband with gold feather embroidery, was the first woman to perform the role as lord president of the council. She was responsible for bearing the sword of the state and presenting the jewelled sword of offering to the king. They were two of four swords used during the ceremony, and it is a practice that dates back to the coronation of Richard the Lionheart in 1189.
Continue reading...A wildflower planting operation is under way in Green Park, near Buckingham Palace, as part of The Big Help Out
After two days of playing host to thousands of flag-waving royal supporters, visitors were invited back to Green Park on Monday – this time to do some gardening.
As the machinery moved in and the clean-up effort got under way around Buckingham Palace, a few metres away, along a meandering line marked out in white through the park, volunteers got down on their hands and knees to plant wildflowers.
Continue reading...Prince of Wales also appears on stage, saying to King Charles III: ‘Pa, we are all so proud of you’
Thousands danced and waved their flags underneath Windsor Castle in the first concert ever held in the grounds to celebrate King Charles’s coronation.
Stars including Katy Perry, who sang Roar and Firework, and Lionel Richie, who played Easy and All Night Long, entertained the 20,000-strong audience, including the royal family, and millions at home on Sunday. Take That provided a rousing finale, drawing the night to a close with Never Forget, featuring an intro from the choristers of Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Continue reading...Monarch reportedly said ‘there’s always something’ during the build-up to the ceremony
King Charles grumbled “we can never be on time” and “there’s always something” at the start of his coronation, a lip reader has claimed.
The monarch and Camilla arrived at Westminster Abbey early and were forced to wait outside, sat in their diamond jubilee state coach.
Continue reading...