The Duchess of Edinburgh looked elegant in a tan ensemble as she stepped out at the Commonwealth Day service in London today.

Sophie, 59, appeared in good spirits as she accompanied her husband, Prince Edward, 60, to the service at Westminster Abbey.

The couple attended the event along with Queen Camilla, Prince William, Princess Anne, the Duke of Kent and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

It comes amid a difficult time for the royal family, as evidenced by the absence of King Charles III and the Princess of Wales due to health complications.

Nevertheless, the beaming mother-of-two looked chic in a $2,990 custom-made Alabama mid-length coat from Suzannah London and a trendy cream fedora hat.

Sophie donned a maxi floral dress under her statement coat and added a touch of glamor with a pair of earrings.

The stylish royal wore her blonde locks up and kept her makeup bronzed yet neutral for the service.

Prince Edward, meanwhile, wore a simple black pinstripe suit with a patterned tie for the annual event.

The Commonwealth was founded in December 1931 and currently includes 54 countries. According to the royal family’s website, the organization’s purpose is “to promote international cooperation and trade relations between people around the world.”

It comes after the Princess of Wales was pictured next to Prince William leaving Windsor Castle today – just hours after apologizing for editing a family photo released on Mother’s Day.

The Prince of Wales headed to Westminster Abbey this afternoon for the annual Commonwealth Day service with his wife by his side.

But instead of an extraordinary return to royal duties, MailOnline understands Kate was heading to a private appointment instead.

It is not known where the Princess of Wales went, but it was clearly on her husband’s route to central London ahead of the 2.45pm service, attended by senior members of the Royal Family including Queen Camilla and Princess Anne.

Kate, who looked out her window as William appeared to read some notes on his phone, would not be seen in public until after Easter following abdominal surgery and two weeks in a private hospital in London in January.

It came as Kensington Palace came under increasing pressure to release the original Mother’s Day photo after the Princess of Wales apologized after admitting she edited the family portrait of herself while with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis fed up.

The world’s biggest photo agencies would later “kill” the photo after noticing signs of digital editing, including a missing section of Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and the misaligned edge of her wrist and skirt, and the placement of Kate’s zipper.

This morning, the Princess of Wales apologized on social media. She said: ‘Like many amateur photographers, I occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to apologize for any confusion the family photo we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone who celebrated had a very happy Mother’s Day.’ She signed it ‘C’ – for Catherine.

Kensington Palace initially faced calls to reveal the truth behind the photo after the world’s top photo agencies – including the Press Association – ‘killed’ the image over claims it had been digitally manipulated.

PR experts have described the Mother’s Day photo fiasco as a “major own goal” and have urged royal officials to release the unedited photo in a bid to regain public trust.

Kensington Palace initially faced calls to reveal the truth behind the photo after the world’s top photo agencies – including the Press Association – ‘killed’ the image over claims it had been digitally manipulated.

Kate admitted this morning that she had edited the photo and apologized personally “for any confusion” it had caused. Sky NewsAnalysis of the photo’s metadata revealed that the image was taken with a Canon camera and saved twice in Adobe Photoshop on an Apple Mac. Other experts suggested she may have used an AI tool.

The photo of the beaming mother-of-three with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis was the first official photo released of the princess since she underwent “planned abdominal surgery” in January.

Kate said in a statement on social media: ‘Like many amateur photographers, I occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to apologize for any confusion the family photo we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone who celebrated had a happy Mother’s Day. C’

While the princess publicly took the blame for altering the photo, Kensington Palace said it would not reissue the unedited photo of Kate and her children.

PR expert Mark Borkowski said: ‘It’s likely she’s playing on the computer at home and using an AI tool, but if they really want to regain any trust they should release the unedited photo. they just made a few adjustments.

“I find that they have taken up the challenge, provided the explanation is given as an explanation. The question is, with all the conspiracy theories going around, will people believe it, and I’m not sure they will.”

Koningin Camilla en prins William giechelden terwijl ze het koningshuis leidden tijdens de Commonwealth Day Service van vandaag, terwijl koning Charles zijn herstel van kanker voortzet.

De Prins van Wales en de Koningin leken een dag van koninklijke chaos achter zich te laten toen prinses Anne en de hertog en hertogin van Edinburgh zich bij Westminster Abbey voegden.

De troonopvolger werd afgebeeld terwijl ze Windsor Castle verliet met de prinses van Wales, maar woont de dienst niet bij vanwege haar voortdurende herstel van de ‘geplande buikoperatie’ die ze in januari had ondergaan.

MailOnline begrijpt dat Kate – die voor het laatst met de koninklijke familie naar buiten ging voor de kerkdienst op eerste kerstdag in Sandringham – in plaats daarvan op weg was naar een privéafspraak.

Een groot aantal VIP’s, waaronder Geri Halliwell, hebben de Commonwealth Day-dienst in Londen bijgewoond, terwijl haar Red Bull-baas, echtgenoot Christian Horner, nog steeds verwikkeld is in schandalen.

Kate’s moederdagfotocontroverse heeft de Commonwealth Day-dienst, een van de belangrijkste koninklijke evenementen van het jaar, enigszins overschaduwd.

William arriveerde vlak voor de koningin bij de dienst op de Commonwealth Day, te midden van het debacle over de digitaal gewijzigde foto die hij van zijn gezin had gemaakt.

Maar de camera’s van BBC One die de live televisiedienst filmden, richtten hun aandacht in plaats daarvan op de begroeting van de hertog en hertogin van Edinburgh door geestelijken.

William, gekleed in een donkerblauw pak, kon je later in de gastvrije rij met gasten zien spreken.

De Prins van Wales praatte met de hertog en hertogin van Edinburgh en de prinses Royal terwijl ze bij de Great West Door wachtten tot de koningin klaar was met het ontmoeten van mensen in de welkomstlijn.

De prins begroette Edward met een vriendelijk klopje op de arm en een kus op beide wangen, voordat hij in gesprek ging met zijn oom en tantes.

Toen Camilla dichterbij kwam, zag men William ‘hallo’ zeggen tegen zijn stiefmoeder voordat hij naar voren liep om haar op beide wangen te kussen.

Ze glimlachten en praatten terwijl ze naast elkaar stonden, klaar om het volkslied te spelen.

Op een chaotische dag voor de koninklijke familie verzamelden demonstranten van de campagnegroep Republic zich nabij Westminster Abbey.

De demonstranten droegen felgele borden met de slogan ‘Weg met de Kroon’.

Graham Smith, CEO van Republic, zei: ‘Het koningshuis moet stoppen met het gebruik van het Gemenebest als middel voor hun eigen PR.

‘De platitudes die we van Charles en Camilla horen dienen alleen maar om de ernstige zorgen over mensenrechtenschendingen en een gebrek aan democratie in veel landen van het Gemenebest te verdoezelen.’

Hij voegde eraan toe: ‘De koninklijke familie financierde, promootte en verdedigde eeuwenlang de slavernij, en leidde vervolgens een imperium dat onnoemelijke schade toebracht aan de levens van mensen die tot op de dag van vandaag een impact heeft.

‘Herstelbetalingen zijn een redelijke eis. Als erfelijk vorst kan Charles nauwelijks beweren dat wat zijn voorouders deden niets met hem te maken heeft.’

De prinses van Wales verontschuldigde zich eerder publiekelijk nadat ze had toegegeven de foto die William van haar en hun kinderen had gemaakt, te hebben bewerkt en die door Kensington Palace was vrijgegeven ter gelegenheid van Moederdag.

Kate zei sorry met een verklaring op sociale media waarin stond: ‘Net als veel amateurfotografen experimenteer ik af en toe met montage.

‘Ik wilde mijn excuses aanbieden voor de eventuele verwarring die de familiefoto die we gisteren deelden veroorzaakte.

‘Ik hoop dat iedereen die het vierde een fijne Moederdag heeft gehad. C.’

De foto van Kate en haar kinderen was de eerste die werd gepubliceerd sinds de buikoperatie van de prinses en werd door het paleis vrijgegeven ter gelegenheid van Moederdag.

Maar het werd uren later ingetrokken met een ‘Kill’-bericht door internationale fotobureaus en maandag door het Britse persbureau PA, vanwege vermoedens dat het was gemanipuleerd.

Koninklijke bronnen zeiden dat de prinses van Wales ‘kleine aanpassingen’ had doorgevoerd en dat Kate en de prins van Wales voor Moederdag een informele foto van het gezin samen wilden aanbieden.

‘Dit was een amateur-familiefoto, gemaakt door de Prins van Wales. Hunne Koninklijke Hoogheden wilden voor Moederdag een informele foto van het gezin samen geven’, aldus de bron.

‘De prinses heeft kleine aanpassingen gedaan, zoals ze in haar verklaring op sociale media deelde: de familie Wales bracht Moederdag samen door en had een geweldige dag.’

Ondanks oproepen om het origineel te publiceren, zei Kensington Palace dat het de onbewerkte foto van Kate en haar kinderen niet opnieuw zou uitgeven.

Hoewel Charles de dienst niet persoonlijk kan bijwonen, heeft hij de mensen bedankt voor hun ‘wonderbaarlijk vriendelijke en attente goede wensen’ over zijn diagnose van kanker in een videotoespraak die in Westminster Abbey zal worden afgespeeld.

Als koninklijke primeur heeft hij een toespraak opgenomen die voor de gemeente zal worden gespeeld, waarin wordt teruggeblikt op de reis die het Gemenebest heeft gemaakt sinds de oprichting in 1949.

Bij zijn afwezigheid wordt de familie geleid door de koningin, William en een uitgebreide lijst leden van het koningshuis, waaronder de hertog en hertogin van Edinburgh, prinses Anne, de hertog en hertogin van Gloucester en de hertog van Kent.

De video van de koning werd vorige maand opgenomen in Windsor Castle, een van de plaatsen waar Zijne Majesteit aan het herstellen was.

Hij verwijst naar de oorsprong van het Gemenebest in het netwerk van landen die ooit het Britse Rijk vormden en zegt: ‘De 75e verjaardag van het Gemenebest is een moment om na te denken over de opmerkelijke reis die onze unieke familie van vrije en onafhankelijke naties sinds 1949 heeft gemaakt. .

‘Vorig jaar vierden de Bahama’s hun 50e verjaardag van onafhankelijkheid, zoals Grenada dit jaar heeft gedaan, en Papoea-Nieuw-Guinea volgend jaar.

‘Elk van deze mijlpalen – en vele andere soortgelijke – vertegenwoordigen de vervulling van talloze ambities en de verwezenlijking van een dergelijk opmerkelijk potentieel.

‘En de groei van het Gemenebest, waarbij nieuwe leden zich blijven aansluiten bij onze familie van naties, toont duidelijk aan dat we, hoewel we misschien niet allemaal een gedeelde geschiedenis hebben, gemeenschappelijke ambities hebben voor een betere toekomst – samenwerken om veerkracht op te bouwen en te reageren op mondiale uitdagingen. ‘

In wat velen zullen interpreteren als een verhulde verwijzing naar kolonialisme en slavernij, verwees de koning naar ‘ongelijkheden en onrechtvaardigheden’ uit het verleden ‘die vandaag de dag nog steeds weerklank vinden’ en drong hij er bij de lidstaten op aan om ‘manieren om te genezen’ te blijven vinden.

Verwijzend naar de klimaatverandering, het verlies van de natuur en de sociale en economische veranderingen die nieuwe technologieën met zich meebrengen, zei hij: ‘Onze diversiteit betekent dat deze uitdagingen ons allemaal op verschillende manieren beïnvloeden en dat we de impact ervan op verschillende manieren ervaren.

‘De ernst ervan is echter voor ieder van ons hetzelfde. Dit alles betekent dat we moeten samenwerken om elkaars perspectieven te begrijpen, inclusief de ongelijkheden en onrechtvaardigheden die tot op de dag van vandaag nog steeds weerklank vinden.

‘We moeten manieren vinden om te genezen en elkaar te ondersteunen bij het nastreven van oplossingen. Ik kan niet vaak genoeg zeggen dat we door samen te komen de beste kansen creëren om onze wereld en de levens van mensen overal ter wereld te verbeteren.’

De koning besluit: ‘De afgelopen weken ben ik zeer diep geraakt door uw wonderbaarlijk vriendelijke en attente goede wensen voor mijn gezondheid en in ruil daarvoor kan ik u alleen maar, naar mijn beste vermogen, in het hele Gemenebest blijven dienen.’

The Duke of Edinburgh has described feeling a “weight of expectation” as he took over his father’s title in a rare TV interview.

A year after taking over the role, Edward admitted he still doesn’t know where to sit in a room when his title is written in a name place.

In a rare television interview, The Duke gardener Alan Titchmarsh told ITV’s Love Your Weekend program about the challenge of taking over the role from his ‘extraordinary’ father, Prince Philip, who died in 2021 aged 99.

“It was a huge privilege, but it also came with a lot of expectations,” said Edward, as he celebrated his 60th birthday.

“I mean, there’s an awful lot of legacy in that title and everything my father did, especially if you don’t inherit it, this is a choice.”

As he got used to his new title, Edward said, “It’s just the strangest and strangest feeling.

“You walk into a room and, especially now, there are name tags on a card and I still look around and say, ‘Yeah, but where am I sitting?’

During the interview, Edward praised his father for being “brilliant with people,” even though sometimes it “didn’t necessarily come across that way.”

“He always encouraged everyone,” he said. ‘You actually had to get to know him.

‘Everyone always commented on my dad’s sense of humor, but he just did that.

‘He was just an extraordinary man. He was the Prince Albert of our time. He had an extraordinary mind. He loved design, he loved innovation, he was brilliant with all kinds of people.”

The duke said his father was much more comfortable talking about the organizations he supported and “refused to talk about himself.”

Edward continued, “Never ask him to blow his own trumpet, he would never do that.

“You had to get him talking about the organizations he supported, and what he had done in connection with them, and that’s how you got around it.

“And for heaven’s sake don’t say, ‘What are you feeling?’ Because he would never have shared something like that.”

Edward also said his wife Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, is his “rock”, adding: “I feel incredibly lucky that I found Sophie and that she found me.”

He and Sophie, 59, have been married since 1999 after meeting two years earlier during a promotional shoot for the Prince Edward Summer Challenge.

Asked what he does to unwind and relax, the Duke said he enjoys “getting out in the countryside.

‘The garden, dogs,’ he continued: ‘The garden is the most wonderful place to do all kinds of things.

“It can also be a great place to get away and think about things.”

The Duke held a series of engagements with the Duchess of Edinburgh earlier this week ahead of the milestone birthday.

He was presented with a Leeds Rhinos rugby shirt with ‘HRH 60’ on the back to mark the date during a visit to Headingley Stadium in Leeds on Friday.

Prince Edward noticed the detail on the back and told his wife: “Yours is more subtle than mine.”

He told the young players: ‘Thank you very much. I really need to be reminded.’

Sophie then paid a tearful tribute to Edward at the end of the Community Sport and Recreation Awards, saying he was ‘the best dad, the most loving husband and still my best friend’ and that she was ‘so proud of the man’ . He is’.

On Tuesday, the Duke and Duchess visited an amateur boxing club and community church in Stafford.

The downsized working monarchy is under increasing pressure, with some senior members of the royal family banned from public duties.

Charles, 75, is undergoing treatment for cancer and the Princess of Wales is recovering from abdominal surgery.

It comes as Edward praised Prince Philip as an “extraordinary spirit” as he shared his favorite memories of his father in a rare interview to mark his birthday.

Edward VIII’s abdication on December 11, 1936 was the culmination of a long standoff between king, church and government over Edward’s determination to marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson.

Rancorous views about Edward’s private life finally burst onto the British public stage on December 3, 1936 and consumed the country for nine days, forcing a constitutional showdown that threatened the fabric of national life.

Edward’s willful determination and his single-minded love for an unsuitable consort: these are the forces long considered decisive in what became a defining moment for the British monarchy in the 20th century.

Yet there is an equally influential but overlooked factor in how Edward came to his unprecedented decision: the fear bordering on paranoia that consumed Wallis in the final weeks of his reign.

Convinced that she was a target for the assassin’s bullet, the object of Edward’s all-consuming obsession fled England in the throes of panicky excitement, leaving behind a lonely and pining king who wanted only to be reunited with the woman he loved. loved.

It all started with a rock through a window…

On November 27, 1936, amid escalating rumors about the relationship – and as Edward confronted the issue of marriage with Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin – an unknown man threw a rock through the ground-floor window of Wallis’s home at 16 Cumberland Terrace.

Intent on not missing his target, the attacker threw a second stone at Wallis’ neighbor, Lord Salisbury, in case he did not have the correct address.

“A deluded wretch,” is how Max Beaverbrook, owner of the Daily Express, described the villain to Murphy. But perhaps a consequential loss.

Indeed, the press baron came to believe that the broken windows had been “an even more influential factor than Baldwin in the king’s decision to abdicate without a fight.”

The episode certainly sent Edward into overdrive. He broke off his talks with Baldwin at Buckingham Palace so that he could personally escort Wallis to the safety of his home, Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park.

Wallis, Edward reflected, had been ‘at all times beyond the protection of the king’s person’, and it became essential for him to extend the protective sphere of the royal orbit around her.

Until November 1936, the silent agreement between monarch and media had kept her name firmly out of the British press.

Unburdened by public criticism, Edward had dazzled Wallis by transforming her comfortable middle-class existence with Ernest Simpson into one of unparalleled luxury.

Wallis showered her with expensive jewelry and Parisian haute couture and became one of the fashionable leaders of London society – a position she relished.

‘Everyone succumbs to glamour; challenge anyone to say something different,” she thought later.

Yet the explosion of hostilities epitomized by this single act of violence shattered any illusions Wallis might have had about how the British public would react to her romance with Edward.

Her “physical shyness,” as Beaverbrook described, emerged and fear overwhelmed her.

“It convinced her,” Beaverbrook told her husband’s ghostwriter, Charles JV Murphy, “that the British people were plotting to kill her. Her fears, in turn, aroused his bravery. He rushed to protect her. And in doing so, he found himself taking her side against his own people.”

But even the protection of Fort Belvedere – a miniature fortress located in the oasis of Windsor Great Park – proved insufficient.

Within a week, Wallis’s face, virtually unknown in Britain, appeared in the country’s headlines. The anonymity she had enjoyed was destroyed and her world, as she later described it, “was blown up.”

Familiarity, at least for Wallis, translated into fear – and she became convinced she was a target for assassination.

When she fled to France on the night of December 3, she left the country and a king who, as Beaverbrook emphasized, “had but one thought: to rejoin her.”

On the way to Newhaven, where they were to catch the ferry to France, Wallis’s companion Perry Brownlow noted that she remained in the grip of excitement – determined to escape – for fear that she would suffer bodily harm if she got into Britain to stay.

Her determination proved disastrous, as she had no meaningful communication with Edward and lost all influence. She was a witness rather than a participant in the final hours of the abdication crisis

“I was running for my life,” Wallis exclaimed to Murphy in March 1950 as she described the journey with Brownlow.

Dressed in a bathing suit, on his way to spend the day with glamorous American socialite Jayne Wrightsman, Wallis had made a surprise appearance as Murphy and Edward sat together in ‘the white room overlooking the sea’ in the palatial Palm Beach mansion of the American financier, Robert Jong.

Young was one of the Windsors’ closest friends in America and their frequent host.

Murphy had been helping Edward with the final revisions of his memoirs, which were due to appear in the American photographic magazine Life in May 1950, when Wallis burst in with a sudden and awkward intervention – a complaint about the dangerous and traumatic conditions of her escape from Britain. and its vengeful population.

After hearing his wife’s dramatic statement, the Duke of Windsor, as Murphy noted, intervened with “a mild reservation”:

“Sweetie, it wasn’t for your life. It wasn’t like that.’

The Duchess, Murphy noted, “looked at him gravely” and replied with unequivocal determination, “I was fleeing for my life.”

The rift between the pair was astonishing and convinced Murphy that the Windsors had “never discussed alone and with in-depth research the circumstances of the abdication.”

At that moment, Wallis was at her most fierce and determined – unafraid to contradict her illustrious husband in what Murphy described as ‘the manner of all confident women’ and fully demonstrating the qualities that Edward himself had identified in her: ‘ independent….demanding.’

Yet in the final weeks of 1936 it was fear rather than determination that determined her actions and ultimately, as Murphy and others came to believe, the course of the king’s short reign.

A rock thrown through a window struck fear in a woman also known for her steely determination.

And so the disaster was set in motion.

• Jane Marguerite Tippett is author of Once A King – the lost memoirs of Edward VIII, published by Hodder & Stoughton, price £25

He’s the youngest child of the late Queen and Prince Phillip who, for many years, lived in the shadow of his more high-profile brothers and sister.

But while his siblings have been hit by scandals and marriage break-ups, Prince Edward has quietly soldiered on with his duties, his faithful and popular wife Sophie by his side.

As the Prince celebrates his 60th birthday, we bring you 60 amazing facts about the man known in royal circles as ‘steady Eddie.’

1. The late Queen Elizabeth was convinced Prince Edward would be a girl and, for that reason, had given no consideration to boy’s names prior to his birth.

2. Edward was the only child whose birth Prince Philip attended. He was reported to have been holding the Queen’s hand when their son arrived.

3. He weighed just 5 pounds 7 ounces when he was born, making him the smallest of all the Queen’s children.

4. Many were surprised that Her Majesty named her son Edward, considering the pain Edward VIII’s abdication had caused her family. However, Edward VIII was known as ‘David’ to his family and it’s far more likely that Prince Edward was named after the Queen’s cousin, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent.

5. He made his first public appearance when he was just 12 weeks old when, wrapped in a blanket, the Queen held him in her arms on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony in 1964.

6. His first pet was a Shetland pony named Valkyrie.

7. As a boy he loved the French cartoon books Asterix, about a Gallic warrior who had amazing strength due to a magical potion.

8. Visitors to Buckingham Palace recall Edward walking around with transistor radio glued to his ear, listening to pop music – Abba being a favourite.

9. Like his brothers, Edward attended Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland but, unlike them, he enjoyed his experience becoming Head Boy in his final term.

10. At Gordonstoun Edward developed a love of gliding and gained his gliding wings when he was just 16.

11. He achieved nine O’levels – more than his siblings. However, there was great controversy when he secured a place at Cambridge University to read history despite only gaining two Ds and a C in his A Levels.

12. He took private flying lessons at RAF Cranwell and gained his private pilot’s licence just before his 18th birthday.

13. Way before they became fashionable, Edward took a gap year in 1982, teaching English and history at the Wanganui Collegiate School in New Zealand.

14. While on his gap year, he also oversaw the school’s drama productions and taught the children how to play his family’s favourite parlour game – charades.

15. At Cambridge University Edward indulged his love of theatre and joined the Light Entertainment Society whose other alumni include comedians John Cleese and Sandi Toksvig.

16. While at Cambridge he appeared as Governor Danforth in an amateur dramatic adaptation of Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible.

17. He also directed a children’s production called The Tale of Toothache City.

18. It was at university that Edward first developed his love of ‘real tennis’ – the original form of the game, played with a solid ball on an enclosed court.

19. Despite a bout of glandular fever, he produced the rag-week revue Glitter Ball Prizes in March 1984.

20. After leaving Cambridge with his 2:2 degree, Edward joined the Royal Marines but was only lasted just four months of the gruelling training, during which he sustained many injuries.

21. He achieved a Duke of Edinburgh Award gold medal after completing a 60-mile four-day trek in Scotland.

22. He could easily have been killed aged 23 when he was thrown from his horse at Windsor but was saved by his riding hat, which split in two on impact.

23. After putting out feelers for a job in the entertainment industry, aged 24, he was offered a part in Dr Who but was advised by royal officials to turn it down.

24. Able to laugh at himself for being dubbed the ‘teaboy’ after landing a junior role at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Company, Edward turned up for his first day with a packet of PG Tips under his arm.

25. In 1986 he commissioned Andrew Lloyd Webber to make ‘Cricket’ a musical especially for his mother’s 60th birthday that was performed at Windsor Castle.

26. The most embarrassing episode in Edward’s career came in 1987 when he produced and appeared in a game show later dubbed It’s a Royal Knockout – against his mother’s wishes. Prince Andrew, Fergie and Princess Anne also took part in the charity event which was roundly mocked.

27. In 1993 he set up Ardent Productions, making documentaries (mostly about the royals.)

28. Edward had a handful of dates with Ulrika Jonsson in the Eighties. Ulrika later claimed there was ‘slap and tickle’ but that they did not sleep together.

29. Musicals star Ruthie Henshall dated Edward for five years in the early nineties, sometimes being smuggled into Buckingham Palace in the back of a car.

30. Edward first met his future wife, Sophie, in 1987 when she was working as a press officer at Capital Radio, but neither were single at the time.

31. Fate intervened when Sophie, then a PR executive, stood in for Sue Barker at a charity photo call to promote real tennis in 1993 and the pair began dating.

32. Harry wasn’t the first royal to put out a statement requesting privacy for his girlfriend – Edward did the same in 1993.

33. Never mind ‘Waity Katie’, ‘Stoical Sophie’ waited six years for Edward to pop the question.

34. So great was the Queen’s affection for Sophie that she allowed her to keep rooms at Buckingham Palace when she was just a royal girlfriend.

35. Edward proposed while on holiday with Sophie in the Bahamas, who was taken completely by surprise.

36. Sophie’s £105,000 engagement ring from royal jewellers, Garrard, has a two carat oval diamond in the centre with smaller heart shaped diamonds on either side.

37. During their engagement interview, when asked why he’d waited so long to propose, Edward revealed that he was afraid Sophie would turn him down.

38. Edward and Sophie requested that their wedding, at St George’s Chapel, Windsor on June 19th 1999, should not be a state occasion, meaning they were under no obligation to invite politicians or military leaders.

39. Edward and Sophie wanted to keep their wedding as informal as possible and asked female guests not to wear hats…a request the Queen Mother ignored.

40. Sophie presented Edward with an 18carat gold pocket watch as a wedding gift.

41. After his marriage, Edward became the first British prince since George I to be created an Earl rather than a Duke and Sophie became a Countess.

42. He was allegedly drawn to the title Earl of Wessex after watching Colin Firth play a character called Lord Wessex in Shakespeare in Love.

43. There was no lengthy, lavish honeymoon for Sophie and Edward, instead they just had four days at Balmoral

44. Bagshot Hall, the family’s £30million home is a 120-room grade II listed sprawling mansion in Surrey, originally built for King Charles I in 1609.

45. Like most senior royals, Edward and Sophie don’t own their home. It’s owned by the reigning monarch who decides who can and can’t live there.

46. Fittingly, Edward and Sophie visited Prince Edward Island, in Canada on their first royal tour.

47. In 2001 Sophie lost a baby after suffering from a potentially life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.

48. He missed the birth of his daughter Lady Louise in 2003 when she arrived a month early while he was on an official visit to Mauritius.

49. When Lady Louise was born, Queen Elizabeth went to visit Sophie in hospital – something she never did with any other royal grandchildren.

50. In 2004 Edward encouraged the public to donate blood but set tongues wagging when he revealed he was ‘unable’ to do so himself. Contrary to belief, it’s not against royal protocol as both Charles and William have donated in the past.

51. Edward was there for the birth of his son, James, in December 2007 and described his newborn as ‘very cute and cuddly.’

52. It wasn’t until he was 38, at the time of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, that he became a full-time working royal.

53. When Ardent Productions was dissolved in 2009 it had just £40 in assets.

54. In 2009 he was investigated by the RSPCA when photos appeared to show him beating his gun dogs, but the charity found ‘no evidence’ of abuse.

55. His favourite tipple is gin and tonic.

56. Edward’s favourite sports are Real Tennis and skiing and he also likes to garden for relaxation.

57. It was said to be the wish of Prince Philip that Edward should carry the Duke of Edinburgh title after his death.

58. The family have a pet tortoise called Marmite.

59. When asked, by a journalist, whether he had watched Harry and Meghan’s tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview, he replied: ‘Oprah who?’

60. At the Coronation, lipreaders picked up Edward offering words of support to his brother, Charles, saying ‘I know you’ve got it.’

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh got wrapped up in their duties when they visited the Right Stuff Amateur Boxing Club in Staffordshire today.

Accompanied by her husband Edward, 59, Sophie, also 59, chatted to staff at the club, which aims to tackle youth crime and anti-social behavior by involving young people.

The couple are expected to take the lead this week as Queen Camilla takes a well-deserved break from public engagements after stepping in for King Charles as he continues cancer treatment.

And the couple seemed to enjoy this during today’s engagement as they chatted with team members and watched the kids in action – and Edward even took part in a sparring session with a young boxer.

As the aspiring boxer honed her skills, Edward held the punching bag steady so she could aim – and appeared to give her words of support during the exercise.

The late queen’s daughter-in-law looked typically elegant, opting for a stylish brown coat and matching suede boots, while clutching a chic leather Isabel Marant bag.

The Duchess styled her blonde locks into a bun and wore a glamorous face of makeup, accentuating her eyes with dark mascara and eye shadow.

To add a touch of glitter to her outfit, the mother of two wore a gold chain with a paperclip charm.

Edward paired his wife with a relaxed formal ensemble, opting for a tweed blazer, lilac shirt and brown corduroy trousers.

The royal couple were all smiles as they saw the children taking part in an amateur boxing match.

According to the club’s website, Right Stuff was launched in 2009 after an influx of requests from young people in the area.

It comes after the Duchess of Edinburgh again showed her support for British sport when she attended the British Cycling National Track Championships in Manchester last month.

Sophie, 59, patron of the British Cycling Federation – the organization that runs the National Track Championships – was seen speaking to athletes and staff on the first day of the competition.

Wearing sporty stripes under a smart navy blazer from British fashion house Alexander McQueen – on sale for £1,990 on the Harrods website – the royal was certainly dressed for the occasion.

The mother of two wore a camel cashmere sweater with red horizontal stripes from American brand Frame, which she paired with navy blue cropped trousers and light brown leather boots from Prada.

She completed the look with a brown studded bag from French designer Isabel Marant.

Sophie kept her makeup simple and wore her hair up, revealing a pair of Tiffany & Co. earrings with the yellow birthstone Citrine.

At the event, which brought together Britain’s top cyclists including Olympians, Paralympians and world champions, Sophie was photographed chatting to Scottish cyclist Jack Carlin, who took both a silver and bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

She was also seen chatting to youngster Harry Radford, a track sprinter and part of the Great Britain Cycling Team, as well as event staff from the National Cycling Center in Manchester.

The royal was joined by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the pair were even spotted trying out adaptive cycles together.

Edward, 59, paired his wife with a relaxed formal ensemble, opting for a sage green blazer, cornflower blue shirt and navy trousers.

Sophie, patron of more than 70 charities and organizations, supports a wide range of projects and charities.

As patron of the London College of Fashion (LCF), she visited the college’s new East Bank campus in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park last month.

There she tried out a virtual mirror that allows people to see what they would look like in countless different outfits, without having to change clothes. She showed her adventurous side when she opted for a fluorescent pink baseball jacket.

The royal beamed as she saw what she looked like in her new trendy clothes on a computer screen.

During the day, Sophie also met Filip Gesse, a postgraduate costume designer, and viewed his avant-garde creations.

Sophie appeared cheerful as she chatted with Filip about his innovative designs.

The Duchess also admired a unique piece called The Monster Project by Emily Amanda Higgins.

Sophie admired the striking bright pink image and ran her fingertips over the varied textures.

The presentation took place at an invitation-only event. However, in addition to the exclusive presentation, an immersive exhibition will be open to the public at LCF’s East Bank Campus from February 12 to March 9.

Edward Bond was born on July 18, 1934 in Holloway, the London borough recreated in ‘Saved’. His parents, both illiterate, had moved to this ‘stone desert’, as he called it, after his father lost his job as a farm laborer in East Anglia. Although he was evacuated to the country twice during the war, Edward was in London during the Blitz and the later rocket attacks on the city. The experience of the bombing, he said, was formative: “I was born in a society where you didn’t know if you would last a day. When I was young, I saw people running for their lives.”

Mr Bond left school – ‘secondary modern’, meaning aimed at children considered academically inferior – at the age of 15 without any qualifications. However, he showed a talent for writing and had an apotheosis that encouraged this. “For the first time I have found something beautiful, exciting and alive,” he said of a school visit to see “Macbeth.” “I met someone who spoke about my problems, the society around me. No one else had ever said anything to me about my life.

Before and after military service – “very brutal, with people publicly humiliated and degraded, a picture of society outside the military” – he worked in factories, warehouses and an insurance office, while writing poems, stories and especially plays. In 1958 he became a member of the Royal Court’s Writers Group, and in 1962 he was given a Sunday evening performance of his ‘Pope’s Wedding’, about East Anglians as bereft and humiliated as their urban counterparts in ‘Saved’.

After his reputation was built by ‘Saved’, the Royal Court staged what are still considered his most important plays: ‘Lear’, a radical update of Shakespeare; ‘The Sea’, about class differences in an Edwardian community; “Bingo,” in which John Gielgud plays a Shakespeare who commits suicide in despair over the loss of his integrity; and ‘The Fool’, in which the poet John Clare is driven mad by the contradictions of British society. In 1978, Mr. Bond directed his pacifist take on the Trojan War, “The Woman,” at the National Theater, after which the Royal Shakespeare Company staged his play “The Bundle,” about serfdom and slavery in medieval Japan.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh hit the slopes in Switzerland as they enjoyed a skiing holiday at the exclusive St Moritz resort.

Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, both 59, were accompanied by Suzie Watt, wife of Royal Hospital Governor Sir Redmond Watt, on their snow-filled trip in the Swiss Alps.

The royal couple arrived on Saturday with friends but without their children, Lady Louise Windsor, 20, and James, Earl of Wessex, 16.

Edward and Sophie appeared to be in good spirits as they showed off their skiing skills before sharing a chairlift with a group of schoolchildren.

St. Moritz is something of a celebrity resort for die-hard skiers, often visited by the likes of John Travolta, Liz Hurley and Ivana Trump, as well as a string of royals.

The couple jetted off from Britain in style in a £42 million Dassault Falcon 7X.

The aircraft can reach a speed of almost 1,000 km/h, can carry up to sixteen passengers and has five fold-out beds, two bathrooms, high-speed internet and a Blu-Ray entertainment system.

Shortly after landing near St. Moritz, the couple left the airport in black Range Rovers and made their way to the chic ski enclave, as seen in photos that surfaced today.

Sophie and Edward have visited the exclusive ski area several times with their children, Louise and James.

In 2019, Louise, then 15, ended up on crutches after a fall during a similar family ski trip in the Swiss Alps.

Heartwarming photos from the royal couple’s latest trip show the ski-mad duo practicing their skills with friends while enjoying the beautiful clear weather.

Meanwhile, other members of the royal family today attended the thanksgiving service at Windsor Castle for the late King Constantine of Greece.

Queen Camilla, 76, led the Firm’s members after King Charles III missed the somber event as his treatment for cancer continued.

Prince William was also supposed to give a lecture, but withdrew at the last minute due to ‘personal reasons’.

No further details have been given about William’s absence, and it is not known whether this is related to the ongoing recovery of his wife, the Princess of Wales, following her abdominal surgery last month.

The Prince of Wales is said to have called the Greek royal family to apologise, while Kensington Palace confirmed Kate is ‘doing well’ as she recovers at home.

Camilla was accompanied by Prince Andrew, his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, their daughter Princess Beatrice, King Charles’ sister Princess Anne, and her daughter Zara Tindall, as well as the late King Constantine’s widow, Queen Anne-Marie, their eldest. son, Crown Prince Pavlos and other members of the Greek royal family.

Edward Enninful has insisted his career at British Vogue ended ‘how I wanted it to end’ amid rumors he was forced out of his role by fashion stalwart Anna Wintour.

Enninful, who served as the magazine’s editor from 2017 until this month, published his final issue last month after announcing in June 2023 that he would be leaving his position.

The British-Ghanaian former model’s tenure at British Vogue was considered more progressive than any editorship that had come before him, seeing the first transgender model, Paris Lees, on the cover. He also oversaw the production of Braille and audio editions of the magazine for readers with visual and hearing impairments.

Despite Enninful suggesting he might one day take over from Wintour as editor-in-chief of Vogue, it was abruptly announced last year that he would be stepping down in early 2024. He has been replaced by Chioma Nnadi, the first black woman to edit the magazine.

As he embarks on a new project organizing an exhibition of the work of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Enninful refuses to be drawn into rumors of a “power struggle” between himself and Wintour, which he dismisses as “gossip.”

He said: ‘It ended the way I wanted it to end,’ speaking of his final days in the top job at British Vogue.

Last year, rumors began to circulate that Enninful, who had publicly stated his desire to one day take over from Wintour as global editor-in-chief of Vogue, had become embroiled in a power struggle with the fashion matriarch.

A Vogue insider said at the time: ‘He made no secret of the fact that he wanted the big job [global editorial director] but he hit the glass ceiling and had gone as far as he could.

‘He thought he would stay in London for a few years and then move to New York, but he now knows he will never get Anna’s job at Condé Nast.

‘Anna is the undisputed boss. She has defeated many rivals and continues to do so. She could swat him like a fly.”

But on the rumours, Enninful said: ‘I don’t comment on gossip, I never have.’

Another fashion source said at the time: ‘I think Edward underestimated it [Wintour’s] current. When he was appointed editor, he got so much smoke up his ass that he could no longer see his own pants.

The Mail on Sunday revealed last year that he threatened to resign unless he got Wintour’s job by the end of 2022. Of course that never happened.

As a result, one insider said Enninful’s move to another role within Condé Nast was a “power struggle.”

‘Edward threw his new vision against the old Vogue – and lost. Succession [the hit TV drama about a toxic media family] has nothing on this,” they said.

There have been reports of flaring rows between the pair, with one source saying simmering resentment boiled over when Enninful planned to make the magazine gender neutral.

“This was too much,” the insider said. Another Vogue source added: “There would be disagreements. Wintour would say, ‘Don’t listen to Edward,’ and he’d say, ‘Don’t listen to Anna.’

Known as ‘Nuclear Wintour’ and famous for her sleek bob and dark sunglasses, she has a reputation for being the demanding titan of the industry.

Vogue insiders called Enninful the only “real threat” to her power. Insiders whispered that the pair are ‘not talking’, while a source said five years ago: ‘I don’t think she ever felt he was qualified for that role.’

As far back as 2018, there was speculation that Enninful’s position at British Vogue was only temporary and that he would take over from Wintour when she retires.

But he said in an interview: ‘Everyone wants to know what I do, but I would like to tell you that I don’t want Anna’s job. I talked to her about it a few weeks ago.”

With Enninful leaving Vogue and being replaced by Nnadi, who is currently editor of the US edition’s website, she will be given the title of ‘head of Editorial content’ with an emphasis on ‘digital storytelling’.

Crucially, Enninful’s all-encompassing role as editor-in-chief will no longer exist. Instead, Ms. Nnadi will likely have to report to a multi-step ladder that ends in the New York office.

Fashionistas today compared the move to scenes from The Devil Wears Prada – the adaptation of the book rumored to be about Wintour – in which Miranda Priestley places rival Jacqueline Follet in a top role to prevent her from getting her own job.

Nnadi credits her Nigerian father for fueling her passion for fashion. She says she only remembers him wearing a suit and taking off his tie on weekends.

Speaking from her home in New York, Ms Nnadi said: “Is there pressure? Yes, there is definitely pressure – it’s Vogue.

‘It still means something to be in Vogue, it still has authority. [Edward] broken new ground. It’s more than being part of a magazine; it is part of the cultural conversation.”

It is Queen Camilla’s dream home: a sprawling palace on a sun-drenched hill in Tuscany with breathtaking views over the city of Florence.

Camilla spent her childhood holidays here with her brother Mark and sister Annabel, playing hide and seek in the enormous frescoed rooms and roaming freely in the spacious grounds dotted with ancient statues.

The Villa dell’Ombrellino, once occupied by the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in the 16th century, was built in 1372.

It was bought with cash a hundred years ago. King Edward VII gave his mistress Alice Keppel – Camilla’s great-grandmother – and during Alice’s lifetime the site became a magnet for passing European monarchs.

Three-hour lunches on the terrace were served by waves of servers, champagne corks popped and there was nothing but gossip about titled people.

“Ombrellino served Mrs. Keppel’s status fantasies,” a friend recalled – and indeed her life in this Italian paradise was nothing less than a royal court in exile.

Now the enormous building lies empty and abandoned, its gates rusting and the paint peeling – a white elephant of a palace that no one wants. No one has lived there for twenty years and no one wants to live there.

It’s on the market – and yours for just £23 million.

To this day, Camilla regrets the fact that her mother Rosalind Shand made the decision to sell it in 1972 – and during a visit to Florence a few years ago she told the Daily Mail’s Rebecca English: ‘It is so’ a tragedy. I think I should start a campaign to buy it back.”

This caused a wave of gossip in the old Italian city that Camilla was leaning on her husband Charles to add Ombrellino to his bulging real estate portfolio.

But it looks like Charles hasn’t coughed up. And from that day until now the place has remained desolate and desolate.

“No one wants to buy Villa dell’Ombrellino,” said a neighbor this week on the Bellosguardo hill where the property is located. ‘The building is a commercial disaster. Nobody wants to live there.

‘Downstairs are large rooms with high ceilings, while upstairs there are smaller rooms, but fewer – two sitting rooms for each bedroom – and the whole thing is very impractical.’

The neighbor continued: ‘The gardens were designed by the famous Cecil Pinsent and contain a collection of trees from all over the world.

‘There were azaleas in huge terracotta pots – but the trees have disappeared and vandals have destroyed the vases of azaleas.

‘When Mrs Shand sold the property, the building was rented to the famous Gran Caffè Doney, where the rich and famous gathered in Florence, but it never moved there.

‘Eventually the building was taken over by Deutsche Bank and the rooms were sublet as office space to various companies, including Brooks Brothers.

‘They organized a number of conferences, events and receptions there, but eventually they closed the building and it stood empty for more than twenty years.’

After Alice Keppel’s death in 1947, the house was inherited by her second daughter Violet Trefusis, whose lesbian elopement with the writer Vita Sackville-West shocked London society in the 1920s and forced Mrs. Keppel – already into trouble with the royal court because the current king, George V, disapproved of her leaving Britain.

Nevertheless, Alice had a permanent suite at the Ritz hotel in London, with many adjoining staff quarters, and moved there permanently during the war.

It is said locally that Ombrellino was used for the torture of prisoners by the Germans after the surrender of Italy in September 1943 and before August 1944, when Florence was liberated.

If so, Mrs. Keppel never knew it.

She returned to Ombrellino in 1946 and died there a year later of cirrhosis.

Her long-suffering husband George, who had endured his wife’s many money-consuming infidelities – not to mention her long affair with the king – was so heartbroken that he died there two months later.

So the house has a history. And now it’s all yours, for just £23 million.