16 November, 2023

Sean Coughlan Welcome to Royal Watch. This week King Charles celebrated his 75th birthday in a way that summed up his determination to keep working and help those in need. And what does a transatlantic phone call mean for the future of the family? The Princess of Wales gave a speech on her “life’s work” of improving understanding of early years learning. And that other scandal-hit royal institution, The Crown, returns for another series. The Big Birthday Issue How would you spend your 75th birthday? Feet up with a drink? A trip to somewhere sunny? Not the King, who in a spirit of public service went to a warehouse in Didcot, Oxfordshire, on a rainy Tuesday afternoon and launched a new scheme to reduce food waste and tackle food poverty. Prince Charles and Queen Camilla met staff at the launch of the Coronation Food Project. Image: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA Wire It sent a message of continuing the work and being sensitive to the financial pressures on many people, rather than enjoying the glitz. The Coronation Food Project is intended to address two problems. It wants to help people who are struggling to afford food and at the same time reduce the amount of perfectly good food being thrown away. Also sending another sign of what’s important to the King, the project was announced in the Big Issue magazine, which helps people give themselves a route out of poverty. Big Issue seller Kelvin Gregory, the magazine’s founder Lord Bird, and the King. Image: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA Wire Charles met Big Issue founder Lord Bird and magazine seller Kelvin Gregory at the project launch, and was caught slipping Kelvin a £10 note when he bought a copy of the magazine. The Big Issue’s editor, Paul McNamee, told Royal Watch the King had shown an honest and authentic interest in helping people tackle the cost-of-living crisis. “He could have worked with another title. He chose Big Issue. I think this is a vindication of our reputation and decades of commitment. This is a positive that will help [magazine] vendors, right at the sharp end,” said Mr McNamee. It sent a symbolic message, on the King’s 75th birthday, that he had a real sense of wanting to make a difference during his reign. Writing in The Big Issue, the King said grants would be available for other organisations to tackle food waste. Image: Ian Vogler/Pool via REUTERS King Charles is now the sixth oldest monarch in British history. But it’s hard to think of any before who would have spent a milestone birthday sorting out ways to get more supplies to food banks. • King Charles on Big Issue cover for birthday   • Watch: Gun salute marks King Charles III's 75th birthday Hold on caller, I’ll put you through There had been much media debate (also known as gossiping and speculation) about who would be joining the King for a private birthday gathering. In particular there were claims and counter-claims about whether Prince Harry had been invited. The King had a birthday party at Highgrove, complete with cake, on the eve of his birthday. Image: Chris Jackson/PA Wire But well-placed sources sought to clarify. They told the BBC website that Prince Harry, based in the United States, was going to make a phone call to his father for his birthday. If not a visit, there would be transatlantic greetings. It was a story that ran around the world because it seemed like signs of a thaw in the family permafrost. Contact was being made. Who knows what really goes on within a family? But does that officially count as an olive branch?   • King Charles to get 75th-birthday call from Prince Harry Kate’s early years project Supporting the early years of a child’s life has been one of the most personal campaigns of the Princess of Wales, with her ‘Shaping Us’ project. Catherine gave a big speech at London’s Design Museum this week, calling for greater public focus on the first five years of life and for a recognition of the importance of emotional and social skills developed in those years. Kate opened the symposium in which Tony Blair and William Hague were also speakers. Image: Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Wire These skills from childhood are the “foundations of any happy, healthy life”, she told her audience, but often the toxic legacy of childhood problems isn’t recognised until adults “reach breaking point, rock bottom”. In terms of Catherine’s campaigning, it’s a tricky balancing act. She can’t get into the politics of funding education and healthcare and tackling poverty. And how do you have a discussion about parents struggling to afford childcare if you’re living in a palace? But this is something that the Princess of Wales feels deeply about and she’s in for the long haul.   • Kate’s early years project is her ‘life’s work’ Calling time at the Crown It’s become almost a seasonal tradition of its own, to see the first arguments about a new season of the Crown. The Netflix series’ controversies seem to get earlier every year. But the new season is here for the last time, with this winter to see the final episodes. Elizabeth Debicki, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton and Jonathan Pryce attend the premiere for The Crown Season 5. Image: REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo Like a parallel version of the Royal Family, the Crown has kept generating news stories. The lookalike cast appearing on news pages has led to more than a few double takes. This last series includes the fallout after Princess Diana’s death, and William and Harry growing up, so is likely to be controversial. Reviews so far have been… mixed. If you want a history of how on-screen portrayals of the royals have changed over the years, from Blackadder’s Queenie to Helen Mirren’s The Queen, go to the BBC News website.   • The Crown final series savaged by critics Future Earth Newsletter Essential climate news and hopeful developments, in your inbox every Tuesday. Sign up here Get in touch Thanks for joining for this week’s Royal Watch and I hope you’ll read again next week. In the meantime, for all the latest royal stories click here. And get in touch if you have any royal-related questions you want me to answer. You can email at sean.coughlan@bbc.co.uk. If you know anyone who might like this email, please forward it on to them. And if you've been sent this by a friend or colleague, sign up here so you don't miss an edition. While you're at it, add royalwatch@email.bbc.com to your contacts list and, if you're on Gmail, pop the email into your “Primary” tab for uninterrupted service.