| Welcome to Royal Watch.
King Charles, who has been staying in Sandringham since his cancer diagnosis, briefly returned to London as his treatment continues.
He issued a statement of his “heartfelt thanks” for all the messages of support. However, while there’s been praise for the King’s openness and honesty, royal health stories have cast a light on the long waiting times facing cancer patients on the NHS.
Also this week, Harry and Meghan have a shiny new website as part of their rebranding for 2024, which has raised a few eyebrows.
Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, which celebrates environmental innovation, revealed the destination of this year’s annual awards ceremony.
Plus, how did a royal wedding cake become a slice of history? |
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| | | Harry and Meghan 2.0 | Prince Harry and Meghan seem to be firing up their engines again.
Ahead of their visit to Canada this week, the Californian royals revamped their online identity, launching a new sussex.com website. |
|  | | Harry and Meghan’s new website features a picture of the couple from the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf 2023. Credit: Getty Images |
| | The shiny new platform announced that Meghan is planning to host a new, yet-untitled podcast series. |
| | | Meghan asserts her feminist credentials on the new website and that could be a clue about the emphasis of her forthcoming podcasts and ventures. |
| As with everything to do with the couple, the new online look divided opinion – and yes, your emails reflected that divided opinion!
It seems to make sense to create an online presence that is more clearly about them, rather than their somewhat confusing Archewell brands. |
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|  | | Harry and Meghan speaking at an Archewell Foundation event in New York. Credit: Getty Images |
| Their online home is now labelled the “The Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex”, complete with a coat of arms.
Using the “The Office of” probably sounds quite familiar in the United States. It’s what you might see on the headed notepaper of former politicians or business leaders. So some eyebrows have been raised closer to home at the rather ex-presidential style. |
| Their biographies don’t mention any of their royal connections, except that their children’s titles are on display as Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
There were questions about whether Prince Harry and Meghan, who are no longer “working royals”, were trading on their royal ties.
But it’s always going to be inescapable, for them as much as anyone else, given that the public interest in them is because of those royal links. |
|  | | Prince Harry speaking at King Charles’s 70th birthday garden party in 2018. Credit: AFP/Getty Images |
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| | | | | King’s diagnosis and cancer waiting times | Stories about the royals can often be a way of raising awareness about other big issues and in the case of the King’s recent health problems, his willingness to go public has been welcomed for encouraging others to get their own checks.
Cancer charities reported an increase in people consulting their websites for information and the NHS saw a big surge in inquiries about prostate problems. |
|  | | The King and Queen attending a church service in Sandringham, after Charles’s diagnosis was made public. Credit: Reuters |
| | The King is now receiving outpatient care for his cancer after it was diagnosed in a private hospital. |
| | Buckingham Palace’s statement about the diagnosis, made one week after the King had a procedure for “benign prostate enlargement”, said he had already started “a schedule of regular treatment”. |
| | The King’s swift treatment has subsequently focused attention on the speed of care available for the more than 300,000 other people each year who are diagnosed with cancer in England. Most of them will depend on the NHS, and recent figures have revealed that waiting times for cancer patients are the worst on record. |
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|  | | NHS waiting times for cancer patients have grown. Credit: PA |
| | Last year only 64% of patients started treatment within 62 days of cancer being suspected. In December 2023, the number of patients treated within 62 days of being diagnosed with “urgent suspected cancer” was fewer than 60%.
Minesh Patel, head of policy at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Last week’s NHS England data confirmed that 2023 was the worst year yet for cancer treatment delays, with hundreds of thousands of people who also waited too long to get diagnosed. Behind these figures are real people and lives being turned upside down.”
The King’s openness in talking about his health has been commended, but it will also inevitably cast a spotlight on the worries of those waiting for treatment. |
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| | | | | | Earthshot’s next destination revealed | | Prince William’s annual environmental award, the Earthshot Prize, is going to be held this year in Cape Town, South Africa. |
|  | | Prince William speaking at the Earthshot+ Summit in November 2023. Credit: Reuters |
| | The competition also got the ultimate accolade in brand recognition this week, when it was a question on BBC quiz show University Challenge. Correctly answered, I might add. |
| | The Prince of Wales will be taking part in his flagship eco-event in November, which will see five sustainability projects receive £1m to help develop their ideas. |
| | Almost 400 of this year’s entries are from Africa, a three-fold increase compared with last year’s competition in Singapore. |
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| Love is in the archive | It’s been the week for St Valentine’s Day and romantic memories.
But an archive in the United States has a very unusual royal romantic connection. It shows that even if love can fade, a good cake is there forever.
The Franklin D Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, which holds documents and exhibits related to the former US president, has kept a slice of wedding cake from the 1947 marriage of the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. |
|  | | Mr Schur, chief confectioner at McVitie and Price, putting the final touches to the wedding cake. Credit: Getty Images |
| | The then Princess Elizabeth sent the slice to Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of the wartime president who died in 1945. |
| | The cake remains part of the presidential archive. |
|  | | The royal couple received over 2,500 wedding presents from around the world. Credit: Getty Images |
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