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| Sean Coughlan | Royal Correspondent |
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| Welcome to this week’s Royal Watch. Prince William has appeared in public for his first royal engagement since Catherine’s cancer announcement. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the Duchess of Sussex has offered us a sneak peek of her lifestyle brand. And Queen Camilla continues to raise awareness of domestic violence, a topic royals might have once avoided. Plus, scroll down to see a work contract for Princess Diana filled out in 1979, and see if you can spot the error. | |
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Back to work for William | Prince William has gone back to royal duties for the first time since Catherine revealed her cancer diagnosis – and he was given some “get well” cards. The Prince and Princess of Wales have stayed out of sight since her video announcement last month, but he was back at work supporting a food charity on Thursday morning. Prince William, looking relaxed and informal, was seen chopping vegetables for a project helping to tackle food poverty. |
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| Prince William got down to work in Sunbury. Credit: Alastair Grant-WPA Pool/Getty Images |
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| William talks to workers at Surplus to Supper, a surplus food redistribution charity. Credit: Alastair Grant/PA Wire |
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| William is back at work after a troubling start to the year. Credit: Alastair Grant/Pool via Reuters |
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| He was helping charity Surplus to Supper in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, which supports local food banks and has 200 volunteers redistributing 10 tonnes of surplus food a week. The charity’s kitchen also produces 25,000 meals a year and it’s understood the prince gave them some of his own kitchen items. There was no update on Catherine’s health, but Prince William must be hoping this return to work also marks a return to relative normality after such a worrying and sometimes chaotic start to the year. |
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Send us your thoughts | Thank you for all your fantastic messages. We’d like to start featuring them more. This week, we’re asking whether you watched Scoop on Netflix, and if so what were your thoughts? Let us know via email. | |
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Battle of the jams | What will Prince Harry and Meghan do next? That’s a question that’s often rumbling away about their life in the United States. Now we’ve had the first glimpse of what Meghan’s new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard might be selling, with teaser images of strawberry jam on social media. This fits hand-in-oven-glove with Meghan’s forthcoming Netflix show which will be about the “joys of cooking and gardening, entertaining, and friendship”. |
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| Influencers were sent Meghan’s new strawberry jam. Credit: Getty | There has been no shortage of royals getting into jams. But could Meghan’s new product mean a battle of the brands? Who is going to best preserve their reputation? We can’t do a Royal Watch taste test yet, but the California jam will be up against the reigning ranges from the royal palaces, such as the Buckingham Palace strawberry preserve, Palace of Holyroodhouse marmalade and Windsor Castle strawberry preserve, which each cost £3.95. |
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| | Royal gift shops sell a wide range of chinaware, in case fans need something to eat their jam and toast from. Credit: Getty | There’s a Duchy organic jam and marmalade range in the shops for about £2.80. Or there’s a more upmarket version from the King’s home in Highgrove, where they’re selling Highgrove organic strawberry preserve for £6.95. There are more than 30 different royal preserves on offer, so let’s hope the family haven’t spread themselves too thin. |
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Princess Diana the nanny | There’s certainly a market for royal-related products. Up for auction at the moment is a work contract for a young Diana Spencer, who was looking for childcare work in May 1979. The agency noted on her form that she was a “lovely girl” they could “send anywhere”. |
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| Princess Diana also worked at a nursery. Credit: Auctioneum Ltd - Bristol | The contract says she was born in July 1960, rather than her actual birth year of 1961. Was this intended to make her seem at least 18 years old, and perhaps more employable? How her life would change two years later. Auctioneers estimate the form will sell for anything from £5,000 to £8,000. |
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| Princess Margaret was known for being a keen equestrian. Credit: Dreweatts 1759 | At a separate auction this month, a very different royal item went for a much higher price than expected. A pair of Princess Margaret’s riding boots were bought by a private collector for over £6,900, against an estimated price of £300-£500. | |
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Camilla continues her campaign | Queen Camilla has taken on more responsibilities while the King undergoes cancer treatment - but that hasn’t stopped her campaigning against domestic abuse, a cause she has consistently championed. This week she invited four young women to Buckingham Palace, where they spoke about their work with the charity SafeLives, which is dedicated to ending domestic abuse. |
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| | Camilla became patron of SafeLives in 2020, after the first national lockdown. Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire | During the meeting, it was mentioned that schools should provide more information about preventing abusive or coercive relationships. |
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Finally, thanks to you | This is edition 53, the first of Royal Watch’s second year, so please allow me my Oscars speech. The BBC’s birthday celebrations might have only stretched to an extra tea-round and a slice of cake, but there are some important people to recognise for making the newsletter possible: Jonathan Holmes, Rosemary McCabe, Alastair Reid, Izin Akhabau, Jasmine Taylor-Coleman, Jen Law, Emma Atkinson, Nathalie Malinarich, Richard Moynihan, Nalina Eggert, Dave Molloy, and many others. Naja Nielsen and Deborah Turness are the spiritual gurus of the project. But most thanks must go to you, our audience, scattered all around the world. Thank you for reading. |
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