|
| Sean Coughlan | Royal Correspondent |
|
| Welcome to this week’s Royal Watch. The King and Queen are about to begin a historic visit to Australia. But before we’ve even had the chance to see what welcome they will get from the public, there’s been a row about a drinks reception. Read on to find out why. Meanwhile, Sophie was moved to tears during the first royal trip to Chad. And you share your views on whether the King should apologise over historic links to slavery.
| |
|
|
|
|
Australia trip criticism | King Charles and Queen Camilla are arriving in Australia tomorrow for what will be the biggest trip of their reign so far - and the first time the King will have been there since becoming the country’s head of state. Even before they step off the plane there have been protests from both Australia’s monarchists and republicans. |
|
|
|
| The tour marks the first royal visit down under in more than a decade. Credit: Getty | The Australian Monarchist League said it was “insulting” that none of the the country’s six state premiers were going to attend a welcome reception for the royal visitors in Canberra. Meanwhile, the rival Australian Republic Movement has been selling T-shirts calling this the “farewell tour” of the monarchy. |
|
|
|
| | As well as T-shirts, the campaign’s merchandise includes posters and coasters. Credit: Australian Republican Movement | A quite amicable exchange of letters between the pro-republic group and Buckingham Palace was also revealed. Palace officials repeated their position that ultimately it’s for the Australian people to decide whether they have a constitutional monarchy or a republic. The latest polling suggests more Australians prefer a constitutional monarchy - and no referendum on the subject seems imminent. At the centre of all this is King Charles - and it shouldn’t be forgotten what a stretch this trip must be for a 75-year-old who has been receiving cancer treatment. |
|
| |
|
|
|
Sophie shocked by refugees’ stories | Last week we talked about how the Duchess of Edinburgh seems to be the busiest royal at the moment. And once again she’s reaching parts of the world that other royals don’t - carrying out the first royal trip to Chad this week and meeting refugees escaping from neighbouring Sudan’s civil war. |
|
|
|
| Sophie was the first royal to visit Chad, at the request of the Foreign Office. Credit: PA | Sophie was moved to tears when she heard first-hand testimonies of women who had faced terrible violence and sexual exploitation as they fled their homes. There are 10 million people displaced by the war in Sudan. Sophie warned of a “human catastrophe”, with Chad struggling to “pick up the pieces”. The trip was carried out on behalf of the Foreign Office and it shows how different a royal visit can be. |
|
|
|
|
Royal necklace returns | It has links to royal scandals and a Hollywood icon. Now the historic Lillie Langtry necklace has returned to London, where it is on public display. The striking necklace, made in an Egyptian style in the 1870s, was commissioned by then-Prince of Wales Edward VII as a gift for his mistress Lillie Langtry. |
|
|
|
| Lillie Langtry wearing the gold necklace, which features a fringe of carnelian, moonstone, coral and turquoise pendants. Credit: Getty | The actress was starring as the Egyptian queen Cleopatra in the West End at the time. The necklace went on to be bought and sold by collectors over the next century. It has featured in movies too: it was worn by Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada in 2006. |
|
|
|
| Meryl Streep wore the necklace while playing the formidable fashion editor Miranda Priestly. Credit: Hancocks London | It’s now been bought back by Hancocks London, the jewellery firm that first made the necklace, and it is on display in their shop, not far from the royal residence of St James’s Palace. |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment