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| Sean Coughlan | Royal Correspondent |
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| Welcome to a jam-packed edition of Royal Watch. After her recent long-haul travels, the Queen has caught a chest infection. She’s under doctors’ orders to stay at home for a few days. We don’t know if she watched the US election results, but the King and Queen can expect to meet president-elect Donald Trump when he makes a state visit. More on the long history between UK royals and US presidents - and how Trump might fare a second time around - in a moment.
Prince William gave an impromptu update on Catherine’s health while in South Africa for his Earthshot environmental awards ceremony. And a TV documentary has prompted more questions about royal finances. | |
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Trump take two | Since World War Two, every US president - apart from Lyndon Johnson - has met with the UK monarch. With Trump heading back to the White House, it’s highly likely he will do the same.
He might want to avoid the type of photos that emerged from a previous visit to Windsor in 2018, when the late Queen Elizabeth seemed to be trying to navigate a way around him. |
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 | Queen Elizabeth hosted Trump twice during his first presidency. Credit: Getty | The very first meeting between a monarch and a US president was in 1918, when Woodrow Wilson met George V in London.
In 1939, when George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth travelled to the US to meet Franklin Roosevelt, they were taken on a relaxed picnic, with beer and hot dogs. It made a big impression, showing the King embracing a taste of everyday American life (although there’s also a claim that the Queen decided to eat her hot dog with a knife and fork).
Charles, as both King and Prince of Wales, has seen many presidential visits. He was present when Dwight Eisenhower came to stay at Balmoral in 1959. |
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|  | Prince Charles is pictured, second from the right, with President Eisenhower in the centre. Credit: Getty/Hulton Archive | And it’s been widely claimed that when he went to meet Richard Nixon in Washington in 1970, the US president was trying to set up the young prince with his daughter. Now Charles and Trump will write the next chapter in what has long been a special relationship. |
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Queen taken ill | Camilla is missing some engagements this week because of a chest infection, Buckingham Palace has announced. We’re told there’s no cause for alarm and the Queen, aged 77, is hoping to be well enough for the weekend’s Remembrance services |
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 | The Queen was set to miss the annual opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey today. Credit: PA | She made headlines recently with comments in a new documentary about domestic violence, saying it should not be a taboo subject.
She’s only recently back after her long flights to Australia, Samoa and India and may have caught a bug on her travels. But it’s another illness in what’s been a difficult year for the royals’ health. |
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Royal estates 'receive millions’ | The opaqueness of royal finances is under the spotlight again in a new documentary called The King, The Prince and Their Secret Millions.
It reveals how the royals receive money from the NHS, schools and government departments through property owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and the Duchy of Lancaster. These are the estates, dating from medieval times, that provide private incomes for the Prince of Wales and the monarch. |
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|  | Details of the duchies’ rental agreements have not been given to Parliament. Credit: PA | Although some of the documentary’s details have been disputed, it raises several questions: What should count as private money? Should royals be commercial landlords? And ultimately, is the Royal Family transparent enough about its finances? |
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Your Royal Watch | Last week we asked whether you had any of your own personal snaps of royal moments.
Thanks to Royal Watch reader Jerry Fielden, who shared this photo of Princess Anne in Canada in June 1986. |
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 | Credit: Jerry Fielden | Jerry says he was working as a photographer at the time and had a press pass, which gave him a close-up view of this event in Toronto. Anne was visiting with then husband Mark Phillips. You can add that headband to the princess’s long catalogue of surprising style statements…
Jerry has an interest in genealogy and says he is a direct descendant of the 13th Century monarch, Henry III. Could this picture of Anne be a family photograph?
This week, what do you think about the royal finances? Should they be commercial landlords? And what do you want to know about the way the UK monarchy is funded? Send us your questions and thoughts on royalwatch@bbc.co.uk. | |
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Catherine ‘has been amazing’ | Prince William says Catherine is “doing well” and has been “amazing this whole year”. He was speaking in Cape Town in South Africa for this year’s Earthshot Prize, which provides a launchpad for ideas and inventions to protect the environment. You can read about the winners here. |
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|  | The Earthshot Prize was founded by the prince in 2020. Credit: Reuters | The prince was wearing a bracelet with the word “Papa”, which he said his nine-year-old daughter Charlotte had made. “I promised I’d wear it and try not to lose it,” he said. |
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A piece of royal history | Restoration work is under way on the seats of Concorde G-BOAC, the only Concorde aeroplane used by the Royal Family.
The jet, which could fly at twice the speed of sound, was used by Queen Elizabeth in 1977 on her return from Barbados after her Silver Jubilee tour of Canada and the West Indies. |
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|  | Credit: PA | The aircraft now attracts thousands of visitors every year to the Runway Visitor Park at Manchester Airport. |
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