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The royal family have postponed engagements that “may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign” after Rishi Sunak called a surprise summer general election.
Buckingham Palace said the King and Queen sent their “sincere apologies” to those affected, after Charles agreed on Wednesday to the Prime Minister’s request to dissolve Parliament for an election - for the first time in his reign.
Meanwhile, a new portrait of the Princess of Wales has sparked a debate online after commentators argued that it looked nothing like Kate Middleton.
The painting, by British-Zambian artist Hannah Uzor, features on the forthcoming edition of Tatler magazine and was created in honour of the Princess’s “courage and dignity” when announcing her cancer diagnosis.
There have been claims that Prince Harry rejected the King’s invitation to stay in a royal residence on his recent trip to the UK.
According to The Telegraph, Harry turned the invitation down because it had no taxpayer-funded security provision.
He opted to stay in a hotel where he “could come and go unseen”.
Key Points
- New portrait honouring Kate Middleton’s ‘courage and dignity' revealed
- Prince Harry ‘turned down’ reunion with King Charles
- Prince William attends rainy garden party at Buckingham Palace
- Kate Middleton hints at return to duty following cancer diagnosis
Recap: Kate Middleton makes ‘return’
Kate Middleton issues first major update on project since cancer diagnosis
The video on mental health was produced by the Prince and Princess of Wales
Jane Dalton23 May 2024 07:00 1716435000Sunak and King met at Buckingham Palace
Rishi Sunak revealed he spoke with the King on Wednesday to inform him of his decision to have a general election, and the King had agreed to the request for the dissolution of Parliament.
The Palace said Charles met Mr Sunak in person at Buckingham palace in London on Wednesday afternoon, following Charles’ Prince’s Trust Awards engagement.
They spent around 15 minutes together in the King‘s private audience room, in place of their normal weekly meeting on Wednesday evening.
The King, who is still undergoing treatment for cancer, has carried out a flurry of engagements since restarting public appearances in April and now has a number of duties ahead of him after the Prime Minister announced his plan for the country to go to the polls.
Jane Dalton23 May 2024 04:30 1716426000Prince of Wales also pulls out of engagements
Heir to the throne the Prince of Wales has also pulled out of a day of previously unannounced engagements for Thursday, after Kensington Palace received updated guidance from Buckingham Palace following the announcement of the general election.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution garden party on Thursday, marking the 200th anniversary of the lifesaving charity, will still go ahead, with thousands of guests set to descend on the Palace.
Charles, who has only just returned to public-facing duties after his cancer diagnosis, and Camilla never were due to attend the outdoor gathering.
But the King‘s public engagements for the rest of the week are now off - including a visit to Crewe on Friday to tour a Bentley factory and a community centre which supports people struggling financially, and another as yet-not publicly announced event that was due to happen elsewhere on Thursday.
It is understood the move is not a blanket approach to future events, and engagements will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Jane Dalton23 May 2024 02:00 1716422400King to dissolve Parliament on 30 May
The King will dissolve parliament on 30 May, 25 working days before the 4 July general election.
King Charles to dissolve parliament for his first general election as monarch
King Charles will dissolve parliament on May 30 for a July 4 general election
Jane Dalton23 May 2024 01:00 1716418800A week for royal portraits
It has been an interesting time for fans of royal portraits, following the release of new depictions of King Charles and the Princess of Wales.
Both paintings, which are abstract in their own ways, received mixed reactions online.
They come amid the opening of a new exhibition of royal portraits, Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography, which opened on Friday last week at the King’s Gallery in London.
The exhibition celebrates over 100 years of royal portrait photography and features previously unseen images.
King and Queen apologise as they postpone engagements
The royal family has postponed engagements “which may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign” after Rishi Sunak called a surprise summer General Election.
Buckingham Palace said the King and Queen sent their “sincere apologies” to those affected, after Charles agreed on Wednesday to the Prime Minister’s request to dissolve Parliament for an election - for the first time in his reign.
The King and Queen’s D-Day 80th anniversary appearances in Portsmouth and Normandy in June are expected to go ahead as scheduled, but the announcement of a 4 July vote disrupted other events in the carefully planned forthcoming royal diaries.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “Following the Prime Minister’s statement this afternoon calling a General Election, the royal family will, in accordance with normal procedure, postpone engagements that may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign.
“Their Majesties send their sincere apologies to any of those who may be affected as a result.”
Jane Dalton22 May 2024 22:06 1716411635Dec ‘breaks’ royal protocol to explain why Ant is missing to King Charles
Declan Donnelly “broke” royal protocol when he told King Charles why Ant McPartlin was not present at today’s reception for Prince’s Trust award winners.
Ant recently became a father for the first time, and Dec, also 48, couldn’t help but joke that he was “at home breastfeeding”.
“I don’t know whether I broke royal protocol by giving that information,” he laughed.
England star says she did ‘first curtsy’ for Prince William
England footballing star Lauren Hemp has revealed that she did her first-ever curtsy for Prince William.
Hemp, 23, was made an MBE at Windsor Castle today for her services to football, having served on England’s Lionesses team when they emerged victorious at the 2022 women’s European Championship.
“It was nerve-wracking, to be honest,” she told PA News Agency.
“We sat in a room and we got taught how to curtsy and what we needed to do to greet the prince, and I think just standing there and seeing him and being the next one to go was pretty scary.
“I managed to do my first-ever curtsy.”
The footballer, who also plays for Manchester, said they had a “really good” conversation about the sport.
“He’s really interested in football which is obviously great,” she said.
Damehood recipient says arts are ‘integral to everyday life’
Sonia Boyce was made a dame at Windsor Castle today (22 May) after becoming the first black woman to be elected to the Royal Academy of Arts.
While accepting the honour, she took the opportunity to praise the arts as being “integral to everyday life”.
She told PA News Agency: “It’s (the damehood) a recognition of work that not only myself have done but has been done over the decades to just acknowledge and, I suppose, reward the contributions that many have done.
“So I feel very privileged – slightly shocked still – to be in this position and also to be an advocate for the arts.
“We so need that at the moment – the arts are just incredible, they’re not an add on, they’re integral to everyday life.
“The arts is really about if you’ve got something to say, or you’re envisaging something you’re in a dialogue with everybody about it, and so it really is about ‘Come and take part, come and add to the conversation, come and dream your dreams’.”
Bad weather fails to dampen spirits at Buckingham Palace garden party
The poor weather in London did not dampen spirits at the most recent Buckingham Palace garden party.
It was attended by the Prince of Wales, who hosted, alongside other royals including Princess Beatrice and Eugine.
The guests included farmers from the Dutchy of Cornwall, Julie and Matthew Hall, who Prince William sheltered under his umbrella.
Mrs Hall, from Bloomers Farm in north Dorset, later said: “We’re farmers, we’re used to the rain, and when we left this morning Dorset was in sunshine. It’s all the seasons in one day sometimes.”
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