On what would have been their 78th anniversary, The Royal Collection Trust has recalled the wedding of the late Queen Elizabeth II and her beloved husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the charity shared two photos from the historic occasion, which began with a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London, followed by a reception in the Ball-Supper Room at Buckingham Palace. “Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II, married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey on this day in 1947,” the caption began. “This photo by Baron, taken in the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace, shows the happy couple on their wedding day.
“The second photo shows Jack Bryant making the final adjustments to their wedding cake. The cake was 2.7 metres (9 feet) high and weighed 226 kg (500 pounds). One tier of the wedding cake was kept for the christening of their first child, Prince Charles, in December 1948.” According to the Royal Collection Trust’s official website, the bride and groom received eleven wedding cakes, but their official choice was baked by McVitie and Price, using ingredients which were sourced from around the world, including Australia.
Queen Elizabeth’s wedding cake was made with ingredients from around the world, earning it the nickname, the ‘10,000 mile’ wedding cake
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s historic wedding cake
A decadent and highly detailed creation, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s wedding cake featured the arms of both families, as well as their respective monograms and regimental and naval badges. After the Pâtisserie team at Le Cordon Bleu London was offered the opportunity to recreate the cake for the ITV documentary, A Very Royal Wedding, Chef Julie Walsh revealed what she and her colleagues learned about the design.
WATCH: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s 1947 wedding
“The original recipe was developed by Fredrick Schur, Lead Confectioner at McVities & Price. He had his original design for the cake selected by the happy couple out of 11 possible designs. The recipe for the original cake was not disclosed and may have been lost in a fire that devastated the McVities & Price factory many years ago,” explained Julie, “therefore, we had to piece together the information we had to develop the recipe.
“We discovered that as the royal wedding took place in 1940s post-war Britain, food rationing was still in force, many of the ingredients for a cake of this magnitude would have been scarce and hard to find in the quantities required. The people of Britain and the Commonwealth donated as much as they could spare to ensure the young princess had a fitting cake for the celebrations.
Ingredients were shipped over from all around the world, including Australia
“The most notable donation came from the Girl Guide Association of Australia (Princess Elizabeth held the office of Chief Ranger of the British Empire), who sent seven crates containing ingredients for the cake, including powdered milk, flour, spices, and dried fruit, as well as one bottle of the best Australian Brandy! In addition to the Girl Guides donation, others received included flour from Canada, Rum from Jamaica and brown sugar from Barbados.”
For months, royal watchers have been fascinated by a tiny mystery: The small ring gleaming on Queen Camilla‘s left-hand pinky finger. It sits discreetly next to the precious Art Deco engagement ring given to her by husband King Charles III, and interested parties have found little information at hand about the jewelry and its history. It’s part of the Royal Collection, but further details are sparse. What, then, has made it so special to the queen?
Queen Camilla with the mystery ring on her little finger.
Tim Clayton/Getty Images
From photos, it appears that Queen Camilla began wearing the mystery ring in February 2025. It didn’t take long for royal enthusiasts to take notice. In pictures, not much could be seen of the piece, but it seemed to be made of gold, with several small circles in the design. It was noted that Charles, too, wears a ring on his own left pinky. His is a signet ring, and has been a constant for more than 50 years.
The Royal Collection described the piece as “a gold ring composed of seven circular plaques, each engraved with ancient symbols, plain gold shield in front.” Other pieces in the collection have more information, such as the piece’s provenance. When experts zoomed in on image of the ring, they identified some symbols related to the tradition of ancient Greece, including a boat, a lyre, an amphora, as well as Greek letters.
Clearly hands-on as a father, William described how his work day, which is not a typical 9-to-5, is scheduled around his family life as much as possible.
“I do try and stick to school timetables as best as possible. So, most days we’re in and out of school doing pickups and drop-offs. Getting the balance of work and family life right is really important. Because for me, the most important thing in my life is family, and everything is about the future and about if you don’t start the children off now with a happy, healthy, stable home, I feel you’re setting them up for a bit of a hard time and a fall. And so, it’s about making sure that we can look after our families, look after our children, in a way that is best for their future.”
When speaking about his family’s privacy, William noted the struggles he faced during his own childhood, when the press speculated about every element of his parents’ lives, marriage, and breakup. “If you’re not careful, you can intrude so much into someone’s life that actually you start unpicking everything. And growing up, I saw that with my parents. The media were so insatiable back then—it’s hard to think of it now, but they were much more insatiable. They wanted every bit of detail they could absorb, and they were in everything, literally everywhere. They would know things, they’d be everywhere,” he said. “And if you let that creep in, the damage it can do to your family life is something that I vowed would never happen to my family. And so, I take a very strong line about where I think that line is, and those who overstep it, you know, I’ll fight against.”
Prince Louis of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince George of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte of Wales on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour 2025 on June 14, 2025 in London, England.
Whenever a camera is pointed at her, Kate Middleton thinks of Prince Philip. Before his death, the husband of the late Queen Elizabeth II gave the royal several pieces of advice on how best to cope with the media frenzy surrounding the royal family. He knew better than anyone: marrying a future king or queen is no mean feat.
Princess Kate’s every move is scrutinized by the public and immortalized by a camera, wielded by a palace photographer, a journalist, or a commoner, a smartphone held at arm’s length. According to biographer Gyles Brandreth’s 2021 book, Philip: The Final Portrait, the Duke of Edinburgh gave Kate a piece of advice that shaped her approach to the public.
“If you think the attention is on you personally, you’ll end up in trouble,” Philip told her, per Hello!. “The focus is on your role, what you do, what you support. It’s not focused on you as an individual. You’re not a celebrity. You represent the royal family. That’s all.”
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh watch a carnival parade as they attend The Patron’s Lunch celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday on The Mall on June 12, 2016 in London, England.
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
This lesson in humility has paid off, as Prince William’s wife is now the most popular member of the royal family, hailed for her discretion, elegance, and devotion to the causes she holds dear. Philip himself was full of praise for Kate Middleton, commending her sensible and level-headed character, according to Brandreth.
The advice he gave her also enabled her to adjust her behavior with the media. The key? Never look at the lens, and stay focused on the person you’re talking to, no matter how many recorders are nearby. While Prince Philip was always known for his attentiveness to the youngest members of the family, it seems that Kate was particularly touched by their exchanges. So much so that royal experts see similarities in their very different backgrounds: “Kate shines in her own light, but she knows her place in the royal family. She never tries to overshadow her husband,” Penny Junor, a royal family biographer, told the Daily Mail. “I think Kate is a bit like Prince Philip, who has always supported Queen Elizabeth II.”
There are also whispers that Kate and William are inspired by the longevity of Elizabeth and Philip’s marriage as they look toward the future. Their elders enjoyed 73 years of marriage, until the Duke of Edinburgh’s death on April 9, 2021 at the age of 99. The Queen passed away on September 8 of the following year, aged 96.
On August 15, Prince Harry honored the memory of his grandfather, Prince Philip, on the 80th anniversary of the end of the war in the Pacific during World War II. The Duke of Sussex asked a friend to lay a wreath at the foot of the National Memorial Arboretum once the official ceremony was over and King Charles III and QueenCamilla had left, so as not to disrupt the course of the day. The royal couple had been present at the commemorations, and were seen to be very moved when a veteran stepped away from his speech to say a few comforting words to the sovereign, who was suffering from cancer.
The wreath was accompanied by a typed letter, topped by Prince Harry’s seal. In it, he saluted the “courage” and “resilience” of the “’Forgotten Army,” dedicating an entire paragraph to his grandfather, who died at the age of 99 in 2021.
“For me, this anniversary carries an added layer of meaning. My late grandfather, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, served in the Pacific campaign,” he wrote in his letter, as shared by GB News. “He spoke with quiet humility about those years, but I know how deeply he respected all who stood beside him in that theatre of war.”
Queen Elizabeth II’s husband joined the Royal Navy in 1939. After missions in the Mediterranean, he went to the Pacific. Second in command, he was on board a destroyer on a mission in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945.
“Today, as I think of him, I think also of each of you, of the shared hardships, the bonds forged, and the legacy you leave,” confided the former soldier. He concluded: “I am humbled by your example, proud of your service and dedication, and profoundly grateful for what you endured. Your story is part of our shared heritage, and it must never be forgotten.” The note was signed “Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.”
The 40-year-old Briton served ten years in the armed forces, including two tours of duty in Afghanistan. Inspired by his military background, in 2014 he created the Invictus Games, a sporting event for veterans and those wounded in war. His honorary military patronages were withdrawn and returned to his grandmother the Queen in in February 2021, one year after he and wife Meghan Markle relinquished their royal duties.
La reine Elizabeth II, le prince Philip et leurs petits-fils, le prince William et le prince Harry, à Londres, en novembre 2004.
Tim Graham/Getty Images
Prince Harry had already spoken of his admiration for his grandfather, “a seriously sharp wit,” who “could hold the attention of any room due to his charm,” as he wrote in a statement shared on the Archewell website after the announcement of his death. He was a “consort to the Monarch, a decorated serviceman, a Prince and a Duke,” and above all a beloved grandfather, “master of the barbecue, legend of banter, and cheeky right ‘til the end,” he recalled.
THE gulf between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and the rest of the Royal Family seems to widen every week.
And it wasn’t helped yesterday by the Duchess of Sussex unveiling her new home, food, garden and lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard shortly before Prince William was due to speak at his late mother’s Legacy Award event in London.
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Prince William paid tribute to the winners of the Legacy Awards last nightCredit: Andrew Parsons / Kensington Pala
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Meghan’s brand logo appeared online shortly before Wills’ speechCredit: Instgram/americanrivieraorchard
The move was slammed by slammed by royal experts as yet another attempt to steal the limelight, with one branding it “calculated” and another claiming it would have “saddened Diana.”
Meghan’s glitzy Instagram post showing off her new crest surfaced an hour before William delivered an emotional speech at the Diana Awards at London’s Science Museum, where Harry later appeared via video link.
Meghan and Harry also chose yesterday to announce the winner of their $100,000 (£78,500) NAACP – Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams slammed the timing, saying there was “nothing accidental” about them, adding: “The announcement of the new brand is totally consistent with the timing of all the Sussexes’ announcements.”
Here we take a look at all the times the couple have shamelessly stolen the royals’ thunder.
Spare bombshell interviews
Ahead of the publication of Prince Harry’s controversial memoir Spare, he sat down for long interviews with ITV’s Tom Bradby and Anderson Cooper, for US channel CBS, in January last year – the day before the Princess of Wales’ 41st birthday.
In a series of shocking accusations against his family, he claimed royals sought to protect their own reputation “to the detriment” of the Sussexes and that they were “complicit” in their “pain and suffering”.
He also detailed the alleged tense relationship between Kate and Meghan in the interviews.
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Prince Harry gave the bombshell interview on the eve of Kate’s birthdayCredit: ITV
Everything we know about Meghan’s new business
MEGHAN Markle has launched a new Instagram brand called American Riviera Orchard.
Industry insiders said the site will focus on home, food, garden and lifestyle goods.
A source told the Mail: “It’s a lifestyle and cooking brand called American Riviera Orchard.
“The brand is meant to coincide with the launch of a new cookery show for Netflix.
“Meghan will be making, and selling, products such as jams. And at some point there will be a book and blog etc.”
As the interviews made global headlines, the official Royal Family’s social media channels posted a simple birthday wish for Kate, writing: “Wishing the Princess of Wales a very happy birthday.”
But the timing didn’t escape the attention of royal fans, with one tweeting: “I can’t believe Harry is doing this to Kate on the eve of her birthday…”
Meghan Markle is using Princess Diana’s legacy to promote her new business – it’s opportunism at its worst
Another wrote: “Prince Harry: I love Kate! Also Harry: I’m releasing this book on your birthday darling.”
Netflix trailer
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Harry and Meghan’s Netflix trailer dropped as William and Kate took on engagements in BostonCredit: Netflix
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William and Kate ignored the issue on their US tripCredit: Splash
Angela Levin told The Sun: “I think that the day seems chosen to ruin Kate and William’s trip – to take away everything from that.
“To pile it on. There was no need to do it that day. It was done deliberately to spoil their visit.”
‘Pregnancy announcement’ at wedding
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Meghan and Harry told family members they were expecting ArchieCredit: AFP
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Eugenie was not impressed by Meghan’s news on her big dayCredit: PA
Princess Eugenie walked down the aisle with Jack Brooksbank in October 2018, just months after Harry and Meghan tied the knot.
But when news of Meghan’s pregnancy broke days later, it was claimed the couple had upstaged the bride by breaking the happy news to the Queen, Prince Charles and the rest of the family at the wedding reception.
Pictures showed Harry speaking to the late Queen, fuelling speculation that this was the moment he broke the news.
A source later claimed the Queen already knew, but had not seen her grandson in person to congratulate him, and that the bride and groom had also been told in advance.
But it is thought that the royal get-together was the first time most of the family learned she was expecting their first child.
And in Finding Freedom, the sympathetic biography of the Sussexes, a source reveals Eugenie was “upset” by the couple going public on her big day.
The Princess “told friends she felt the couple should have waited to share the news”, the books claimed, adding that it “did not go down particularly well”.
Meghan’s career relaunch
MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry have been busy since stepping back as senior working royals.
Meghan has signed with American podcast network Lemonada Media to create new content, and her old 12-episode Archetypes episodes will also be distributed by the firm.
The couple still have their deal with Netflix, where they have created shows like their Harry & Meghan documentary, and the Duke of Sussex’s Heart of Invictus show.
And Meghan has enlisted Beverly Hills talent agency William Morris Endeavour ahead of her long-planned relaunch.
The cameo appearance sees the former Suits star doing multiple roles at coffee company Clevr Blends, including packing, working on the digital team, and on the operations team.
Bombshell Oprah interview
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Meghan and Harry’s bombshell Oprah interview contained sensational claimsCredit: AP
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It was broadcast on the day of the Queen’s Commonwealth addressCredit: Getty
The couple used the platform to make bombshell claims against the Royal Family, including a charge of racist comments made about the colour of son Archie’s skin, allegedly made by a senior royal before his birth.
Meghan also claimed she had been “silenced” by the Royal Family and left depressed, with suicidal thoughts, by her treatment.
But the decision to air on March 7, 2021, just hours after the Queen’s annual Commonwealth Day Speech aired on the BBC, was criticised in royal circles.
One expert claimed the clash could have been avoided had the Sussexes forewarned the Palace about the interview, calling the decision to grab the headlines on the day of the Queen’s speech “disrespectful”.
Harry’s job announcement
Harry, once extremely close to cousin Princess Eugenie, risked upsetting her again when he chose her birthday to make a job announcement.
Buckingham Palace released two pictures to celebrate Eugenie’s 31st birthday, on March 23 2021.
Just hours later The Wall Street Journal released news that the Duke – keen to show he could stand on his own two feet – had landed a high-paid job in Silicon Valley as “Chief Impact Officer” at health tech company Better Inc.
Prince Harry ‘pain’ podcast
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Kate and William visited various charities for Mental Health Awareness WeekCredit: Splash
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Harry talked about his ‘pain’ with Dax Shepherd on a podcast that same weekCredit: armchairexpertpod.com
In the pre-split days, when the brothers and their wives were known as the Fab Four, they were joint advocates for mental health awareness, appearing together at a Royal Foundation event on the issue.
But in May 2021, as Kate and William attended numerous charity events for Mental Health Awareness Week, Prince Harry dropped a devastating podcast talking about a “cycle of pain and suffering” – suggesting he was treated badly by his father because “that’s the way he was treated”.
“I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on,” he said.
At the time, William – whose own tireless work for mental health charities was drowned out by Harry’s complaints – was said to be “very shocked” by his brother’s claims.
Book clash
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Meghan’s book was announced in May 2021Credit: Rex
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Kate’s book came out days laterCredit: PA
In the same month, Meghan was accused of “trying to upstage Kate” by announcing the release of her children’s book days before Kate’s photography album was released.
On May 4, 2021, Meghan announced she would be publishing The Bench, an illustrated story inspired by son Archie and husband Harry.
But some pointed out the announcement came just days before publication of a photography book that Kate had been working on for a year.
The book, Hold Still, captured life in the UK under lockdown and the Covid-19 pandemic.
One furious Kate fan tweeted: “So now just as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, has the HOLD STILL book about to be released on May 7, [Meghan] chooses to release a book she wrote in 2019. Connect the dots, people!”
Christmas card row
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This Christmas image revealed Lilibet for the first timeCredit: Alexi Lubomirski
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The Queen’s image was released the same dayCredit: Getty
Last Christmas, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex caused a sensation when they shared the first glimpse of their daughter Lilibet and the first real look at son Archie’s face on their festive card.
But the post on social media came just hours before Buckingham Palace published an image of the Queen from her annual speech, ahead of its Christmas Day airing.
The much-anticipated speech was the first since the late monarch lost her beloved husband, Prince Philip, in April 2021.
The couple were accused of overshadowing the event, with Kate Garraway suggesting they were trying to “usurp” the Queen.
Queen’s birthday row
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Harry talked about the ‘pain’ of being a royal kidCredit: NBC
On the eve of the nation’s celebrations for the Queen’s 96th birthday, in April 2022, Harry once again angered the royal circle by giving a cringeworthy interview in which he claimed he was her protector.
In an interview with US news channel NBC, broadcast the night before her birthday, he said: “I’m just making sure that she’s protected and got the right people around her.”
Members of the royal household were said to be shocked and angered by the comments.
Angela Levin called for him to be banned from the Jubilee celebrations later that year, commenting: “Harry’s comment on US TV about him checking the Queen is protected is a gross insult to Prince Charles and William.”
Upstaging Dad
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The King’s first official family portrait excluded the coupleCredit: AP
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The new portrait was released days laterCredit: AFP
On October 1 2022, Buckingham Palace shared the first official snap of the recently ascended King Charles, the Queen Consort and the Prince and Princess of Wales, as the mourning period for the Queen came to an end.
Harry and Meghan, notably absent from the family scene despite being in the UK at the time it was taken, chose to make their own statement two days later, by releasing two new portraits of themselves at the One Young World conference in Manchester.
New Archie pics
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Meghan and mum Doria Ragland with ArchieCredit: Harris_Duchess/Twitter
In November 2022, a new image of rarely-seen Archie, sitting on Meghan’s knee during a Zoom chat, was released as Kate and William touched down in the US.
The image – which sent fans into frenzy over the unrecognisable toddler – was released by Professor Duchess Harris.
Royal fans suggested the timing was a deliberate attempt to divert from the Wales’ Earthshot mission.
One tweeted: “Notice Rachel Markle [Meghan’s birth name] puts this out to try and distract from Prince William and princesses of Wales!”
Markle sparkle: Duchess’ business ventures from wellness blog The Tig to kids’ book The Bench
ALONG with her well-known acting career Meghan Markle has also carved out something of a career in the business world as well.
Before getting engaged to Prince Harry, the Suits actress had her lifestyle blog The Tig but this was closed down when she got engaged in 2017.
The Tig, named after her favourite wine Tignanello, was seen as something as a rival to Gwyneth Paltrow‘s £200million Goop, which offers similar wellness and “conscious living” content.
She previously described it as a “passion project” which “evolved into an amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity”.
Since stepping down as senior royals, the couple have produced a podcast, Netflix documentary and memoir, as well as several high-profile interviews between them.
Speaking in docuseries Harry & Meghan, the mum-of-two said of the blog: “It wasn’t just a hobby, it became a really successful business.
“I’ve never really been the type of person to do only one thing. I guess that’s how my website was born.
“There was fashion, tons of food, and travel – all the things that I loved.”
Rumours emerged in March last year that Meghan was going to relaunch the blog.
Meghan also ventured into the world of children’s books with the launch of The Bench in June 2021.
Inside Meghan’s 34-page book The Bench, the illustrations give a fresh glimpse into the Sussexes’ “authentic” life at their LA home – featuring their then newborn daughter.
The publication was a commerical success with it becoming a number one bestseller on Amazon’s chart.
Meghan dedicated her book to the “man and boy who make my heart go pump-pump” in a sweet note for her husband Prince Harry and son Archie.
The mum was “inspired” to write the book after originally creating a poem for Harry’s first Father’s Day.
The royal couple have also been reported to be planning an Oprah-style media empire after registering a series of new entertainment businesses.
They appear to have names which are meaningful to the couple, with one – Cloverdale Inc – bearing the same name as the street that the Duchess lived on with her mother in Los Angeles when she was young.
Both Cloverdale and a second company, Riversoul Productions Inc, are set up explicitly in the “entertainment” industry, and join companies Hampshire LLC, Bridgemont LLC and IPHW LLC.
The couple are already using name Archewell Productions for their Netflix and Spotify deals.
Sandringham Palace is where the late Queen traditionally spent ChristmasCredit: sandringham1870/Instagram
Where is Sandringham Estate?
Located in Norfolk, Sandringham Estate was bought by as a country home for Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, and his soon-to-be wife, Alexandra of Denmark in 1862.
The Grade II-listed house was then passed down to the late Queen‘s father, George VI, in 1900, who passed it onto her.
To this day, the impressive property continues to be privately owned by the Royal Family.
None of the Royal Family live permanently at Sandringham Estate, but the property has historically been their preferred residence for Christmas and New Year,.
In 1957, Queen Elizabeth II gave her first televised Christmas message from the estate,.
This came 25 years after the first radio broadcast from the house, made by her grandfather, Edward VIII.
The Sandringham Estate covers 20,000 acres of land, and even boasts a sprawling country park.
According to the estate’s website, more than 200 people make their living from the estate, including gamekeepers, gardeners, farmers, as well as workers for Sandringham’s sawmill and its apple juice pressing plant.
The house is a Grade II listed building and the landscaped gardens, park and woodlands are on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Each monarch who has lived in Sandringham has developed the grounds to their taste and infused a bit of their personality.
On its website, it says: “A densely planted shrubbery with a shade woodland walk was instigated by Queen Elizabeth II in the late 1960s.”
Her Majesty brought a collection of Rhododendron, Camellia, and Magnolia trees from Windsor, another of her favourite residences.
They were planted in Sandringham in the hope that they would create “more interest, shelter, and privacy in the garden”.
After taking over the estate, King Charles has implemented several changes to the estate as well.
Princess Theodora died just five weeks before her mother in 1969Credit: Getty Images – Getty
The second daughter in the family was Theodora, who was born on May 30, 1906, and died on October 16, 1969, when she was 63 years old.
Theodora married her paternal second cousin, Berthold, Margrave of Baden, in 1931, and they had three children together.
She died just five weeks before her mother, Princess Alice, who passed away on December 5, 1969.
Alice had been invited by Philip and the Queen to live in Buckingham Palace before passing away aged 84.
Princess Cecilie Of Greece And Denmark
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Cecilie tragically died in a plane crash in 1937Credit: Alamy
Philip’s third sister was Cecilie, who was born on June 22, 1911.
Tragically she was the first of Prince Andrew and Princess Alice’s children to die.
Cecilie was just 26 when she died in a plane crash on November 16, 1937.
The flight had been going from Darmstadt to London, and it later emerged that pregnant Cecilie gave birth while on the plane.
A Belgian enquiry concluded that the captain had tried to do an emergency landing in bad weather due to the labour.
Her husband, Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse, and two of Cecilie’s other children – sons Ludwig (aged 6) and Alexander (aged 4) – also perished on the flight.
Cecilie’s daughter Johanna, who was not on the flight, was adopted by another member of the royal family, but died of meningitis two years later.
Princess Sophie Of Greece And Denmark
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Princess Sophie was married twice, and had eight children in totalCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Philip’s closest sibling in age was Sophie, who was born on June 26, 1914, and died at the age of 87 on November 24, 2001.
Sophie’s first marriage was to Prince Christoph of Hesse when she was just 16, and she was the first of Philip’s siblings to tie the knot.
The couple had five children together, but Christoph was tragically killed in an airplane accident in a war zone near Forlì, Italy, on October 7, 1943, and his body was found two days later.
Sophie’s second marriage was to Prince George William of Hanover, but the union was controversial.
Although King George VI gave permission for the couple to marry, consent was later withheld due to the UK being at war with Germany at the time.
This is the only known case of marriage permission being rejected by a British monarch.
Despite this, Sophie and George later married without monarch consent and went on to have three children.
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Left to right: Princess Cecilie, Princess Margarita, and Princess Theodora with Princess Sophie standing in frontCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Was Philip close to his sisters?
Prince Philip had a famously turbulent childhood and was forced to flee Greece in 1922 when his father, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, feared he would be executed during a military coup.
The family fled to France, but were soon separated, with Philip being sent to the MacJannet American School before moving to the UK to study at Cheam School.
His sisters later largely lived in Germany and all married German aristocrats.
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Prince Philip’s parents, Prince Andrew and Princess AliceCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Not much is known about his relationship with his sisters, but he and Sophie were said to be close.
Penelope has been so much a part of royal life, household staff have nicknamed her And AlsoCredit: Alpha Press
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Penelope has been a trusted member of the Royal Family’s inner circle for years and bonded with Philip through their love of carriage-drivingCredit: PA
The Countess Mountbatten of Burma — 32 years younger than the late Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April 2021 aged 99 — has been a trusted member of the Royal Family’s inner circle for years and bonded with Philip through their love of carriage driving.
She was the only non-family member at Philip’s small, Covid-restricted funeral, except for his personal secretary.
Indeed, she has been so much a part of royal life, household staff nicknamed her “And Also”, because whenever Philip listed guests who were to be invited to a royal do, he would end with “and also Penny”.
When Philip was involved in a car accident near the Queen’s Norfolk retreat of Sandringham in January 2019, Her Majesty dispatched Penny to encourage the duke to surrender his driver’s licence.
Ingrid Seward, author of biography Prince Philip Revealed: A Man Of His Century, said: “The Queen had enlisted the help of the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, who visited Philip and helped convince him to give up driving.”
Three weeks after the accident, which Philip blamed on him being blinded by the low winter sun, it was announced he had stopped driving.
The Truman Show actress Natascha McElhone plays Penny in The Crown, with veteran actor Jonathan Pryce taking over from Tobias Menzies as Philip.
A TV insider said: “The highly personal relationship is unlikely to be welcomed as a storyline by the Queen or the rest of the Royal Family.”
Penny was introduced to Philip at age 20 while dating husband-to-be Norton Knatchbull, Philip’s godson and grandson of the duke’s uncle Lord Mountbatten.
Norton had been a year above the then-Prince Charles at Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun and the Queen and Philip never forgot his kindness in looking after their eldest child during his challenging time there.
Back then, Penny was simply Penelope Eastwood, daughter of Reg Eastwood, a wealthy butcher turned businessman who founded the Angus Steakhouse restaurants.
Tragedy befell the family in 1979 when Lord Mountbatten — affectionately known by the royals as Uncle Dickie — was assassinated by the IRA.
The bomb blast on board his fishing boat off County Sligo, Ireland, which featured in the last series of The Crown, also killed Norton’s 14-year-old brother Nicholas and his grandmother, Lady Brabourne.
Devastated by this horror, Penny and Norton decided to postpone their wedding for two months.
When they did tie the knot, with Charles as best man, they inherited Mountbatten’s 18th-century, 60-room Broadlands estate near Romsey, Hants, where Charles and Di would spend part of their honeymoon two years later.
‘Tremendous support’
With Philip and Penny, who was previously known as Lady Romsey then Lady Brabourne, it was a meeting of the minds.
Educated in Switzerland, and with a business degree from the London School of Economics, friends describe her as being “outgoing, engaged, clever and well-read”.
She and the duke also both shared a “boisterous sense of humour”, according to Ingrid. But it was after Penny’s five-year-old daughter Leonora died of kidney cancer in 1991 that Philip really began to take her under his wing.
One source said: “He was a tremendous support during a time of unimaginable grief.”
He encouraged Penny to take up his sport of carriage driving, to distract her, and got his head groom Micky Flynn to show her the ropes.
For Philip, it meant he gained an attractive companion to events such as the Royal Windsor Horse Show and at numerous social gatherings associated with the sport and beyond.
They were even spotted dancing together at the Royal Yacht Squadron Ball during one Cowes Week. Of course, incidents like this on the Isle of Wight only fuelled whispers that they may have been more than just good friends.
It was even rumoured Prince Charles had cut off his friendship with Penny after someone close to him shared their suspicion that his father was having an affair with her.
But author Ingrid said: “We’ll never know how the Queen felt about it all. Philip always was a flirt and the Queen used to joke about his lascivious nature. If she had been hurt by rumours of supposed dalliances, she would never let on.”
Philip himself would simply laugh off any suggestion of impropriety. He told journalist Jeremy Paxman: “Every time I talk to a woman they say I’ve been to bed with her. It’s absolutely cuckoo.”
‘Absolutely cuckoo’
Penny’s marriage broke down in 2010, after 31 years and three children. Her husband Norton, now the 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma, fled to the Caribbean to be with fashion designer Eugenie Nuttall. Jeannie, as she is known, is the sister of former Bahamas Attorney General Sean McWeeney.
Penny, left to manage her and Norton’s 5,000-acre Hampshire estate alone, reportedly gathered together all the staff while her estranged husband was mid-flight and told them he had gone but everything else would stay the same.
One source said at the time: “Not for a moment would Penny allow her husband’s departure to interrupt the smooth running of the estate.”
There was never any question she would leave Broadlands, where every day she visits the tall stone monument, about 100 yards from the house, which stands above her daughter Leonora’s grave.
The Royal Family, in particular The Queen, were full of admiration for Penny’s stoicism. She did allow Norton back to Broadlands in 2014, not to the marital home, but to a converted barn there.
Her marriage troubles came on top of worry about their son, Nicholas, who was a year above Prince William at Eton, and had spent years hooked on crack cocaine and heroin. It was only when he feared he would be cut off from the family’s £100million fortune that he checked into rehab and kicked his habits.
In May 2021, tattooed Nicholas, 40, a music producer and gardener, married Ambre Pouzet, a French former fire-eating mermaid performer. The civil ceremony at Broadlands was a far cry from his sister Alexandra’s lavish 2016 wedding at Romsey Abbey, in which she was given away by the now-King Charles, as her father, The Queen and Philip watched.
A family friend said: “It’s very unusual to be given away by someone else at your wedding, even if it is by the Prince of Wales. Alexandra was at the time furious with her father for leaving her mother, but of course she still wanted him at the wedding.”
Alexandra, a financial analyst known as Knatch, chose to marry Thomas Hooper, an entrepreneur, on what would have been her sister Leonora’s 30th birthday. By coincidence, Leonora shared the same birthday as Uncle Dickie.
The day after Philip was laid to rest at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, Irish republican partySinn Fein — the political wing of the IRA — apologised for Mountbatten’s assassination. Penny continued to visit Philip until he died on April 9.
She was one of the only people apart from family members who he saw at Wood Farm, the five-bedroom home on the Sandringham estate where he spent most of his time after he retired from royal duties in 2017.
Ingrid says: “They were brought together by tragedy but were there for each other through thick and thin. He trusted her implicitly and she adored him. She never betrayed him. She was a keeper not only of his secrets but those of the family.”
Penny returned to the Royal Windsor Horse Show without her decades-long comp-anion for the first time. She was seen standing behind the Queen, broad grins on both their faces.
If Philip had been looking down on them, he surely would have been smiling too.
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Jonathan Pryce as Prince Phillip and Natascha McElhone as Penny Knatchbull in The CrownCredit: NETFLIX
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Penny was the only non-family at Philip’s small, Covid-restricted funeral, except for his personal secretaryCredit: Getty
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Penny and Prince Charles pictured in 1983Credit: Alpha Press
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The pair mount their motorbikes during the Royal Windsor Horse Show at Home Park, Windsor Castle on May 13, 2005Credit: Getty
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Philip and Penny at Royal Windsor Horse Show in 2009Credit: Getty
For the first Easter Sunday since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III and Queen Camilla led a large contingent of the royal family for traditional services at St. George Chapel in Windsor. the day marked the first time Prince Louis, who will turn 5 on April 23, attended the service alongside his parents, Prince William and Princess Kate, and his siblings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Best known for his scene-stealing facial expressions at last year’s Platinum Jubilee, Louis was more subdued this time around, but he did wear one accessory that gave a little insight into his personality: a navy tie embroidered with small bicycles.
Easter 2023 took place exactly two years after the funeral of Prince Philip was held in the same church, and James, the 15-year-old son of Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, wore a green tie emblazoned with Land Rovers, a favorite car of the late prince. Philip owned an array of Land Rovers throughout his life and he spent nearly two decades designing the green Land Rover hearse that carried him through Windsor Home Park during his funeral. In March, Edward and Sophie became the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the title that Philip held after his marriage to the late queen, and James is now the Earl of Wessex, the title Edward was given when he married Sophie in 1999.
From left: Prince George of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales, Prince Louis of Wales and Catharine, Princess of Wales attend the Easter Mattins Service at Windsor Castle.Photo by Yui Mok – WPA Pool/Getty Images.
Both Kate and Camilla wore bright royal blue tones, matching with Charles in a more subdued royal blue suit. Kate first wore her Catherine Walker & Co coat dress to the 2022 Commonwealth day service. Unusually, she also wore bright red nail polish. The royal procession into the service also included Prince Andrew, Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and Princess Anne.
LONDON — King Charles III evoked memories Sunday of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, as he broadcast his first Christmas message as monarch in a speech that also paid tribute to the “selfless dedication” of Britain’s public service workers, many of whom are in a fight with the government over pay.
Charles, 74, also empathized in the prerecorded message with people struggling to make ends meet “at a time of great anxiety and hardship.” Like some other parts of the world, the U.K. is wrestling with high inflation that has caused a cost-of-living crisis for many households.
The king’s first remarks, however, recalled his mother, who died in September at age 96 after 70 years on the throne.
“Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones,” Charles said. “We feel their absence that every familiar turn of the season and remember them in each cherished tradition.”
Charles immediately ascended to the throne upon the queen’s death. His coronation ceremony is scheduled for May.
For his televised Christmas message, he wore a dark blue suit. Unlike Elizabeth, who often sat at a desk to deliver the annual speech, Charles stood by a Christmas tree at St. George’s Chapel, a church on the grounds of Windsor Castle where his mother and his father, Prince Philip, were buried.
Charles said he shared with his mother “a belief in the extraordinary ability of each person to touch, with goodness and compassion, the lives of others and to shine a light in the world around them.”
“The essence of our community and the very foundation of our society” can be witnessed in “health and social care professionals and teachers and indeed all those working in public service whose skill and commitment are at the heart of our communities,” the king said.
Strikes this month by nurses, ambulance crews, teachers, postal workers and train drivers have put pressure on U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government. Opinion polls show a high level of support for the workers, especially nurses. Unions are seeking pay raises in line with inflation, whch stood at 10.7% in November.
Soaring food and energy prices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have created financial strains for many individuals and families.
Speaking over video footage of food banks and other charity work, Charles expressed sympathy for “those at home finding ways to pay their bills and keep their families fed and warm.”
Charles also reached out to people of other faiths in the United Kingdom and across the British Commonwealth, saying the meaning of Jesus Christ’s birth crosses “the boundaries of faith and belief.”
Charles believes the monarchy can help to unite his country’s increasingly diverse ethnic groups and faiths. It is part of his effort to show that the institution still has relevance.
The six-minute message concluded with an appeal to heed “the everlasting light” which, Charles said, was a key aspect of Elizabeth’s faith in God and belief in people.
“So whatever faith you have or whether you have none, it is in this life-giving light and with the true humility that lies in our service to others that I believe we can find hope for the future,” he said.
The king made no reference to the recent clamor over this month’s Netflix documentary series about the acrimonious split from the royal family that accompanied the decision of his son Prince Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan to step back from royal duties and move across the Atlantic Ocean.
Video footage accompanying the Christmas message showed working members of the royal family at official events. Harry and Meghan didn’t appear, nor did Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his honorary military titles and removed as a working royal over his friendship with the notorious U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew did, however, join Charles and other senior royals for a Christmas morning walk to a church located near the family’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk county England.
The king and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, led family members to a service at St. Mary Magdalene Church. They included Prince William, Charles’ older son and heir to the throne, and William’s wife, Kate, and the couple’s three children, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4.
Joining them on the walk was Charles and Andrew’s younger brother, Prince Edward, and his wife, Sophie.
After the family entered the church, congregants sang “God Save the King” followed by the Christmas hymn “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”
Sandringham has been the private country home of four generations of British monarchs for more than 160 years, but this was the royal family’s first Christmas there since 2019, according to Britain’s Press Association news agency.
Elizabeth spent her last two Christmases at Windsor Castle because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crowds lined the streets near Sandringham to greet the royal family Sunday for its return to the holiday tradition.
“It will be in King Charles’ thoughts about his mother, about her legacy. They will be thinking about it over Christmas,” said John Loughrey, 67, who lives in south London and camped out overnight to be first in line. “It’s going to be a sad time and a happy time for them. That’s how it’s got to be.”
LONDON — King Charles III evoked memories Sunday of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, as he broadcast his first Christmas message as monarch in a speech that also paid tribute to the “selfless dedication” of Britain’s public service workers, many of whom are in a fight with the government over pay.
Charles, 74, also empathized in the prerecorded message with people struggling to make ends meet “at a time of great anxiety and hardship.” Like some other parts of the world, the U.K. is wrestling with high inflation that has caused a cost-of-living crisis for many households.
The king’s first remarks, however, recalled his mother, who died in September at age 96 after 70 years on the throne.
“Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones,” Charles said. “We feel their absence that every familiar turn of the season and remember them in each cherished tradition.”
Charles immediately ascended to the throne upon the queen’s death. His coronation ceremony is scheduled for May.
For his televised Christmas message, he wore a dark blue suit. Unlike Elizabeth, who often sat at a desk to deliver the annual speech, Charles stood by a Christmas tree at St. George’s Chapel, a church on the grounds of Windsor Castle where his mother and his father, Prince Philip, were buried.
Charles said he shared with his mother “a belief in the extraordinary ability of each person to touch, with goodness and compassion, the lives of others and to shine a light in the world around them.”
“The essence of our community and the very foundation of our society” can be witnessed in “health and social care professionals and teachers and indeed all those working in public service whose skill and commitment are at the heart of our communities,” the king said.
Strikes this month by nurses, ambulance crews, teachers, postal workers and train drivers have put pressure on U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government. Opinion polls show a high level of support for the workers, especially nurses. Unions are seeking pay raises in line with inflation, whch stood at 10.7% in November.
Soaring food and energy prices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have created financial strains for many individuals and families.
Speaking over video footage of food banks and other charity work, Charles expressed sympathy for “those at home finding ways to pay their bills and keep their families fed and warm.”
Charles also reached out to people of other faiths in the United Kingdom and across the British Commonwealth, saying the meaning of Jesus Christ’s birth crosses “the boundaries of faith and belief.”
Charles believes the monarchy can help to unite his country’s increasingly diverse ethnic groups and faiths. It is part of his effort to show that the institution still has relevance.
The six-minute message concluded with an appeal to heed “the everlasting light” which, Charles said, was a key aspect of Elizabeth’s faith in God and belief in people.
“So whatever faith you have or whether you have none, it is in this life-giving light and with the true humility that lies in our service to others that I believe we can find hope for the future,” he said.
The king made no reference to the recent clamor over this month’s Netflix documentary series about the acrimonious split from the royal family that accompanied the decision of his son Prince Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan to step back from royal duties and move across the Atlantic Ocean.
Video footage accompanying the Christmas message showed working members of the royal family at official events. Harry and Meghan didn’t appear, nor did Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his honorary military titles and removed as a working royal over his friendship with the notorious U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew did, however, join Charles and other senior royals for a Christmas morning walk to a church located near the family’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk county England.
The king and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, led family members to a service at St. Mary Magdalene Church. They included Prince William, Charles’ older son and heir to the throne, and William’s wife, Kate, and the couple’s three children, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4.
Joining them on the walk was Charles and Andrew’s younger brother, Prince Edward, and his wife, Sophie.
After the family entered the church, congregants sang “God Save the King” followed by the Christmas hymn “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”
Sandringham has been the private country home of four generations of British monarchs for more than 160 years, but this was the royal family’s first Christmas there since 2019, according to Britain’s Press Association news agency.
Elizabeth spent her last two Christmases at Windsor Castle because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crowds lined the streets near Sandringham to greet the royal family Sunday for its return to the holiday tradition.
“It will be in King Charles’ thoughts about his mother, about her legacy. They will be thinking about it over Christmas,” said John Loughrey, 67, who lives in south London and camped out overnight to be first in line. “It’s going to be a sad time and a happy time for them. That’s how it’s got to be.”
LONDON — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, are expected to vent their grievances against the British monarchy on Thursday, when Netflix releases the final episodes of a series about the couple’s decision to step away from royal duties and make a new start in America.
After the first three installments of “Harry & Meghan” focused on the British media’s coverage of the couple and the way it was influenced by racism, California-based streaming giant Netflix promoted the latest episodes with a trailer in which Harry alleges the couple were victims of “institutional gaslighting.”
“They were happy to lie to protect my brother,” Harry says in the trailer, referring to Prince William, the heir to the throne. “They were never willing to tell the truth to protect us.”
While it is unclear who “they” are, the trailer suggests a combination of the media and palace officials are the most likely alleged culprits. The quote is delivered over a shot of Buckingham Palace and video of William and Harry walking side-by-side during the funeral of their grandfather, Prince Philip, in April 2021.
The potentially explosive new episodes come at a crucial moment for the monarchy as King Charles III tries to show that the institution remains alive and vibrant after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, whose personal popularity damped criticism of the crown during her 70-year reign. Charles is making the case that the House of Windsor can help unite an increasingly diverse nation by personally meeting with representatives of the ethnic groups and faiths that make up modern Britain — trying to show that whatever the allegations against him, the reality is different.
Pauline Maclaran, author of “Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture,” said the royal family are likely to be awaiting the final three episodes with “bated breath” after the first three contained few direct attacks on the institution.
“It’s very provocative and looks like there’s kind of a war being declared,” she said ahead of the release. “But let’s wait and see.”
Harry’s 2018 marriage to the former Meghan Markle, a biracial American actress, was once seen as a public relations coup for the royal family, boosting the monarchy’s effort to move into the 21st century by making it more representative of a multicultural nation. But the fairy tale, punctuated with a horse-drawn carriage ride and massive wedding at Windsor Castle, soon unraveled amid relentless media attention, including allegations that Meghan was self-centered and bullied her staff.
“I wasn’t being thrown to the wolves, I was being fed to the wolves,” Meghan says in one clip included in the trailer.
The series is Harry and Meghan’s latest effort to tell their own story after the couple stepped back from royal life in early 2020 and moved to the wealthy Southern California enclave of Montecito. Their life on an estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean has been partly funded by lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify.
The first three episodes featured extensive comments from Harry and Meghan, alongside interviews with friends and allies, as well as experts on race and racism in British society. There were no comments from the newspapers mentioned.
Race became a central issue for the monarchy following Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Meghan alleged that before their first child was born, a member of the royal family commented on how dark the baby’s skin might be.
Prince William defended the royal family after the interview, telling reporters, “We’re very much not a racist family.”
Buckingham Palace faced renewed allegations of racism earlier this month when a Black advocate for survivors of domestic abuse said a senior member of the royal household interrogated her about her origins during a reception at the palace. Coverage of the issue filled British media, overshadowing William and his wife Kate’s much-anticipated visit to Boston, which the palace had hoped would highlight their environmental credentials.
The Netflix series is problematic for the palace because Harry and Meghan are appealing to the same younger, more culturally diverse demographic that William and Kate are trying to win over, Maclaran said.
“I think, it has to be worrying for the royal family in terms of their future, because they really need to get this young generation on their side, to an extent, if they’re going to survive,’’ she said. “They will have to make a very big effort to make themselves appear more diverse, and I think we do see that happening a little bit, but not enough.”
Elizabeth Debicki has mesmerized audiences with her eerie summoning of Princess Diana on The Crown’s fifth season, which charts the late royal’s messy breakup with Prince Charles and the royal family. “She precisely calibrates the elegant ennui of the public Diana—her familiar crooked-neck pose, her downward gaze so knowing and haunted while she talks in that mournful dove’s coo,” wrote Vanity Fair’s chief critic, Richard Lawson, in his review. “It was like watching a ghost, really,” said Diana biographer Andrew Morton, who secretly collaborated with the late princess on her bombshell tell-all 30 years ago, in an interview with Vanity Fair. The author added that he was “genuinely shaken” and “blown away by how she got every nuance of her character.”
Debicki herself is reluctant to reveal the source of her magic, at least while filming The Crown’s final season—which will chronicle Diana’s final days and tragic 1997 death. An avid researcher at heart, the Australian actor tells Vanity Fair that she happily dug into the many hours’ worth of available footage of the royal, studying the princess’s every movement and intonation. “There were a lot of light bulbs going off, but it’s funny talking about it because I’m still doing it,” she demurs during a rare break from filming. To articulate the process could unravel it. She will allow, however, that the Diana journey began with a somewhat awkward meeting with series creator Peter Morgan.
During an initial conversation with Morgan at his home, Debicki says, she instinctively grabbed a Diana book from the pile of tomes on his coffee table and held on to it so tightly that the creator told her at the end of the meeting, “You can keep that.” Even without the offer, laughs Debicki, “I was such a nervous wreck I probably would have walked out from his house with it.” When Debicki left the house, she opened the book—which she believes was Diana: Her True Story—and saw that the pages were covered with Morgan’s fastidious notes. “I turned back around, rang the door, and said, ‘Oh, no. You can have it. It’s fine.’ He said, ‘No, no. You take it.’” The interaction was so mortifying to her, she says, that “I thought I’d blown it.”
The Crown’s fourth season depicted Diana’s trajectory from innocent schoolteacher’s aide to fairy-tale bride to embittered young wife of a cheating husband, with Emma Corrin playing the part. When season five finds Debicki’s Diana, though, she is a woman coming into her own while navigating a nasty marital split, single motherhood, and the loneliness of her life as a one-in-a-billion public figure. If Debicki had a blueprint for her character’s arc this season, she says, it was “surviving something the best that she could manage it.” An early conversation with Morgan covered “the effect of public life…in relation to politicians. We had an interesting conversation about the tolls on mental health, how you can survive, and the effects it takes.”
Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana.Courtesy of Netflix.
Both Diana and Charles weaponize the media in the fifth season—with episodes depicting the royals sparring via bombshell interviews. Diana’s secret partnership with Morton and barn-burning Panorama interview, both of which were conducted inside Kensington Palace, were viewed by the royal family as absolute betrayals. Diana has been accused of being manipulative with the press, but Debicki saw the late princess’s tricky relationship with media as being a normal human impulse immensely magnified.
“Playing her in the show, I understood very much the desire to try to control what people think about you,” explains the actor. “It’s that thing that we all do in such a tiny way when you think, Oh, gosh, maybe [so-and-so] thinks this about me. You want to control the narrative that people have of you. When you have the entire world watching you, you want to have the reins on that narrative. It made a lot of sense to me.”
Debicki felt the complexity of Diana’s relationship with the press while wading through endless news segments featuring Diana and ping-ponging points of view. The actor calls it an “ebb and flow of with-her and against-her journalism that was very much happening in the ’90s. It was so vulgar. You feel so distinctly how poisonous it can be, in both directions. Something she said in the Panoramainterview was, ‘The higher the media puts you, the bigger the drop.’ She says, ‘I was always aware of that.’ So she was incredibly savvy about how to use them.”
The unspoken norm, especially when it involves the martyrdom that comes with being dead, is that no one should speak ill of Princess Diana. Who later became just “plain” Lady Diana in the wake of her very public and very tumultuous divorce with Prince Charles. The Crown’s fifth season explores the final breakdown of the doomed-from-the-start marriage, this time with Elizabeth Debicki in the role. Admittedly, her forebear, Emma Corrin, was slightly more likable—and, to be frank, Debicki looks better suited to play Paris Hilton than Diana Spencer. But that’s nothing compared to the physical upgrade Prince Charles gets in the form of Dominic West (whose real-life son, Senan West, plays Prince William). This being just one of many initial telltale signs that the series’ creator, Peter Morgan (who wrote every episode of this season), is determined to present Charles in a more favorable light than he’s ever been accustomed to.
But before Morgan paints his pretty picture of a rather hideous man, the requisite “metaphor” is established for the season. Specifically, the four-thousand-ton yacht created for Queen Elizabeth (shown as Claire Foy in the flashback scenes). Appearing at the launch of the yacht, dubbed Britannia, in 1953, the queen declared to a public in Scotland that was still under the trance of worshipping her, “I hope that this brand-new vessel, like your brand-new queen, will prove to be dependable and constant.” If by that she meant “stoic and rigid,” she fulfilled her promise.
A pan over from the young queen of yore to the queen of the present-day (set in 1991)—played by Imelda Staunton—as she gets a check-up from her doctor finds her being asked a “personal” question. That being: is Balmoral her favorite home? The queen coyly answers, “There is another that’s even more special to me.” Obviously, it’s the royal yacht, the only “dwelling” ever created expressly for her tastes, whereas everyplace else she inhabits is haunted by the tastes of other rulers. Just another case of the laughable amount of sympathy we’re supposed to feel for her when this is expressed. “Oh you poor thing, the various castles you live in don’t suit your personality? How badly we should feel for you!” But anyway, Morgan does his best to evoke “empathy” not only for the monarchy as an institution, but for Charles in particular. Not just because he’s so “full of potential” and such an educated man (as anyone given his education could be) who can never make his mark in any real way while he waits for the role he was “destined” for. But also because he’s been “saddled with” Diana. She with her “middle-class” interests like shopping and pop culture. This divide is drilled further into the viewer’s mind as the episode, called “Queen Victoria Syndrome,” shows Charles and Diana on their “second honeymoon” in Italy. Namely, off the coast near Naples, where Charles’ own yacht, the Alexandra is enlisted.
As Charles’ sole motive for agreeing to the so-called second honeymoon is to benefit from the goodwill of a new poll that posits most would be in favor of the queen abdicating early to give up her crown to someone younger and more “modern,” Diana is once again led down the primrose path of believing her marriage might have a chance. Moreover, when she expresses an interest in beaches and water sports and shopping as Charles goes over a historical value-oriented itinerary, Morgan makes his message clear: neither he nor Charles saw Diana as an intellectual equal. Coming to her defense on the shopping desire is William (Timothée Sambor) and Harry (Teddy Hawley), the latter barely seen in this season (perhaps some kind of undercutting shade at his current overall absence). And yet, he being the first to raise his hand to defend Diana in her desire to shop feels like a poignant moment for showing their deeper affinity.
The continued displays of their lack of similar interests are further made manifest by Diana riding away on a boat with William and Harry to the mainland as she blasts “Emotions” by Mariah Carey and calls out, “Bye Charles! We’ll miss you while we’re having all the fun!” Unable to handle his “petulant” wife any longer, Charles exits the friend-filled “honeymoon” early under a pretense, then angles for favor with Prime Minister John Major (Johnny Lee Miller) by using the poll as a launching point to poison him against his mother—the first of many instances in this season. Which, no, doesn’t make Charles come across as noble, so much as a backstabbing little twat who can’t handle a woman in power. Even a superfluous one who does repeatedly show herself to be out of touch. And, after telling Major she welcomes any comparison to the long-reigning Queen Victoria intended to be an insult, she then requests the funds necessary to refit her royal yacht—again, the “grand metaphor” of the season meant to hit us over the head with the analogy that she, like it, has become a liability that few people have use for. Least of all “common” people. “We’re in the middle of a global recession,” Major has to remind her before suggesting the royal family bears the cost of repairing the yacht themselves. Needless to say, the queen is scandalized by such a response.
The next episode, “The System,” veers away from the queen and Charles to give us a requisite glimpse into the goings-on of Prince Philip’s (Jonathan Pryce) life at the time. It was comprised mainly of carriage driving and forming a close bond with Penny Knatchbull (Natascha McElhone), the wife of Lord Romsey a.k.a. Philip’s godson, Norton Knatchbull (Elliot Cowan). When Penny is brought closer to Philip in the wake of her daughter Leonora’s death at the age of five, it gives him more clout in terms of suggesting she take up his same invigorating hobby of carriage driving.
But while the senior royals are having their fun and frivolity, Diana’s resentment is gathering—prompting her to take up an offer presented by her close friend, Dr. James Colthurst (Oliver Chris), in being interviewed secretly by journalist Andrew Morton (Andrew Steele). The eventual biography that results, Diana: Her True Story, is released in 1992—the queen’s self-declared “annus horribilis” (also the title of episode four, in which Princess Margaret [Lesley Manville] is given her biggest storyline of the season with the reemergence of her one true love, Peter Townsend [Timothy Dalton]). Notably, the illustriously terrible (mainly for Diana) Christmas of ’91 is only glossed over (even in the finale of season four), with primary emphasis on Penny being seen publicly with the queen (per Philip’s request, lest the media “get the wrong idea” about his increasingly close relationship with her) in episode six, “Ipatiev House.” Perhaps because Kristen Stewart in Spencer already got to cover that ground from Diana’s perspective so thoroughly.
In any case, the Andrew Morton biography of ’92 would be nothing compared to the bomb set off by her infamous Panorama interview for the BBC in 1995, which episodes seven through nine, “No Woman’s Land,” “Gunpowder” and “Couple 31” all address in a three-act format. “Couple 31” serving to show the “fallout” of what Diana “hath wrought,” even though many responded favorably to the interview (regardless of it being obtained via extremely nefarious methods). Especially with regard to her frank discussion of her eating disorder, exhibiting a candor that undoubtedly gave many others the courage to come forward about their own.
Alas, that wouldn’t be in keeping with season five’s overall determination to portray Diana as a very insecure and unstable woman. And Charles as an intelligent man dealt an unfortunate hand for wanting to actually use that intelligence. Enter a flashback to 1989 in the most pandering-to-Charles episode, “The Way Ahead.” Opening on a scene during Christmas as Charles sits at a table of close friends, he complains, “Previous princes of Wales have been happy to spend their life in idle dissipation, but my problem is, I can’t bear idleness… In any other professional sphere, I’d be at the peak of my powers. Instead, what am I? I’m just a useless ornament stuck in a waiting room, gathering dust.” Here, too, the amount of “empathy” we’re supposed to feel for this person is perhaps overshot by Morgan.
Morgan’s subsequent attempt at making Charles seem “with it”—of the people and among the people—isn’t very successful either. This occurring in the final scene of “The Way Ahead” that features him attempting to breakdance with non-white youths to the tune of Eric B. & Rakin’s “Don’t Sweat the Technique.” A moment meant to spotlight his triumph in overcoming the scandal of his Tampongate conversation with Camilla being released to the public (thankfully, for there was a moment there when one was led to believe The Crown might never bring it up).
Almost as though fearing Charles in his new current role as King of England, this midpoint episode is also the only one to offer the kowtowing written-out epilogue, “Prince Charles founded the Prince’s Trust in 1976 to improve the lives of disadvantaged young people. Since then, the Prince’s Trust has assisted one million young people to fulfill their potential.” That last phrase sounding vague enough to make the prince seem very charitable indeed. The last title card concludes, “And returned nearly £1.4 billion in value to society.” If Morgan says so…
With the finale, “Decommissioned,” we’re brought back to the most unique episode of the season, “Mou Mou,” in which it is gradually revealed how Diana came to be in Dodi Fayed’s (Khalid Abdalla) orbit. The answer being, according to Morgan, a result of Dodi’s father, Mohamed “Mou Mou” Al-Fayed (Salim Daw), being some sort of sycophantic Anglophile. This prompting him to do everything in his financial power to get the queen to notice him—even buying Harrods. Unfortunately, the queen’s inherent racism and elitism appears to have made her averse to sitting next to Mou Mou at the Harrods Cup Polo Match. Per The Crown, this led the queen to send Diana in her place while she sat with Margaret.
In “Decommissioned,” it is Mou Mou who suggests that Diana bring William and Harry to St. Tropez for the summer on his new yacht, the Jonikal. This being yet another symbolic moment in which, as the queen’s own Britannia is put into retirement, Diana appears to be getting a shot of life via this new yacht. As we all know, that life would be cut tragically short after her vacation, the one that featured the iconic telephoto lens-procured image of Diana in a blue bathing suit perched at the edge of a diving board—so much about that being a type of foreshadowing and a summation of her entire life. Something Morgan wants to stretch out into a final season that will focus on her death and its aftermath.
Hence, the anticlimactic ending of the season… even if meant to be a cliffhanger, of sorts, as it offers scenes of Diana as she gets ready for her summer in the South of France with the boys and Dodi as he proposes to model Kelly Fisher (Erin Richards). The last scene then shows Diana and the queen looking in a mirror, as the latter says goodbye to her precious royal yacht (invoking nothing except the reaction of “oh boo-hoo, you don’t get a massive boat paid for by the British people anymore”).
Charles, meanwhile, is given another moment of “grace” and “sagacity” when he forewarns his mother, “If we continue to hold on to these Victorian notions of how the monarchy should look, how it should feel, then the world will move on. And those who come after you will be…left with nothing.” A.k.a. he will be left with nothing. And it remains to be seen if Charles truly will practice what he once preached when it comes to “rallying” for a more “progressive” monarchy.
Incidentally, “A house divided” is the tagline for the season. And yet, it applies not only (even now) to the House of Windsor, but to those who can see the monarchy for what it is—parasitic and long outmoded—and those who would cling to it as the crux of British identity.
On Monday, King Charles III is celebrating his 74th birthday, his first since he ascended to the throne back in September. To mark the day, Westminster Abbey rang bells, the king was honored with a 21-gun-salute, and the Household Cavalry Band played “Happy Birthday” at Buckingham Palace during the Changing of the Guard. The palace has also released a new photograph of Charles posing by an ancient oak near Windsor Castle and announced that Charles is taking on a role held by his father, Prince Philip, for most of his life.
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From 1952 until his death in 2021, Philip served as the park ranger of Windsor Great Park, the estate where the castle is located alongside a handful of other royal family residences. Now, 70 years later, Charles is taking on the role overseeing conservation and management of the five-thousand acres belonging to the Crown Estate.
In a statement, Paul Sedgwick, the Crown Estate managing director and deputy ranger of Windsor Great Park, said he was “honored” that Charles would be taking on the traditional role at the estate where the family has a nearly 1000-year history. “Windsor has a wonderful heritage with many precious natural habitats,” he said. “His Majesty’s passion and commitment to the natural world will be invaluable as we seek to become a center of excellence for environmental best practice, preserving and enhancing the Great Park for generations to come.”
While Philip was the park ranger, he helped oversee a program that preserved a population of red deers and also helped install a new visitor center. For decades, Charles oversaw an organic farming operation operated by the Duchy of Cornwall. Now that Prince William is taking on his father’s former estate, the new role at Windsor will be an opportunity for Charles to continue the type of environmental management he took interest in at his country home, Highgrove.
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William and Kate Middleton took to their own social media accounts to wish the king a happy birthday, sharing a photograph of Charles taken last week during a tour of Yorkshire. The Royal Collections Trust account also wished him a happy birthday on their accounts, alongside a photo of a young Charles in a stroller, kissing the hand of his sister, Princess Anne, in 1951.
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WINDSOR Castle is one of the nation’s most iconic buildings, but it was once ravaged by flames after a fire broke out in 1992.
The incident destroyed 115 rooms and took five years to restore and is said to have “devastated” the Queen.
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In 1992, Windsor Castle suffered a devastating fire, which caused millions of pounds of damageCredit: AP
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Queen Elizabeth II inspects the fire damage at Windsor Castle, the day after it when up in flamesCredit: PA:Press Association
What caused the fire at Windsor Castle?
On November 20, 1992, a faulty spotlight in Queen Victoria’s Private Chapel at Windsor Castle set alight to a curtain next to the altar.
Just minutes later, the fire started spreading around the historic castle, including into St George’s Hall next door.
The fire was spotted at 11.30am and within three hours a team of 225 firefighters from seven counties were tackling the outbreak.
This involved using 36 pumps and discharging 1.5million gallons of water.
No one lost their life in the blaze, although six people suffered minor injuries.
How much of Windsor Castle was destroyed?
The fire destroyed 115 rooms, including nine State Rooms.
Thankfully, due to rewiring and other works being in progress at the time, most of the artworks and valuables had previously been moved into storage.
Prince Andrew, who unlike the Queen and Prince Philip was there at the time, organised a human chain to bring out treasures that were still in place.
They managed to save all but two pieces: A rosewood sideboard and a huge 1798 painting of George III by Sir William Beechey.
One corner of the castle — fortress of the monarchy for almost 1,000 years — had been nearly reduced to smouldering rubble.
Over the next few years the castle was restored, and the project cost £36.5 million.
Initially the work was due to be footed by the taxpayer, as Windsor Castle is owned by the Government and not the Royal Family.
However, after outcry the Queen paid 70 per cent of the restoration work and opened parts of Buckingham Palace to the public to generate income.
The official completion date was 20 November 1997, five years to the day after the outbreak of the fire.
This also corresponded with the 50th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
What did The Queen say about the fire at Windsor Castle?
The Queen was initially informed of the tragic news via a telephone call from Prince Andrew and was said to be devastated.
The next afternoon, she surveyed the damage, a small shocked figure in a hooded mackintosh.
Four days later, on November 24, in a speech at Guildhall marking her 40th anniversary of her accession, she referred to 1992 as her ‘Annus Horribilis’.
She said: “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure.
“In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an ‘Annus Horribilis’.”
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Fire damage at St George’s Hall, Windsor CastleCredit: Getty
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Interior view of Windsor Castle showing the restoration work after it was damagedCredit: Getty
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The morning after the fire which severely damaged large sections of Windsor CastleCredit: PA
LOS ANGELES — When “The Crown” returns Wednesday after a two-year absence, the splintering marriage of Charles and Diana and more woes for Queen Elizabeth II are in the drama’s elegant but intrusive spotlight.
There’s swirling off-stage drama as well for the Netflix series that began with Elizabeth’s marriage in the late 1940s and, in its fifth season, takes on the British royal family’s turbulent 1990s. The queen famously labeled one stretch her “annus horribilis” — Latin for “horrible year.”
The safe distance of history is gone in the 10 new episodes set within recent memory for many and whose stories, sight unseen, have been denounced. The death of Queen Elizabeth, 96, in September adds an uneasy dimension: We speculate freely about the famous before and after they’re gone, but is more owed a country’s beloved and longest-serving monarch?
Among the prominent critics is Judi Dench, an Oscar-winner for her role as Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare in Love.” In a letter to The Times of London, the actor blasted elements of the drama as “cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent.”
She called for each episode to carry a disclaimer labeling it as fiction. It’s a demand that Netflix has heard before and continues to resist, framing the series as drama inspired by historical events. Series creator Peter Morgan was unavailable for comment, Netflix said.
Dench is not amused by the streaming service’s intransigence.
“The time has come for Netflix to reconsider — for the sake of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a mark of respect to a sovereign who served her people so dutifully for 70 years,” she wrote.
Her plea followed a rebuke of the series from former Prime Minister John Major, shown in the new season being lobbied by Prince Charles — now King Charles III — to help maneuver the queen’s abdication. A spokesman for Major labeled the scene as false and malicious.
Cast members including Jonathan Pryce, who plays Elizabeth’s stalwart husband Prince Philip, beg to differ with the series’ detractors.
“The queen is in no danger from ‘The Crown,’” Pryce told The Associated Press. He said critics are lambasting the new season despite ignorance of it, reminding him of what the British once termed “the Mary Whitehouse effect.”
Whitehouse had “a huge following and she criticized programs she’d never seen,” he said. “I think a lot of the protests this time, people haven’t seen this series. They don’t know how these issues are treated. I have to say they’re treated with a great deal of integrity and a great deal of sensitivity.”
Imelda Staunton, stepping in as the latest actor to play Elizabeth, defended the series, its award-winning creator and its viewers.
“I think it’s underestimating the audience,” Staunton told AP. ”There have been four seasons where people know it’s been written by Peter Morgan and his team of writers.”
Morgan, writer of the movie “The Queen” and play “The Audience,” both starring the Oscar- and Tony-winning Helen Mirren as Elizabeth II, has made royals a specialty. The recent criticism may suggest his winter of discontent is ahead, but Morgan has it easier than another writer who feasted on the British monarchs as material: William Shakespeare, who dramatized the reigns of seven kings.
All were in the past, with Shakespeare treading lightly around the rulers of his time, Elizabeth I and James I.
“We all imagine it being sort of sweetness and light, and we’ve all seen ‘Shakespeare in Love’ and everyone’s sitting around drinking. Actually, it was like Stalinist Russia in many ways,” Shakespearean expert Andrew Dickson said of the rigidly controlled society in which the bard worked circa 1585 to 1613.
Plays were approved by the master of the revels, a sort of civil servant with the power of censorship, said Dickson, author of “Worlds Elsewhere: Journeys Around Shakespeare’s Globe” and “The Globe Guide to Shakespeare.” Authors could and were imprisoned, or worse, for transgressions, he said.
“His very few representations of royals recent to his time were pretty flattering, and and early audiences even called them patriotic,” said Harvard teacher-scholar Jeffrey R. Wilson, author of “Shakespeare and Trump” and “Richard III’s Bodies.” Theater in general was viewed as illusory and deceptive, he said.
“He told this politicized version that was flattering to the powers that were in his time,” Wilson said. It became the “dominant framework for telling English royal history all the way through the 18th and 19th centuries. It’s now called the ‘Tudor myth,’” he said, a reference to the House of Tudor that ruled for more than a century.
It’s problematic if people similarly begin recounting the Netflix show’s “fictionalized version of history as fact,” he said.
Lesley Manville, who plays the queen’s sibling Princess Margaret this season, said she defers to those in charge of “The Crown” on whether a disclaimer is or isn’t warranted.
“For my part, I can only be crystal clear that what I’m doing is a drama,” Manville said. “We’ve never supported it to be anything other than a drama about a real family, a very world famous family.”
Staunton said she’s grateful that the season addresses a period that was “quite tumultuous, and therefore that creates quite a good drama.” She traced the recent protests about the series directly to the queen’s death.
“There’s no doubt that if we were releasing the series two years ago there wouldn’t be this amount of sensitivity, which again is absolutely understandable,” Staunton said. She found herself deeply affected by the queen’s death, which she learned of after a day of taping on the show’s sixth season.
“’Why am I feeling so distraught?’” she recalled asking herself. “But of course I’d been living with her for two and a half years” of preparation and production.
For Pryce, working on the series has provided a better understanding of the royal family.
“They’ve always been a part of society and it looks like they’re going to continue for some time,” he said. “I’m looking forward to King Charles’ reign, and seeing what he can do to change things.”
LONDON — Hundreds of royal fans lined up outside Windsor Castle on Thursday for the chance to pay their final respects to Queen Elizabeth II as the chapel where the late monarch is buried opened to the public for the first time since her death.
Many want to visit the queen’s tomb, which is marked by a slab of hand-carved Belgian black marble inside the King George VI Memorial Chapel, part of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The queen’s name is inscribed on the ledger stone in brass letter inlays, alongside the names of her husband, mother and father.
Among the early arrivals was Anne Daley, 65, from Cardiff, who got to the castle at 7:30 a.m., well ahead of the 10 a.m. opening time. She was also one of the first in line as tens of thousands of people shuffled through Westminster Hall over four days to see the queen’s lying in state before her funeral.
Daley said she felt emotional thinking about the monarch’s death on Sept. 8, as well as that of her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year.
“The castle feels like empty, gloomy. Nobody’s living in it. You know, you’ve lost the queen, you’ve lost the duke, you lost the corgis,” Daly said, referring to Elizabeth’s beloved dogs. “It’s like when you’ve sold your house and all the history is gone.”
To visit the chapel, royal fans have to buy a ticket to Windsor Castle. The price for adults is 26.50 pounds ($28.75) Sunday through Friday, and 28.50 on Saturdays.
The memorial chapel sits within the walls of St. George’s Chapel, where many members of the royal family are buried. It has also been the venue for several royal weddings, including the marriage of Prince Harry to the former Meghan Markle in 2018.
© Getty Images
