Much of this intrigue was due to the fact that George I hated his son, the future George II, and their feud played out in the halls of Kensington Palace. When the old king died in 1727, the spoiled, emotional King George II and his brilliant, savvy wife, Queen Caroline, continued the family tradition and feuded with their eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales.
During the reign of George II, life at Kensington Palace was akin to the set of a posh soap opera. “Show me some good person about that court; find me, among those selfish courtiers, those dissolute gay people,” Sir Robert Walpole wrote, per Quinn, “someone I can love and regard.”
It was also packed with people, since Queen Caroline opened the Kensington Palace gardens, which she greatly improved, to the masses every Sunday. Anyone who dressed well enough could come to jockey for a position or patronage or simply gawk at the royals themselves.
“Court dinners could be boisterous and rowdy,” Worsley writes. “Once, so many people came ‘to see their majesties dine, that the rail surrounding the table broke.’ The people who had been leaning upon it all fell over and ‘made a diverting scramble for hats and wigs, at which their Majesties laugh’d heartily.’”
But despite Kensington Palace’s importance during this time, it was already beginning to rot. According to Worsley, George II’s mistress, Henrietta Howard, found that her Kensington Palace apartment was so damp that crops of mushrooms sprouted from the floor.
Kensington Palace: the Birthplace of Queens
The “mad” King George III hated the antics of his Hanoverian ancestors, and when he became king in 1760, he left the drama of Kensington Palace for Buckingham Palace, three miles away.
Now that the monarch was no longer in residence, Kensington Palace became a rundown warehouse for excess royals. “The magnificent state rooms were slowly allowed to decay until they became a dilapidated store for coal, broken furniture and old pictures,” Quinn writes. “Meanwhile, the rest of the palace began a long cyclical period during which various apartments were updated and modernized, then left to fall apart before being renovated once more.”
One of the most famous royal family members to call Kensington Palace home was the colorful, bombastic Caroline of Brunswick, the estranged wife of the future King George IV, who established a rival court to her husband in her apartments and was known to wander Kensington Gardens and talk to strangers. Another resident was Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the eccentric ninth child of King George III, who filled his Kensington Palace apartment with his collection of rare books, medicines, and dozens of clocks.
“On the hour,” Quinn writes, “his apartment was filled with bells and gongs striking, musical tunes, national anthems, and martial airs.”
Prince Charles and Princess Diana with their sons William and Harry at home in Kensington Palace, 1986.Tim Graham/Getty Images.
Even though Prince Harry moved to Southern California in 2020, he has continued a series of legal battles in the UK, with the aim of improving his access to security and changing the culture at the nation’s tabloids. In a new interview with ITV, Harry mentioned that his fears for Meghan Markle and her safety are partly why he has kept his legal fights going, and why he has not considered moving back to his homeland with his wife.
“It’s still dangerous, and all it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read,” Harry told reporter Rebecca Barry in a sit-down for the network’s documentary Tabloids on Trial. “Whether it’s a knife or acid, whatever it is—and these are things that are of genuine concern for me. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.” In 2022, the former head of counterterrorism for the Met Police said Meghan received credible threats during her time in the country, and in January 2024, two neo-Nazi podcasters were sentenced to prison terms following one of the podcaster’s comments encouraging listeners to commit violence against the prince and his son, Archie.
Though Harry has made multiple visits to London in 2024, most recently to host a May service of thanksgiving in honor of the Invictus Games, Meghan has not returned to the country where she lived from 2017 to 2020 since the September 2022 funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The couple’s two children, Archie and Lilibet, have only visited once, during the Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.
Harry’s legal battle in the UK has proceeded on two fronts. Since 2022, he has been litigating a British government decision to deny him access to armed security when he visits the country. Though a High Court justice dismissed his claims in a February 2024 ruling, the Court of Appeal ruled that he is allowed to appeal the decision.
Beginning in fall 2019, he has filed suit against a handful of publications in the UK, alleging unlawful information-gathering practices. In June 2023, Harry testified on the stand for two days in a case against Mirror Group Newspapers, and last December the High Court ruled that the newspaper had used unlawful information in its coverage of the prince. The prince currently has ongoing suits against Associated Newspapers, parent company of the Daily Mail,and News Group UK, parent company of The Sun. (Both companies have denied any legal wrongdoing.)
In the ITV interview, Harry said that the late queen was supportive of his quest to take on the tabloids while she was alive. “We had many conversations before she passed. This is very much something she supported; she knew how much this meant to me,” he said. “She is up there going, ‘See this through to the end,’ without question.”
He also emphasized that his pursuit of justice was completely unrelated to his father, King Charles III, and sister-in-law, Kate Middleton,who both announced cancer diagnoses earlier this year. “The two things are completely separate,” he said. “My father and my sister-in-law and me following through on these legal battles are two completely different things.”
A striking photograph of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry taken just three days before the death of Queen Elizabeth II will be included in the permanent collection of Britain’s National Portrait Gallery, the photographer, Misan Harriman, shared on his Instagram page Thursday.
The black-and-white image of the couple holding hands on September 5, 2022, while attending the One Young World Summit in Manchester is all the more meaningful with context. When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex traveled to attend the event, it was not only the beginning of an unexpected stayover so they could attend the queen’s funeral, but it was also the couple’s first working trip to the United Kingdom since their 2020 exit from their roles as working royals. A few months prior, Meghan and Harry visited the country with their two young children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, in a non-official capacity to attend some of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Harriman encouraged his followers to “dare to dream” in the posts where he shared his news.
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In February, Harriman spoke with People about his relationship with the Sussexes, saying that Meghan in particular “is really as a sister to me.”
“I’ve been very lucky to photograph many special moments with her and her husband and her family,” he said. “My images of them do all the talking. Portraiture for me, whether it is royalty or whether I’m in the tip of the spear in any of the civil rights movements that I care deeply about, is looking for truth. That’s fundamentally what my lens is there [for], to capture the human condition in full fidelity.”
Of the Sussexes he added, “my lens is always at their disposal, always will be.”
According to People, the photo will not be displayed in the gallery for some time, but will first be cataloged.
Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, has been the royal patron to the National Portrait Gallery since 2011.
Nearly two years after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, her birthday, April 21, is becoming a day when both the royal family—and the rest of the nation—celebrate the legacy of Britain’s longest-serving monarch. This year, King Charles III and Queen Camilla spent the weekend at Balmoral Castle, where the late queen died in September 2022, and on Sunday, which would have been her 98th birthday, the couple were spotted on their way to nearby Crathie Kirk.
According to a former butler for the royals who spoke to Slingo, the family likely continued honoring the queen during the rest of the day. “Privately, I have no doubt they’ll raise a toast to her in the evening,” said Grant Harrold, per People. “I’m sure the day will very much be spent reflecting on the late queen.”
On Instagram, Sarah Ferguson remembered her mother-in-law with a photograph taken on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during 2022’s Platinum Jubilee. “Thank you for all that you have taught us, for being a steadfast leader and dear friend,” she wrote. “You are sorely missed.”
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The Royals Collection Trust, which cares for and curates the royal collections, honored the late queen with an image taken during her teenage years. The photograph by Cecil Beaton will be part of a new palace exhibition called Royal Portraits, which will open next month in the King’s Gallery.
According to The Telegraph, a few corgis were on hand during one tribute to the late queen. On Sunday, the first posthumous statue of Queen Elizabeth was unveiled in the town of Oakham, Rutland, in England’s East Midlands, and the bronze sculpture by artist Hywel Pratley features three life-size corgis climbing on the plinth. To celebrate the unveiling, the Welsh Corgi League brought 46 of the queen’s beloved breed to the event, and they could be heard barking during a speech by Sarah Furness, the Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland who commissioned the statue.
Catchphrase favourite Stephen Mulhern was left with his jaw on the floor over an “unbelievable” comment the late Queen made about him.
The presenter shot to fame in the 1990s and since then he’s not stopped. So it’s no surprise to hear that he’s rubbed shoulders with plenty of famous faces – including the late Queen.
But it turns out she once left him stunned after a comment she made at Buckingham Palace when Stephen was invited there.
Stephen is a telly favourite (Credit: ITV)
Catchphrase host Stephen Mulhern on meeting The Queen
From hosting Catchphrase for a decade to becoming the new presenter on Dancing On Ice, Stephen has become a firm favourite with viewers over the years.
So much so, that he was once invited to Buckingham Palace. It’s something he dubbed “one of the most amazing things that ever happened to me”. At the palace he met Queen Elizabeth. And she was quick to issue a five-word comment about him.
Stephen met The Queen (Credit: YouTube)
Stephen Mulhern stunned at Queen’s comment
Speaking to The Mirror in 2015, Stephen shared: “One of the most amazing things that ever happened to me was when I was invited to Buckingham Palace with a load of other performers, such as Bob Geldof and Cilla Black.”
But she said: ‘You’re an amusing young man,’ and I thought, I’ll take that.
He added: “The Queen was there, milling about, and she came over to me. To this day, I still don’t believe she knew who I was. But she said: ‘You’re an amusing young man,’ and I thought, I’ll take that.”
Stephen Mulhern on TV
In the last decade or so, Stephen has become a telly fixture, so it’s no wonder the Queen knew who he was.
He’s been a lynchpin for the likes of Britain’s Got Talent: The Ultimate Magician and Text Santa. As well as Rolling In It and the National Lottery.
Stephen has also thrived in pivotal roles on In For a Penny and the relaunched Deal or No Deal, arguably his biggest positions with Saturday Night Takeaway and Dancing On Ice.
It seems his star can only ever shine brighter. But back in 2021, Stephen suggested he’s more than happy to cast as support to telly kings Ant and Dec.
He reflected: “Somebody said: ‘You’re like the and in Ant and Dec.’ But my dad said: ‘You’re the Des O’Connor.’ Because when Morecambe and Wise were at the height of their fame, Des was the fall guy.”
Joy Behar appeared to blast the late Queen Elizabeth, who died in 2022 at the age of 96, after her son King Charles was diagnosed with cancer.
🚨Update: King Charles III of Great Britain has been diagnosed with cancer, Buckingham Palace said in a statement! He’s suspended all official activities and his son will take over as acting Royal monarch!! pic.twitter.com/IuoSfSzi7N
Daily Mail reported that during Tuesday’s episode of her ABC talk show “The View,” Behar appeared to criticize the Queen for not stepping down to give her son a chance on the throne. The Queen reigned for a record-breaking 70 years before her death in September of 2022.
“It’s like, why not step down and let Charles have his day in the sun?” Behar asked. “The poor guy, he finally gets to be king, and now he has an illness. That doesn’t seem fair. There’s something wrong about it.”
“The woman was in the position for 70 years, the longest reign,” she added. “I think she could have used some term limits.”
Unfortunately for Behar, however, social media users were quick to fire back at her by defending the Queen.
“Maybe #JoyBehar should get her 81-year old ass off television and make room for someone else?” one user commented, with another adding, “Joy should have been put on term limits years ago!”
“I have absolutely zero use for the royal family (see my Twitter handle), but that doesn’t change the fact that Joy Behar is an unconscionable pig,” a third user commented.
Buckingham Palace announced on Monday that Charles has been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer.
“During The King’s recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, a separate issue of concern was noted. Subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer,” the palace said in a statement. “His Majesty has today commenced a schedule of regular treatments, during which time he has been advised by doctors to postpone public-facing duties. Throughout this period, His Majesty will continue to undertake State business and official paperwork as usual.”
“The King is grateful to his medical team for their swift intervention, which was made possible thanks to his recent hospital procedure. He remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible,” the statement added. “His Majesty has chosen to share his diagnosis to prevent speculation and in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer.”
BREAKING: KING CHARLES HAS CANCER – OFFICIAL ROYAL STATEMENT
“During The King’s recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, a separate issue of concern was noted. Subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer.
CBS News royal contributor Julian Payne, who previously served as communications director for then-Prince Charles, spoke out to say that the King has generally enjoyed “very robust health.”
“So, this will be something he’s not used to,” Payne said. “I think he will be stoic about it. I think he will do what the doctors are asking him to do, and I think his eye will be firmly focused on getting back to the job and getting back to full fitness.”
Royal expert Roya Nikkhah said that despite not being as popular as his mother, the King still enjoys an ” enormous amount of affection and goodwill” from the public.
“The British public have been really shocked and saddened, as much as they were when the Queen was very unwell and in her final years,” she continued. “The nation will want to rally around the king and hope he makes a full recovery.”
What do you think about Behar’s comments on the situation? Let us know in the comments section.
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It’s a drawing that, evidently, not even a mother could love, but royal art collectors have a shot at winning a childhood masterpiece purported to be created by the late Queen Elizabeth II at auction nonetheless.
A drawing thought to be crayoned by Elizabeth when she was somewhere between the ages of 4 and 6, dubbed “very poor” by her mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, is currently being auctioned by RR Auction in a sale set to end Jan. 10 as part of the “Fine Autograph and Artifacts” collection.
The sketch, which was created in the fine medium of red crayon, is purportedly of the young Elizabeth’s vision for a new building at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. It was included in a letter from her mother to Peter Pan scribe and playwright J.M. Barrie in the early 1930s, along with some backhanded art critique from her mother and pleas to keep the young princess’ architectural ideas private.
The drawing is bundled with the handwritten four-page letter from the Queen Mother to Barrie, as well as the original envelope. From the letter’s text, the queen had found out at the last minute that the writer was making a speech about the hospital, and her daughter demanded that she include her original artwork, with what the Queen Mother seems to feel are extraneous windows. (Everyone’s a critic.)
In the letter’s short text, written on letterhead bearing the Piccadilly London address and seal of the Duke and Duchess of York (the titles and residence Princess Elizabeth’s parents held before the unexpected 1936 accession of King George VI), she calls the drawing “very poor” not just once, but two times, and then even adds a post-script: “If you can manage it—will you not let the Press photograph this.”
Bidding for the unsigned drawing and critical letter is currently at more than $2,000.
The letter reads:
“My dear Sir James, I am so sorry that I did not realize that you were making your speech tonight, I am hurriedly sending round a very poor house I fear. Elizabeth insisted on putting in a roof with lots of little windows for the nursery maids. Please Sir James will you not appeal in her name at all, as I have such difficulties over it, and I am not sure what it is that you wish to say. It is not that I would not feel proud to have her name mentioned by you, only I have had trouble keeping her name apart from charities etc. But I expect that you only wish to say that she drew a picture for you of what the hospital should look like. Please forgive me for saying all this, but you can imagine what troubles I get into! However, I hope that this very poor drawing may be of some little use. I write this in great haste after having met Cynthia [Lady Asquith] who told me that your dinner is tonight.”
Since her death, there have been a lot of questions over Queen Elizabeth’s inheritances and who inherited her money and jewelry in the British royal family.
Queen Elizabeth II is the first child of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. She became Queen of the United Kingdom as well as the other Commonwealth countries in February 1952 after the death of her father. She was 25 years old at the time. She was married to Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, from November 1947 until Prince Philip’s death in April 2021. The two had four children together: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.
After more than 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. She was 96 years old. In a 1957 Christmas Broadcast, the Queen promised the United Kingdom she would give her “heart” and “devotion” to the Commonwealth. “I cannot lead you into battle,” she said at the time. “I do not give you laws or administer justice, but I can do something else: I can give my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.”
The Queen’s death came three months after her Platinum Jubilee event in June 2022, which celebrated her 70 years on the throne. After her Platinum Jubilee, the Queen thanked royal well-wishers for supporting her family. “When it comes to how to mark seventy years as your Queen, there is no guidebook to follow. It really is a first. But I have been humbled and deeply touched that so many people have taken to the streets to celebrate my Platinum Jubilee,” the Queen said in a statement at the time.
She continued, “While I may not have attended every event in person, my heart has been with you all; and I remain committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family.” She ended her message by telling her supporters about the “joy” she felt that weekend. “I have been inspired by the kindness, joy and kinship that has been so evident in recent days, and I hope this renewed sense of togetherness will be felt for many years to come. I thank you most sincerely for your good wishes and for the part you have all played in these happy celebrations,” she said at the time.
But back to Queen Elizabeth’s inheritances. So who inherited Queen Elizabeth’s money and jewelry? While her will isn’t public, there have been reports on which British royal family members inherited Queen Elizabeth’s estate and fortune, and which were left out completely. Read on for what we know about Queen Elizabeth’s inheritances.
What did King Charles inherit from Queen Elizabeth?
Image: Jonathan Brady – WPA Pool/Getty Images.
What did King Charles inherit from Queen Elizabeth? King Charles III is the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, who died less than two years before the Queen on April 9, 2021. King Charles is the older brother of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s three other children: Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Anne, Princess Royal; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. He’s also the father of Queen Elizabeth’s grandchildren, Prince William and Prince Harry, whom he shared with his late wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in 1997. King Charles is married to Queen Consort Camilla, whom he married in 2005.
So what did King Charles inherit from Queen Elizabeth? After the Queen’s death, King Charles inherited the Sovereign Grant, a taxpayer fund each year to the British royal family. The Sovereign Grant originated from an agreement made by King George III in 1760, who agreed to surrender his income from Parliament to receive a set annual payment for himself and future generations of the British royal family. The agreement was originally known as the Civil List before it was reworked as the Sovereign Grant in 2012.
Under the agreement, the British royal family receives a grant in exchange for surrendering their profits from the Crown Estate, the family’s collection of lands and holdings worth $19 billion, to the government, according to BBC. Each year, the reigning monarch receives 25 percent of the Crown Estate’s profits. The amount pays for property upkeep and utilities, the British royal family’s travel and the royal employee payroll. The Crown Estate includes properties across England, Wales and Northern Ireland and operates as a corporation, with a chief executive and commissioners appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister. In 2021, the Crown Estate generated a net profit of $361 million, according to CNN. The United Kingdom Treasury paid the Queen a sovereign grant of $100 million, which is the equivalent of $1.50 from each person the United Kingdom.
What did Princess Anne inherit from Queen Elizabeth?
Image: Samir Hussein/WireImage.
What did Princess Anne inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Princess Anne is the second eldest child and the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. She is the Princess Royal and the younger sister of King Charles III and older sister of Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. Princess Anne is also the mother of the Queen’s grandchildren, Zara Tindall and Peter Philips, who she shares with her ex-husband, Mark Philips, who she divorced in 1992. Princess Anne remarried with Timothy Laurence in 1992. So what did Princess Anne inherit from Queen Elizabeth? According to i24 News, Princess Anne, as well as her brothers Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, inherited a share of the Sovereign Grant, which is now owned by their oldest brother, King Charles III, though the exact amount of her share isn’t known. Some reports also believe that Princess Anne received a new royal title given her prominence in the events leading up to the Queen’s funeral in September 2022.
In a post on the British royal family’s Instagram account in September 2022, Princess Anne revealed that she was by Queen Elizabeth’s side for the final 24 hours of her life. “I was fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest Mother’s life. It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys,” she wrote. “Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting. We will all share unique memories. I offer my thanks to each and everyone who share our sense of loss. We may have been reminded how much of her presence and contribution to our national identity we took for granted. I am also so grateful for the support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles as he accepts the added responsibilities of The Monarch. To my mother, The Queen, thank you.”
What did Prince Andrew inherit from Queen Elizabeth?
Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images.
What did Prince Andrew inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Prince Andrew is the Duke of York and the second eldest son and third eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Andrew is also the younger brother of King Charles III and Anne, Princess Royal, and the older brother of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. He is also the father of Queen Elizabeth’s grandchildren, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, whom he shares with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, whom he divorced in 1996. So what did Prince Andrew inherit from Queen Elizabeth? BBC reported in September 2022 that Andrew and Sarah Ferguson inherited two of the Queen’s corgis, Muick and Sandy, who Andrew and his daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, gave to the Queen as a present in 2021.
“The corgis will return to live at Royal Lodge with the duke and duchess. It was the duchess who found the puppies which were gifted to Her Majesty by the duke,” a source told BBC at the time. “The duchess bonded with Her Majesty over dog walking and riding horses, and even after her divorce, she would continue her great friendship with Her Majesty, by walking the dogs in Frogmore and chatting.”
Andrew, Beatrice and Eugenie gave the Queen Muick and another dog named Fergus in the spring of 2021 to cheer her up while her husband, Prince Philip, was in the hospital amid COVID-19 pandemic. Muick, pronounced “Mick,” is named after Loch Muick on the royal Balmoral Estate, where the Queen died. Fergus, a dorgi, was named after the Queen’s maternal uncle, Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon, who died in World War One. Fergus died at just five months old due to a heart defect. After Fergus’ death, Andrew gave the Queen another corgi named Sandy on her 95th birthday. The Queen’s dresser and personal assistant, Angela Kelly, said at the time that the dogs provided the Queen with “constant joy” and “always brought a smile to everyone’s faces,” according to BBC.
What did Prince Edward inherit from Queen Elizabeth?
Image: Dan Mullan/Getty Images.
What did Prince Edward inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Prince Edward is the Earl of Wessex and the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. He is also the younger brother of King Charles III, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew. He is also the father of Queen Elizabeth’s grandchildren—Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Servern—who he shares with his wife, Sophie Rhys Jones, who he married in 1999. So what did Prince Edward inherit from Queen Elizabeth? According to i24 News, Prince Edward, as well as his siblings Prince Andrew and Princess Anne, inherited a share of the Sovereign Grant, which is now owned by their oldest brother, King Charles III, though the exact amount of his share isn’t known.
In a post on the British royal family’s Instagram account in September 2022, Prince Edward revealed what he learned from Queen Elizabeth after her death. “As a family, we have grown up learning to share our parents, especially our beloved mama, with the Nation, her Realms and the Commonwealth,” he wrote. “While it has been lovely to have spent time saying our own farewell privately at Balmoral, it is now time to allow others to be able to say their farewell. We have been overwhelmed by the tide of emotion that has engulfed us and the sheer number of people who have gone out of their way to express their own love, admiration and respect to such a very special and unique person who was always there for us. And now, we are there for her, united in grief. Thank you for your support, you have no idea how much it means.”
He continued, “The Queen’s passing has left an unimaginable void in all our lives. Sophie and I have taken huge pleasure in seeing our James and Louise enjoying the places and activities that their grandparents loved so much. Given that my mama let us spend so much time with her, I think she also rather enjoyed watching those passions blossom. Those times together, those happy memories, have now become massively precious to each and every one of us. May God bless Her Majesty and may her memory be long cherished even as the baton she has carried for these past 70 years now passes to the next generation and to my brother, Charles. Long Live The King.”
What did Prince William inherit from Queen Elizabeth?
Image: Samir Hussein/WireImage.
What did Prince William inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Prince William is the eldest child of King Charles III and his late wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in 1997. William, who is Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchild, is the Prince of Wales and is the husband of Kate Middleton, the new Princess of Wales. He is also the father of Queen Elizabeth’s great-grandchildren: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. So what will Prince William inherit from Queen Elizabeth? After Queen Elizabeth’s death, Prince William inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, a private estate worth around $1.2 billion. The estate—which belonged to William’s father, King Charles, before he took the throne—covers 140,000 acres in the United Kingdom and is used “used to fund the public, private and charitable activities” of the Duke of Cornwall, the title William inherited after the Queen’s death.
The Duchy of Cornwall was established in 1337 to financially support the heir to the throne, according to CNN. The Duchy of Cornwall—which will provide the income for Prince William and Kate Middleton—is funded through the ownership and operation of land in rural and urban areas, as well as islands and rental cottages in Wales, Cornwall and other areas in the United Kingdom. In 2018, the Duchy of Cornwall made Charles and Camilla $28 million, which is around what William and Kate will make as well. According to CNN, about 50 percent of Charles and Camilla’s annual income was spent on travel and official royal engagements, while a quarter went to taxes. The remaining $8.9 million went to Charles’ children with his late wife Princess Diana—Prince William and Prince Harry—as well as non-official purchases and a royal savings account.
What did Kate Middleton inherit from Queen Elizabeth?
Image: Samir Hussein/WireImage.
What did Kate Middleton inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Kate is the Princess of Wales and the wife of Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchild, Prince William, the Prince of Wales. Kate is also the mother of Queen Elizabeth’s great-grandchildren: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. So what did Kate Middleton inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Radar Online reported in September 2022 that Kate was expected to inherit $110 million in jewelry from the Queen’s personal jewelry collection, which includes 300 pieces that belonged specifically to the Queen and not the Crown. “[The Queen] been focusing on her beloved pieces and who deserves what,” a source told Radar Online in July 2022, two months before the Queen’s death. “The whispers are that she’s made some last-minute changes to her will that’ll be a shocking surprise for her heirs.”
Radar Online reported that the Queen’s decision for Kate, who she became especially close to in the final months of her life, to inherit her jewelry led to resentment from King Charles’ wife, Queen Consort Camilla. “Kate is clearly the family favorite,” the insider said. “She’d never say it, of course, but it’s one of the reasons Camilla resented Kate.” Radar Online also reported that Kate plans to pass some of the jewels to her daughter, Princess Charlotte.
While Kate inherited $110 million in jewelry from the Queen, that collection did not include the Spencer tiara, a diamond-encrusted crown inherited by William’s late mother, Princess Diana, in the mid-1970s. Diana wore the tiara in her wedding to King Charles—then Prince Charles—in 1981. According to the website for the auction house Sothebys, the tiara was inherited by Kate and William’s daughter, Princess Charlotte.
“Having been worn by Princess Diana at her wedding, the Spencer Tiara is one of the most famous diadems in modern history.” the auction house noted. “The Spencer Tiara is now set to be inherited by Princess Charlotte.” The description of the tiara continued, “In the mid-1970s, John Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer, inherited the tiara. It was subsequently worn by all three of his daughters at their wedding: Lady Jane in 1978; Lady Sarah in 1980; and finally Lady Diana the following year, in 1981. The tiara was most recently worn by Celia McCorquodale – niece of the 10th Earl Spencer Charles – at her wedding in the Spring of 2018.”
What did Prince Harry inherit from Queen Elizabeth?
Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images.
What did Prince Harry inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Prince Harry is the youngest child of King Charles III and his late wife, Diana, Princess of Wales. Harry, who is Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchild, is the Duke of Sussex and is the husband of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. He is also the younger brother of Prince William and the father of Queen Elizabeth’s great-grandchildren: Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor and Lilibet Diana Mountbatten Windsor, who is named after the Queen’s childhood nickname.
So what will Prince Harry inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Representatives told Forbes in 2021 that Harry was not a beneficiary of any of the $100 million left to the royal family by his great-grandmother, the Queen Mother. However, after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, Harry and William inherited part of their mother’s estate on their 25th birthdays, which was around $10 million each, according to Forbes. In a CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey and his wife in March 2021, Harry revealed that he used his trust from his mother to support him and his family after his father, Prince Charles, cut him off financially at the start of 2020 following Harry and Meghan’s exit from the British royal family and move to the United States. “I had to afford security for us,” Harry said at the time. “[I was cut off] in the first quarter of 2020. But I’ve got what my mom left me and without that, we would not have been able to do this.”
According to Us Weekly, though Diana’s will stated that her estate would be distributed to William and Harry when they turned 25, the funds were held until they were 30. Despite the hold, the brothers were still able to receive interest on their trust funds earlier. While Harry and William were the chief heirs of Diana’s estate, the People’s Princess’s will also listed others with whom she wanted to share her wealth, including her butler, Paul Burrell, as well as 17 of her godchildren, according to Worthy.
What did Meghan Markle inherit from Queen Elizabeth?
Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images.
What did Meghan Markle inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Meghan is the Duchess of Sussex and the wife of Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchild, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. She’s also the mother of Queen Elizabeth’s great-grandchildren, Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor and Lilibet Diana Mountbatten Windsor, who is named after the Queen’s childhood nickname.
So what did Meghan Markle inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Representatives told Forbes in 2021 that Harry was not a beneficiary of any of the $100 million left to the royal family by his great-grandmother, the Queen Mother. Radar Online confirmed that in September 2022, reporting: “There’s a very good chance the Queen won’t leave either of them any jewels of value,” a source said. “It’s not surprising, since they’re not members of the royal family anymore, but it would be a real slap in the face.” Radar Online also reported that Meghan’s sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, who is set to inherit $110 million in jewelry from the Queen, will likely pass some of her jewels to their niece because she and her husband, Prince William, “really don’t want Lilibet to be left out.”
“As for Meghan, she’s not their concern,” the insider added. As for why the Queen left Meghan out of her inheritance, Radar Online’s source speculated that it could be due to either “practicality” or Harry and Meghan’s drama with the British royal family in the years leading up to the Queen’s death. “Some people think it won’t be out of spite, but practicality,” the insider said. “Others say it would be the Queen sending a message to Meghan and Harry: You reap what you sow.”
Image: Courtesy of Random House.
For more about the British royal family, check out Sally Bedell Smith’s 2012 biography, Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch
. The New York Times bestseller, which includes the “real story” behind several storylines featured in Netflix’s The Crown, follows Queen Elizabeth II’s life from her childhood as the “heiress presumptive” to her father, King George VI; to the moment he et her husband, Prince Philip, when she was 13 years old; to her ascension to the throne at 25 years old in 1952. Elizabeth the Queen, which also includes interviews with Buckingham Palace sources and never-before-revealed documents, provides a deep dive into the Queen’s legacy as one of the most famous monarchs in recent history.
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BETWEEN 1927 AND 1979, barely a year went by in which a member of the royal family was not the subject of Cecil Beaton’s enchanting lens. More concerned with his idea of the person than the person themself, the photographer transformed his subjects, and his romantic, reverential vision would help shape the image of the British monarchy in the mid-20th century. In the 1960s and ’70s, Beaton’s style evolved to reflect the changing mood of the time, and he adopted a more matter-of-fact and bold aesthetic. His presentation of motherhood, in particular, helped generate an emotional affinity between the royal family and the public. Yet he was still firmly associated with an opulence and artifice that spoke of an earlier era. Employed primarily at moments of celebration and ceremony, Beaton’s photographs were undoubtedly intimate, able to capture a clear sense of the individuals behind the public image, but they were rarely spontaneous. Rather, their affected poses and considered contexts acknowledge the splendor and status of the institution but with a generosity of spirit that invited the viewer to share in the fantasy.
Queen Elizabeth II being photographed by Beaton at Buckingham Palace, November 1955. Photograph by Patrick Matthews.CECIL BEATON/VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON.
The upcoming sixth season of The Crown covers real-life royal events from 1997, the year Princess Diana tragically died in a Paris car accident, to 2005, which marked Prince Charles and Camilla’s wedding. And while the queen died last September, well beyond the show’s designated timeline, series creator Peter Morgan says her legacy will be acknowledged in The Crown’s final episode.
When the long-reigning monarch died at age 96, production on the Netflix series’ final season took a hiatus out of respect for the royal. “The Crown is a love letter to her and I’ve nothing to add for now, just silence and respect,” Morgan wrote in a statement to Deadline at the time. “I expect we will stop filming out of respect too.”
In a recent interview with Variety, Morgan reflected on the perspective that the brief break offered in addressing her death on the show. “We’d all been through the experience of the funeral,” he said. “So because of how deeply everybody will have felt that, I had to try and find a way in which the final episode dealt with the character’s death, even though she hadn’t died yet.”
Netflix chief Ted Sarandos added that although ending with the queen’s death was discussed, they ultimately opted to stick with the intended 2005 end point. “It was the cutoff to keep it historical, not journalistic,” he explained. “I think by stopping almost 20 years before the present day, it’s dignified.”
Despite the misgivings of Prince William,Prince Harry, and even Dame Judi Dench, Morgan told the publication he stands by his right to chronicle the royals even in the midst of real-life sensitivities. “Everyone in Britain, whether they acknowledge it or not, has that level of sensitivity and attachment to this family, which is why it is an absolute minefield for dramatists to explore,” he said. “And yet dramatists are born to write about kings and queens. That’s what we do.”
The show’s sixth season will premiere in two parts before the end of the year: part one on November 16, and part two on December 14.
On Wednesday, King Charles and Queen Camilla made their first visit to the City of London, the one-mile square neighborhood in the metropolitan area with a degree of legal independence from the monarchy. Following a centuries-old tradition, their majesties marked the visit with a Temple Bar ceremony, where Charles was presented with a ceremonial Pearl Sword, and an official dinner at Mansion House, the Lord Mayor’s official residence. In an homage to the late Queen Elizabeth II, Camilla used the dinner to make her debut appearance in the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, one of the Windsors’ most illustrious and historic pieces of jewelry.
The tiara was given to Charles’ great-grandmother Queen Mary on the occasion of her wedding in 1893. When Mary and the future George V were wed, it was customary for groups around the nation to fundraise for wedding gifts for the heir to the throne. Lady Eva Greville led a fundraising drive for women’s associations across the British Isles to purchase Mary a new tiara, and scholars eventually gave the Garrard & Co-designed headpiece its name in their honor. When then-Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip in 1947, the widowed Queen Mary gave her the tiara as a wedding present.
Along with the tiara, Camilla also made her first appearance in a necklace and bracelet set that belonged to her late mother-in-law. On the occasion of her 21st birthday in 1947, the late queen received a necklace with 21 diamonds during a visit to South Africa.
Though the visit to the City of London followed in tradition’s footsteps, Charles focused on contemporary issues in a speech he delivered during the dinner. In addition to mentioning climate change and artificial intelligence, he discussed the importance of relationships between people of different faiths.
“Is our society, with its deep and ancient roots — nurtured and enriched by our welcome of new citizens from the four corners of the globe since the dawn of our history — up to the challenges and ready to meet them, head-on? I believe so,” he said. “Because at such a juncture in our national life, there are special strengths which we can summon to help us — deep wells on which we can draw, filled not just with our shared histories and experiences, but with literally countless individual stories too; a mix of memories past and ambitions future, to help give ourselves a sense of perspective.”
Though King Charles and Queen Camilla have spent much of their recent time carrying out diplomatic engagements, they do still find some time to remind the world of their true passions. On Tuesday, the king visited a sawmill to learn more about the use of timber as a renewable and recyclable building project, and while he was there, he donned a hard hat and high-visibility vest so he could see the process up close.
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Along with Alexander Manson, the Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, Charles toured the James Jones & Sons sawmill in Aboyne, Scotland, near Balmoral Castle, where he and the queen have been in residence since August. According to People, the tour was led by Tom R. Bruce-Jones, the company’s chairman, and included a look at the mill’s main operating room along with an inspection of its log sorting and flood defense systems.
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Along with photos from the day’s engagement, the royal family’s social media accounts also featured a throwback image showing then-Prince Charles receiving his first sawmill lesson back in 1958. During his years as the Prince of Wales, Charles was passionate about architecture and building, even helping to create Poundbury, a planned community in the Duchy of Cornwall. In 1999, he made his first visit to the James Jones sawmill, which has been family owned for five generations.
Over the weekend, the queen had a chance to talk about her long-held enthusiasm for dance. To mark the United Nations’ International Day of Older Persons, she shared a photograph of a March 2022 visit to the Royal Academy of Dance along with a message referencing her experiences in a “Silver Swan” ballet class for dancers aged 55 and up.
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After a busy three-day tour of France last week, King Charles III and Queen Camilla, who are still in residence at Balmoral Castle, have not been making any appearances on the Court Circular. Since the beginning of the king’s “slimmed-down” reign, there has been some concern about whether the family has enough working members in order to fulfill national and international obligations. Still, a flurry of royal events has proven that even if the number of senior royals has shrunk dramatically since 2019, there are still enough Windsors to keep up appearances. In addition to Princess Kate’s lengthy slate of engagements, Princess Anne held court at Windsor, Prince Edward carried on a family legacy on a trip to Turkey, and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, served as the king’s representative at an Italian state funeral.
The week’s headline event was Prince Edward’s trip to Turkey to attend an award ceremony for the Duke of Edinburgh Award, the outdoor achievement prize founded by his father in 1956. During a celebration at the British Consulate in Istanbul, Edward gave gold awards to 38 participants from the country and celebrated the winners with a garden party afterward. The prince also traveled to Ankara, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and laid a wreath at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the nation’s modern founder.
On Monday, Sophie boarded a plane at Heathrow headed for Rome to serve as the king’s representative at the state funeral for Giorgio Napolitano, the former president who died last week at age 98. During Tuesday’s funeral, which took place at the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament, she was photographed wearing a set of headphones so she could follow along with a translation of the service. The trip was short, and by Wednesday, she was back in the UK, where she made a visit to Collingwood College in Surrey and sat for a meeting with Hala Al-Tuwaijri, the president of the Saudi Human Rights Commission.
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Meanwhile, back at Windsor Castle, Anne led a slate of investitures on behalf of her brother, including a series of gallantry awards that the late queen signed off on one week before her death, according to the BBC. The awards went to Lukasz Koczocik and Steven Gallant, two bystanders who intervened during a 2019 stabbing attack on the London Bridge that left two Cambridge University students dead.
Everyone remembers where they were last September when they learned of Queen Elizabeth’s death at 96. Her passing, while not unexpected, was a surprise nonetheless. While the monarch had not been seen in public for over a month, Her Majesty was photographed meeting Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, two days before she died, giving many people hope that despite looking unwell, Elizabeth would at least see out the end of her momentous and historic platinum jubilee year.
Just hours before Buckingham Palace announced that the queen was being attended to by medics, I met with Donal McCabe, Her Majesty’s head of communications, at a coffee shop around the corner from the palace. McCabe, a friendly and affable press officer, was uncharacteristically distracted and looked paler than usual. Naturally I inquired about the queen’s health. In the final photograph ever taken of her, the queen looked terribly frail as she met with the new prime minister and her hands were badly bruised. I was told by one source close to the family that the queen had been having regular blood transfusions but McCabe was his normal discreet self. He was, however, clearly on edge and having checked his phone various times during our 11 a.m. meeting, he advised me to get back to my desk.
Shortly after noon, the palace announced that the queen was being attended by her medical team. The statement read, “The Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision. The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral.” This in itself was unprecedented, as the palace almost never comments on the queen’s health, and so in that moment it was clear the situation was grim. I headed home to get the black dress I had ready for this occasion while telephoning my contacts. They were deeply concerned and waiting for an update from Scotland as immediate members of the family including Prince William,Edward and Sophie, and Prince Andrew scrambled to get to Balmoral in time.
A spokesperson for Prince Harry said that the queen’s grandson was in London for an awards ceremony which he canceled so that he could travel to Scotland. Meanwhile, rumors of the queen’s imminent demise spread around the world on Twitter and other social media platforms. It would be several hours, however, before the world would learn that the queen had died peacefully at Balmoral in her bed with her son and heir Prince Charles and her daughter, Princess Anne, by her side. Dr. Douglas James Allan Glass, a local general practitioner who was the apothecary to the queen for almost 35 years, was also in attendance. According to the queen’s death certificate, she died at 3:10 p.m. with her cause of death listed as “old age.”
BBC News anchor Huw Edwards, dressed in a black suit and tie, broke the news to the world. “A few moments ago, Buckingham Palace announced the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Palace has just issued this statement: ‘The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,’” he said somberly.
I had been told the news by a royal source soon after the queen passed. My contact called me in tears and whispered through the phone, “She’s gone.”
The queen had wanted to die at Balmoral, according to her late cousin and confidant Lady Elizabeth Anson who I spoke with on a regular basis during her lifetime. Scotland was where she felt most at home and at peace. And so, the queen was granted her final wish.
One year after her death, King Charles will be at his mother’s beloved Balmoral where he will mourn his mother privately in a country he loves as much as his mother did. Given that the monarch is in residence at Balmoral until September, Balmoral Castle will likely always be where Charles will mark the anniversary of his dear mama’s death. And in doing so he will continue a tradition: The late queen would always spend February 6 at Sandringham so that she could mark the passing of her father, King George VI, who died there in 1952 when the young Princess Elizabeth was just 25 years old.
Prince Harry may have exited his role as a working royal in January 2020, when he and wife Meghan Markledropped their bombshell news and moved abroad, but the royal family was still, undeniably, his family.
The second-born son of King Charles IIIreportedly commemorated the one-year anniversary of the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, with a private visit to her burial site on Friday.
While in the U.K. for a Thursday evening engagement at the WellChild Awards in London, Harry took Friday to visit King George VI Memorial Chapel at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, where his grandmother is interred alongside her husband Prince Philip, sister Princess Margaret, and parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
The late queen died September 8, 2022, at the age of 96. Charles, who became king when she died, broke with tradition and released a statement on Friday mourning the loss of his mother.
“In marking the first anniversary of Her late Majesty’s death and my Accession, we recall with great affection her long life, devoted service and all she meant to so many of us,” read the statement in full. “I am deeply grateful, too, for the love and support that has been shown to my wife and myself during this year as we do our utmost to be of service to you all.”
Charles and Queen Camilla attended a service Friday morning at the same church the Queen visited regularly while in Balmoral, with plans to follow in Elizabeth’s footsteps and spend Ascension Day at Sandringham, as she did every year. Her father, King George VI, died at that royal residence. Queen Elizabeth died at Balmoral.
At Thursday’s WellChild Awards, Harry spoke about his grandmother on stage. He had been set to present at the 2022 event as well, but had to cancel after receiving reports of the Queen’s ill health.
“As you know, I was unable to attend the awards last year as my grandmother passed away,” he said onstage. “As you also probably know, she would have been the first person to insist that I still come to be with you all instead of going to her. And that’s precisely why I know, exactly one year on, she is looking down on all of us tonight, happy we’re together continuing to spotlight such an incredible community.”
King Charles released an emotional statement paying tribute to his mother, Queen Elizabeth, on behalf of the one-year anniversary of her death.
The 96-year-old monarch “died peacefully” at Balmoral in Scotland on Sept. 8, 2022, after reigning for 70 years.
Charles, longtime British heir apparent, ascended to the throne immediately following the death of his mother.
“In marking the first anniversary of Her late Majesty’s death and my Accession, we recall with great affection her long life, devoted service and all she meant to so many of us,” Charles said in a Buckingham Palace statement, shared with HuffPost on Thursday.
A photo of the late Queen Elizabeth and then-Prince Charles on May 18, 2009, in London.
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“I am deeply grateful, too, for the love and support that has been shown to my wife and myself during this year as we do our utmost to be of service to you all,” the king said.
He signed off on the note ― which was also released as an audio recording ― as “Charles R.” The “R” stands for “Rex,” which means “King” in Latin.
One day after the death of Queen Elizabeth last year, Charles made his first speech as king and spoke of his “darling mama.”
“Throughout her life, her majesty the queen — my beloved mother — was an inspiration and example to me and to all my family, and we owe her the most heartfelt debt any family can owe to their mother,” he said at the time.
Prince William, 41, and Prince George, 10, are now first and second in line to the throne.
On Thursday, King Charles III accepted a gift of honey from soccer star David Beckham and made a joke about sharing the honey from his own apiaries. But on Saturday, Princess Kate revealed herself as the royal family’s true bee-lover when she posted a photograph of herself in full beekeeping gear to Instagram in honor of World Bee Day. In the photo taken by Matt Porteous, she is tending to the beehives at Anmer Hall, the Norfolk country home she shares with Prince William.
“We are buzzing about #WorldBeeDay 🐝,” the photograph’s caption read. “Bees are a vital part of our ecosystem and today is a great opportunity to raise awareness of the essential role bees and other pollinators play in keeping people and the planet healthy.”
Over the last few years, there have been a few clues that Kate was becoming an avid beekeeper. In 2020, her younger brother James Middleton wrote an essay for the Daily Mail about taking up beekeeping a decade earlier, noting that his first beehives were gifts from his parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, along with his sisters, Kate and Pippa Matthews. During a June 2021 engagement at the Natural History Museum, Kate brought a jar of honey from her beehives and shared it with a group of children. “This came specially from my beehive,” she said. “Every time you see a bee, say thank you so much because they make delicious honey.”
From Geoff Pugh/Getty Images
There were a handful of beekeepers during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, tending to beehives near Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, and Windsor Castle, and on a 2014 visit to Italy, the late queen presented Pope Francis with honey from the palace gardens and a bottle of whiskey from the Balmoral Estate. Last fall, attention turned to the official royal beehives after beekeeper John Chapple followed the tradition of informing the palace bees of her death by tying a black ribbon around the hives.
In addition to the Crown’s hives, Charles also has a handful of his own at Highgrove, his country estate in Gloucestershire. His original hives were constructed as a part of the renovations to the estate after he purchased it in 1980, and he has been selling honey from the estate since the 1990s. He later began selling a more affordable honey sourced from bees at Balmoral. In 2015, Queen Camilla also installed beehives on the gardens of Ray Mill, her property in Wiltshire and sold a limited-edition supply of honey in partnership with the department store Fortnum & Mason. In 2020, she also became the president of Bees for Development, a charity that trains beekeepers and protects habitats in over 50 countries.
King Charles III was officially crowned at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday, a moment the new British monarch had anticipated for most of his life.
The king was crowned with the St. Edward’s Crown, worn by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, during her own coronation nearly 70 years ago, on June 2, 1953.
During the service, the dean of Westminster handed the crown to Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who said a blessing before crowning the king.
The archbishop then instructed the congregation to say “God save the king,” before the Westminster Abbey bells began to ring. Gun salutes were then fired around the world, including Horse Guards Parade and the Tower of London. Saluting stations throughout the U.K., Gibraltar and Bermuda, along with British ships at sea, also fired celebratory rounds.
The St. Edward’s Crown is from the coronation regalia, a collection of treasures that are part of the British crown jewels. The crown was made for King Charles II in 1661 to replace a medieval headpiece that was melted down in 1649.
“Although it is not an exact replica of the medieval design, it follows the original in having four crosses-pattée and four fleurs-de-lis, and two arches,” reads a description of the crown on the British royal family’s website. “The crown is topped with an orb and a cross, symbolising the Christian world, and is made up of a solid gold frame set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmalines. The crown has a velvet cap with an ermine band.”
Ahead of the coronation, the crown was removed from the Tower of London ― where the crown jewels are kept ― and modified to fit King Charles.
St Edward’s Crown is pictured during a service to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, on June 4, 2013, in London.
On Monday, nature icon David Attenborough traveled to London’s Richmond Park to plant an oak tree in honor of his late friend, Queen Elizabeth II. He also led a tree planting masterclass with broadcaster Clare Balding and a group of junior foresters who represent the Queen’s Green Canopy charity, and said a few words about the queen’s natural legacy.
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“The Queen’s Green Canopy has created an invaluable national legacy for our children, future generations and the planet itself,” Attenborough said, according to The Telegraph. “The late Queen was very fond of the Royal Parks and was a great lover of trees, so this is a fitting tribute to her memory. Its creation also marks the continuing conservation of this protected landscape, and the wonderful wildlife within, so that it can be enjoyed by many generations to come.”
The Telegraph added that Attenborough’s oak was just one of 70 trees recently planted in the park to honor the queen. “They have been planted around a focal point which will later incorporate a seating area for rest and reflection, with the larger canopy trees complemented by smaller native trees and hedging such as hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, elder and dogwood,” they added. “It is hoped it will create a new habitat to support wildlife, including the endangered white-letter hairstreak butterfly and the cardinal click beetle.”
In May 2021, the queen and King Charles III launched the Queen’s Green Canopy by planting their own sapling near Windsor Castle. They were promoting an initiative called Plant a Tree for the Jubilee, which aimed to plant trees across the United Kingdom in honor of the monarch’s 70 years on the throne. The program grew out of a 2015 initiative called the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy, where she asked governments in the voluntary group to set aside acreage of native forest in her honor.
The queen celebrated the success of the jubilee plantings with a heartfelt message after its initial planting season. “I am deeply touched that so many community groups, schools, families and individuals have made their own unique contributions to the Green Canopy initiative,” she wrote in March 2022. “I hope your Jubilee trees flourish and grow for many years to come, for future generations to enjoy.” But after her death, the QGC decided to extend the program to the end of March 2023, so that further trees could be planted in her honor.
Attenborough and the late queen, who were born days apart in 1926, shared their love of trees in the 2018 BBC documentary The Queen’s Green Planet, which focused on the work done by the queen’s commonwealth initiative. The pair traveled through a 40-acre royal park, and the queen pointed out a few of the trees that have been planted in honor of members of the royal family’s honor.
It’s easy to say that everyone knows how important childhood is, and Kate’s speeches occasionally trade in platitudes that feel obvious. But in 5 Big Questions, a 2020 project that surveyed Britons about their attitudes about early childhood, Kate and her team found that only 31% of parents understood that the time from zero to five is the most important for brain development. Even though exposure to language and other stimuli is essential during this period, the US and UK both tend to leave parents without guaranteed childcare and educational support until children qualify for reception or kindergarten programs.
Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales interacts with children making face masks during her visit to Foxcubs Nursery in Luton, north of London on January 18, 2023, as part of her ongoing work to elevate the importance of early childhood to lifelong outcomes. By JUSTIN TALLIS/Getty Images.
This disconnect seems to be part of what Kate is targeting with her work on child development. “During our very early childhood, our brains develop at an amazing rate—faster than any other time of our lives. Our experiences, relationships, and surroundings at that young age shape the rest of our lives,” she wrote in a January open letter. “But as a society, we currently spend much more of our time and energy on later life. I am absolutely determined that this long-term campaign is going to change that.”
Ipsos UK’s chief executive, Kelly Beaver, who worked with Kate and her team on 5 Big Questions and a follow-up survey project last year, told Vanity Fair that she was surprised by how many people they were able to reach with the Royal Foundation’s assistance. “Going into work with the foundation I didn’t really understand the scale of impact that you could have. I remember them telling me that we will get a huge response to this, and I thought, ‘Well, we’ve done lots of public consultations before. I think you need to manage your expectations,’” she said. “Little did I know. As soon as we put out a date, they immediately built a range of partnerships with organizations to make sure that it reached the general public—partnerships with supermarkets and influencers of all sorts.”
For their first international trip as the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince William and Kate visited Boston in December to attend the Earthshot Prize ceremony and discuss solutions for climate change, which has emerged as one of the future king’s main issues. Though Kate watched as he delivered his opening speech, she did get one opportunity to be the center of the spotlight during the trip. While William met with President Joe Biden, Kate was across the city at Harvard, where she met with the private university’s president, Lawrence Bacow, his wife, Adele Fleet Bacow, and several experts at the school’s prestigious Center on the Developing Child. Research that came from the center helped underpin the Royal Foundation’s first report on early childhood education in the UK, and the center’s ideas about brain development and plasticity seem to have shaped Kate’s personal understanding of the issues, so they had plenty to talk about.
Royal women have long had a philanthropic association with women and children, but before now it was not the type of work that would guarantee an audience with the president of Harvard. In the early 19th century, that meant Queen Adelaide using her royal largesse to fund schools, hospitals, and orphanages, while sending out individual donations to destitute or ill people who wrote her letters. For the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, it meant filling their working days with visits to children’s hospitals or places like Barnardo’s, a charity for vulnerable children where Margaret served as a patron.
On the surface, Kate is still doing traditional Windsor-style engagements, but she is suiting them to her skills—knowing her briefing books, exuding a quiet confidence, making people feel comfortable—and the needs of modern media. For the last century, royal spouses have had to walk a fine line between being their spouse’s supporting act while also building a portfolio large enough to justify their royal role. Kate, the first university graduate to hold the title of Princess of Wales, has spent the last half-decade building up the type of résumé that would allow her to feel at home in a room full of experts.
For Princess Diana, the royal role entailed using her charisma to make someone’s day, while also bringing attention to social issues in the press. Though Diana did occasionally wear a Harvard sweater in the streets of London, she didn’t often visit with university professors or research scientists in academic settings as a focus of her work. That said, Kate is following the playbook that Diana established for making sure her work had an impact. Princess Diana began her time as a royal pursuing more traditional patronage roles for organizations connected to Wales, children, and music. According to Tina Brown, teenage trips to volunteer at a local mental hospital were formative for her, and eventually she gravitated toward hospital visits and fundraising once she became a mother herself.
