The royals are ensconced on their vast Balmoral estate in the Scottish Highlands for their summer vacations and pretty much the only way we know who is there is to see who goes to church on Sunday. The photos taken through windows of cars are never great, but it’s better than nothing.
Cars:
King Charles III and Queen Camilla
Princess Anne and Tim Laurence, after their sailing holiday marking her 75th birthday, with Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh (and maybe their children in the third row)
Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Rothesay and their three kids, George, Charlotte, and Louis. The children exhibited that look of “It’s nearing the end of my summer holidays and I want to be outside, not at church.”
Note: Kate’s hair looks much lighter in colour than when we last saw her at Wimbledon in early July, though that may be a trick of the light. And she’s officially the Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, not the Princess of Wales.
The King still fulfills his monarchical duties even when away from public view. And that means plowing through state papers in those famous red leather boxes. On Sunday, Ukraine’s president thanked Charles III for his best wishes for Ukraine’s Independence Day, and published a copy of the sovereign’s letter on social media. The King is such a strong supporter of Ukraine’s war against Russia that President Volodymyr Zelensky goes for lunch or tea with the monarch whenever he’s in the U.K. (including in March and June).
Interestingly, while the rest of his family went to church, Prince Andrew was spotted driving a few miles away (we know that he, Sarah, and family were staying at one of Balmoral’s cottages last week).
His non-appearance at church is not that surprising, given that his name was one of those discussed by Ghislaine Maxwell in her interview with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bad press = invisibility.
In the released transcript, Maxwell talked about how Andrew met Epstein as well as the role in the relationship played by Sarah, Duchess of York. You can read those accounts everywhere. I take everything Ghislaine Maxwell says with a bucket, not a pinch, of salt. The associate of Jeffrey Epstein is a convicted child sex trafficker who has changed her story enough to have been charged with perjury (those charges were dropped when she was convicted of the more serious sex crime).
Among Maxwell’s statements, she denies that Andrew and Virginia Giuffre (who was then underage) had sex in her London house, calling it impossible given its size. She also says the infamous photo of Andrew and Giuffre is a fake. (In 2022, the prince paid millions to settle a civil suit launched by Giuffre , but did not admit guilt.)
Epstein victims and their families, including that of the late Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, have blasted her treatment. Their huge concern is that she’ll say anything to get a pardon.
Then, on Sunday, came an announcement that Prince Andrew will surely dread. Giuffre was working on her memoir before her death and it’s coming in October. Titled Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, it will be published by Penguin Random House in the United States. As the publisher states:
The world knows Virginia Roberts Giuffre as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison, whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But her story has never been told in full, in her own words—until now.
In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind a memoir written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. Nobody’s Girl is the riveting and powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront extraordinary adversity.
Here, Giuffre offers an unsparing and definitive account of her time with Epstein and Maxwell, who trafficked her and others to numerous prominent men. She also details the molestation she suffered as a child, as well as her daring escape from Epstein and Maxwell’s grasp at nineteen. Giuffre remade her life from scratch and summoned the courage to not only hold her abusers to account but also advocate for other victims. The pages of Nobody’s Girl preserve her voice—and her legacy—forever.
After months of being under a high-profile investigation, Marius Hoiby, the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit by a relationship before her marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is facing 32 charges, including the sexual assault of four women. He is also been charged with recording the genitals of women without their consent, a prosecutor told the media. His lawyer told Reuters that Hoiby will plead guilty to some lesser charges. If convicted, Marius Hoiby could face more than 10 years.
The trial is expected to start in January.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, will be in Alberta from Sept 4-7 as the new royal patron of Spruce Meadows, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The RCMP Musical Ride and Lord Strathcona’s Horse — back from guarding royal residences in Britain — will be at the huge sporting venue outside of Calgary.
One of the royal brooches on display at the Cartier exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London is my favourite royal brooch: the late Queen’s Williamson Pink Brooch.
This article about the brooch by Victoria Ward, the Telegraph’s deputy royal editor, is excellent. As it teases: “A secret mine, an incredibly rare stone, the mystery of its setting and a royal tax problem all add up to a twisty tale that ends in the V&A.” (I wrote about the exhibition here).
In 2012, I wrote about the brooch and its Canadian roots for the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The back story is so intricate that 80 percent of my research never made it into the Maclean’s article. I’m planning on writing more about the Williamson Pink in an upcoming newsletter but, in the meantime, enjoy Victoria Ward’s piece.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source writeroyalty.substack.com ’
