On Commonwealth Day, King Charles III and seven other working royals attended the annual service at Westminster Abbey . It is a “must attend” engagement on the royal calendar. The only working royals who did not attend are the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, who are at the Paralympic Winter Games in Italy, and the 90-year-old Duke of Kent.
In his Commonwealth message, the King acknowledges that the world is facing “the increasing pressures of conflict, climate change and rapid transformation” in a “time of great challenge and great possibility.” That’s quite an understatement given the conflicts spreading around the world.
The most interesting event related to Commonwealth Day may be taking place behind closed doors as politicians from some of the 15 realms in London for Commonwealth Day events are expected to talk among themselves and with the palace about removing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the order of succession. (This follows the pattern set more than 15 years ago when they changed the order of succession to simple birth order: The leaders figured out a solution that worked for everyone, including the palace, before a formal announcement and then action by the realms.)
As of Saturday, at least three of the realms — Australia, New Zealand, and Canada — have indicated their willingness to remove Andrew from his place as eighth in line to the throne.
My piece on PM Mark Carney’s announcement:
There are rumours that the war in the Middle East — and Donald Trump’s repeated digs at Keir Starmer and his Labour government — may force a timing shift to the state visit by King Charles III and Queen Camilla to the United States. Though widely expected to be set for April, there are now reports that it may shift to later in the spring or possibly be postponed until the autumn, though that would certainly mess up the royal calendar, which is set months ahead of time.
Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, wants the visit cancelled: “Keir Starmer should advise the King that the state visit to the U.S. scheduled for April should be called off. At a time when Trump has launched an illegal war that is devastating the Middle East and pushing up energy bills for British families, it’s clear this visit should not go ahead.”
A new YouGov poll shows that the visit, hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump, is unpopular in Britain. Only around one-third of Britons believe the state visit should go ahead, with 46 percent saying “should be cancelled.” When it comes to the political breakdown: 53 percent of Conservatives want the visit while just 26 percent of Labour voters are in favour.
Princess Anne loves the Scotland rugby team to the point that she’s been patron of the Scottish Rugby Union for four decades and regularly attends matches.
At the same time, Princess Anne is a formal royal, and not one for public hugs.
She’s also got a good sense of humour. So, shortly after she turned an enveloping hug from the Scottish rugby captain into a pat on his back, she was again face-to-face with the same player on the weekend after the Scottish team had another victory. This time, the captain and the princess poked fun with that “hug history.” (Videos usually geolock after a while, hence my link to this video on X.)
The Prince and Princess of Wales were out and about on their own for day trips to Cornwall and Leicester, respectively. That separate work schedule is something we’ve seen a few times recently. Such solo trips allow each royal to really shine on their own.
WILLIAM
He was in Cornwall (one of his titles is Duke of Cornwall) and, while visiting a local pastry shop, grabbed a ringing phone and took an order for meat pastries. “We’ve got plenty. How many would you like?” he asked. After taking the order for 10 frozen and five fresh, he then got the customer’s name wrong — “Juicy?” — before apologizing to Josie.
Note: When Josie later picked up the pasties, she was shocked to hear Prince William took her order
KATE
She spent the day in Leicester, which has a large British Indian community, celebrating its culture on the day after the Hindu festival of Holi, which marks springtime.
SARAH
The Express is reporting that U.S. publishers turned down a pitch from the disgraced former duchess for a tell-all book. Sarah Ferguson was reportedly asking around CAD$3 million.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source writeroyalty.substack.com ’
