Royal news live: Prince William and Kate suffer security scare as masked men raid Windsor estate at night
The thieves smashed through a security gate and stole farming equipment while the Wales family slept nearby, reports say
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Your support makes all the difference.Two masked thieves smashed into the Windsor Castle estate and stole farm vehicles while the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children slept in their home nearby.
The raiders scaled a 6ft fence at night and used a stolen truck to break through a gate on the royal grounds before stealing a pick-up truck and quad bike, the police said.
William and Kate are understood to have been sleeping at Adelaide Cottage with their children George, 11, Charlotte, nine, and Louis, six, at the time of the incident last month.
The wrecked gate is minutes away from the cottage and the family are regularly seen using it as it is the nearest exit to their home.
King Charles was in Scotland during the raid and it is believed that the Queen was at a spa in India before the couple’s tour of Australia and Samoa.
Thames Valley Police said: “At around 11.45pm on Sunday October 13, we received a report of burglary at a property on Crown Estate land near to the A308 in Windsor.
“Offenders entered a farm building and made off with a black Isuzu pick-up and a red quad bike. They then made off towards the Old Windsor/Datchet area.
“No arrests have been made at this stage and an investigation is ongoing.”
Hampshire tea company recognised for sustainability by Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke of Edinburgh has presented a Hampshire tea company with the King’s Award in Sustainable Development for its work helping to improve lives of people around the world.
Ahmad Tea, based in Chandler’s Ford, is one of 29 organisations around the country to be recognised with the honour in 2024.
During his visit to the company’s headquarters, Prince Edward, who was accompanied by Countess Mountbatten of Burma and the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, was presented with a box of tea called Royal Ceylon which had been blended especially for the King.
The British family-owned company which supplies teas to 65 countries worldwide, was presented with the award in recognition of its sustainability projects, philanthropic initiatives and ethical practices.
A spokeswoman for the firm said that it donates up to 20% of its profits to local and global initiatives ranging from the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association to funding a cancer hospital in Sri Lanka as well as health programmes for women in tea-growing regions of Assam and Kenya.
‘Fairytale’ picnic cottage enjoyed by Queen Victoria is restored to its former glory
A “fairytale” picnic cottage enjoyed by Queen Victoria on her visits to Balmoral has been saved from ruin by a conservation charity.
Built by Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Louise, around 1850, the cottage had fallen into disrepair but has been restored to its former glory through work commissioned by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS).
Moxon Architects helped NTS develop the plans for the restoration work and contractors completed the work this autumn, having started in June this year.
They cleared rubble from inside the building, before repointing mortar and harling on the cottage walls, dismantling dormer windows and installing doors, windows and floors to make it watertight and accessible.
The cottage is situated in woodlands near Linn of Quoich on Mar Lodge Estate national nature reserve close to Braemar in Aberdeenshire.
King celebrates 76th birthday with day out on official duties
The King is celebrating his 76th birthday, marking the occasion with a visit to a surplus food festival.
Charles is treating the day as a normal working one and carrying on with his duties despite facing a personally challenging year in which both he and the Princess of Wales were diagnosed with cancer.
The monarch will open the first two Coronation Food Hubs on the first anniversary of the launch of his Coronation Food Project, designed to bridge the gap between food need and food waste in the UK amid the cost-of-living crisis.
He will head to Deptford in south London to formally unveil the first hub, tour the centre with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and attend the surplus food festival being staged to celebrate the royal visit, before virtually opening another hub in Merseyside.
The event will be a solo one for Charles, with the Queen, who had hoped to join him, still recovering from a nasty chest infection.
Pictured: King celebrates film and TV industry at Buckingham Palace
Princess of Wales shares behind-the-scenes glimpse of Christmas carol concert arrangements
Princess Kate shares behind-the-scenes glimpse of Christmas concert arrangements
The Princess of Wales has shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse of her upcoming Christmas carol concert. Kate, who is recovering from cancer, is going ahead with her televised festive event at Westminster Abbey on 6 December, Kensington Palace announced. In an Instagram video, posted on Wednesday (13 November), the princess gave followers a glimpse at invitations being printed for this year’s concert. The caption reads: “Something exciting is coming. The invitations are fresh off the press for this year’s Together At Christmas Carol Service, which will be returning to Westminster Abbey on Friday 6 December.We can’t wait for you to join us too.”
Dame Imelda Staunton says she ‘absolutely adored’ playing Queen Elizabeth II
Actress Dame Imelda Staunton has said she “absolutely adored” portraying the late Queen Elizabeth II as she received her royal title at Windsor Castle.
The 68-year-old, who earned Bafta TV and Golden Globe nominations for the role in Netflix’s hit drama The Crown, was honoured for her services to drama and charity by the Prince of Wales on Tuesday.
Asked if it felt surreal to be recognised with her damehood by Charles in the King’s Birthday Honours having played his mother, Dame Imelda told the PA news agency: “They’re two very different worlds and you have to sort of get serious about that and go, ‘We were on the television and this is for real’.
“[William and I] didn’t talk about that, but it was a huge privilege. That was two years of filming, and I absolutely adored it.
“It was of course devastating when Her Majesty died – we were filming as well, it was tricky.”
Dame Imelda starred as the former monarch in the fifth and sixth series of the royal drama, following in the footsteps of Claire Foy and Olivia Colman – who played younger versions of Queen Elizabeth II.
She said she was “inconsolable for quite some time” after the Queen’s death, and that subsequent filming of The Crown was “very strange”.
Pictured: Queen Camilla at Booker Prize reception
ICYMI: ‘I think I’m on the mend’: Queen attends Booker Prize reception after illness
The Queen said she is “getting much better” as she arrived at a Booker Prize reception in her first public engagement since falling ill with a chest infection.
Camilla congratulated shortlisted authors at Clarence House on Tuesday afternoon and the winner of the prestigious literary prize will be announced in the evening.
It is her first public engagement since she contracted the seasonal bug following her long-haul tour to Australia and Samoa two-and-a-half weeks ago.
The Queen was greeted in the Garden Room by chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, Gaby Wood, and chair of the 2024 judges, Edmund de Waal.
She shook their hands and told Ms Wood: “I’m obviously getting much better. A bit of sort of coughing going on.”
“I really wanted to come,” Camilla added.
Rebecca Ferguson has said it is “so easy to forget yourself” in the entertainment industry as she was recognised with a royal honour at Windsor Castle.
The Liverpool-born singer-songwriter finished runner-up on The X Factor in 2010 but has turned more towards activism in recent years.
She was made an MBE by the Prince of Wales on Tuesday for her services to the music industry, having campaigned for the introduction of the new regulatory body for the sector to ensure artist welfare.
Ferguson likened her experience of finding her way in the music industry after The X Factor, where she finished behind winner Matt Cardle, with boy band One Direction third, to the character Pip in Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations.
The real reason why King Charles doesn’t own a phone
Following her death, royal insiders disclosed that although the late queen detested smartphones, she did have one available to her.
King Charles, however, is not interested in carrying on the custom of royals using mobile phones.
The King doesn't have a phone, according to Hello!, since he has a vast army of staff members ready to connect him to anyone at any time.
Queen Elizabeth was also known for her fondness of classic landlines, however, it has been reported she only answered the phone when her daughter, Princess Anne, and racing manager John Warren called.
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