Royal column:
Behind Palace gates with Juliet Rieden
The latest regal news and views
“Iwill miss my Grandpa, but I know he would want us to get on with the job,” said Prince William in his telling tribute just days after the death of Prince Philip. And certainly, after the dignified pomp and heart-rending solemnity of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, the royal family on both sides of the Atlantic has done just that.
While Her Majesty returned to official duties with two virtual audiences just days after the funeral, the rest of the family also threw themselves back into work, virtually and in person. There were photos from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to a family farm in County Durham as the couple took turns behind the wheel of a tractor, and also of Prince William, who met players from his beloved Aston Villa football team while he was opening a new training centre.
Anzac Day tributes were also made by royals in the UK. And while there were no celebrations for the Queen’s 95th birthday on April 21, Her Majesty turned the tables and delivered her own heartfelt letter to the public. “I have, on the occasion of my 95th birthday today, received many messages of good wishes, which I very much appreciate,” she wrote. “While as a family we are in a period of great sadness, it has been a comfort to us all to see and to hear the tributes paid to my husband, from those within the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and around the world.”
The royals may have been unable to travel but Prince Charles leapt into action to offer support for India with an ‘Oxygen for India’ emergency appeal via his British Asian Trust. The aim, said the Prince, was “to channel this desire to do something about this terrible situation and help save lives … I have a great love for India and have enjoyed many wonderful visits to the country. Indian aid and ingenuity has been a support to other countries through this immensely difficult time. As India has helped others, so now must we help India … Together, we will win this battle.”
While the work of the Trust rarely hits the headlines, it was founded by Prince Charles in 2007 to provide sustainable solutions for poor and marginalised people in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and this initiative is sending oxygen concentrators to hospitals as quickly as possible. It’s a smart project – oxygen cylinders contain a finite amount of oxygen supply whereas oxygen concentrators recycle oxygen from the air.
Meanwhile, in her first public outing since the Duke’s funeral, the Duchess of Cornwall made an under the radar visit to a women’s refuge in England’s south. The pandemic has seen a dramatic increase in domestic violence and organisations like this one are stretched. Camilla first started visiting women’s refuges in 2016 and is fiercely dedicated to raising awareness. “I think once you’ve seen what can happen, you just want to go and stand out and say, look hang on a minute everybody, do you realise
what’s going on all around us? So close to us? We’ve all just buried our heads in the sand,” she told UK’s Telegraph newspaper.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s pandemic work has included her ‘Hold Still’ photographic project, launched last year, which asked Brits of all ages to submit a photographic portrait they had taken during the first pandemic lockdown. Following an exhibition of the winning 100 photos the Duchess published Hold Still the book, and in a clever launch sparked a national treasure hunt, hiding 150 copies for members of the public to find in collaboration with ‘the book fairy’ movement. There was a video of Kate dressed in a scarlet coat, hiding a copy of the book in Kensington Palace Gardens, close to the Cambridge family’s London home. Inside each book is a message from the Duchess: “Once you have finished looking through the book, please leave it somewhere else in your community for the next person to enjoy.” Sales proceeds are to be split between mental health charity Mind and the National Portrait Gallery.
Meanwhile in the US, Meghan has also been working on a book
– for children, called The Bench. Following in the footsteps of previous royal children’s book authors – Sarah, Duchess of York and even Prince Charles, who penned the The Old Man of Lochnagar in 1980 – The Bench, we’re told, is “inspired by the Duchess’s own husband and son, and touchingly captures the evolving and expanding relationship between fathers and sons and reminds us of the many ways that love can take shape and be expressed in a modern family.”
The concept, says Meghan, “started as a poem I wrote for my husband on Father’s Day, the month after Archie was born … My hope is that it resonates with every family, no matter the make-up , as much as it does with mine.”
Harry and Meghan celebrated Archie’s second birthday asking supporters to donate to a vaccine equity campaign, suggesting: “We cannot think of a more resonant way to honour our son’s birthday.” They later also posted a cute – if oblique – photo on their Archewell website of Archie with his back to the camera holding balloons in the family garden.
As campaign chairs of Vax Live, a star-studded Los Angeles ‘concert to reunite the world’, the couple continued their call for action. Harry appeared on stage at the concert to promote the vaccine campaign and call on businesses to “donate dollars for doses”, while a heavily pregnant Duchess delivered a video message.
Also in the world of video, I couldn’t help but be enchanted by the Cambridge family video released to celebrate the couple’s 10th wedding anniversary. Shot by videographer Will Warr at the family home in Norfolk, the film opens with William, Kate and the three Cambridge children skipping up sand dunes onto the beach. It is the same stretch of beach where decades earlier a young Prince Charles and Princess Anne were filmed dancing across the sand. Other cameos include toasting marshmallows around a fire in the garden.
A few days later William and Kate became the first members of the House of Windsor to launch their own YouTube Channel. In a snappy 25-second video, the couple hosted film clips revealing the breadth of their work, while unguarded outtakes showed how relaxed this royal pair has become in front of the camera.
The debut video, made especially for the social media platform, showed a conversation between the Duchess and four-year-old Mila Sneddon, who has cancer, with her parents. The family contributed to the Duchess’s Hold Still photographic project with a touching photo of Mila and her father, and on the video call Mila asks if Kate is wearing her princess costume. Kate says she’s not but made a Duchess’s promise to wear a pink dress when they are able to meet.
“It started as a poem I wrote for my husband on Father’s Day.”