The royals go back to work… and school
After an emotional and busy year, the Royal Family is gearing up for a hectic autumn
Welcome back! Our summer break is almost over and so is the Royal Family’s. This week’s announcement of Charles and Camilla’s rescheduled state visit to France, is a timely reminder that summer chillaxing is coming to an end for the Windsors.
As tradition dictates, most of the extended family will currently be holidaying at Balmoral as guests of the King and Queen, enjoying the final week of their August break. It’s also been announced that Charles and Camilla will remain at Balmoral to mark the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death (September 8) as a day of quiet reflection at the late monarch’s beloved home and place where she died.
Here’s what we can expect this September…
Charles and Camilla: From 20-22 September, the couple will be visiting Paris and Bordeaux on a state visit to France. Initially scheduled in March, as the King and Queen’s first state visit, the trip was cancelled due to widespread rioting in the country, so Berlin and Germany (originally the second leg of the tour) become the historic destination. We can’t wait to hear Charles’s perfect French - like his mother’s.
Prince William: His stand-out engagement is a two-day trip to New York, from 18-19 September, where the Prince of Wales will be attending the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit and revealing this year’s 15 finalists. He’s already topping polls Stateside as America’s favourite royal, just like his grandmother. In fact, he even beat Ukraine’s President Zelensky when he was recently crowned the most popular and unifying newsmaker according to a US poll. Both William and Catherine will also be in Wales at St Davids Cathedral on September 8 leading tributes to the late Queen.
Catherine, Princess of Wales: According to the Royal Diary, Catherine has nothing officially scheduled, however it’s not unusual for many of her engagements to remain unannounced. We imagine William and Catherine have enough on their plate with Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte all due back at Lambrook School on September 6. We bet that Wednesday Adelaide Cottage will be ringing out with “Face!”, “Teeth!”, “Hair!” and “Coat!” commands.
Princess Anne: True to form, the Princess Royal has already been working partly through August, and we counted 32 engagements in the Royal Diary for September. Looks like our hard-working, value-for-money royal is determined to top one poll by the end of the year. Go for it, awesome Anne!
Prince Edward and Sophie: This royal couple have really stepped up over the past few years and we can’t get enough of their easy-going style. The Duke of Edinburgh is visiting Cornwall next month and has five official engagements announced so far. The Duchess of Edinburgh has four official engagements to date for September.
Prince Harry and Meghan: The Duke of Sussex is flying in to the UK on September 7 for the WellChild Awards in London, of which he is patron. Harry is then off to Dusseldorf for the Invictus Games from 9-16 September. Meghan is slated to be at the Games’ closing ceremony. Heart of Invictus, the Netflix documentary executive produced by Harry will be aired from Wednesday.
Le Touquet honours Queen Elizabeth
The late Queen’s love affair with France was well documented. Fluent in French, she was a Francophile and the mutual love wholeheartedly reciprocated. Elizabeth made five state visits to the country and numerous private trips. Her first official trip was in 1948 as the newly-wed Princess Elizabeth.
Now, with the blessing of King Charles, a French airport will be the first to honour the late Queen, by changing its name from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage International Airport to Elizabeth II Le Touquet-Paris-Plage International Airport.
Le Touquet is a seaside town in Nothern France where the Queen visited in the 1930s with her Uncle David, who, as Edward VIII, abdicated the throne in 1936 and changed the course of his niece’s life forever. It’s also a favourite destination of The Royal List’s Kerry, who wrote about it here.
“This is a tribute to a great Queen and her uncle who had a fondness for France, as well as a recognition of the ‘most British of French resorts’,” read a statement posted by the Town Hall.
Ain’t no mountain high enough for William and Kate
Hats off to Mountain Rescue magazine for leading the way and putting the Prince and Princess of Wales as their cover stars for its Summer 2023 edition.
The image is taken from the couple’s visit earlier this year to Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team in South Wales. That day saw the pair taking part in training exercises and abseiling. William has been patron of Mountain Rescue of England and Wales since 2007.
Meghan’s stress-busting disc
It’s fair to say this year has been a pretty stressful one for Meghan and Harry. What with the loss of their $20m Spotify deal, speculation other deals may go the same way and all that will-they, won’t they show up for Charles’s coronation, it’s no wonder Meghan was spotted wearing a $4 anxiety-busting wrist disc earlier this month.
The makers of the NuCalm Biosignal Processing Disc wasted no time advertising Meghan wearing their product online. The disc apparently reduces stress and promotes better sleep by activating the “parasympathetic nervous system”. Its makers claim it acts like a “tuning fork” on the wrist and uses “vibration frequency and resonance to deliver a calming signal to the brain.”
However, many medical experts call it “pseudoscience” with little evidence backing up its claims. Whatever its effects, we reckon this could be a sign that Meghan’s relaunched The Tig lifestyle blog is imminent.
Have a right Royal List read with Woman
It’s a Bank Holiday here in the UK tomorrow, so what better way to enjoy a bonus day off work than reading more royal content by Kerry and Maria. We’re delighted to contribute several features to the latest edition of Woman Royal Special, on sale now at all good supermarkets and newsagents.