The Royal Family put on a united front tonight - a week after the King and Princess of Wales were dragged into the royal race row by the Duchess of Sussex’s biographer.
The monarch was joined by the Queen, Prince William and Kate at a dazzling Buckingham Palace reception, which traditionally heralds the start of the festive period for the royals. Royal aides stressed it was “business as usual” for The Firm in the days that followed Charles and Kate being identified as central to a bombshell claim made by Meghan Markle in her interview with Oprah Winfrey.
A Dutch version of a new book by royal author Omid Scobie apparently named the two senior royals as the subject of a letter Meghan wrote to the King, following her allegations that the royal family had “concerns” over the skin colour of her unborn son with husband Prince Harry.
Thousands of copies of the Dutch translation of the book Endgame were pulled as Mr Scobie denied publishing claims about Charles and Kate, which he denies. After announcing it was “considering all options” Buckingham Palace is due to present options to the King over whether it will take legal action against Mr Scobie or the publishers following reports the Dutch translation of the book may have been from an early draft manuscript.
But the royals appeared to brush aside any concerns over the furore at the glittering Diplomatic Corps reception. The annual gathering, which is one of the most scintillating dates in the royal calendar and only postponed during the coronavirus crisis,welcomes over 500 members of the Diplomatic Corps in the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace.
The royals put on a show of unity in a special picture released tonight at the glittering Buckingham Palace reception. The Princess of Wales stunned in a pink Jenny Packham dress and diamond encrusted Lover’s Knot tiara.The iconic piece was one of Princess Diana’s favourite pieces and created for Queen Mary in 1914 by the House of Garrard from pearls and diamonds already owned by her family.
The picture was taken in the 1844 Room ahead of the Diplomatic Ball. The Queen wore a cream embroidered evening gown by Fiona Clare; the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara and also the Queen Mother’s - diamond brooch, known as a stomacher, and the late Queen’s diamond bracelet.
A royal aide said: “We are very much focused on the job in hand.” Kate earlier in the day hugged parents and spoke to sick children as she visited a children’s hospital in London to officially open a new unit.
The King and Prince William were also back to work, with the monarch making his traditional festive visit to an Orthodox church and the Prince of Wales stunning Tesco shoppers with an unannounced visit to sell the Big Issue magazine. Appearing in public for the first time since the scandal rocked the monarchy, Kate visited the Evelina Hospital to open the new children’s day surgery unit.
She began the visit by meeting nine-year-old Ella Moth, who won a competition to design the artwork for the new unit. Ella’s space-themed drawings were inspired by the death of her father, Piers, who she says has now ‘gone to the stars’. Her father was treated for brain cancer at Guy’s hospital before he died in 2021.
The Princess, who has been patron of the children’s hospital Evelina London since 2018, asked Ella: “How does it feel to have your design on the wall for other children to enjoy, being an inspiration for loads of other kids?”
Starstruck Ella replied: “I didn’t think it would ever happen!” The Princess, 41, then met Chloe Morley, 10, who was the unit’s first patient when she had her tonsils removed on July 12.
The new facility, which cost £55million to build, allows children to be treated in one location on the same day, reducing the stress caused by numerous hospital visits. It will help the hospital treat a further 2,300 children per year, on top of the 104,000 children and young people treated by Evelina London, the children’s wing of Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospital.
In Hammersmith, west London, William, 41, the second successive year joined Big Issue seller Dave Martin at his pitch in London. The heir was pictured on social media wearing a Big Issue tabard, official identification and matching baseball cap with his arm around Mr Martin.
Royal aides said William decided to make the visit, which was not an official engagement, to show his support for the homelessness campaign which he has engaged with in recent years. After helping Mr Martin with sales, leading to excited supermarket shoppers snapping pictures of the royal, the pair exchanged Christmas cards.
Earlier this year, William launched his Homewards project to help eradicate homelessness in the UK. He has set his sights on making rough sleeping, sofa surfing and other forms of temporary accommodation a thing of the past as he tries to emulate Finland, where the problem has been virtually eradicated.
The five-year project will initially focus on six locations where local businesses, organisations and individuals will be encouraged to join forces and develop action plans to tackle homelessness with up to £500,000 in funding. Mr Martin was invited to the project’s launch event in the summer and approved of the initiative, saying at the time: “I think it’s really personal to him.”
On his visit to the Coptic Orthodox Church Centre UK in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, the King smiled broadly as he was given a handwritten Christmas letter by a young girl. Charles attended an Advent service and Christmas reception as part of his efforts to encourage inter-faith dialogue and a greater understanding of different religions in Britain and abroad.
Six-year-old Taormina approached the King through the crowd and handed him the letter, which included love hearts and the words “Happy Holidays!” and “To: King Charles”. The Coptic Orthodox community, an indigenous Egyptian Christian community, has grown with the establishment of a diocese in London, with approximately 40,000 Coptic Orthodox Christians now in the UK.
The royal family will come together on Friday for the Princess of Wales’ annual carol concert: ‘Together at Christmas’ at Westminster Abbey. This year, the service aims to thank all those who work to support babies, young children and families in our communities across the UK.