Royal Family RECAP: King's pal gives Harry brutal advice if he really wants to see him

Meghan Markle has been slammed by Royal Family fans online for being "stuck in the past" and clinging to British rituals in her latest newsletter for her lifestyle brand, As Ever. Explaining that she still enjoys a cup of tea, Meghan detailed the importance of slowing down and enjoying a "cuppa". She wrote: "We love turning a daily ritual, like a cup of tea, into a quiet invitation to slow down. A proper tea time doesn’t need to be about perfection, but about presence." In her newsletter, the Duchess of Sussex then explains how to create the perfect setting to enjoy tea. She writes: "Start with the table: keep it considered, not crowded — a softly flickering candle, a neatly folded linen, and a curation of teas ready to steep."

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's entanglement in the Epstein scandal has prompted one of the greatest controversies in the Royal Family's nearly 1000-year history - but it won't sink the Firm, an expert has said. Looking back over the scandals past monarchs have had to deal with and how they overcame them can be a useful tool, novelist and screenwriter Daisy Goodwin explains. As a particular expert on the life and reign of Queen Victoria, Ms Goodwin - who wrote the hugely popular ITV series, Victoria - is clear that this, like the scandals Victoria overcame, will pass. But looking to the future, there will be two members of the Royal Family above all others who will be essential in carrying the Firm forward for the next generation.

Sarah Ferguson has been warned that one decision could leave her with "nothing to gain and everything to lose." Before her reputation suffered its most damning blow yet with the release of the Epstein files, Sarah was enjoying a successful career as both a romantic fiction author and a children's book author. Incredibly, the former Duchess of York has penned or contributed to 64 books over the years, her first being her Budgie the Little Helicopter series in 1989. While she has already written two tell-all memoirs, My Story (1996) and Finding Sarah (2011), suggestions have been rife that she could be prepared to tell her side of her involvement in the Epstein scandal. However, a publishing insider has questioned whether this would be sensible, as it could leave her in a worse position than she is now.

King Charles may be one of the most recognisable figures in the world, but like many people, he is said to have a prized possession he is particularly protective over, and one strict rule to go with it. According to a former royal insider, the monarch has long refused to let anyone else drive his cherished classic car, an Aston Martin DB6 MkII Volante. The car, a 21st birthday gift, has become closely associated with King Charles III over the years. Grant Harrold, who worked with the Royal Family between 2004 and 2011, said the vehicle holds significant sentimental value for the King.

They may never see their first cousins growing up in America, but Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are not short of playmates at royal gatherings. While they barely know Prince Harry and Meghan's children Archie and Lilibet, the three Wales children have formed a super close bond with some other royal youngsters. They are often seen chatting and playing with them at royal events like the Christmas church service at Sandringham or at more relaxed events on the polo fields or at horse trials in Gloucestershire. It is perhaps not surprising, given their first cousins are a continent away, that Wales' children have instead formed close bonds with their second cousins.

King Charles is said to be "frustrated" by his younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who continues to be photographed in public, despite his move to a secluded royal home in Norfolk. The disgraced former Duke of York has been seen walking his dogs on public footpaths, rather than staying on private land. After reports that Andrew had made a quiet agreement with his elder brother to stay out of public view, sources have suggested that the persistent images of Andrew walking in public have prompted discontent behind palace walls. An insider told Radar Online: "Andrew had effectively agreed to stay out of sight – a kind of informal house arrest – in return for the King continuing to fund his private life. Charles does not want to see images of him looking relaxed or happy in public, given the ongoing Epstein scandal, and this walk has caused real frustration behind the scenes."

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor risks ending up in a static caravan supposedly purchased for his staff if he "is not careful", it has been suggested. The former prince is said to be irritating King Charles with multiple demands for upgrades at Marsh Farm, having been evicted from the 30-bedroom Royal Lodge following revelations about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. One of Andrew's extravagant demands is purported to be rehanging curtains from Royal Lodge in his new home, with the King paying to have them altered at "considerable expense", according to The Mail on Sunday. Artworks from Royal Lodge are also reportedly being rehung by removal firm, Gander & White, which charges around £15,000 for a team.

If this latest stage of Andrew's sorry saga ever made it into Netflix's The Crown, even the audience would struggle to believe it. Who honestly would have thought that the man who was once second-in-line to the throne and consistently lauded – for better or for worse – as the late Queen's favourite child would be spending much of his time in a “moss-covered” caravan propped up on bricks? For all the unbelievable stories that have dripped out of the leaky, corroding pipe that is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's reputation, this really is the cherry on top of the cake. I doubt that has ever been a greater visual metaphor for someone's fall from grace – a 30-room mansion locked behind castle gates to a white static home in a garden. There's a real sense of poetic justice in the whole scandal that even Keats, Chaucer or Shakespeare himself wouldn’t be able to neatly sum up...

Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie will not join the King, the Queen and other senior members of the Royal Family for the traditional Easter Service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on Sunday. The York sisters have made alternative plans for the Easter weekend, with the King's agreement and understanding, royal sources confirmed on Monday afternoon. The insider sought to clarify that Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 36, have not been frozen out of the royal fold and will attend future family celebrations. The daughters of disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson have been left in a difficult position following their parents' association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A joke Jeffrey Epstein made about Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie has recently surfaced in an email from the convicted paedophile. The new message features in the Epstein files, which were released by the US Department of Justice, and sees the sex offender joking about how Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor would "sell his daughters" to see his ex-wife debt-free. Over the years, Sarah Ferguson is known to have accepted at least £115,000 ($150,000) from Epstein, even after he had been convicted of soliciting sex from girls as young as 14. In the newly released document, the paedophile was sent a joke about the York family and described it as the "best one yet". In the email chain, an unnamed associate of Epstein sent him a newspaper with the headline: "Andrew sold daughters to pay Fergie debts". It remains unclear whether the March 2011 headline was genuine or entirely satirical.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor would be forced to bow to his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, when they meet, a royal expert has claimed. Royal biographer Robert Hardman claimed royal protocol requires disgraced Andrew to bow to his daughters, who have retained their royal status. Mr Hardman said the new rule would "rile" the 66-year-old. He said: “Andrew stands on ceremony; titles, the lot—it's all vital to him, that rigid bowing and curtseying business. “This'll rile him proper: bowing to his daughters."

Peering across the dirt road from his creaking wooden porch in the quiet village of Viscri, Transylvania, Dumitru Ludu has a clear view of another traditional shack – an 18th-century Saxon peasant house, to be exact. But while both modest abodes are in the same village, their owners could not be more different. While 53-year-old Dumitru is currently unemployed, King Charles is Head of State of the United Kingdom and 14 Commonwealth countries. Charles, 77, has owned the “Blue House”, as his seven-bedroom farmhouse is known, since 2006. In contrast, Dumitru has lived in his three room house since the days when Romania was brutally ruled by communist totalitarian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu. He has seen it all, from the bread lines caused by food rationing to the influx of consumer products after the regime fell. “Things have changed a lot,” he says in a faint rasping tone. “It was peaceful, but poorer back then.”

Princess Diana's former butler has shed light on a secretive process by which senior royals decide whether a newcomer belongs in their ranks. Paul Burrell, who was the personal butler to the Princess of Wales for a decade until her death, lifted the lid on the "cruel" initiation in his new memoir, The Royal Insider. He wrote: "The 'Bamoral Test' was cruel. Outsiders, most importantly potential brides, were brought there like specimens to be inspected by the family to see if they came up to scratch and if they were suitable." He added that the process has "been this way since Queen Victoria's day", with royal commentators likening the rite of passage to a "silent compatibility test". Amanda Matta told Fox News: "Most modern families would probably recognise that dynamic, where newcomers are vetted against the existing family structures."

Prince Harry is vying for an invite to Sandringham this summer, to enable his two young children to spend precious time with their grandfather, King Charles. In a bombshell report from The Sunday Times, the Duke of Sussex would welcome an invitation for his family to join his father on the Norfolk Estate in July. A friend of the 41-year-old told the publication: “If he was invited by the King, he would get a package of security that automatically kicks in. He’d like an invite to Sandringham. Would he go? It would depend on who was there. If the King was to say, ‘Come up and spend some time with the family’, he’d love that.”

Meghan Markle is still clinging onto British rituals by sharing with fans of her brand As Ever that she still enjoys a "cup of tea". Writing in her As Ever newsletter, Meghan explained the importance of slowing down and enjoying a 'cuppa'. She wrote: "We love turning a daily ritual, like a cup of tea, into a quiet invitation to slow down. A proper tea time doesn’t need to be about perfection, but about presence."

In her newsletter, the Duchess of Sussex then explains how to create the perfect setting to enjoy tea. She writes: "Start with the table: keep it considered, not crowded — a softly flickering candle, a neatly folded linen, and a curation of teas ready to steep."

Princess Astrid of Norway has been taken to hospital to be treated for pnemonia, the Palace said in a statement. The announcement comes after the 94-year-old, who is the sister of King Harold, pulled out of attending key engagements during last week's state visit from the Belgian royal family.

Queen Elizabeth is said to have made a cutting remark about Prince Harry following his decision to step back from royal duties. The late monarch, who had long been a steady and reassuring presence in her grandson’s life, was initially thought to have warmly welcomed Meghan Markle into the fold when the pair first began dating.

Prince Harry is hoping he, Meghan Markle, and their two children will be invited by King Charles for some "family time" at Sandringham this summer, according to reports. It comes as Harry returns to the UK in early July to mark the one-year countdown for the much-anticipated Invictus Games, to be held in Birmingham in July 2027.

While no official meeting has been confirmed yet, the possibility of an invitation from the King has become a focal point of speculation due to the security measures that could be "packaged" for the King's son if invited. Observers note that any such gesture could also signal a thaw in a relationship that has been strained in recent years.

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Prince Harry has been accused of using his children as leverage after reports claimed he wants security reinstated for his family so he can bring his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children to visit King Charles when Harry is next in the UK. A source in the Sunday Times said Harry needs "an enhanced package of security, so he can stay as long as he wants whenever he wants, and see his father with the children."

Sarah Ferguson has been warned that one decision could leave her with "nothing to gain and everything to lose." Before her reputation suffered its most damning blow yet with the release of the Epstein files, Sarah was enjoying a successful career as both a romantic fiction author and a children's book author.Read the opinion piece here

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's explosive reaction to fresh criticism about their dealings with the Royal Family risks damaging an already fragile relationship even further, an expert has claimed. The backlash was sparked by bombshell claims in a new royal book by Tom Bower, including the allegation that Queen Camilla once accused Meghan of "brainwashing" her now husband.

According to royal expert Ingrid Seward, in light of Harry's recent attempts to build bridges with his family, including hopes that the King will play a pivotal role in next year's Invictus Games, responding to criticisms won't help matters.

A close source is debunking speculation of any marriage tension between Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. It follows reports stating there was a "distance" between the couple amid recent scandals linking her parents, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson to Jeffrey Epstein.

A source has told People Magazine, in two blunt words, that the marriage troubles are "complete nonsense". It's been a stressful few months for Beatrice's parents, who both appear in the US Department of Justice's Epstein files release of files related to the investigation into the convicted sex offender.

Prince Phillip lived with pancreatic cancer for eight years, according to revelations in a new book. Royal biographer Hugo Vickers makes the claim in his new book Queen Elizabeth II which is being serialised in The Mail on Sunday.

According to the writer, the former Duke of Edinburgh was diagnosed with inoperable cancer in June 2013 during an 11-day stay in hospital. He died in April 2021 at Windsor Castle, just two months shy of his 100th birthday. His cause of death was given as “old age” on his birth certificate.

Meghan Markle has been urged to return to acting as her and Prince Harry have been left reeling from the Netflix shock. The 44-year-old previously starred as Rachel Zane in US legal drama Suits, between 2011 and 2017.

The couple previously signed a five-year deal with Netflix in 2020, with it later turning into a "first-look" deal last year. It has since been reported that Netflix are "done" with Meghan and Harry, with the streaming service left "exhausted" by the couple's "perceived pattern of selling repackaged versions of the same story about their exit from royal life".

A major clear-out has taken place at Royal Lodge, the former home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, with staff instructed to remove items linked to his time at the property.

Teams working at the Windsor residence were seen disposing of large amounts of furniture and personal belongings, with skips reportedly filled as the clean-up progressed, according to the Daily Mirror.

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