When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were still in the UK for royal duties in early 2020. Picture: Twitter @TvKhaleesi
In this week’s royal update, late monarch Queen Elizabeth II’s corgis have their own exhibition, King Charles III is moving out his mother’s belongings and Harry and Meghan’s coronation attendance details.
The son of Queen Elizabeth II, who will now become the British monarch after his mother’s nearly 70-year tenure, is reportedly undergoing the difficult task of moving her belongings out of Windsor Castle.
The Queen passed away in September last year, and Charles will be coronated as the new monarch in May.
It was reported by the Daily Mail that Charles is considering the idea of moving into his mother’s Berkshire estate after he was against the move initially because of the loud aircraft noise as it is in close proximity to Heathrow Airport.
Windsor Castle is located in Berkshire.
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The Daily Mail further reported that some of the Queen’s belongings are being placed into storage whilst others are being catalogued “for posterity”.
An insider told the publication that her eldest son is making the space feel like home by bringing in some of his favourite art pieces to make the estate feel “more homely”.
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King Charles is also reportedly making Windsor Castle more eco-friendly, something that has been important for him for decades. Such as adding electric car charging ports, and planting sapling trees.
The Queen moved into Berkshire estate during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A new exhibition of photographs showing the relationship between Queen Elizabeth II and her beloved corgis opens in London on Wednesday, celebrating her bond with the dogs.
The exhibition, titled “The Queen and Her Corgis”, features images taken during the late sovereign’s life, showcasing her unique bond with her Pembroke Welsh Corgis.
“We’ve got this very small but really exquisite exhibition that shows nine photographs taken of the Queen and her corgis and they chart her life every 10 years,” exhibition curator, Xavier Bray, told AFP.
The images capture her as a young girl to a monarch on official duty, he said.
“You also see her up in Balmoral, relaxing with the corgis and even at Windsor giving them a walk,” he added, referring to royal estates in Scotland and just west of London, respectively.
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The photographs, chosen from a pool of over 5 000 images, range from informal snapshots to formal portraits – each capturing a moment in the queen’s 96-year life and her bond with the breed.
The earliest image in the collection dates from July 1936, with a young Princess Elizabeth playing with a pair of corgis named Jane and Dookie in a garden at the home where she grew up in London.
Another photograph features her posing with Susan, the corgi from which many of the dogs she would later have during her reign were descended.
“You see the Queen but from a very different perspective through this extraordinary relationship that she had with her corgis,” Bray said.
“When you have a dog in the relationship, it’s very intimate, it’s personal.”
The little sandy-coloured canines with pointy ears were a constant presence in the Queen’s court, following her from room to room in Buckingham Palace and often featuring in official photos.
As well as corgis, she also kept dorgis, a breed which came about when one of her corgis had a chance encounter with her sister Princess Margaret’s dachshund Pipkin.
After the surprising news that King Charles had asked Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to move out of their Frogmore Cottage, the monarch appears to have offered an olive branch.
It was widely reported over the weekend that Charles had asked Meghan and Harry to attend his coronation despite their deep family friction.
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According to British reports, Charles has asked that the distant royals stay at Princess Diana’s old apartment in Kensington Palace, if they attend the coronation on May 6.
Because the couple doesn’t have a permanent residence in the UK anymore, Charles reportedly has given them Diana’s Kensington Palace apartment, temporarily.
Compiled by Sandisiwe Mbhele, additional reporting by AFP
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