Royal news live: Prince William breaks silence on Harry in rare tribute as Charles set for full tour next year

The view of the monarchy in the UK remains overwhelmingly positive, writes Alan Rusbridger. But the public deserve full transparency on the family’s staggering wealth

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The King “genuinely loved” and “thrived” on his tour tour of Australia and Samoa as it lifted “his spirits, his mood and his recovery, a Buckingham Palace said.

“In that sense, the tour, despite its demands, has been the perfect tonic,” a palace official said.

He went on to say the monarch takes great strength from the Queen being there, not least because she “keeps it real”.

Australia was a significant visit for Charles as it was his first to the country as King and in Samoa he opened a major Commonwealth summit.

Were the scandalous stories surrounding Wallis Simpson’s time in China were the product of society gossip – or an orchestrated effort by the British establishment to sabotage her relationship with the future Edward VIII?

This is the question discussed by author Paul French in his new book Her Lotus Year.

Dubbed the “China Dossier”, the collection of rumours accused Simpson of affairs, connections to gangsters, and risque behaviours, but French argues that none of these claims had any factual basis with Simpson.

Instead, they appear to have been drawn from unrelated incidents in 1920s China, and possibly amplified by figures in British intelligence.

French’s research suggests that the tales were carefully constructed to tarnish Simpson’s reputation, showing the lengths to which the establishment may have gone to block a royal union with a controversial American divorcee.

“They just wanted to scupper this relationship somehow,” French said.

The Prince of Wales has recalled playing chess and chatting with people during his first visit to The Passage homelessness charity with his mother, more than 30 years ago, in a new documentary.

William said he was “a bit anxious as to what to expect” before his first visit, and remembered his mother – Diana, Princess of Wales – “making everyone feel relaxed and having a laugh and joking with everyone”.

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King Charles is set to return to his normal schedule of overseas tours next year, amid his ongoing cancer treatment.

In an update given by a palace official, it was revealed Charles will fly abroad during the spring and autumn in 2025, provided doctors sanction the travel.

“We’re now working on a pretty normal looking full overseas tour programme for next year, which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms,” the official said.

An update about the state of the King’s health or his treatment has not been given but the news that Charles will take on more overseas trips suggests his cancer is being managed successfully.

Details of the King’s “holistic” approach to his cancer diagnosis have been revealed by the palace.

The King has been receiving treatment as an out-patient for an undisclosed form of cancer since early February, and initially postponed all public-facing duties, continuing to work behind the scenes, and returned to events with the public in late April.

Maintaining a work schedule after his diagnosis has been an important part of Charles’s holistic approach to his cancer, and during the recent trip with his wife he maintained a busy schedule for the benefit of “mind and soul” while the doctor on the trip looked after the body.

A palace official said about the large number of events the King attended during the recent tour: “It is also a great measure of the way that the King is dealing with the diagnosis.

“And he’s a great believer in mind, body and soul, and this combination works very well on a visit like this, because he feels that sense of duty so strongly that to keep his mind and his soul engaged and then the doctor is here to make sure that his body is properly looked after, you’ve got what makes for very successful visit in in these circumstances.”

Prince William has mentioned Prince Harry publicly for the first time in years, as he recalls a childhood memory in his upcoming documentary.

The Prince of Wales recounted the time his mother, the late Princess Diana, took him and his brother to visit a homeless shelter more than 30 years ago.

He said: “My mother took me to The Passage. She took Harry and I both there. I must have been about 11, I think probably at the time, maybe 10. I’d never been to anything like that before, and I was a bit anxious as to what to expect.”

The mention of Harry is believed to be the first in six years. The last time William spoke about hus brother publicly is thought to be in 2018 when the pair were interviewed at Royal Foundation Forum.

Previously unseen pictures have also released as part of the documentary, Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, showing William as a child on the visit.