Duchess of Cambridge is Feeling Better, Says Prince William

Prince William revealed that his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge has been feeling better since her third pregnancy was announced in early September.

Prince William was attending a reception and award ceremony for the Metropolitan and City Police Orphans Fund, of which he recently became Patron, and spoke to an elderly woman about Catherine’s condition.

“She’s been feeling better, thank you,” the Prince told the woman, Iris Orrell.

The Duchess of Cambridge has been suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum for the third time, a severe form of morning sickness. She previously suffered from the condition during the early stages of her pregnancies with Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Prince William further questioned Orrell, who told him she’d also suffered severe morning sickness during her three pregnancies, about the toll.

“Did it get worse with each one?”

Some pundits wondered whether he was asking because the Duchess’s case was also more severe this time.

Prince William also revealed that Catherine had tried eating ginger biscuits to soothe her stomach but “there’s not much ginger can do to stop that. We’ve done all that.”

Prince William has spoken about Catherine’s pregnancy on several engagements this month, and a couple of weeks ago, a young boy named Archie Weatherall gave him an avocado during a visit to a swimming pool in Wallesey, Merseyside, as a gift for the Duchess to help soothe morning sickness.

Weatherall gave Prince William the avocado because his mother was also suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum and hoped it would work on Catherine as well.

“I’ve never been given an avocado before,” Prince William told the boy as he accepted the gift – wrapped in a green ribbon, too.

At the Metropolitan and City Police Orphans Fund reception, Prince William also met a young girl sporting a cat ear headband and quipped that Princess Charlotte would love it.

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Duchess of Cambridge Sends Message of Support for SportsAid Week

The Duchess of Cambridge has sent a message of support as SportsAid Week begins.

SportsAid is a charity that helps young athletes pursue their goals to become Olympians, Paralympians, and world champions via financial support. Founded in 1976, the charity helps young people at the “very start of their journey towards becoming the next generation of sporting heroes.

“The most talented young athletes throughout the United Kingdom show great levels of commitment and dedication as they aim to bring sporting success to our country in future years. The early part of this journey is a challenging one. Many of the athletes are still in education and reliant on their family for all the support a young sportsperson needs to allow them to train and compete,” reads the beginning of the Duchess’s message.

“SportsAid supports over 1,000 athletes every year from more than 60 different sports, and as Patron, I am very proud of the impact SportsAid has on these young people, helping to relieve the different pressures they each may face, while also giving them the self-belief and motivation to continue to pursue their ambitions.

“This year’s SportsAid Week will be an exciting few days and a great opportunity for everyone to show their support for our next generation of athletes.”

SportsAid Week is a new initiative for the charity, started last year to mark its 40th anniversary. All told, the charity raised £40,000 for its youth athletes. In the 2016-17 year, SportsAid helped 1,106 athletes between the ages of 12 and 18. Combined, 150 SportsAid alumni won medals at the Rio Olympics and Paralympics last summer.

Famous SportsAid alumni include Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Mo Farah, and Dame Katherine Grainger.

SportsAid Week kicked off 25 September and wraps up 1 October.

The Duchess of Cambridge has been Patron of SportsAid since 2013.

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Prince William remains tight-lipped after he is asked about a potential Harry & Meghan marriage

The Duke of Cambridge was forced to react to the news of his brother’s relationship with Meghan Markle after the topic came up in conversation during a visit to Milton Keynes.

During a visit to William Cowley Parchment Makers, the company’s general manager told the Duke: “If Prince Harry marries Meghan then his certificate will be in our vellum.”

Prince William avoided commenting but opted for an awkward laugh before moving the conversation along.

Speaking afterwards, Paul Wright who spoke to the Duke said the Prince laughed, but it was a “nice laugh.”

The Queen must give formal consent for a royal marriage, and this consent is made in a calf-skin document called the “instrument of consent”.

The document is made in Milton Keynes by William Cowley Parchment Makers.

Paul Wright said: “Any member of the royal family needs the permission of the Queen. It’s called the instrument of consent.

“There were instances where members of the royal family were marrying prostitutes – you can’t have that.

“We’re very lucky because we’re the only ones in the world so it could never be anyone else.

“It’s also certain acts of Parliament but not all acts of Parliament.

“If you do it on paper if you’re really, really lucky you get about 350 years – with this we’re talking 5,000 years plus.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made their first official appearance together in public at the Invictus Games on Monday.

Attending a wheelchair tennis match, Harry and Meghan arrived hand-in-hand at the venue and watched the sporting action from the stands.

The fifth-in-line to the throne and his actress girlfriend spoke to some of the athletes and those who were also spectating the tennis.

After the event came to an end, Meghan shook the hands of children who were spectating in nearby seats.

This appearance is significant as it marks the first time Prince Harry has taken his girlfriend of 18 months to an official event.

It will further spur rumours that the pair will soon become engaged.

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MP for Kensington brands the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as "ridiculous"

The newly elected and first ever Labour Member of Parliament for Kensington has given some serious criticism towards the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Emma Dent Coad made history when she became the first Labour MP to be elected in Kensington, the UK’s richest constituency. With a slim majority of just 20 votes, she won the Kensington seat after the general elections in June. It is no secret that the Labour MP is a convinced republican.

On Monday she attended a pro-republican event entitled “Reigning in the Monarchy” in London. There she spoke of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the most famous residents of Kensington. In a conversation with delegates, she said about the monarchy: “The system is ridiculous,” adding “We should not be funding them.”

After some comments on the monarchy in general, Ms Dent Coad also targeted the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge who live in Kensington Palace. The MP thought it was absolutely “disgusting” that the Duchess of Cambridge bought jumpers at the cost of £150 each, saying: “That’s a food bill for a family of four.”

She called this “absolutely outrageous,” before commenting that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are ridiculous.

After criticising the monarchy and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, she also attacked the BBC.

Ms Dent Coad said that the BBC “is a piece of the whole propaganda machine” which produces “sickeningly gratuitous coverage of anything royal”. Instead of being neutral, she added that the BBC is “very heavily directed by right-wing politics and the monarchy”.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge recently moved permanently to their apartment at Kensington Palace in the heart of the borough. Their Royal Highnesses are said to be taking on more official engagements in the future, and therefore the permanent move to Kensington was said to be necessary.

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The Duke of Cambridge reveals that Prince George is "fed up" with school

Despite only being two weeks into his educational journey, it appears Prince George is already fed up of school having found it heavy going.

During a visit to Milton Keynes, the Duke of Cambridge told a fellow parent: “I just dropped George off and he didn’t want to go.”

Prince William, who drops George off to school every day, hinted that like many parents, getting the four-year-old into school in the morning is no easy task.

The Duke was speaking to 31-year-old Louise Smith who chatted to the Prince after he came over to meet her two young children.

She said: “It was really exciting meeting William. He told me he’d just dropped Prince George off at school and he didn’t want to go. Sounds a bit like mine really.”

The Duke of Cambridge spent Tuesday in Milton Keynes to celebrate the town’s 50th anniversary.

Prince George attends the £18,000 per year Thomas’s School Battersea and was dropped off by his father on his first day earlier this month.

The young Prince is known as George Cambridge to his classmates. Thomas’s Battersea’s motto is “be kind” and requires that students “not just to tolerate but to celebrate difference, including faith, beliefs and culture.”

In addition to traditional subjects, George will be taught French, ballet, drama, art, and physical education at the fee-paying independent school.

George’s mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, has said in the past that she does not think her son “has any idea what’s going to hit him” as he begins school.

Maud Windsor, the daughter of Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor, also attends Thomas’s Battersea. She is the granddaughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

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A Book Review, Princess Diana Survivor

The last few months have seen the publication of many books and articles and airing of lots of TV shows about Diana, Princess of Wales who died twenty years ago this past August. These shows and articles usually examine Diana’s final days and explain what effect her death and funeral had on both her close family and the country in general. Diana Survivor is rather different to many of these publications, firstly because it is a novel and secondly because, in the book, Diana wakes up in Paris after surviving the car crash.

The book, by author Dean Dudley, was first published three years ago, but a special edition for the anniversary of Diana’s death has recently been released. The author says that the book was created for “everyone who still misses Diana and wonders what might have happened if she had lived”.

Although the book is not entirely historically accurate, because real stories have been intertwined with fiction, it has been well researched. The story tracks Diana’s progress as she recovers from her accident and snippets of information come back to her from the past as she regains her memory. Through these flashbacks, the author has managed to tie in stories from Diana’s youth, her marriage to Charles and also fictionalised accounts which make the book more entertaining.

Whilst the book is funny and gripping, it is also easy to forget that the story is about Diana, Princess of Wales at times, as the life that the Diana in the book leads after waking up from her accident is rather different to what we are used to. Diana’s life in the book is rather far-fetched and the way she writes her diaries, whilst entertaining and engaging, can also seem unlikely as there is a lot of sexual content and explicit language. If this were a supposedly true historical account, then portraying the Princess in such a light could be deemed disrespectful, but Dean Dudley gets away with it by making it clear that it is a work of fiction.

As a story, the book is an engaging read. The tale is full of unexpected events and twists; from Diana giving birth to the child of Dodi al-Fayed and moving to the USA to a dark plot involving terrorism and kidnap in the wake of the 9/11 attack. If you are looking for an accurate or academic portrayal of Diana’s life, then this book is not for you. If, however, you are a fan of Diana's who has always wondered what might have happened if she had lived, then Diana Survivor offers the glimpse into a what may have been that many people have been thinking about.

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Duke & Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry to host World Mental Health day event

The Duchess of Cambridge was last seen publicly in August viewing a tribute garden for the late Diana, Princess of Wales at Kensington Palace. It would be her last public engagement before the announcement of her third pregnancy was announced earlier this month. Catherine again is suffering from severe morning sickness, which has forced her to cancel previously scheduled events.

Kensington Palace today announced that the Duchess, alongside the Duke and Prince Harry, will make her first public appearance since the pregnancy announcement at an event held at Buckingham Palace on October 10th for World Mental Health Day.

This is the next step in the royal trio’s campaign centred on ending the stigma surrounding mental health in the UK. Earlier this year, the three royals attended the London Marathon in support of mental health.

This year’s theme for World Mental Health Day, which is held every year in October, is to showcase mental health in the workplace. Mental health professionals will have the opportunity to discuss the need for improvement of services and how services can assist those in need.

The Mental Health Foundation, with the assistance of UNUM, has released a free ebook discussing how mental health can be managed in the workplace.

The book description, in general reads: “It looks at safeguarding staff wellbeing, addressing problems before they become severe, and supporting staff when issues do emerge. It’s not about becoming an expert in mental health – it’s about spotting the signs that something might be wrong. It will signpost the right support and resources and offer suggestions for putting strategies in place to support good mental health.”

The event at Buckingham Palace will honour those in the mental health sector throughout the UK who have dedicated their lives to changing the conversation surrounding care and mental illness. It will recognise the hard work, dedication, and progress made by those professionals who have made efforts to raise awareness over the past several years.

The royal trio will also thank those who continue to provide support to people going through difficult times in their lives.

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