Royal news – live: Kate Middleton portrait splits opinion as Harry and Meghan’s next tour ‘revealed’

King Charles has formally approved the proroguing of parliament ahead of yesterday’s general election announcement.

The Monarch, 75, met with the Privy Council at Buckingham Palace this morning and undertook the necessary duties head of this summer’s election.

As published on the council’s website, the King ordered that parliament be “prorogued on a day no earlier than Friday the 24th day of May 2024 and no later than Tuesday the 28th day of May 2024, to Friday the 31st day of May 2024, to be then holden for the despatch of divers urgent and important affairs.”

Princess Beatrice took the opportunity to praise her “incredible mum” on a school visit.

This comes after Beatrice, 35, announced that Sarah Ferguson had recovered from her second cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

The royal read from the picture book When Dinosaurs Walked The Earth, written by Sean Taylor and illustrated by Zehra Hicks, at West Thornton Primary School in Croydon.

She said: “I grew up with an incredible mum, as a children’s author, so stories really created that sense of imagination.

“I really appreciate what stories can do, that special quality time, that moment at the end of the day, but also how important it is for reading in general for young people to make sure that we can do everything we can to make sure that these books really get into the hands of those that need it most.”

A new exhibition featuring photographs of the late Princess Diana is opening in just two days’ time.

Taken by Anwar Hussein, now 86, and his sons Samir, 44, and Zak, 43, Princess Diana: Accredited Access Exhibition is set to be a must-see for fans of the late Princess.

It contains “larger than life images, bespoke art installations and first-hand narration” that give viewers a unique glimpse into the royal’s life.

The exhibition is opening on 25 May at St Katharine Docks in London after being met with critical acclaim in Melbourne, South Carolina and Las Vegas.

Following Meghan Markle’s recent revelation that she is 43 percent Nigerian, it has now emerged that she took a trip to Malta to explore her ancestry.

This took place in 2015 shortly before she met Prince Harry and she chose to visit the country as it is “the land from which my great-grandmother hailed.”

“Before I came, people were telling me, ‘When you go to Malta, everyone will look like you,’ and I started to say, ‘Oh my gosh I do sort of blend in,’ and it’s the loveliest feeling,” she remembered.

The Duchess of Sussex experienced a similar sense of belonging on her recent trip to Nigeria with Prince Harry, which she described as “my country” and thanked locals for “welcoming me home”.

Buckingham Palace has announced that King Charles will not attend any upcoming events that could “distract” from the general election campaign.

He will, however, still attend major events including the D-Day commemorations and the ongoing series of garden parties at Buckingham Palace will be unaffected.

It has been reported that all upcoming engagements will now be reviewed on a case-by-case basis in light of yesterday’s general election announcement.

The change comes after the King made it clear that he wanted to throw himself back into public life after he was forced to step back earlier this year following his cancer diagnosis.

He has been so keen to work that he attended five events in 48 hours last week.

Rishi Sunak revealed he spoke with the King on Wednesday to inform him of his decision to have a general election, and the King had agreed to the request for the dissolution of Parliament.

The Palace said Charles met Mr Sunak in person at Buckingham palace in London on Wednesday afternoon, following Charles’ Prince’s Trust Awards engagement.

They spent around 15 minutes together in the King‘s private audience room, in place of their normal weekly meeting on Wednesday evening.

The King, who is still undergoing treatment for cancer, has carried out a flurry of engagements since restarting public appearances in April and now has a number of duties ahead of him after the Prime Minister announced his plan for the country to go to the polls.

Heir to the throne the Prince of Wales has also pulled out of a day of previously unannounced engagements for Thursday, after Kensington Palace received updated guidance from Buckingham Palace following the announcement of the general election.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution garden party on Thursday, marking the 200th anniversary of the lifesaving charity, will still go ahead, with thousands of guests set to descend on the Palace.

Charles, who has only just returned to public-facing duties after his cancer diagnosis, and Camilla never were due to attend the outdoor gathering.

But the King‘s public engagements for the rest of the week are now off - including a visit to Crewe on Friday to tour a Bentley factory and a community centre which supports people struggling financially, and another as yet-not publicly announced event that was due to happen elsewhere on Thursday.

It is understood the move is not a blanket approach to future events, and engagements will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The King will dissolve parliament on 30 May, 25 working days before the 4 July general election.

It has been an interesting time for fans of royal portraits, following the release of new depictions of King Charles and the Princess of Wales.

Both paintings, which are abstract in their own ways, received mixed reactions online.

They come amid the opening of a new exhibition of royal portraits, Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography, which opened on Friday last week at the King’s Gallery in London.

The exhibition celebrates over 100 years of royal portrait photography and features previously unseen images.