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Her Majesty to Host Reception for the Booker Prize Foundation

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Queen Camilla and Helena Bonham Carter during a reception celebrating 30 years of the Forward Arts Foundation at Clarence House in London, October 11, 2023.
Queen Camilla and Helena Bonham Carter during a reception celebrating 30 years of the Forward Arts Foundation at Clarence House in London, October 11, 2023.

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN WILL HOST A RECEPTION FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE FOUNDATION

Thursday 23rd November 2023

The Queen will host a reception at Clarence House for the Booker Prize Foundation. Her Majesty will meet guests, past winners, and the authors shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, ahead of the announcement of the 2023 winner.

First awarded in 1969, the Booker Prize is the world’s most significant award for the best sustained work of fiction written in English by authors from anywhere in the world and published in the UK and/or Ireland. This year’s winner will be announced at Old Billingsgate, London, on 26th November 2023.

The shortlisted titles and authors for this year’s prize are: Sarah Bernstein for Study for Obedience; Jonathan Escoffery for If I Survive You; Paul Lynch for Prophet Song; Paul Harding for The Other Eden; Chetna Maroo for Western Lane; and Paul Murray for The Bee Sting.

Previously, the Queen has presented the award to Eleanor Catton in 2013 for The Luminaries, to Richard Flanagan in 2014 for The Narrow Road to The Deep North, to Marlon James in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings, Paul Beatty in 2016 for The Sellout, to George Saunders for Lincoln in the Bardo in 2017, Anna Burns for Milkman in 2018 and most recently Shehan Karunatilaka in 2022 for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.

The Booker Prize is the leading literary award in the English-speaking world, and has brought recognition, reward, and readership to outstanding fiction for over five decades. Each year, the prize is awarded to what is, in the opinion of the judges, the best sustained work of fiction written in English and published in the UK and Ireland. Recent winners include Bernardine Evaristo, Margaret Atwood, Douglas Stuart, Damon Galgut and Shehan Karunatilaka.

The winner receives £50,000, whilst the six shortlisted authors receive £2,500 each.

State Visit of The President of the Republic of Korea

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King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend a reception on the flight deck of HMS Iron Duke in Bordeaux, on day three of the state visit to France, September 22, 2023.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend a reception on the flight deck of HMS Iron Duke in Bordeaux, on day three of the state visit to France, September 22, 2023.

STATE VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Tuesday 21st to Thursday 23rd November 2023

The President of the Republic of Korea, His Excellency Yoon Suk Yeol, accompanied by Mrs Kim Keon Hee, will pay a state visit to the United Kingdom from 21st to 23rd November 2023.

Their Majesties The King and Queen will host the State Visit at Buckingham Palace.

STATE VISIT PROGRAMME:

MONDAY 20th NOVEMBER

The President of the Republic of Korea, His Excellency Yoon Suk Yeol, accompanied by Mrs Kim Keon Hee, will arrive privately in the United Kingdom on the afternoon of Monday 20th November, at Stansted Airport.

His Excellency will be greeted on behalf of The King by The Viscount Hood, Lord-in-Waiting to The King.

TUESDAY 21st NOVEMBER

The Prince and Princess of Wales will greet President Yoon Suk Yeol and the First Lady, at their hotel, on behalf of The King on Tuesday morning.

Their Royal Highnesses will then travel with The President and the First Lady to Horse Guards Parade, where The President and the First Lady will receive a Ceremonial Welcome.

The King and Queen will formally welcome The President and the First Lady at the Royal Pavilion on Horse Guards Parade. Presentations will be made, the Guard of Honour will give a Royal Salute and the Republic of Korea’s National Anthem will be played.

The President, accompanied by The King, will then inspect the Guard of Honour, found by F Company Scots Guards. Afterwards, The President and the First Lady will join The King and Queen, and The Prince and Princess of Wales, in a carriage procession along The Mall to Buckingham Palace, where they will be met by a second Guard of Honour found by 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.

Following a private lunch at Buckingham Palace, given by The King, His Majesty will invite The President and the First Lady to view a special exhibition in the Picture Gallery of items from the Royal Collection relating to the Republic of Korea.

After lunch, The President and the First Lady, with His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester, will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Korean War Memorial, to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the war.

The President and the First Lady will then visit Westminster Abbey, where His Excellency will lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. The President and the First Lady will then take a tour of the Abbey, where they will have the opportunity to meet pensioners from the Royal Hospital Chelsea who saw active service during the Korean War.

Afterwards, The President and the First Lady will travel to the Palace of Westminster, where they will be welcomed by the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker. The President will deliver an Address in the Royal Gallery to Members of both Houses of Parliament and other guests.

In the evening The King, accompanied by The Queen and Members of the Royal Family, will give a State Banquet at Buckingham Palace for The President and the First Lady. His Majesty and The President will both make speeches at the start of the banquet.

WEDNESDAY 22nd NOVEMBER

In the morning, The President will attend Shaping the Future: UK-Korea Business Forum at Mansion House. The forum will bring together CEOs and business representatives from both nations to discuss working together to create business opportunities, and The President will give the opening speech at the event.

Later that morning, at the Royal Society, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh will accompany The President for a roundtable discussion on how we can collectively strengthen the role of basic science to advance humanity, where His Excellency will deliver remarks. The President will be joined for the discussion by notable UK and Korean scientific minds, and will view highlights from the Royal Society’s archives alongside Her Royal Highness.

In the afternoon, The President and the First Lady will travel to No. 10 Downing Street, where The President will have a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP. The First Lady will be hosted by Mrs Murty at No. 10 Downing Street.

Later that afternoon, The President will receive a call by the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer MP.

In the evening, The President and the First Lady, joined by Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, will attend a Banquet at the Guildhall given by the Lord Mayor and City of London Corporation.

The Lord Mayor and The President will both make speeches at the end of the banquet.

THURSDAY 23RD NOVEMBER

In the morning, The President will visit the Churchill War Rooms.

The President and the First Lady will then return to Buckingham Palace to formally bid farewell to The King at the end of the State Visit.

The Lord Chamberlain will bid farewell to The President and the First Lady on behalf of The King, before they depart from Stansted Airport.

Her Majesty to Attend Foreign Press Association Awards

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Queen Camilla attends a Garden Party at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down during a two day visit to Northern Ireland, May 24, 2023.
Queen Camilla attends a Garden Party at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down during a two day visit to Northern Ireland, May 24, 2023.

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN WILL ATTEND THE FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARDS

Monday 20th November 2023

The Queen will celebrate 135 years of the Foreign Press Association (FPA) at the annual FPA Awards at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane, London.

Her Majesty will be received at the Sheraton Grand by the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, Sir Ken Olisa. The Queen will then be welcomed to the Foreign Press Awards by Deborah Bonetti, Director of the Foreign Press Association and Dagmar Seeland, President of the Foreign Press Association.

In the Tudor Rose Room, Her Majesty will meet the FPA Committee (comprising international journalists), the judges and the 33 nominees in every journalism category at the awards. A group photograph will be taken of Her Majesty and the nominees.

The Queen will then join the ceremony in the Ballroom, where she will give a keynote address and be presented with an Honorary Membership of the Foreign Press Association, before departing.


His Majesty The King attended the awards as Prince of Wales in 2008 and is an honorary member of the FPA.

The Foreign Press Association in London is the oldest and largest association of foreign correspondents in the world and was founded in 1888. Back then, news of Jack the Ripper travelled abroad and a group of journalists (mainly for Europe) arrived in London, attempting to cover the case. Finding it difficult to find their footing in a new and difficult city, they decided to join forces to gain access to sources and news, and so the FPA was founded. It now counts over 500 full members and is a member of the UK Press Card Authority, giving out more than 2,200 press cards a year to foreign journalists working in the capital.

It holds its annual awards gala (the FPA Awards) once a year, in November. It is the only awards ceremony of its kind that puts together domestic and international journalism. The approximately 360 guests are mainly journalists (both British and international) and nominees for each category of the awards.

There are 12 categories:

1. FPA Member Story of the Year

2. Environment Story of the Year

3. TV News Story of the Year

4. Print & Web Story of the year

5. Radio/Podcast of the Year

6. Travel/Tourism Story of the Year

7. Financial/Economic Story of the Year

8. TV Documentary Story of the Year

9. Arts & Culture Story of the Year

10. Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year

11. Science Story of the Year

12. City University Story of the Year

The final category is Journalist of the Year and it’s picked out of the 12 winners above.

The FPA has just started a new partnership with City University to help raise a new generation of Foreign Correspondents and the winner of this new award will receive membership to the FPA for a year. Working with City, the FPA has also begun the process of inventorying its extensive archive, with the aim to set up the first Foreign Press Association Museum in the world.


The Queen’s speech at the Foreign Press Association Awards 2023

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a huge pleasure to be here with you this evening to celebrate the 135th anniversary of the Foreign Press Association and to reflect on your many achievements as the world’s oldest and biggest association of foreign journalists.  But I cannot begin without also reflecting that as we gather, journalists, photographers and their support teams are even now risking their lives.  We think particularly of those reporting from Ukraine and the Middle East in these most difficult of times. 

By joining you this evening, I am following in the footsteps of my husband, an honorary member of the FPA, who joined you at these Awards in 2008.  On that occasion, he described your role as “not only to look at the world and study the way it works, but to report what you see accurately, to explain it and indeed to interpret it.  In so doing you shape the view and define the perspective of millions of people and that is an enormous responsibility”. 

I know, second-hand, a little of the responsibility of your profession.  There are journalists in my family…and I have even been the subject of one or two stories myself over the years…  I have also had the opportunity to visit a significant number of newsrooms and have seen how tough your work is. Particularly, if I dare say so, for women, who, despite the many hurdles they have faced, have been among the bravest reporters of all. From trailblazers like Martha Gelhorn and Christiane Amanpour, to those such as Marie Colvin (an FPA Journalist of the Year) and Daphne Caruana Galizia, who have so tragically paid with their lives, their courage was matched only by their conviction that the truth matters. Perhaps this has never been more evident than in our digital age, where disinformation runs rife and where female journalists are increasingly targeted on social media.  The FPA has done much to promote and protect women throughout your long history, appointing your first female President in 1955, and, more recently, providing specialised training for women to deal with disruptive and abusive behaviour from members of the public.  For this, all your readers and broadcast audiences are in your debt.

As the late great Dame Ann Leslie wrote, it is among the sacred duties of journalists to ‘face the glacier in the cupboard and to expose its coldness and cruelty to the bright, clear and humanising light of day.’ That is what she, and all of you, do.  This is especially true in one area of your work for which I should particularly like to thank you:  raising awareness of domestic and sexual abuse against women in every part of the globe.  The FPA was, of course, founded in 1888, when foreign correspondents came to the United Kingdom to report on the Jack the Ripper murders and decided to band together to secure better access to information and sources.  Although we might now deplore some of the more sensational approaches to those terrible events, the fact is that the FPA grew out of the need to reveal and condemn violence against women.  And this remains a key part of journalism today. You have the ability to break the corrosive silence that frequently surrounds abuse.  You bring into the open the voices of victims, you break taboos, you shine a light on these heinous crimes and you guide the public on what they can do to help. As the foreign correspondent Christina Lamb makes clear in her devastating book ‘Our Bodies, Their Battlefield’, rape and sexual abuse continue to be a pervasive and all-too-often hidden feature of conflict zones the world over.

Ladies and gentlemen, as my husband observed 15 years ago, yours is an awe-inspiring responsibility:  you question, debate and analyse and thus protect what is so easy for us to take for granted – true freedom of expression.  As I said at the London Press Club Awards in 2011I believe freedom of expression to be at the heart of our democratic system. In this, you play a vital, if not pivotal role.

Take courage from the words of one of our greatest writers, and former journalist, Tom Stoppard:  “I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon”.  May you continue to use it wisely. Thank you.

Royal Christmas Carol Service at Westminster Abbey

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The Prince and Princess of Wales arriving with their children Princess Charlotte and Prince George for the 'Together at Christmas' Carol Service at Westminster Abbey in London, December 15, 2022.
The Prince and Princess of Wales arriving with their children Princess Charlotte and Prince George for the 'Together at Christmas' Carol Service at Westminster Abbey in London, December 15, 2022.

ROYAL CHRISTMAS CAROL SERVICE AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY RETURNS TO ITV ON CHRISTMAS EVE

Friday 8th December

The Princess of Wales will return to Westminster Abbey to host a special Christmas carol service on Friday 8th December. This year, the service will be a moment to thank all those who work to support babies, young children and families in our communities across the UK and a celebration of the golden opportunity that the birth of a new baby brings.

Spearheaded by the Princess, and supported by the Royal Foundation, the service is a moment to bring people together at Christmas time and recognise those who have gone above and beyond to help others throughout the year. Linked to Her Royal Highness’s Shaping Us campaign, the service will showcase the hope of new life and why it is so important to build supportive, nurturing worlds around children and the adults in their lives. We know that the foundations we lay in early childhood shape the rest of our lives and the adults we become. This special time in a child’s earliest years, from pregnancy to the age of five, provides a unique chance to build resilience, happiness, and health for the future.

Combining traditional and modern elements to encompass people of all faiths and none, the service will see the world-renowned Westminster Abbey choir perform some of the nation’s most beloved carols, alongside musical performances by guests including Beverley Knight, Adam Lambert, Jacob Collier, Freya Ridings and James Bay.

The abbey will be filled with inspiring individuals and families from all corners of the UK, including midwives, health visitors, early years practitioners, nursery teachers and community volunteers, as well as members of the Royal Family. It will shine a spotlight on those who go above and beyond and will be a chance to celebrate the incredible role they play in raising children and shaping the society of tomorrow. The carol service will see Westminster Abbey filled with festive decorations, providing a beautiful Christmas backdrop for the special evening which will provide an opportunity to deliver a festive thank you to those who are working so hard to help the youngest members of our society to flourish.

Filmed for broadcast, the service has been developed and delivered in partnership with Westminster Abbey, as a co-production between the Royal Foundation and BBC Studios Events Productions. The service will air as part of a special programme on ITV1 and ITVX on Christmas Eve.

In addition to the Westminster Abbey service, 12 community carol services will be taking place across the UK, hosted by Lord-Lieutenants, and supported by The Royal Foundation.

• Guests attending the service have been nominated by Lord-Lieutenants across the nation, in addition to charities associated with members of the Royal Family. They will be joined by those working in the early years space which is a key focus area of the Princess of Wales’s work through the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. It will also consist of those who may have had a challenging year, including children and families, or those who might find the winter period difficult.

• The Princess of Wales founded the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood in 2021 and launched the Shaping Us campaign in January 2023.

• The 12 community carol services taking places across the UK will be bespoke to each area and will provide a moment for people to come together and celebrate community work during the festive season. These will be taking place in:

– Leominster, Herefordshire

– Sheffield, South Yorkshire

– Hartlepool, Co Durham

– Clifton, Bristol

– Uppingham, Rutland

– Upminster, Essex

– Charlbury, Oxfordshire

– Chester, Cheshire

– Newport, Wales

– Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland

– Fife, Scotland

– Bangor, Wales

The Princess Royal will Visit Gibraltar

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The Princess Royal opens the Gosport Community Hub, at Brune Park Community School, in Gosport, Hampshire, which will support the wellbeing of more than 400 service children, November 1, 2022.
The Princess Royal opens the Gosport Community Hub, at Brune Park Community School, in Gosport, Hampshire, which will support the wellbeing of more than 400 service children, November 1, 2022.

THE PRINCESS ROYAL WILL VISIT GIBRALTAR

Friday 17th November – Saturday 18th November 2023

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, accompanied by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, will visit Gibraltar on Friday and Saturday as royal patron of Gibraltar International Literary Festival.

On Friday 17th November, the Princess Royal will attend the opening dinner of the festival as guest of honour and will give an opening speech celebrating the importance of literature in Gibraltar.

Her Royal Highness will attend a presentation earlier in the day with festival guest speaker Dame Mary Berry ahead of the Gibraltar Literary Festival dinner that evening.

During the trip to Gibraltar, Her Royal Highness will also visit Bassadone Automotive Group, one of Europe’s largest independent automotive companies, dealing primarily with vehicle sales and exports. The Princess Royal will visit the workshop and meet staff before unveiling a plaque to commemorate the visit.

The Princess Royal, as patron, will also visit the Gibraltar offices of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux to mark its 20th anniversary. Her Royal Highness will hear about their work and support to communities on a range of issues including legal and financial.

Before departing, the Princess Royal will visit the Royal Gibraltar Regiment Association to open their renovated premises.

The Prince of Wales to Visit Moss Side, Manchester

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The Prince of Wales meets members of the public at the Grange Pavilion, Cardiff, Wales. October, 2023.
The Prince of Wales meets members of the public at the Grange Pavilion, Cardiff, Wales. October, 2023.

THE PRINCE OF WALES WILL VISIT MANCHESTER

Thursday 16th November 2023

The Prince of Wales will visit Moss Side in Manchester on Thursday 16th November to spotlight vital work being carried out in the area to support communities and improve outcomes for young people.

His Royal Highness’ first visit of the day will mark the announcement of a new initiative, spearheaded by The Royal Foundation and the Mayor of Greater Manchester, to elevate and expand ongoing work to tackle youth violence. The announcement forms the third in a series of Community Impact projects created by The Royal Foundation to bring about tangible impact in the communities visited by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

The Prince will then visit a local youth hub to hear more about the work they carry out to empower and support young people in Moss Side to be the best they can be. His Royal Highness will also spend time with those involved in a community foodbank which provides a lifeline to individuals and families in need, whilst also working to tackle health inequalities and enrich the lives of the local community.

Engagement 1:

The Prince of Wales’s first visit of the day will be to the Hideaway Youth Project, lead partner of the Manchester Peace Together Alliance, to learn more about the work of the Alliance to reduce violence amongst young people. His Royal Highness’ visit marks the launch of a new initiative, galvanised by the Royal Foundation and the Mayor of Greater Manchester, which will help to expand the work of the Alliance through the creation of new opportunities for those at risk of youth violence.

The Manchester Peace Together Alliance is a community-led programme working to pinpoint and address the underlying causes of youth violence, with support from the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit. The organisation works closely with young people aged 10-25 in Hulme, Moss Sideand Rusholme who are vulnerable to youth violence; providing activities and targeted mentoring programmes to put them on the path to success.

His Royal Highness will hear from those affected by youth violence about the devastating impact the issue has on local communities, before speaking with youth workers and young people supported by the Hideaway and other Alliance partners.

The Prince will hear about the progress that has been made to date by the alliance, before joining a conversation with Alliance partners and representatives from the business community who have been convened by the Royal Foundation, the Mayor of Greater Manchester and Manchester City Council to create the alliance’s first dedicated youth employment, skills and training programme.

His Royal Highness will hear more about the long-term impact that the new programme will have on local young people through the provision of new opportunities, helping to build aspirations and support those at risk of violence to reach their true potential.

Engagement 2:

The Prince of Wales will then visit the Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse, a community hub with a mission to create brighter futures for young people in Manchester. His Royal Highness will also hear about the work of Keeping It Real 24/7, a foodbank and community lifeline. The charity was set up by Wendy Simms, a member of the local Rastafarian community who invited the Prince to visit Moss Side to meet the local community during a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace earlier this year.

The Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse is a multi-service youth hub which works with a wide range of local organisations, including The Hideaway Youth Project, to provide a weekly programme of inclusive activities and clubs to allow young people to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. The centre also provides mental health support and NHS services as well as careers advice and guidance, and programmes for those leaving the care system. The Prince will hear more about this vital work, before meeting young people taking part in a range of activities in the centre’s sports hall.

The Millennium Powerhouse works closely with Keeping It Real 24/7, a foodbank which was set up in 2019 by Wendy Simms to address the needs of the community and build a better and stronger Moss Side. Supported by a team of dedicated volunteers, Wendy works to provide food and hot meals for those in need, with a particular focus on being able to supply culturally important foods such as yams, breadfruit and sugar cane.

The scale of the charity’s efforts has grown in recent years and now includes the provision of training courses for people looking to get into work, including helping aspiring chefs to obtain food hygiene qualifications. During his visit, His Royal Highness will spend some time in the kitchen to help prepare some food.

The Prince will meet some of those involved in the Keeping It Real 24/7’s most recent initiative, operating in collaboration with the NHS, to tackle health inequalities by creating a team of volunteer health champions embedded within the community. His Royal Highness will then visit Jessie’s Wall, a poignant memorial to Jessie James, whose life was tragically cut short by gunfire in the park adjacent to the Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse in 2006.

Extensive work has been carried out in consultation with the local community over the past few years to restore the tribute, which was originally created by Jessie’s friends soon after his death. Shortly before departing Moss Side, the Prince will spend time meeting members of the public outside the community centre.

King and Queen Officially Launch Coronation Food Project

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King Charles III and Queen Camilla meet pupils from Belfast's Blythefield Primary School who have taken part in Historic Royal Palaces' competition to design Coronation benches at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down during a two day visit to Northern Ireland, May 24, 2023.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla meet pupils from Belfast's Blythefield Primary School who have taken part in Historic Royal Palaces' competition to design Coronation benches at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down during a two day visit to Northern Ireland, May 24, 2023.

THEIR MAJESTIES THE KING AND QUEEN WILL OFFICIALLY LAUNCH THE CORONATION FOOD PROJECT

14th November 2023

To mark His Majesty’s 75th birthday today, the King and Queen will officially launch the Coronation Food Project.

Inspired by His Majesty, the Coronation Food Project seeks to bridge the gap between food waste and food need across all four nations of the United Kingdom, helping people and helping the planet.

Their Majesties The King and Queen will launch the Coronation Food Project at South Oxfordshire Food and Education Alliance, part of the FareShare network.

The King and Queen, accompanied by Dame Martina Milburn and Baroness Louise Casey, will be welcomed by Richard and Ruth Kennell. The Kennells founded and run the South Oxfordshire Food and Education Alliance (SOFEA).

Since its launch in 2014, SOFEA has helped over 400 young people gain qualifications, skills and work experience whilst helping to transform their local communities through projects such as community larders and food surplus distribution.

Entering the warehouse, Their Majesties will meet SOFEA staff and volunteers who rescue surplus food and redistribute it to 120 community organisations in need across Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Wiltshire.

With the help of the Coronation Food Project, food networks across the United Kingdom will be supported to reuse greater amounts of surplus food.

After a short conversation about the positive impact of SOFEA on the local community, the King and Queen will move to four packing stations where staff and volunteers will be packing surplus food which will be distributed to a range of community organisations. At this point, Richard Kennell will explain the type of surplus food that is normally received at the centre, the organisations and families which benefit from it and how The Coronation Food Project can make a difference.

Their Majesties will briefly view the chiller where fresh food is kept, before moving down the warehouse aisles to meet some of the volunteers who make the work of SOFEA possible.

Moving outside, the King and Queen will see four Fairshare food vans loaded with goods for distribution. Their Majesties will have the opportunity to speak to the drivers before briefly stopping at the small kitchen garden.

In the kitchen, Their Majesties will meet chef Alex MacKay who cooks food for the local community and hosts employability programmes for young people.

In the offices, the King and Queen will view presentation boards depicting where it is hoped the enhanced Coronation Food Project hubs will be sited. Their Majesties will meet several Coronation Food Project supporters and people who currently use food larders and food banks.

Their Majesties will then meet representatives of the major UK supermarkets and food manufacturers who have agreed to join the newly created Food Alliance and hear about their efforts to reduce food waste. Also in attendance will be representatives of some charities which received fridges and freezers before Christmas through the £1million fund which was established in December 2022, which included a personal donation from His Majesty.

Marking the launch of the Coronation Food Project, Baroness Casey will say a few words and invite His Majesty to unveil a plaque to commemorate the visit. Their Majesties will be invited to join a group photo with supporters, staff, and volunteers.

Before departure, the King and Queen will wave off the four vans which they saw at the start of the engagement.

The Prince and Princess of Wales Go Diving with 2021 Earthshot Prize Winner Coral Vita

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The Prince and Princess of Wales go diving with 2021 Earthshot Prize winner Coral Vita

Back in 2022, The Prince and Princess visited Earthshot Prize winner Coral Vita in The Bahamas and took part in a very special experience snorkelling around the beautiful reefs, and planting out new coral.

Coral Vita do incredible work to Revive Our Oceans by giving new life to dying coral reefs, farming corals on land before planting them into oceans. This method sees coral grow up to 50 times faster than traditional methods. Coral is vital for maintaining a healthy ocean ecosystem.

As Earthshot Prize winners they received £1 million to scale their solution and help protect and restore our planet by 2030.

The Princess of Wales to Deliver Keynote at Shaping Us National Symposium

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The Princess of Wales in Kirkgate Market in Leeds, West Yorkshire, where she is meeting vendors and members of the public for the launch of the Shaping Us campaign which is raising awareness of the unique importance of early childhood, January 31, 2023.
The Princess of Wales in Kirkgate Market in Leeds, West Yorkshire, where she is meeting vendors and members of the public for the launch of the Shaping Us campaign which is raising awareness of the unique importance of early childhood, January 31, 2023.

THE PRINCESS OF WALES TO DELIVER KEYNOTE SPEECH AT SHAPING US NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

London

Wednesday 15th November 2023

The Princess of Wales and The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood will host The Shaping Us National Symposium at The Design Museum in London. The event will bring together cross-disciplinary leaders, child and adult specialists, and global thinkers for the first time to consider how we grow, think, and behave throughout life, in order to build resilience for the future.

The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood has conducted a first of its kind global listening exercise, involving experts from 21 countries around the world, to unite the thinking and agree on the key foundational skills we lay in early childhood, but continue to grow beyond it, that help establish happy, healthy adult lives.

These social and emotional skills are fundamental to our future mental and physical well-being – shaping everything from our ability to form positive relationships, to our capacity for learning, working, and coping with adversity. They all have their foundations in early childhood.

This work has been undertaken to agree a set of common core skills that can apply equally to children and adults, so we can bring people together with a united language and vision to drive action at every level. The Shaping Us National Symposium will share the findings from this exercise and focus on the action needed to make social and emotional skills a greater priority.

The symposium will begin with a keynote speech, delivered by the Princess of Wales. Mental health and well-being advocate, and Shaping Us Champion Fearne Cotton, will host the event.

The day will also feature talks from a range of thought leaders to outline the scientific, economic and human cases for prioritising early childhood, and our social and emotional development, including:

• Professor Jack Shonkoff, Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard whom Her Royal Highness previously met during a visit to Boston last year.

• Sara Rajeswaran, Chief of Staff at Aviva, a key member of the Business Taskforce for Early Childhood which The Princess launched in March.

• Professor Robert Waldinger, Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies of adult life ever conducted.

The findings will be presented and discussed at the event by a panel of experts covering their professional and personal experiences. Chaired by Professor Eamon McCrory, the panel will include broadcaster Ashley John-Baptiste, clinical psychologist and author Sophie Mort, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, Neil Leitch and Beverley Barnett-Jones, Associate Director of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.

During the afternoon, symposium attendees will join a series of workshops to look at what action can be taken at every level to protect and strengthen these skills for current and future generations across disciplines and across sectors.

The event and the research that has been carried out by The Centre for Early Childhood is a key milestone for the centre’s Shaping Us campaign, which Her Royal Highness launched at the beginning of the year. The long-term campaign aims to increase awareness of, and action on, the unique importance of early childhood in shaping our future mental and physical wellbeing as adults, as well as the nature of the wider society we build.

Her Majesty The Queen to Attend Commonwealth Women Leader’s Event

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The Duchess of Cornwall attends a roundtable discussion on domestic abuse during a visit to the charity Shine in Auckland, on the third day of the royal visit to New Zealand.
The Duchess of Cornwall attends a roundtable discussion on domestic abuse during a visit to the charity Shine in Auckland, on the third day of the royal visit to New Zealand.

THE QUEEN WILL ATTEND THE COMMONWEALTH WOMEN LEADER’S EVENT AT MARLBOROUGH HOUSE

Wednesday 15th November 2023

Her Majesty The Queen will attend the Commonwealth Women Leader’s event at Marlborough House on Wednesday 15th November 2023.

A Call for Action: Safeguarding the Wellbeing of Women and Children, hosted by The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, will focus on the prevalence of domestic violence and its effects on the physical and mental health of women and children, and the ability to affect positive change in hard-to-reach populations across the Commonwealth.

The Queen will join the conclusion of the event and receive a report on the outcomes from the Secretary-General, Chair and panel moderators, before joining guests for a reception.

Her Majesty The Queen will arrive at Marlborough House and be received by Baroness Scotland, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who will accompany Her Majesty to meet the panel chairs and moderators, including Women of the World (WOW) CEO and Founder, Jude Kelly; the First Lady of Sierra Leone, Her Excellency Fatima Maada Bio; Lady Dentaa Amoateng; and the Commonwealth Young Person of the Year 2023, Maya Kirti Nanan, for a summary of the day’s discussions and future action.

The Queen will then join other guests, including panel participants, for a reception.

The Commonwealth Women Leader’s day event will include keynote speeches and round-table discussions in front of invited guests, with panellists drawn from the Commonwealth and other partner countries and organisations. The panel discussion topics include:

1. The Role and Impact of Advocacy on Violence Against Women and Girls

2. Domestic Violence and Mental Health: Impact on Women and Children

3. Domestic and Sexual Violence and the Family

The day will conclude with a high-level commitment to form an alliance that will work on issues related to domestic violence against women and children, across the Commonwealth.

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh will join the opening session of the event, earlier in the day.

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