THE DUKE OF SUSSEX WILL ATTEND THE LAUNCH OF TEAM UK FOR THE INVICTUS GAMES THE HAGUE 2020

Honourable Artillery Company, London

Tuesday 29th October 2019

The Duke of Sussex, Patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, will attend the launch of the team selected to represent the UK at the Invictus Games The Hague 2020 on Tuesday 29th October.

The 65-strong team of wounded, injured and sick (WIS) Service personnel, both serving and veterans, will come together for the first time at the Honourable Artillery Company in London. More than 30 percent of Team UK are still serving and 89 percent have never competed at an Invictus Games before, demonstrating the ongoing impact of the games in the recovery journey of those with life changing injuries or illnesses.

His Royal Highness will meet the team ahead of the forthcoming Games, and pose for the first official team photograph. The Duke will then spend time meeting competitors and finding out more about their recovery journey and the impact the games are having on their lives, as well as those of their family and friends.

The Invictus Games is an international sport event for wounded, injured and sick Servicemen and women, both serving and veteran. The Games use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect of all those who serve their country. The UK is one of 19 nations who will be taking part in the fifth Invictus Games from 9-16 May in The Hague, The Netherlands. Over 500 competitors will compete in 10 adaptive sports.

Invictus UK, a partnership made up of Help for Heroes, the Royal British Legion and the Ministry of Defence, is responsible for the identification, training and delivery of the UK team to the Invictus Games The Hague 2020. The Team UK trials, which were held in Sheffield in July this year, were attended by more than 350 wounded, injured and sick Service personnel who competed across nine sports for one of the places available on the team.

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THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE WILL ATTEND THE LONDON’S AIR AMBULANCE CHARITY GALA

Rosewood Hotel, London WC2

Thursday 7th November, 2019

The Duke of Cambridge, Patron of London’s Air Ambulance Charity’s 30th Anniversary Campaign, will attend the London’s Air Ambulance Charity gala on Thursday 7th November.

THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL WILL ATTEND A COMMEMORATIVE SERVICE AT ST BRIDE’S CHURCH

TUESDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2019

The Duchess of Cornwall, Patron, the Guild of St Bride, will attend a service to commemorate journalists, camera-crew and support staff who have lost their lives on the frontline.

St Bride’s Church is located on Fleet Street and considered by many to be the spiritual home for journalists throughout the world. The church contains the Journalists’ Altar, commemorating those who lost their lives reporting the news.

The church hosts an annual service commemorating journalists, camera-crew and support staff who have lost their lives on the frontline. This year the service is entitled “Bearing Witness” and serves to remind us that there are many journalists who are missing or held captive, and many who continue to report at great risk.

An Address will be given by Photographer and Filmmaker, Paul Conroy, and Readings will be given by other senior figures across the media industry. The Service will be led by Canon Alison Joyce, Rector of St Bride’s and attendees are expected to include the families of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese investigative journalist murdered in 2017 and Christopher Allen, a British-American journalist murdered in South Sudan in 2017.

Her Royal Highness became Patron of the Guild of St Bride in 2012 and has attended the service three times before, in 2017, 2012 and 2010.

Following the service Her Royal Highness will meet families of those who have lost their lives before attending a reception at The Humble Grape.

St Bride’s Church

St Bride’s is the church of the media and the press. To enter its doors is to step into 2,000 years of history, which had begun with the Romans some six centuries before the name of St Bride, daughter of an Irish prince, even emerged from legend to become associated forever with the site.

The story of St Bride’s is inextricably woven into the history of the City of London. By the time the Great Fire of 1666 left the church in ruins, a succession of churches had existed on the site for about a millennium, and the area had already assumed its unique role in the emergence of English printing. It took nine years for St Bride’s to re-appear from the ashes under the inspired direction of Christopher Wren, but for the next two-and-a-half centuries it was in the shadow of the church’s unmistakeable wedding-cake spire that the rise of the British newspaper industry into the immensely-powerful Fourth Estate took place.

Then, in 1940, St Bride’s fell victim once again to flames as German incendiary bombs reduced Wren’s architectural jewel to a roofless shell. This time 17 years elapsed before rebuilding was completed, although a series of important excavations in 1953 amid the skeletal ruins, led by the medieval archaeologist Professor W. F. Grimes, came up with extraordinary results, uncovering the foundations of all six previous churches on the site.

THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL HOSTS A RECEPTION FOR WINNERS OF THE QUEEN’S COMMONWEALTH ESSAY COMPETITION

Thursday 31st October 2019

The Duchess of Cornwall, Vice-Patron of The Royal Commonwealth Society, on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen, Patron of The Royal Commonwealth Society, will hold a reception for winners of The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2019, Buckingham Palace, London SW1 1AA.

During the reception extracts from the winning pieces will be read by authors Geri Horner, Candice Cartey-Williams, Evie Wyld, Ben Okri and William Boyd. Gyles Brandreth will act as compère for the afternoon’s events.

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition is the world’s oldest international writing competition for schools. It was founded in 1883 to promote literacy, expression and creativity among young people throughout the Commonwealth.

In 2019, more than 11,000 entries were received on the theme of ‘A Connected Commonwealth’ from almost every country in the Commonwealth. This year’s topic called upon young people to consider how they can work to use cultural, technological and environmental connections for positive change across the Commonwealth. It asked young people to consider the potential of the Commonwealth in strengthening the vast and varied links between citizens.

The winners and runners-up are aged between 12 and 18 years old and will travel from Canada, Nigeria, Singapore and Ghana to be presented with their certificates by The Duchess of Cornwall at Buckingham Palace. Read more about the winners and their essays here.

The final judging decision was taken by an expert panel of authors, directors and poets, which included Young People’s Laureate for London Theresa Lola; spoken word artist Jaspreet Kaur; Theatre Director Max Webster; Novelist Wendy Holden; Education Programme Manager at the Royal African Society Joanna Brown; and Theatre Director Femi Elufowoju Jr.

The reception will be attended by the award winners and their families, final panel judges and notable literary figures from across the Commonwealth.

Kieran Shafritz de Zoysa

This year there is an additional runner-up in the Junior category, 11-year-old Kieran Shafritz de Zoysa. Kieran was tragically killed in a terrorist attack at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. His essay was the final piece of school work he completed and was entered posthumously by his mother, Dhulsini, who will attend the reception to receive his certificate.

The Royal Commonwealth Society

The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS), founded in 1868, is a network of individuals and organisations committed to improving the lives and prospects of Commonwealth citizens across the world. Through youth empowerment, education and advocacy, the RCS promotes the value and values of the Commonwealth.

THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL WILL CARRY OUT ENGAGEMENTS IN EAST LONDON

Wednesday 30th October 2019

Engagement 1

The Duchess of Cornwall will visit Mulberry School for Girls. The school plays an important part in the Women of the World (WOW) Festival of which HRH is President. Exploring the theme ‘Partnership of Equals’, The Duchess will tour the school, participate in a roundtable discussion and meet the school’s therapy dog.

The first part of the tour will include a WOW themed marketplace hosted in the school’s library. The stalls will showcase the school’s work and relationship with WOW and include a specific focus on Community Learning, Partnership of Equals and The Mulberry Schools Foundation.

Her Royal Highness will then visit English lessons and the dance studio where a performance of Swan Lake in which the gender roles are reversed will be rehearsed. The Duchess will watch a performance by Mulberry Theatre Company (inspired by Donmar’s all-female Shakespeare trilogy) which was written and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival earlier this year before joining a round-table discussion on issues raised during the play.

The Duchess will view works in the Mulberry Art Gallery before joining students in the courtyard where they will sing a Scottish folk song, ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ around the Mulberry Tree from which the School takes its name.

Finally, The Duchess will meet the school’s therapy dog before departing.

Mulberry School for Girls

The Duchess last visited Mulberry School for Girls in February 2013.

Mulberry School for Girls pioneers high quality education for girls and women locally, nationally and globally. The keystone of this work is developing confidence, creativity, leadership and the love of learning in Mulberry girls. Mulberry has also reached out to families – in particular, mothers – in this work, offering rich opportunities to do the same for them. (Mothers are joining the movement, writing and performing their own drama, setting up their own NGOs and insisting on their voices being heard.) The way to break cycles of poverty and worklessness is to provide through education opportunities to gain excellent qualifications, to break down barriers created through social stereotyping and prejudice, and to open up as many possibilities to build confidence as we can.

The quality of education offered at Mulberry placed the school in the top 130 selective and non-selective schools in 2018 for progress and 94% of pupils study the EBacc (The English Baccalaureate) with arts (known as Mulbacc). The arts have been a significant force in the school’s work to deliver this quality, which is why an arts GCSE is compulsory alongside the EBacc. In addition, the enriched extra-curricular education programme is designed to promote the voice and visibility of Mulberry girls and the women of the school community.

Women of the World (WOW) Festival

The Duchess of Cornwall is President of the Women of the World (WOW) Festival. Head Teacher of Mulberry School for Girls, Vanessa Ogden is a Trustee of the WOW Foundation.

WOW festivals began in the UK in 2010 and were launched by Jude Kelly at Southbank Centre London, where she was Artistic Director. They celebrate women and girls, taking a frank look at what prevents them from achieving their potential, raising awareness globally of the issues they face and discussing solutions together.

To date, WOW has reached over two million people in 17 countries on five continents across over 65 festivals – and growing – including in Australia, Brazil, China, Finland, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Somaliland, the UK and the USA. In 2018 WOW took place in Rio, Karachi, Beijing, Cardiff and Bradford, as well as London, New York, Dhaka, Pakistan Atlanta, Istanbul and China in 2019 and 2020.

Over the last nine years the Festivals have developed a reputation as a space for world renowned artists, activists, thinkers and performers including Angela Davies, Malala Yousafzai, Annie Lennox, Patrick Stewart, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Salma Hayek, to come and participate, alongside thousands of women and girls who don’t have public profiles but are doing amazing things. WOW provides platforms for people of all kinds, changes attitudes, brings communities together and provides a unique space for people to work together towards gender equality in their own communities. One example of the impact the festival came in 2015, with the founding of the Women’s Equality Party by Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer.

Mulberry School for Girls has had a deep and enduring partnership with Jude Kelly, the Women of the World Festival and now with its Foundation. Participating extensively in the first WOW festival, many of the girls were placed on panels at Jude’s invitation giving them voice and visibility in the debate about gender equality and how to achieve it. They walked with Jude, Bianca Jagger, Helena Kennedy and others in the first Women’s March, releasing doves on the bridge and speaking powerfully at the plenary afterwards.

Working with Jude, the school continues to contribute to WOW and has led the education conferences in the past as well as being involved extensively in WOW’s celebration of International Day of the Girl 2019.

Engagement 2

The Duchess of Cornwall will attend The Royal Foundation of St Katharine which hosts retreats, acts as a conference venue for charities and NGOs and provides a meeting space for women’s groups, artists and community organisations. HRH will meet staff and community groups in the Chapel, charities at St Katharine’s precinct and visit the Yurt Café- a social enterprise with price-protected items, ensuring the menu is accessible to all.

The Duchess will meet the board of The Royal Foundation of St Katharine as well as trustees upon arrival.

Her Royal Highness will first visit the chapel where she will be greeted by the performance of a community singing group and meet with staff. Here, Her Royal Highness will unveil a small plaque to mark the visit.

The Duchess will proceed to meet charity groups who use the spaces offered by St Katharine’s. Her Royal Highness will then move outdoors where she will meet a gardening group, tour the gardens and visit the precinct – an outdoor space consisting of recycled shipping containers and yurts.

Finally, the visit will conclude with a visit to the Yurt café – a social enterprise with price-protected items.

The Royal Foundation of St Katharine

Founded by Queen Matilda in 1147, The Royal Foundation of St Katharine has acted as a centre for worship, hospitality and service for over 870 years. Worship, Hospitality and Service to others in the community remain the core tenets for life at St Katharine’s.

Today the Royal Foundation of St Katharine is a Retreat House and Conference Centre providing services to others in the East End of London. As a retreat house St Katharine’s has a calm welcoming environment where visitors can get away from the busyness of life and restore their spiritual and emotional wellbeing. St Katharine’s also welcomes Faith Groups, Charities and Not for Profit organisations to hold conference and events in London at accessible prices. At St Katharine’s Precinct, the Foundation serves the community with hospitality at The Yurt Café and facilitates a range of community activity groups.

Charity and Not for Profit organisations holding events at St Katharine’s

Tower Hamlets Mental Health Liaison and Psychological Medicine Service – East London NHS Trust

Providing mental health crisis services throughout Tower Hamlets – ‘We care, we respect and we are inclusive.’ Rated outstanding by the Quality Care Commission.

Aston Mansfield – Creating Stronger Communities

Aston Mansfield is a locally rooted organisation that wants to see more young people and families in Newham and East London leading happy and healthy lives, realising their potential and unlocking their ambition.

Community Groups

St Katharine’s Community Gardening Group

Led by Stephen Sheil with core members Julie, Lavender, Hannah and Stuart, the community gardening group grow fresh produce which is served at The Yurt Café. They lead gardening education and activity days for children and adults throughout the year plus maintain and manage the grounds and Wild Flower banks of St Katharine’s Precinct.

Tower Project & St Katharine’s – Job Enterprise Training Interns

The Tower Project is a community based voluntary sector organization and service provider for children and adults with learning disability, sensory disability, autism, physical disability of health related issues. Jamie Crouch, Training Team Manager, works closely with St Katharine’s which accepts and trains four 17 year old interns each year. The interns have previously only experienced life in protected environments. St Katharine’s exposes the young people to the realities of working life at a supportive and caring pace where they are able to adjust and thrive.

St Katharine’s Community Singing Group

Led by Ugne Audzeviciute, a staff member at St Katharine’s, the group meets on a Wednesday evening to celebrate the joys of communal singing. Three members of the group have dedicated time to provide background accompaniment during the visit to St Katharine’s Chapel.

THE DUCHESS OF SUSSEX WILL ATTEND THE ONE YOUNG WORLD SUMMIT OPENING CEREMONY

Royal Albert Hall

Tuesday 22nd October 2019

THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL WILL CELEBRATE THE 7TH ANNIVERSARY OF BOOKS UNLOCKED & 2019 BOOKER PRIZE AT KPMG’S MAYFAIR CAFÉ

24TH OCTOBER 2019

The Duchess of Cornwall, Patron, National Literacy Trust (NLT) will attend a tea reception to mark the 7th anniversary of NLT’s Books Unlocked programme which provides free copies of Booker Prize shortlisted titles to people in prison library groups to read, discuss and keep. The tea will also celebrate the 2019 Booker Prize.

On arrival at the café HRH will be met by representatives from the NLT and The Booker Prize. HRH will then join a tea reception, which will include supporters of the NLT’s work in prisons. This will comprise prison librarians, volunteers, and Booker Prize shortlisted authors who have visited prisons through Books Unlocked, including Stephen Kelman (Pigeon English) and Rachel Seiffert (The Dark Room).

As part of the visit, HRH will meet representatives from National Prison Radio (NPR), which supports Books Unlocked, including former prisoner producers and ex-offenders mentored as part of the scheme. The event will be recorded by NPR and broadcast directly into almost 80,000 cells in prisons and young offender institutions across England and Wales in the coming week.

Booker Prize guests will also be present, including Peter Florence (Chair of Judges for the 2019 prize), author Elif Shafak (whose title 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World was shortlisted for the 2019 Prize) and Dotti Irving (Chief Executive, Four Communications).

Following the reception, the guests will take their seats as Peter Florence and Elif Shafak provide an unrivalled insight into the 2019 Booker Prize. Gaby Wood (Literary Director of The Booker Prize Foundation) will chair the conversation, inviting questions from the audience. Prison librarians will ask questions on behalf of their Books Unlocked prison reading groups, including where Shafak gets her writing inspiration, what Florence thought was unique about this year’s shortlist, and ask for writing tips and advice. The Duchess of Cornwall is expected to ask a question.

The Duchess of Cornwall is Patron of the National Literacy Trust. HRH has undertaken visits to HMP Brixton and HMP Styal in support of Books Unlocked, and has presented The Booker Prize in previous years.

The reception will be hosted by KPMG at their 19 Brooks Mews café (Mayfair, London). KPMG is a long-term supporter of the National Literacy Trust and will donate 10p from every ‘literacy latte’ sold between October – December to support Books Unlocked. KPMG is also committed to working in the criminal justice sector through its Key4Life mentoring scheme for young offenders.

About the National Literacy Trust and Books Unlocked

The National Literacy Trust is an independent charity dedicated to raising literacy levels in the UK and giving children, young people and adults from disadvantaged communities the literacy skills to succeed in life.

Books Unlocked is the National Literacy Trust’s flagship criminal justice programme and is supported by The Booker Prize Foundation. Books Unlocked uses the power of reading to help those in prisons and young offender institutions, lead productive and fulfilling lives while in custody and upon release.

Books Unlocked provides free copies of Booker Prize shortlisted and longlisted titles for participants to read, discuss and keep, and facilitates visits from the authors of these titles to prison reading groups. Books Unlocked also works with National Prison Radio to serialise audiobooks of Booker Prize titles and broadcast author interviews.

Since the programme’s launch in 2012, Books Unlocked has:

• Been delivered in 75 settings across England and Wales, including prisons, young offender institutions, schools and libraries
• Facilitated visits to prison library groups from Booker Prize shortlisted and longlisted authors, such as Roddy Doyle, Stephen Kelman, Sarah Waters, Ali Smith, AD Miller and Jim Crace
• Gifted 8,000 Booker Prize shortlisted and longlisted titles to participants

About The Booker Prize

The Booker Prize for Fiction is the leading literary award in the English speaking world and was first awarded in 1969. The Booker Prize is awarded annually to the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK or Ireland.

The 2019 Booker Prize was jointly awarded to Margaret Atwood (The Testaments) and Bernardine Evaristo (Girl, Woman, Other). For a full history of the prize, including previous winners, shortlisted authors and judges, visit: www.thebookerprizes.com

THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL WILL VISIT BATH

Tuesday 22nd October 2019

The Duchess of Cornwall, President of the Royal Osteoporosis Society and Patron of Versus Arthritis, will open the new Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD) and Brownsword Therapies Centre, at the Royal United Hospitals Bath (RUH).

Her Royal Highness will subsequently join a reception to mark the 20th anniversary of the Forever Friends Appeal, the charity for the RUH.

Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD)

In 2015, RNHRD became part of the Royal United Hospitals Bath (RUH). Over the past four years work has been undertaken to bring staff and services from the RNHRD and the RUH together on one site. The Trust has worked closely with staff, patients and others to identify and provide the best new home for services moving from the RNHRD’s Mineral Water Hospital site in Bath. Known locally as the ‘Min’, the RNHRD building housed rheumatology, rheumatology therapies, fatigue and chronic pain services, as well as diagnostic and research teams and support staff.

In autumn 2019 the phased move of rheumatology, rheumatology therapies and fatigue staff and services to the new purpose built RNHRD and Brownsword Therapies Centre began. All other RNHRD services will make the move to the main RUH site in Bath later this year.

Brownsword Therapies Centre

This new, purpose built centre is an outpatient centre providing treatment, care and education for patients to recover from episodes of illness or injury, or to manage their long-term condition.

Designed in conjunction with patients and staff, the new building includes a large hydrotherapy pool, group rooms, education rooms, a specialist gym and rehabilitation equipment, therapeutic outdoor areas and a biologics treatment space. The new centre has been specially designed to make use of natural light as well as garden areas and art to create a nurturing environment for all who use the building.

The centre is the new home for many of the services currently provided at the Min, including:

• Rheumatology
• Rheumatology Therapies
• The Bath Centre for Fatigue Services
• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Service
• Complex Cancer Late Effects Rehabilitation Service

Art and heritage play a significant role in the new centre, with historic paintings from the Min site joining modern artworks that have been specially commissioned, including a geographical timeline tracing the route of Bath’s hot springs, decorated glass panels depicting local landscapes and hydrotherapy designs, heritage wallpaper and contemporary images interpreting present-day practice.

The new centre will see around 25,000 patients a year.

Forever Friends Appeal

The Forever Friends Appeal is the fundraising charity for the RUH. The Appeal funds projects that make a real difference to the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients cared for by the RUH each year, including for the new RNHRD and Therapies Centre.

Fundraisers and donors make it possible for the appeal to help pay for additional equipment, research and innovations, as well as finishing touches and ‘extras’ that complement the existing high quality care at the hospitals. Since June 1999, more than £20 million has been raised by the charity.

The Duchess of Cornwall

Her Royal Highness was Patron of the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD) between 2006 and 2016, at the old Mineral Water Hospital site.

The Duchess has visited the RUH twice previously: in 2010 to open the Cardiac centre and in 2012 to open a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care).

Catch up on The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall’s most recent engagements in the latest issue of Royal Life.