King Charles III held a historic meeting at Buckingham Palace with Volodymyr Zelensky this week when the Ukrainian president made a surprise trip to the UK.
The British monarch made sure to roll out the red carpet for the embattled leader and share his solidarity with the president and the people of Ukraine.
Speaking candidly, King Charles said "we've all been worried about you and thinking about your country for so long, I can't tell you," as they met in the palace's 1844 room.
There was of course the obligatory handshake photo call and Zelensky expressed his gratitude, saying it was "a great honor to be here."
A small media pool had been granted access to the start of the meeting where the King told Zelensky that he'd heard of the Ukrainian's powerful address to both Houses of Parliament a few hours earlier. Zelensky was quick to emphasize that British lawmakers had been a "big support," to which the King responded, "I'm so glad."
And then the press was ushered out and the pair met in private for a half-hour conversation about the war and Britain's support of Ukraine. They were joined by the King's principal private secretary, Clive Alderton, the head of the Ukrainian President's Office, Andriy Yermak, and the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba.
Speaking of the monarch, the first stamps featuring King Charles were unveiled by the British postal service earlier this week. The new design isn't breaking the mold, but it doesn't need to. It features a portrait of the King in profile on a plain purple background -- so not dissimilar to previous stamps featuring his late mother. But there is one notable change: The King isn't wearing a crown.
Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales was out and about to mark Children's Mental Health Week here in the UK, meeting with primary school children and chatting about the importance of connecting with others. She also got the chance to catch up with a history maker (more on that below).
Princess Anne was on hand to officially start a 555-mile (893-kilometer) charity bike ride on Wednesday. Over the course of 48 hours, a team of rugby legends -- including the Princess Royal's son-in-law, Mike Tindall -- are cycling the considerable distance to deliver the match ball ahead of the Six Nations clash between Scotland and Wales as part of a fundraising push for research into motor neuron disease.
In other news, Nigeria will become Africa's first participant in Prince Harry's Invictus Games. It will join 21 other nations in the German city of Düsseldorf, which expects more than 500 competitors for the sixth edition of the weeklong sporting event in September.
But it's not been all good news where the Duke of Sussex is concerned. This week he and his wife, Meghan, were dealt a blow when a US judge ruled the couple could be deposed as part of a defamation case brought by Meghan's half-sister, Samantha Markle. |
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Catherine, Princess of Wales visited Landau Forte College Derby on February 8, where she caught up with Capt. Preet Chandi to celebrate her return from a solo expedition across Antarctica. Chandi successfully completed the longest ever solo and unsupported polar expedition by a woman in Antarctica -- covering 922 miles in 70 days and 16 hours.
During the meet-up, the royal pulled tires strapped to her waist to find out a little more about the resistance training Chandi used to prepare for her expedition. After the event, Kate said it was "fantastic" to hear about the trip and see how Chandi was "inspiring the next generation of young girls to believe they can achieve anything they put their mind to."
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A trio of codebreakers has found and deciphered a treasure trove of lost letters written by Mary, Queen of Scots.
The 57 secret letters, from Mary Stuart to the French ambassador to England between 1578 and 1584, were written in an elaborate code. The discovery comes 436 years after Mary's death by execution on February 8, 1587.
Most of the letters were kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, mainly in a large set of unmarked documents that were also written in cipher -- special graphical symbols. The documents were listed as dating from the first half of the 16th century and thought to be related to Italy. Then, the three codebreakers stumbled upon the truth behind them.
Mary Stuart, a Catholic, was first in line for the succession to the English throne after her Protestant cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Catholics considered Mary to be the rightful, legitimate sovereign. Considering Mary Stuart a threat, Elizabeth I imprisoned her cousin for 19 years, under the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury in England for the majority of that time. She was executed by decapitation at the age of 44 for her alleged part in a plot to have Elizabeth I murdered.
Read the full story here.
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"I can only begin to imagine the scale of suffering and loss as a result of these dreadful tragedies."
– King Charles III
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