The Royals with Roya and Kate - Royal Goats, Happy Comebacks & Harry in Hot Water

Episode Date: July 17, 2024

A bumper week of royal news: The King met with Idris Elba, honoured goats in Guernsey then hotfooted it back to Westminster for the State Opening of Parliament. Harry caused controversy with an award in America. And there were welcome public returns for the Princess of Wales and Princess Anne. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Princess of Wales at Wimbledon. Prince William and Prince George at the Euros final in Berlin. Princess Anne makes her return. Prince Harry receives an award, controversially. The King and Queen are in Guernsey, bestowing honours upon goats. And the King returns to open Parliament. The point is, there's loads to get into, so let's get into it. Let's.

Hello, listeners. Welcome back to the Royals with me, Roya. And me, Kate. How are you, Kate? Randy cows in jersey, royal goats and guernsey. That's the message you put in our WhatsApp yesterday. There's no such thing as privacy anymore. There never was, do tell. It was the King and Queen's visit to the Channel Islands. You've been on a right royal trip haven't you? I've been on a right royal trip and we're all out of practice. The photographers are saying how shattered they were from two days of engagements they're just not used to it good to be back it was good to be back the king and queen were very happy to be back we had a very rainy day in jersey on monday when the heavens opened to this outdoor kind of sitting of the states and they were presented

with as is traditional actually to present the monarch with dead ducks which is what the late queen was presented with but there was a change in protocol there was a change in protocol because instead the king received duck eggs because dead ducks not great images and he also got a better gift than that, which were seven cows, seven Jersey heifers, milking cows. Very cute. They were two, seven of them. OK, they're going to. I know what you're going to say. There were seven of them. They're very cute. One was called Duchess. One was called Jordan. All right, Duchess.

Like the former glamour model, Katie Price. like the former glamour model Katie Price. They went to see these lovely cows who are going to be moved to Highgrove because the king said his herd is already full at Windsor. There's no room at this inn. Nope. You're off to Highgrove. Yeah, he gave that farm up a while ago, but they are going to go to Home Farm

and they're going to replenish the kind of organic farming there. And the king and queen were very good sports and went to see meet the cows and have a little stroke and things like that can we talk about what happened when they went to go and see the cows because i it was my favorite clip of your twitter feed during your two days in the channel islands that was the best one was it i think it was wow it was quite entertaining uh one of the cows decided to mount one of the other cows. And a courtier kindly described to us all that they were lady cows. The Queen thought this was most amusing, as the Sun headline ran.

I heard her say on your Twitter thing, she said, well-timed, as she was laughing. Well-timed. I just thought, she loves it when stuff goes wrong like the late queen because everything's just you know the smell of fresh paint and everything like that the smell of newly shampooed goats in the channel islands well indeed yes in guernsey there were there was a little goat because they bestowed the royal title. So there are the golden Guernsey goats, which were found by a local woman in the 1920s. She just rediscovered the breed.

And there are so few of them now in the country, in the world, there's about 1,300 of them left in the world. There are more cows on Guernsey than there are golden Guernsey goats in the whole world. They've now been given royal status, which is the first time a livestock breed has been given royal status. And to mark this occasion, they met an eight-year-old goat called Somerville Tamsin, and she was loving it. Did I read somewhere? She was giving the Bambi eyes to the camera crew.

Did I read that for her hot date with royalty, she had been top to toe washed with head and shoulder shampoo? Head and shoulders conditioning shampoo. Other shampoos are available. The owner said that she had been... She went for a wash and set. She had. She'd had a kind of blow dry and she looked gorgeous,

but she knew it. My goodness. She was milking it, I have to say. Boom, boom. But we're talking about things that go wrong. There was something

that did go wrong in Jersey, which was a serious, you know, on a more serious note. What was that, Kate? So they're in this expo and it's all looking very boring and, you know,

we're thinking, how are we going to get a story out of them looking at potatoes, which is essentially what they were doing. And there was a lot of ice cream, wasn't there? The Queen was just about to tuck into an ice cream. I mean, this is classic kind of royal engagement stuff. Bread and butter. Meet the locals sort of stuff. And one of the PPOs came over to a courtier who was standing next to me and said, there's a threat.

We've got to go now. And, of course, this is in light of just a couple of days before Donald Trump having been shot at. Trump had had this assassination attempt, as we know. So whether that was playing on people's minds, whether security was even more heightened than it would ordinarily be, which would already be quite high with two VVIPs in the area. it would ordinarily be which would already be quite high with two VVIPs in the area it was quite a moment I think because never have I ever been on a royal engagement where that has happened before there may well have been threats that have been I know neutralized or found out or investigated that we haven't found out about but this they cut the engagement short so Camilla's

PPO went over to her, whipped the ice cream out. She doesn't know what's happening. Said, look, ma'am, we've got to go. Your Majesty, we've got to go. And the threat was coming, as I understand it from what they were saying, was from over our shoulders to the left. And it seems to be that they identified something

that wasn't quite right. They didn't like the look of it. And in order to investigate it, they just decided to get the king and queen. so the king was elsewhere in the expo looking at another stall they got them both out of there and they moved quite quickly calmly and in a kind of orderly fashion but it was a moment when you think my goodness what they have to go through what what members of the royal family have to be aware of and that they are targets but then it turned out to be nothing in in true royal mantra style they kept calm and carried on

and came back out quite soon after didn't they and sort of carried on with their day unruffled they did um i think you know initially it was all quite everyone was a bit kind of concerned about it including the queen herself but they went into this hotel which they were due to go into anyway to meet people on an engagement they just went in there 40 minutes early but they came out everything seems to be fine there was no cause for alarm as it transpired they investigated whatever threat it was they had identified and proved that it was nothing but yeah they kept calm and carried on and then the rest of the day went fine apart from the heavens then opened and there was a sort of thunderstorm and torrential downpour but it did mean that we got this really lovely picture of the king kind of looking up to the heavens with this beautiful smile on his face and looking quite old

I think but very happy to be out and I think that both of them were just really happy to be back doing that kind of job because it's been a long time since we've seen an overnight stay from the king it's been a very long time since Jersey has had someone, had a king stay there. The last king that stayed there was Charles II, who stayed on the island. Well, it was wonderful to hear all about the goats and the cows, particularly the cows and surviving the security scares on the Channel Islands. I've been enjoying your coverage very much. You sound very sarcastic. I've been glued to it i actually have it has been fun actually it's been fun to be out and about obviously charles um you know charles is feeling well when he starts taking

the mickey out of the press saying oh you're all queuing up for beer when he tried a charles especially you're like we're not joking we actually are queuing up for beer. We're like no, no that's right. I didn't have any actually but I did have some of the Jersey ice cream which was lovely. And you were there for you were come on to the football

but you were there on Sunday night for the Euro finals weren't you? I was in place come on England. I definitely saw some footage of a barman at the bar all the press were at oh this is outrageous he was so cheeky so this chap behind the bar we were watching the football on sunday night

had a spain top on first of all inflammatory that's almost high treason on the channel islands isn't it and then he decided to put a king charles mask on and do some like dancing after Spain had won and we had lost. Oh. So that was suboptimal. Oh, well. And after their trip to Guernsey and Jersey, the King and Queen jetted back to London for the state opening of Parliament. Were you on the same plane, Kate? No, I think they were on a fixed wing plane.

They helicoptered in from Jersey to Guernsey and I think they might have fixed winged it out. But no, they were then in the Diamond Jubilee State Carriage, weren't they, for the state opening of Parliament. The second time the king has done it as monarch, the first time he's done it for a Labour government. And although he's reading the statement prepared by the government, these aren't his laws that he's enacting

but it's all part of the ceremony and it's all part of the kind of constitutional pomp and pageantry of the occasion. There's a lot of pomp isn't there because the regalia comes out the crown is processed through Buckingham Palace first as the symbol of monarchy before it makes its way and they make their way to the Houses of Parliament and the crown comes out of the carriage. I love the crown. The crown had its own carriage.

The crown's got trials better than we do. The crown and the sword of state had its own carriage and the cap of maintenance, which you need to make sure that the crown's... Charles puts those on, puts on the imperial state crown when he gets to the houses of parliament and it's the only time we see him in the crown apart from at the coronation we don't he does not wear that crown at any other time other than state opening and well we're not going to see his coronation again are we no and that's the crown he wore out wasn't

it after he exactly after the coronation and they they'd get changed in the robing room there and there's an interesting fact about that because that's where Charles I's death warrant is displayed. Gosh. That can't be much fun for Charles III to see every time he goes in there. A reminder from Parliament. This is what could happen to you. Things used to be how times change. He must be very relieved. How times change, but still the tradition because they still have the hostage. So they still have the Labour whip. There was an MP held hostage in Buckingham Palace

who's there in return. And that started in Charles I's day. So he was right to be wary of the politicians, wasn't he, Charles I in the end, before he was beheaded. But they stay in Buckingham Palace as a hostage still to this day. So they're only released

when he goes back which i think is quite a kind of all these wonderful protocols that still all the traditions just think do you think foreign foreigners must just think you're all mad well i think what you're bonkers i do think watching the state opening and watching you know blackrod's outfit what you know just what she wears and and the wonderful tradition of her banging on the door and you know having the door slammed in her face to mark the wonderful tradition of her banging on the door and you know having the door slammed in her face to mark the independence of of of the house of commons they they must but also it's they are these are the great images that go around the world of the king and queen in their state robes the king and the imperial state crown the queen in the you know

diamond diadem it's sort of everything i think lots of people around the world think is great about and kind of bonkers about the tradition of the constitution and the monarchy. I like the fact that you see the politicians from all sides kind of chatting as they walk in. And how that's flipped literally. Oh, to be a fly on the wall to see what they're... I've recently seen that, chatting away to, not as Prime Minister, chatting away to Keir Starmer. He's now leader of the opposition. Yeah.

And as is tradition, the king, although he's reading out the statement from the government, there is a little element, a little personal element almost at the end, because as is tradition, the monarch looks forward at the end of that speech to any foreign tours that they've got coming up. Yes, and he did mention one, didn't he?

He did. So he said, I look forward to our visit to Samoa alongside the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in october and our visit to australia and of course this was announced on sunday night um that this trip that we've sort of been hearing about for a long time is actually planned it's going to be in october but they're going to cut it back there won't be a further trip to new zealand which would have been the natural kind of progression from any trip down to Australasia the monarch would normally see Australia and New Zealand but that's been canned as they're still

making concessions for the king's health as he recovers from cancer. But that's going to be a very big trip that trip isn't it and an important trip for lots of reasons because Australia is considered alongside Canada as one of the most important realms to the UK government in terms of our bilateral relationships and trade but Australia for decades now has ummed and ahed and toyed with the idea of becoming a republic and of course the last referendum there you know that was lost and they decided to stay as a realm which means that they have our monarch as their head of state and effectively i think if i remember that the the polling most of the people the majority of australians did want to make the transition

to a republic but what they couldn't agree on was what would replace the current system in terms of the constitutional monarchy and that's where it fell down and this is that that you know when you look at other countries that toy with the idea the last one that we saw was Barbados and I went did you come for that trip no no I went for that trip and watched so Charles went to do the handover the queen wasn't traveling overseas at that point and it was very interesting because barbados was totally unique and is the only realm that did not require a referendum to make the transition to become a republic yeah so all other realms require a referendum which are politically very very unpredictable things very and so a lot of a lot of heads of you know a lot of prime ministers talk about republics,

becoming a republic, particularly we've heard Jamaica talk about it. We've heard a few other Caribbean realms, but then quietly just sort of, it disappears. And Australia, I think is interesting. Well, in Australia, they've got a minister for the republic. So Matt Thistlethwaite, that's his job to make it happen. They've already said they're not going to have a referendum

in this parliament. So if they win, they get it happen. They've already said they're not going to have a referendum in this parliament. So if they win, they get in next time, they would have it next time. So they've already kicked it into the long grass. They've said it's not a priority. Well, kind of cost of living and all these other issues are going on. And I think people had thought once the Queen died, yeah, that it would be obvious, you know, that will be the time at which to do it. But I think that Charles actually has been a lot more popular than people, perhaps a lot of people have expected.

If he now goes to Australia after having, you know, cancer treatment and he goes all the way out there and does this big kind of hug of the realms and, you know, makes a big stand for the Commonwealth. I think the Republicans are going to have perhaps an even tougher time or it's going to be a tougher sell for that referendum. And like you say, what's the solution? You know, is it kind of a President Blair or what would replace them? So do you think that means that, you know, for a lot of Commonwealth realms, realms may continue just because they can't quite get their heads around the alternative or how to constitutionally do the alternative. Well, I think in some instances, probably like Jamaica, that it's very helpful politically to talk about it, to say we're going to do this. And people think, oh, yeah, that's great.

But to actually put their money where their mouth is and have the referendum, like they had the referendum in Australia that the government failed on recently with regards to indigenous people and representation in parliament. They were expecting that to go through and they didn't succeed with that. So that has, I think, frightened the horses a bit somewhat in terms of whether referendum in and of themselves can be successful. So the King and Queen may feel they're on even safer ground when they go on this big trip to Australia, that the issue of the Republic might not be quite so live as it would have been a few years ago. Yeah, and it's like all these things as well. I'm sure they're going to go to places where they know they're going to get a good reception.

So when we go to Canada, you know, there's places where they know that they're going to get a good reception. They're not rocking up in Quebec City. But the other thing that the palace said in the announcement, the confirmation of this trip, is it is going to be limited. Even the programme in Australia is going to be limited. Very limited, I think. New South Wales. And are we going to Canberra? Canberra, yeah.

It's not going to be as big as they would have hoped it would have been, had the King obviously not been still going through cancer treatment. And I think that is an acknowledgement that although his health, you know, is clearly in a place where his doctors feel more confident about him doing those trips, they have got to make allowances for the fact that he is still a man in his 70s undergoing cancer treatment and he'll need downtime. Because normally you and I know when we go on tour with charles and camilla charles just powers on through he'll do seven or eight engagements a day um and the queen paces

herself a bit more and tends to do the morning engagements and tends to have a bit more downtime in the afternoons and i think this will be the first time really the king has done a trip like this where he is going to have to pace himself. And I think that would be an interesting time. Good luck breaking that news to him. Yeah. Anyway. The King has had a big week, hasn't he, Roya? He got to meet a beloved celebrity.

But for a serious cause. It's all about me. Tell us all about it. You were at another palace. Every week it's a different palace. It's Balmoral. Can I say? Buckingham Palace. Castle, Buckingham Palace. This was St. Every week it's a different palace. It's Balmoral. What can I say? Buckingham Palace.

Castle, Buckingham Palace. This was St. James's Palace. This was St. James's Palace. This was Clarence House and St. James's Palace. We got two royal residences in one engagement. So the king was doing an engagement with Idris Elba. Very nice. Actor, philanthropist.

I'll do that one. Was offered round, Kate. I checked myist. I'll do it. I'll do that one. Was offered round, Kate. I checked my diary. I was free. So off I trotted to Clarence House, where at the beginning of the engagement, we were just told how it would go and if we would arrive.

And the background to this is the King's Trust, which used to, of course, be the Prince's Trust. No one knows what the King's Trust is. No, it's the king's trust which used to of course be the prince's trust no one knows what the king's trust is the prince's trust the charity that charles put his name to and huge amounts of his energy into for decades and decades and decades before he became king he has always worked to support disadvantaged young people give them more opportunities to get into employment to break away from difficult backgrounds and the trust has done a lot of work in terms of trying to find solutions and opportunities for young people who have been involved in youth violence and knife crime and it takes a lot of advice it talks to young people a

lot who've been involved in in you know youth groups and who are advocates, some people who've been the victims of youth violence. And some people have been the recipients of it as well. Yes. Like Idris Elba. Exactly. And Idris Elba being a very famous former alumnus of the Prince's Trust, he was given a grant when he was 14 or 15, £1,500 grant, which enabled him to go to drama school. And the rest, as they say, is history.

He's done all right with that, hasn't he? He's done all right. I'd say that's a pretty good investment i'd say that's a sound investment from the prince's trust so the king talked about how proud he is of idris elba you know and he said the system works you can see in the system works but what idris elba has done a lot of in the last years through his own foundation the elba hope foundation which he set up with his wife sabrina is also look at not just in the UK, but also in America, across the African diaspora, how to help, you know, disadvantaged young people and how to specifically look at ways to curb knife crime and youth violence that has been a real problem in

this country. So Idris came to Clarence House. He had an audience with the King in the morning room where the two of them just chatted away. And then we were told we didn't know before we got there that the prime minister was just going to tip up. Fresh from Washington, fresh from his NATO summit. Fresh from the NATO summit. The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy were already there. They were having a roundtable discussion with some young people about the issues. and Andy were already there. They were having a roundtable discussion with some young people about the issues.

And then we moved through to St. James's Palace and Keir Starmer pitched up whilst the king and Idris were talking to all the young people. And he said, you know, good morning, Your Majesty. I've just landed two hours ago. Literally came pretty much straight

from where he'd landed to see the king. And what was really interesting, I found about the way the choreography had all worked worked was it enabled the king to be standing there with the prime minister, the home secretary, the culture secretary, Idris Elba, a group of really interesting, experienced, passionate young people who know what they're talking about, because some of them have lived through, you know, violent crime and knife crime. And there were young people there who'd been stabbed, who now are ambassadors for the Prince's Trust, the King's Trust. And he was able to say, we're trying to learn from your experiences to see what solutions we can put forwards. But he was also able to say to Keir Starmer,

and we really hope that the government can help and do something to help. Well, that's quite political, isn't it? Should Charles be making those interventions politically to say, I'm watching you. that the government can help and do something to help. Well, that's quite political, isn't it? Well, it's interesting. Should Charles be making those interventions politically to say, I'm watching you, I'm going to, you know. Well, he did. I mean, and then later on when, you know, he joined the roundtable discussion with,

Keir Starmer said his piece, Yvette Cooper said her piece, the King said a few words, Idris said a few words, and the King did say, you know, I'll be watching for progress reports. But that's not his job, is it? Is it political for him to say, I'll be watching for progress reports. But that's not his job, is it? Is it political for him to say that? Well, watching for progress reports. I mean, he is abreast of all the things that the government's doing. But the idea that he could be...

He'll see that in his red boxes, won't he? What they might be doing on the lifetime. Yeah, exactly. But should he be driving it? You know, I think the thought that the king was not going to be an activist. When rain change happened and when he made that transition, he was, I think, very careful to start doing things in a different way in terms of he gave fewer speeches at the start of his reign.

He's making his points in a less activist kind of way. But I think his passions and his interests are clearly undimmed. And I suppose it's quite uncontroversial to say, let's end knife crime. I mean, it's hardly like a political intervention to say he's not getting, as far as we know, he's not getting involved in any culture wars or anything like that. In terms of policy. No. But I suppose, you know, as someone who...

But it's interesting he's getting them all around the table to have that conversation. I thought so. We were all surprised to see, you know, Keir Starmer making a to arrive back from nato and go straight to see the king and idris so well look if the king can help bring knife crime down then i don't think anyone will have anything negative to say about that will they no no we're already exhausted from just talking about a couple of things been going on so let's take a little break we're back but somebody who's not going to be back gareth southgate um he's had lots of tributes bye bye gareth bye bye gareth who's resigned he's the manager of the england football team um we'll probably both prefer to gloss over the uh tragic defeat of england against spain we've done

quite a lot of Royal Football bants in the last couple of weeks, haven't we? And there was quite a lot. Well, it started being not very funny, didn't it, when we lost. But there were some good statements from the King and Prince of Wales. I think the King's statement was very good.

Hold your heads high. Yeah, hold your heads high, although victory may have eluded you. And also spoke about, you know, those sort of awful defeats that you can have and how despairing it can be when you're so close to victory and it's sort of snatched from you and william as well he had some and he made it out made it out to berlin with prince george he did and those agonizing pictures of them clutching their head next time is always next time england yes moving on now

kate is america falling out of love with prince harry that was the focus of an article you wrote last week is it and why now well as some people said after i wrote that article we're not sure we were ever in love with him in the first place. Oh, no. Oh, dear. So it is going very badly for him. There have been quite a few polls recently to say that popularity of the Sussexes is dwindling. And this all came to a head because Harry was given an award, the Pat Tillman Award at the ESPN, the network which delivers these sporting awards. And Pat Tillman was this incredible American football hero. Classic all-American hero. Very looking chiseled jaw decided to trade in his riches his three million dollar contract to go and serve in the army because he was so inspired by 9-11

he wanted to help his country so patriotic he went to Afghanistan served sadly died and now this award is is given to usually unsung heroes in his honour. I will say Marcus Rashford was a recipient once, wasn't he? He was. Yeah, he was. So he is quite high profile. For his school meals. However, this was given to Duke of Sussex. Pat Tillman's mother, Mary, was shocked, she said, that he was going to be who she described as a controversial recipient.

She said he was a controversial individual, Prince Harry, and clearly didn't think that he was the right sort of person who would be receiving the award in her late son's name. And when it came to it, there was a lot of discussion. Will he show up at these awards in Los Angeles? Will he actually get on the stage with all this controversy that had been brewing for sort of five six days beforehand and he did he he went he turned up with megan um and accepted it on behalf of all the people from his invictus games tournament so this was in honor of the fact that he had set up the invictus games the paralympic style competition for wounded veterans there was in honour of the fact that he had set up the Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style competition for wounded veterans. There was a lot of briefing around from his camp when all of that broke and the controversy started to build, not just in America,

but it sort of picked up some traction around the world, that he was really quite taken aback and quite shocked by the response. I think that goes right to the heart of Harry, the response. I think that goes right to the heart of Harry, who set so much store by his military service, his relationships in the military communities, his work with Invictus Games, what he has done for veterans. To feel that kind of backlash with some members of the military community, there were, you know, they were sort of quite senior, former, I think the former head of the Royal Navy here came out. Lord West came out and he said that he shouldn't have it.

So I think that stings Harry. Yeah, because this is the one thing, this is his brand, isn't it? This is the one thing that we've said before, you know, he's beyond reproach because it's a brilliant thing, the Invictus Games. But so to actually get on that stage. But the tide does seem to be turning.

You know, obviously, we've had the former Spotify exec come out and say that they were grifters. We've had that South Park episode in which, you know, even worse than being criticized, they were ridiculed. You know, they were Prince and Princess canada on their worldwide privacy tour and i think that you know that there were reports they were going to sue south park over that and they said the reports were baseless and boring which to me just spoke of you know they were so angry about the whole thing that they would come out and say something which then you know reignited the whole issue again and you know even the spectator which previously has been pretty neutral, said, alas, Harry has become as unloved a figure in the United States as he is in Britain.

So should he have turned the award down, do you think? I'm not sure how... I'm not sure whether going round America collecting all these awards is a good look for Harry. That's a good question as well. He gets a lot awards how are they found is he put you know is he getting them he did pick up the legends of aviation award which led to again a similar amount of controversy and ridicule from some quarters of course he was an Apache helicopter pilot um and served two tours of Afghanistan but there was something about him going collecting his award alongside John Travolta and Jeff Bezos that just felt a little bit off-piste. And, you know, I think, fine, perhaps he feels stripped of his honorary titles and patronage here that picking up a few honorary awards in America will, you know, plug that gap.

That's a good point. That is a good point. Do you think that's why? And is it? But point. Fill that hole. That is a good point. Do you think that's why? And is it, but is he, because I wonder, is he doing it? Is he going out networking? Is this something they're seeking? Is it something they want? I think for those...

Because it seems an awful lot of awards to suddenly land in your lap. Yeah, I think for those organisations, they just, you know, look at Harry and Meghan and think, well, they're sort of celebrities and so... Publicity. And didn't it just bring... Who, which of us had talked about the ESPYs before that? True. None of us really. So, but, you know, does Harry really want that amount of controversy in his public sort

of work around the military? I suspect not. I think he was graceful in the way that he did. I thought he turned it on its head. I thought he did quite a good pivot there by accepting it. It was clever. He said, it's not about me. It's about all these people.

But he also acknowledged the criticism that had come from Pat Tillman's mother, Mary. So he said that her advocacy for Pat's legacy was deeply personal and one that he respects. And he said the bond between a mother and a son is eternal and transcends even the greatest losses. So then he's playing to reminding everybody of his mum as well, Princess Diana, who, of course, is really still hugely popular in the United States. And as a figure still looms large, I think, in America, perhaps more than anywhere else. Yeah. In better news for the royal household, we saw the much welcomed return of Princess Anne to public duties last Friday. Yes, we did.

And the second public appearance in a month for the Princess of Wales at the men's Wimbledon final on Sunday with Princess Charlotte, that other keen tennis fan. So I think everyone was very, very pleased to see Catherine and Anne back in action last week. We got very excited when Princess Royal was going to make her comeback engagement at an equestrian event because, of course... Good woman.

Her injury back on the horse, her injuries were when she was walking around Gatcombe Park Estate, for people who don't know, three weeks ago on 23rd of June. three weeks ago on 23rd of June and she sustained head injuries and concussion which are thought to have been caused by being struck by a horse's either head or legs and even she can't remember when she turned up to the Royal Association, the Riding for the Disabled Association, National Championships in Gloucestershire, she actually said I can't remember a single thing about the incident. It's the first time she had spoken to anybody publicly about her injuries. So she still can't remember anything that happened. But you could see she had a really kind of quite nasty bruising to the left-hand side of her face. Apart from that, she seemed pretty chipper.

Michael Bishop, who's the chief exec of the RDA, said that she was on super form. And she was going around, she was speaking to people, she was remembering people she spoke to because she'd met them before because she does so many engagements for the RDA. She's such a great advocate for them. So that was nice.

She was sort of doing that Princess Anne thing that Philip used to do where she rocks on her feet. Yes. On the balls of her feet. Yeah. And I always think she does that when she's in a kind of feeling quite chipper.

So it was good. It was a truncated engagement. It was supposed supposed to be two hours ended up being just under one hour and she was driven there and back she didn't get time to go and meet the horses but i think good on her for going out and about with a shiner yes i mean that's that's punchy you know she you know what about that of course well i did have a slight disagreement with a racehorse earlier this year, which then fell on me and did give me a face for radio for a while. A catastrophic black eye. And knocked a tooth out.

So I know what it's like to be slightly messed up by a horse, and you feel it. And I just looked at her and thought, good on you for getting out there. I was delighted that she was doing something with the RDA. I'm a volunteer for the RDA. It's an amazing organisation. The joy it brings to children and adults with all sorts of difficulties is extraordinary. researching a piece I wrote for her 70th a few years ago I spoke to someone very senior at the RDA who remembered her coming to see you know a display by some children at an RDA event and you know the the children that we work with as volunteers at the RDA have all different levels of learning disabilities on different levels or they have different levels of autism physical disabilities. And there was one girl there who was involved in the display

and they came to meet Princess Anne afterwards. And she was introduced to her and said, you know, this is the princess role. And she said, you don't look like a princess. And Princess Anne said, thank goodness for that. I'm so pleased to hear that what a relief what a brilliant everyone's like and then everyone laughed with you know her response and she just literally takes things in her stride i love that kind of no nonsense approach and you can tell she

was she wasn't best pleased she's never best pleased about having the press anywhere no and one of her age just said let's just make sure you lot are out of eyeline so she can't see standing there well it was very good to see her back it was a super trooper wasn't it that's what prince william and katherine referred to her as on when they give a kind of social media post and i think that's what she is yeah you know katherine is her own super trooper as well she was back at wimbledon what a reception she got it was where she walked on to center court with princess charlotte and her sister pippa everyone stood up on center court was a huge huge standing ovation she looked actually she looked a little bit she looked delighted been quite sort of emotional

yeah to see the sort of outpouring of emotion from people to see her this is again another member of the royal family who was going through cancer treatment and was absolutely determined to be there on centre court she couldn't make it there for the ladies finals and we all understand that was there but she did meet the winners though didn't she did and uh and cry chica gave her tennis racket to her which princess charlotte snaffled away she swiped that pretty quickly but it was she looked great the crowd was clearly delighted to see her back out and about and i think there was something about her presenting the trophy to carlos alcaraz and you know talking to novak djokovic that just seemed to lift the whole championships and yeah

she said on social media didn't she after it's great it's great to be back at wimbledon and i think you know she genuinely means that because that was the first kind of proper engagement we've seen from the princess this whole year okay she was at Trooping the Colour the King's Birthday Parade with the royal family but this was something for her this is her patronage this is her kind of beat if you like so for her to be a back out doing that that job that is intrinsically hers I think that's that's incredible that's the first time we've seen that this year. It was it was I think reassuring for a lot of people and I think should have taken a great... I think should have taken great comfort from the fact that people were really pleased to see her.

Yeah, I'm sure. Must have been a big boost. Big boost. You'd have to say, Kate, it's been a rather good week for the Royals. Bad for England's men's team, but good for the Royals. I think so. It has, hasn't it? And news will no doubt keep bubbling away over the next coming weeks but we have something rather different and special coming up for listeners of the royals too don't we royal we do we're on a royal summer tour of sorts next week's episode will come from the very heart of royal occasions westminster abbey as we look

back at big events from history. And in the following two weeks, we'll be coming from Buckingham Palace itself, as we marvel at royal portraits from an exhibition at the King's Gallery. A lot of history. Very exciting stuff, Kate. Until then, goodbye. Bye, Roya.