Royal News Roundup: 3 Major Birthdays, Meghan & Harry’s ‘Farewell’ to Tabloids & Prince Philip’s Return from Retirement

Published Apr 23, 2020

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5:59pm

Here, all the royal news you need to know for the week of April 23, 2020.

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This week, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry took a major stand against a few major U.K. tabloids by announcing a new policy of “zero engagement.” The couple sent a letter to the editors of The Sun, Daily Mail, Mirror and Express revealing that they will no longer respond to any inquiries from their reporters. Yikes.
On the latest episode of Royals Who Know How to Zoom (oh how we wish that were a real show), the Duchess of Sussex participatedin a video call with the Hubb Community Kitchen, a U.K. charity that’s working alongside The Felix Project to deliver up to 300 (!) weekly meals to families in London.
While we’re still trying to figure out the best ways to help those most affected by the current pandemic, Princess Sofia of Sweden actually traded her gowns for scrubs. The princess is now working as a medical assistant at the Sophiahemmet hospital, which is seriously impressive.

Meghan Markle appeared on Good Morning America on Monday in an interview promoting her latest Disneynature documentary, Elephant. But, before you get too excited, we should probably mention that the interview was taped last summer, well before the Sussexes stepped away from royal life. The duchess also put some major thought into her outfit—something we haven’t done in weeks.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle proved they are still all about the PDA while living in Los Angeles. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were spotted giving back to their community by delivering meals (with a side of hand-holding) for the non-profit, Project Angel Food. Queen Elizabeth’s rules be damned.
Kate Middleton sent another royal letter of support to one of her patronages, Evelina London Children's Hospital, assuring them that the entire staff is in her thoughts.

Prince Philip decided that he was officially going to come out of retirement (for a hot sec) on Monday, and gave an official statement on the current coronavirus pandemic. Her Majesty’s husband hasn’t done anything like this since he retired from his role as public consort in 2017. And even though it took a global pandemic, we were happy to hear from him.
On Wednesday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announced their latest project in the fight against coronavirus, “Our Frontline,” which aims to provide one-on-one support and online resources to those working to fight COVID-19.
Prince Alexander, fifth in line for the Swedish throne (we didn’t know either), celebrated his fourth birthday on Wednesday. And in honor of his big day, his parents, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden, posted a new portrait of the tot, grinning the most adorable baby-toothed smile, to social media.

Maybe we should have mentioned this earlier, but Prince Alexander shares a birthday with another pretty important royal: Queen Elizabeth. For Her Majesty’s 94th, the royal family shared some vintage footage of her childhood, Kate and Will posted a TBT and Meghan, Harry and Archie proved that they didn’t forget the big day by participating in a Zoom call with Gan-Gan.
And in more birthday news (we warned you there were three), Prince Louis turned two on Thursday. For the occasion, Kate Middleton and Prince William shared never-before-seen portraits of the young royal completing a rainbow art project. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles also made sure to send sweet messages to their great grandson and grandson, respectively.
Speaking of Prince Charles, it turns out the Prince of Wales wrote an entire article for Country Life magazine, where he reflected on the time he spent self-isolating and how he is now focusing on the silver lining of the current pandemic. In an interesting twist, the 71-year-old revealed he’s also been enjoying technology and all of the funny videos the internet has to offer.