My favorite family was busy this month, with Remembrance events, Kate announcing the next big phase of her Early Years work, Prince Charles appearing in British Vogue, and The Queen celebrating a big milestone and announcing another big one in the future. We also saw a fair bit of scandal!

For our new readers, this monthly post focuses mostly on the official working royals, with a few notable moments from non-working royals, like the York girls and the Sussexes included.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

• Kate shared the results (5 Big Insights) of her survey (5 Big Questions) on the Early Years (0-5 years old), an area that needs more attention and support in the UK. Kate has been focusing on the impact of this period of life for years, and launched the survey last winter, getting more than 500K responses! While this area has been shaping her work already, she teased that in 2021 we would start to see more action being taken around the specific survey results. The rollout included social media posts, a virtual forum and a charming video of her answering questions from social media.

• The sad news in their world was that their adorable dog, Lupo, passed away. Royal watchers fell in love with him when Kate and William brought him home in the early days of their marriage and loved all the family photos of the kids with him.

• William and Kate made an appearance together for the televised Pride of Britain awards, presenting an award to NHS staff for their work during Covid.

The Queen

• The Queen announced that her Platinum Jubilee in 2022 would be celebrated with a 4 day long weekend (Bank Holiday in UK parlance).

• The Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their 73rd Wedding Anniversary and posted a very sweet photo of themselves reading a card from the Cambridge kids.

• The entire family gathered for Remembrance Sunday, one of the most solemn and important occasions on the royal calendar. All of the working royals who were able to attend were at the ceremony where they laid wreaths in honor of the various branches of the armed forces and commemorated the lives that have been lost in conflicts.

Our Other Favorites

• Princess Anne celebrated 50 years as the patron of Save the Children. As a reminder, she has worked for them tirelessly and was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her work.

• The Duchess of Cornwall announced the winners of the 2020 Queen’s Commonwealth Essay competition during a virtual prize ceremony. The entries were based on on the theme ‘Climate Action and Commonwealth.’

• Prince Charles made an appearance in British Vogue to talk about sustainable fashion and The Modern Artisan Project - a training program co-founded by his foundation, The Prince’s Foundation. The students involved are launching a fashion collection with commercially viable sustainability at its core. I love his commitment to wearing suits for years and not constantly buying new things

• The Countess of Wessex, President of Girl Guiding, baked 55 cheese & bacon scones for their #ActYourAge challenge in support of Girl Guiding and Children in Need!

Gossip and Unofficial Work

• It was revealed that Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank, had moved into Frogmore Cottage, the British “home” of Harry and Meghan. While the Sussexes have claimed it’s still very much their home and they will stay there with the Brooksbanks when they return to the UK, it all seems to me like The Queen (the actual owner of the property) made this call.

• An investigation has been launched into the interview that the BBC did with Diana in the 1990’s, after her brother Earl Spencer claimed that the journalist Martin Bashir fed Diana a series of wild lies to convince her to do the interview, and ultimately leading to her declining royal protection, which was a contributing factor to her death. William and Harry have both shown support for the investigation, and I think it must be very sad for them to see her life reexamined through The Crown, and her death reexamined through this scandal.

• The Duchess of Sussex had significant legal drama in her case against the Mail on Sunday for publishing a letter she wrote her father. A few months ago she had denied working with the authors of Finding Freedom, but this month admitted that she had a friend share her side of the story with the authors.

• Meghan also wrote an emotional op-ed in the New York Times that shared she had sadly experienced a miscarriage in July.

Key Celebrations in November

• November 8th - Lady Louise Windsor (daughter of Edward and Sophie) turned 17

• November 14th - Prince Charles turned 72

• November 15th - Peter Phillips, the oldest of the Queen’s grandchildren and son of Princess Anne, turned 43

What I’m Looking Forward to in December

December 17th - James, Viscount Severn (son of the Earl and Countess of Wessex) turns 13

December 25th - Princess Alexandra of Kent turns 84

December 25th - The Queen’s annual Christmas speech, which should be especially interesting this year!