The month was dominated by the death of Prince Philip, and the royals did a truly lovely job paying tribute to him both with the funeral service and their activity before and after it. We also saw a big celebration for the Cambridge’s 10th wedding anniversary, although I imagine they had even more planned that they didn’t do because of the official mourning period.

Royal Report: April 2021

Official Mourning Appearances and Posts

Many of the royal appearances this month ended up being related to organizations that Prince Philip was either the former royal patron for, or very involved with. There were also a number of appearances that were specifically related to the public mourning period. Many of these allowed his children to speak with the press or acknowledge how the public was paying tribute to Prince Philip. There were also very strategically released statements from members of the family including several of his grandchildren that shared never-before-seen images, giving new content for the papers each day and a range of different honors for him.

• Princess Anne visited the Isle of Wight to learn about the youth training program at the Royal Yacht Squadron. Her visit continued with a stop at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, both of which were close to Prince Philip’s heart.

• Prince Charles was the first of the children to speak publicly (which makes sense since he is the heir), making a very sweet speech outside of his home.

• The Earl and Countess of Wessex, and their daughter, Lady Louise, along with the Duke of York attended church and thanked a number of estate staff who had worked closely with Prince Philip, and spoke on-cameral with the press that were there. The words they said were lovely, but it did spark some backlash against Prince Andrew, as many (myself included) saw that he would try to use this to get back into the public eye after being put on ice as a working royal because of his involvement with Epstein.

• Charles and Camilla took time to look at the flowers and notes left by the public at Marlborough House, while Prince Edward and Sophie were joined by Lady Louise to do the same at Windsor Castle.

• There were also very moving social media posts from Princess Anne, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Mike/Zara Tindall, Princess Eugenie and Prince Harry, many included unseen photos and special memories. The family also shared a number of other unseen private and official photos of Prince Philip to convey his personality and legacy, including a few adorable ones with his great-grandchildren.

Cambridge Anniversary

This month also marked the 10th anniversary of William and Kate’s Wedding, which I had really been looking forward to and was obviously much more subdued than it would have been before Prince Philip’s passing. We did however get two adorable new photos of the couple, and then, a video of them with their children! There was also a cute joint appearance and some wonderful articles written about them that I have linked to.

• To celebrate their wedding, they set up a charitable fund, and two days before the anniversary visited several of the organizations that received money from it! One, was Manor Farm, where they drove tractors with GPS and then Cheesy Waffles Project, which supports children, young people and adults with additional needs aged 7 to 35, where they played golf and spoke with students and staff.

• The photos that they released for the Anniversary were adorable - the first mimicking a photo from their engagement shoot, and the second showing a more relaxed pose. I also lost my mind over the video they shared - it looks like it was taken the same day they did their Christmas Card shoot and had so many sweet family moments

• This profile of Prince William is a really nuanced look at his path and role as the heir.

• The Daily Mail had a great piece on their early marriage - it gave a lot of context to their decision to take time before becoming full time royals, William’s desire to understand what life was like in the “real world” and how it grounded them for their current and future roles. They faced a ton of criticism for not being full time, but I think they (and The Queen) made the right choice!
  

Other Appearances

• The Duchess of Cornwall launched the second season of her Reading Room with four new book recommendations and wonderful content to accompany each book!

• There was a very cute co-engagement from the Duchess of Gloucester and Mike Tindall (husband of Zara, Princess Anne’s daughter) to mark Parkinson’s Awareness Week. They thanked carers, volunteers and researchers. The Duchess is very involved in Parkinson’s awareness and Mike’s father suffered from it.

• The family marked Anzac Day, to pay tribute to those who gave their lives while serving in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps with a variety of appearances including Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence attending a dawn service and later a Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey.

Other Milestones in April:

• April 21st- The Queen’s 95th Birthday was marked with a statement and a new photo, but was pretty subdued given Prince Philip’s death. We may see more of a celebration during her “official” birthday, which is celebrated in June, and her Platinum Jubilee, which is being celebrated in June of 2022.

• April 23rd - Prince Louis’ 3rd birthday was celebrated with an adorable photo of him on his bike, going to his first day of nursery (pre-school in the UK)!

What I’m Looking Forward to in May:

• May 2nd - Princess Charlotte’s 6th Birthday (they released this adorable new photo!)

• May 6th - Archie Mountbatten-Windsor’s 2nd birthday

• May 13th - Zara Tindall’s 40th birthday