Welcome back to Royal Roundup! There has been so much happening with everyone’s favorite royal family, so let’s just jump right into it, shall we?
The Queen
You may have heard (if you aren’t living under a rock) that Her Majesty The Queen has officially surpassed her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch.
Her Majesty marked the day by doing what she has done day in and day out for the past 23,227 days (counting today), undertaking a public engagement. She and her husband, Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, were in Scotland to open the new Scottish Boarders Railway.
Sophie, The Countess of Wessex (the Queen’s daughter-in-law) attended a commemorative lunch in London to celebrate The Queen’s reign, while The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William and Kate Middleton) were rumored to have been summoned to a private family dinner at Balmoral.
The Duchess of Cambridge | Engagements & Family Order Rumors
The Duchess of Cambridge (nee Kate Middleton) is expected to wrap up her four month maternity leave next week by visiting the Anne Freud Centre in London. The Centre focuses on treating and supporting children with mental illness, a cause that Kate has championed since becoming a member of the royal family.
Kate will also be joining Prince William and Prince Harry at the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup, and attending a few matches throughout the duration of the tournament.
Now on to some pure speculation: It has been rumored that Kate will be receiving Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Family Order soon – prior to the State Visit from China in October. This event will be Kate’s first public white tie (ie: tiaras!!) event, with the exception of her wedding. It is customary at white tie events for women to wear their orders – and Kate presently has none. However, there have been some musings that Kate was summoned to Balmoral specifically to be bestowed with the Order, in honor of Her Majesty’s longest reign.
Royal Family Orders are interesting in that it is never announced who has received one and when it happened. The only way to find out whether a member of the British Royal Family has received an order is to see if they wear it during an event.
Prince Harry | Engagements & Relationship Rumors
Now into some purely salacious gossip. As you well know, Prince Harry spent the past three months in Africa assisting with some wild life preservation efforts after retiring from his Military career. It has been rumored that while he was there he spent some time with his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, and that the pair are looking towards getting back together.
Harry and Chelsy dated for about seven years, breaking up just after Prince William and Kate Middleton’s royal wedding. The split was reportedly due to Chelsy realizing that she did not want to lead a “royal” life after seeing all of the pomp and circumstance associated with William and Kate’s wedding.
Perhaps the gorgeous blonde has had a change of heart?
The Middleton Family | Pippa & James Complete Grueling Race
Finally, some Middleton family news. Kate’s siblings – James and Pippa Middleton – recently completed a ridiculously long swim/run race that took place in Sweden. The event was specifically a 10k swim 6.2 miles) and a 40.3 mile run which is incredible. The pair, along with their teammates James Matthews (Pippa’s ex-boyfriend, and brother of Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews) and Jons Bartholdson completed the race in about 13 hours. The race was to benefit a charity started in Jame and Spencer Matthews’ brother’s honor. Their brother – Michael Matthews – died during a mountain climbing expedition, and since then his family has participated in many events to raise funds in his honor.
Also – and this is just me speculating here – Pippa hasn’t been seen with her boyfriend, Nico Jackson, in quite a while. But she did spend time with James Matthews during a recent trip to his family’s hotel Eden Rock in St. Barth’s. Hmmm… could she and James be rekindling their romance?