Royal family recap: Princess Marie makes major decision as Princess Kate returns to royal duties

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Good morning, it's an exciting day for Zara Tindall as her latest competition gets underway. The equestrian will be competing in the Bramham International Horse Trials in West Yorkshire, on her horses, Showtime and Class Affair.

It's a school day so her three kids, Mia, Lena and Lucas, are unlikely to be on the sidelines cheering their mum on, but we've seen plenty of fun moments from the Tindall children in the past. Zara has followed in her mother the Princess Royal's footsteps with her sporting career.

Like Anne, she has competed in the Olympics, and brought home a silver medal as part of Team GB's eventing squad at the London 2012 Games.

We'll be keeping our eyes peeled for photos of Zara in action…

This week, the A Right Royal Podcast hosts, Andrea Caamano, Emmy Griffiths and Royal Editor Emily Nash filmed a very special podcast episode at the Princess Diana's Style & A Royal Collection Julien's Auctions Exhibition Preview.

They were lucky enough to speak with one of Princess Diana's favourite designers, Jacques Azagury, as well as Martin Nolan of Julien's Auctions and designer Levi Palmer.

Here's a sneak peek at the day!

In case you missed it, The Guardian reported yesterday that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex feared that their children's passports were being 'blocked' by British officials due to the use of their royal titles on the applications.

Eventually the passports were eventually issued following a six-month delay, after lawyers for the Duke and Duchess sent a letter threatening to pursue a data subject access request.

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HELLO! understands that Prince Harry reached out to his maternal uncle, Earl Spencer, to discuss the possibility of using Spencer as the family's surname, if the applications were blocked.

Read the full story here. 

The Princess of Wales returned to her royal duties on Wednesday after enjoying the half-term break with her children.

Kate carried out a meeting in conjunction with her early years work at Windsor Castle, according to the Court Circular. 

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The Princess was last seen publicly on 22 May as she christened HMS Glasgow, accompanied by the Prince of Wales. 

Royal fans have spotted a distinctive new ring on the Queen's pinky finger.

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The chunky gold signet ring has been identified as a piece from the Royal Collection Trust and was made to mark the King's ascension to the throne in 2022. 

The website states it is "composed of seven circular plaques, each engraved with ancient symbols, plain gold shield in front". 

On her ring finger, Camilla wears her Art Deco-style engagement ring with an emerald-cut diamond and baguettes on the side, as well as her gold wedding band.  

 King Abdullah has begun his working visit to Europe, firstly travelling to Spain to meet with King Felipe and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

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The Jordanian monarch will then fly to London to meet with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, before meeting France's President Emmanuel Macron in Nice. 

Queen Rania has not accompanied her husband. 

The King's charity has announced a millinery partnership with Royal Ascot to nurture the next generation of hat-makers.

Ahead of this month's world-famous meet, known as much for its colourful and creative displays of headwear as the horseracing, Ascot has introduced a £10,000 annual bursary to support a King's Foundation and Chanel graduating millinery student.

Daniel McAuliffe, education director at The King's Foundation said: "The royal family are incredible ambassadors for the craft of millinery and as the King's charity we are proud to be supporting the future of this skill at the most iconic hat-wearing event of the year."

The Foundation's students will also be showcasing their hats at this year's Royal Ascot, which runs from June 17 to 21, with a special display for racegoers in the Queen Anne Enclosure on the Berkshire course.

The Duke of Edinburgh took the salute as he attended the Royal Hospital Chelsea's Founders Day ceremony with the Chelsea Pensioners to celebrate the founding of the Royal Hospital by King Charles II.

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Dressed in uniform, Prince Edward carried out the annual tradition by reviewing the parade, with the Chelsea Pensioners wearing their distinctive scarlet coats. 

The event has taken place almost every year since the Royal Hospital opened in 1692.

The King was reunited with the stars of Prince Harry and Meghan's wedding choir as he made an appearance at South by SouthWest (SXSW London), a culture, technology and creativity festival in Shoreditch, east London.

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Charles heard the Kingdom Choir when he arrived at the festival and was seen chatting with choir conductor, Karen Gibson, before being greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and Eva Omaghomi, the King's former diversity czar who chairs the festival’s advisory council, among others. 

The event aims to showcase the future of the creative industries, supporting emerging artists and innovative projects and featuring a number of discussions, exhibitions and networking events.

Prince Joachim will celebrate his 56th birthday on Saturday, but his wife, Princess Marie, will miss the festivities. 

French-born Marie is currently in Copenhagen before she heads to Paris next week, to carry out work in support of some of her patronages and charities. 

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The couple, who are parents to Count Henrik and Countess Athena, moved to Washington D.C in the US in 2023. 

Princess Aisha of Jordan has revealed the inspiration behind her beautiful bridal look.

King Abdullah and Queen Rania's niece married Kareem Al Mufti at Zahran Palace last month. 

And now she's revealed that she wanted to channel the late Princess Grace of Monaco (former Hollywood actress Grace Kelly) with her lace and satin Phillipa Lepley gown. 

The Queen also contended with rain showers as she opened the new "Queen Camilla Stand" at Hexham Racecourse. 

Camilla, who looked elegant with a pale-blue Bruce Oldfield outfit and a horseshoe brooch, used a clear umbrella as she was shown around the venue in Northumberland. 

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After officially opening the stand, she said: "How thrilled I am to be here in Hexham. I haven't been here, I am ashamed to say, before but it really is the most beautiful racecourse.

"It has the most wonderful views. Unfortunately, I didn't bring the weather with me, I can imagine what it is like on a sunny day because it looks pretty good on a day like this.

"Next time, I hope to come back with a runner. Hopefully it emulates No Trumps."

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Photos just in! Zara Tindall was pictured competing at the Bramham International Horse Trials, riding her horse Class Affair in the dressage phase of the competition. The gelding, who is 16 years old, finished third at the event in 2024.

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Mike Tindall's wife was clearly thrilled with her performance, was pictured whispering words of congratulations to her beloved horse and planting a kiss on his nose. It was so sweet to see the special bond between horse and rider.

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Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan has shared the most adorable video of his baby daughter, Princess Iman, proving she's already an avid supporter of the beautiful game!

The doting dad posted the sweet clip on Instagram, showing him cradling little Iman, who was kitted out in a miniature version of the Jordanian national football strip – too cute.

"Iman is ready for today's match and morale is high. Good luck to the brave men," he captioned the heartwarming footage, which you can watch in full here.

The tiny royal's football debut comes just in time as Jordan prepares to take on Oman at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat for the third round of the World Cup Qualifiers

Welcome to the royal blog this morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you may be reading this from!

I'm Rebecca Lewis, the Los Angeles Correspondent, and one piece of news we've yet to dive into today is Princess Marie confirming she will miss birthday celebrations for her husband, Prince Joachim, amid trips to Denmark and France.

Marie and Joachim,the younger brother of King Frederik of Denmark, livein Washington DC, and as Joachim turns 56 on Saturday 7 June, Marie will be in Europe.

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The princess has been in Copenhagen, Denmark for the past week, carrying out engagements in relation to her patronages and charities.

Find out more about her birthday absence here.

Can I draw your attention back to yesterday's video of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex twerking in the hospital room as they awaited the arrival of Princess Lilibet?

A collective gasp went around the HELLO! office when Meghan posted the video of her and Prince Harry dancing in the delivery room, and a gasp is also the noise I made in my studio apartment. 

It was a divisive video, but one that humanised the pair and gave a truly rare insight into their relationship.

But, the video itself shouldn't have been a surprise as Harry actually revealed it's existence in his memoir Spare, writing of his daughter's birth: "We ate and ate and then did the Baby Mama dance around the hospital room. Nothing but joy and love."

Speaking of insights into royal romances, Princess Kate's close school friend once revealed that Kate, when a teenager, already had strong opinions about her future husband.

While Kate's friends would "sit around talking about all the boys at school we fancied," the future Queen Consort's focus was elsewhere. 

Click here to find out what Kate once said about William...

Our very own Katie Daly has taken a look at the royal style from this season so far, and the ladies are killing it.

From the Princess of Wales launching HMS Glasgow in a nautical navy and white number to the royal garden party  where Duchess Sophie rocked a classic Barbie pink look, click here to find out which of the royal set delivered in the style stakes.

And me? I loved Princess Beatrice's fun Rebecca Vallance look.

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Speaking of royal style, Princess Anne has kicked off her 75th birthday celebrations  with a special gathering of her more than 400 patronages at Buckingham Palace.

"This personifies what Her Royal Highness cares about," a Palace source told HELLO! of the decision. 

"She didn't want to do anything for her birthday but bring her charities together to hear more about their work and how she can help them."

Find out more here

We're all about the fashion tonight; our Senior Lifestyle Editor Karen Silas has compiled the best options if you're a big fans of Meghan Markle's chic straw hats and are looking to add one to your closet this summer...

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Click here for the full list 

I'm going to close this blog for today but want to direct you to our Right Royal Podcast.

Hosted by Andrea Caamano, Emmy Griffiths and our Royal Editor Emily Nash, it's the perfect way to keep uop-to-date with all the royal goings-on.

This week, we celebrated spring with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and there are exclusive insights from Emily, who joined the King and Queen to see the King’s Rose.