From health crises to family feuds, this year has been stormy for the House of Windsor.
With rumours of a revolutionary attitude towards ruling, how will they move forward in 2025?
King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave goodbye as they depart Australia on 23 October, 2024
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From two cancer diagnoses to a feud of Shakespearean proportion, the royal family may well be glad to see the back of 2024. The Firm was rocked by the news that both King Charles and Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, had been diagnosed with cancer early in the year, and the last ten months have been tinged with anxiety over the major health concerns at the heart of the monarchy.
While the Windsors closed ranks to support the present and future faces of the Crown, Prince Harry grew increasingly estranged from his family. The feud between the Duke of Sussex and Prince William appears to have grown ever the fraughter, and the likelihood of Meghan Markle returning to Britain with her husband now looks close to zero. Add to that a stand-off between King Charles and Prince Andrew over the rights to Royal Lodge, and it’s safe to say that Buckingham Palace has truly been facing a modern-day Annus Horribilis.
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KING CHARLES AND QUEEN CAMILLA: COULD 2025 SEE A RETURN TO A FULL ROYAL SCHEDULE FOR THE MONARCH?
Leading from the top, King Charles and Queen Camilla are reportedly keen for the royal family to return to normal after a year rocked by health crises. Between his cancer treatment and Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a snap General Election in 2024, His Majesty has been acting on a significantly altered schedule. The royal couple marked their return to international diplomacy with a mammoth tour of Australia and Samoa in October. While a planned trip to New Zealand was cancelled on doctor’s orders, many saw the intercontinental journey as a sign that the King was on the mend, and despite republican rumblings in the commonwealth nation, the visit was widely heralded as magisterial success.
The King and Queen were much-lauded for their tour of Australia and Samoa, one that seems to mark an improvement in the Charles’ health
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A sign of things to come? According to one senior Palace official, the smooth running of the Australasian tour marks a return to business as usual for Charles and Camilla. ‘We’re now working on a pretty normal looking full overseas tour programme for next year, which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms – subject to sign off by doctors,’ they revealed.
Speaking of the King’s optimistic outlook on the new year, they added: ‘It is hard to overstate the joy that he takes from duty and service and being in public and seeing those crowds engaging with communities across the spectrum. That really does lift the spirits. You can see that.’ Where might the newly revitalised King visit next? According to MailOnline, Charles and Camilla have earmarked a trip to Italy in the new year, with the King eager to ‘make up for lost time’ after his health battle.
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But a jet-setting King Charles and Queen Camilla will have more to celebrate than simply a comforting return to the royal status quo: The royal couple will be celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary in 2025. They first met at a Windsor polo match in 1970, but it wasn’t until April 2005 that the King and Queen finally tied the knot. The wedding was held at Windsor Guildhall, making the future King the first member of the British Royal Family to marry in a civil ceremony. Due to the fact that both the bride and groom had previously divorced, it was deemed appropriate that the ceremony should be kept strictly legal, and the nuptials were held accordingly. Charles had previously been married to Diana, Princess of Wales from 1981 to 1996, while Camilla had been married to Andrew Parker Bowles from 1973 to 1995.
The royal relationship was highly controversial back in the day, but Camilla won over the British public, fulfilling her royal duties with both ease and grace. No doubt many royal watchers will flock to Highgrove to mark the occasion – and, with the news that King Charles is hoping to open up Balmoral to the public, some may even took to follow in the royal couple’s footsteps.
THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES: WILL PRINCE GEORGE JOIN PRINCE WILLIAM AND KATE MIDDLETON ON MORE ROYAL ENGAGEMENTS NEXT YEAR?
Catherine, Princess of Wales, has been making her return to royal duty in the latter stages of 2024, joining Prince William for the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on 9 November
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If Charles and Camilla are hoping that 2025 is a more normal year than 2024, the future king and queen might just be looking to shake up the royal routine. Prince William and Kate Middleton have also faced personal turmoil this year, as the Princess of Wales stepped back from public life to undergo chemotherapy treatment. The Palace announced her cancer diagnosis back in March, following weeks of tabloid speculation regarding her whereabouts after routine abdominal surgery and a photoshopped mothers’ day photo debacle.
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Prince George may begin to take on more significant royal roles in 2025, though Prince William has tempered expectations in recent interviews
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The new year might also mark the ascendancy of their oldest son, Prince George. The young royal will turn 12 in 2025, and Palace insiders have predicted that he may soon be joining his mother at some of the more major royal events. Alisa Anderson, former press secretary to the late Queen Elizabeth II, has suggested that it won’t be long before Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte’s older brother accompanies the Princess of Wales on her traditional annual appearance at the Cenotaph for Remembrance Sunday.
‘I’m sure there will be a time in the not-too-distant future when Prince George will be up there,’ Anderston told People, referring to the balcony of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where it is customary for Catherine to stand for the occasion.
This November, the Princess of Wales stood next to Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh as King Charles and Princess Anne lay wreaths at the war memorial, and Anderson admitted that the picture of the two royals standing side by side was a reminder of how much the Firm has changed over the past few years.
‘It was quite poignant having just her and the Duchess of Edinburgh on the balcony,’ she remarked. ‘It brought home to me how slimmed down the monarchy is.’ A perfect time for the rise of a new royal, then?
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Prince William has been candid about his own plans for any escalation in Prince George’s duties, describing how ‘family-wise, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer because obviously they’re at school and I think that takes priority over everything else.’ Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis are currently studying at Lambrook, an independent prep school in Berkshire, near the family home at Adelaide Cottage.
PRINCESS BEATRICE AND PRINCESS EUGENIE: MOTHERHOOD, ROYAL DUTIES AND CHANGES TO THE YORK RESIDENCE
Princess Beatrice will also have new priorities on her mind, as the Princess of York will be welcoming a new baby in the Spring of 2025. Buckingham Palace announced the news in early October, revealing that the Duke and Duchess of York’s eldest daughter and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, were expecting a sibling for Wolfie, aged eight, and Sienna, aged three.
While the royals are famously private about their young children, we might expect to see some official pictures of the newest member of the York family, perhaps during the royal summer retreat to Balmoral. Princess Eugenie took to Instagram to congratulate her older sister. ‘Congratulations Beabea,’ she wrote, using her personal nickname for the Princess of York, ‘So looking forward to more on this journey of motherhood together. And adding another little one to the gang.’
Princess Eugenie, 34, shares two sons with her husband Jack Brooksbank: three-year-old August (affectionately called ‘Augie’) and one-year-old Ernest. And while the younger York sister will no doubt be assisting Princess Beatrice in any way she can, it may also be that Eugenie could take up an increased royal responsibility in 2025, continuing the commitment to the Firm that has won her praise from Palace insiders this year.
Princess Beatrice of York and Princess Eugenie of York attend day two of Royal Ascot 2024 on 19 June
Neither Princess Eugenie nor Princess Beatrice receive public funding for their activities or security, and the pair are not officially classed as working royals. But while King Charles and the Princess of Wales stepped back from public-facing duties to focus on their health this year, the York sisters stepped up and represented the Crown at countless events. Both Princesses are – according to their mother, Sarah Ferguson – passionately driven by the causes they hold dear. ‘Beatrice and Eugenie are out there doing the work,’ she said in September. ‘Eugenie does a lot with The Anti-Slavery Collective, Beatrice does an enormous amount in technology and with dyslexia and really believes in humanity in the workplace, with compassion.’
And their dedication has not gone unnoticed by the Palace. One royal insider recently sang the York sisters’ praises to Hello!: ‘They’ve always had a sense of service and duty, probably inherited from their grandmother. And they’ve shown that they can be trusted in the spotlight and I think that’s appreciated,’ said the source. ‘The royal family recognises that they’re very charming, quite dutiful young women who are very at ease and good in situations where they’re meeting the public and when they’re doing their charity work. Whenever they’ve done that before, they haven’t really put a foot wrong.’
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But while the Princesses can do no wrong in the eyes of Buckingham Palace, 2025 may well mark the continuation of an internecine conflict between King Charles and their father, Prince Andrew. The brothers are said to be waging a cold war over the Duke of York’s right to live at Royal Lodge. It has long been an open secret that the King wants the Duke of York to leave the £30 million estate, considering it inappropriately extravagant for Andrew, who was stripped of his working royal status in the wake of his friendship with convicted paedophile Jefferey Epstein. The Duke, however, has refused to move out of the Windsor home, which he shares with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.
In November, King Charles reportedly made the radical move of serving Prince Andrew’s annual allowance, said to be worth £1 million per annum. This was seen as an attempt to force the Duke out of Royal Lodge by depriving him of the finances necessary to fulfil the 75-year lease that Andrew signed in 2003. The contract entitles the Prince to live at the royal residence for £250 a week so long as he is able to ‘repair, renew, uphold, clean and keep in repair and where necessary rebuild’ the 19th century building – a task that comes at significant cost.
Prince Andrew has since declared that he has drummed up the money personally, and that he plans to stay at Royal Lodge for the foreseeable future. But the feud between him and King Charles has reportedly seen their relationship reach a ‘new low’. Whether or not 2025 will mark peace talks between the King and his disgraced brother remains to be seen.
PRINCE HARRY AND MEGHAN MARKLE: WILL THE DUCHESS OF SUSSEX FINALLY LAUNCH AMERICAN RIVIERA ORCHARD?
And somehow, the Siege of Royal Lodge is not the most drastic of fraternal royal feuds to bleed into 2025. Over in sunny California, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relationship with the House of Windsor has never felt frostier. While the Duke of Sussex did manage to meet with King Charles after the monarch announced his cancer diagnosis, their reunion is said to have lasted no longer than 45 minutes. Prince Harry returned to Britain for an Invictus Games celebration, a Wellchild Awards ceremony, and the funeral of his uncle Lord Fellowes, but at no point is he known to have made contact with either King Charles or Prince William – despite his brother also attending the funeral service in August.
More ‘quasi-royal’ tours for Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex? The pair are pictured here at San Basilio de Palenque during their lauded Colombia Visit on 17 August, 2024
While a truce between Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales seems far out of reach as we make our way into 2025, it may be that the Duke of Sussex and King Charles seek to reconnect in the new year. His Majesty met with faith leaders in August this year, reportedly seeking spiritual advice on the nature of forgiveness. A deeply religious man, Charles is said to have left the discussions willing to revisit talks with Harry, and is especially keen to foster a relationship with his grandchildren, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
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Prince Harry has spoken openly about his anxieties regarding a family reunion in Britain. The Duke is currently caught up in a legal battle over whether he is entitled to a security detail when he returns to the country, and he told ITV that, until he can ensure his family’s safety, he won’t be bringing them back to the UK – especially amid what he perceives as hostile media coverage. ‘All it takes is one lone actor, one person who read this stuff, to act on what they have read,’ Harry explained, ‘and whether that is a knife or acid … they are genuine concerns for me, they are one of the reasons I won’t bring my wife back to this country.’
Be it in California or London, the Sussexes will have plenty on their plate already come 2025. One theme to watch out for is an increase in Harry and Meghan’s international presence: the success of their ‘quasi royal’ visits to Colombia and Nigeria this year mean that the Sussexes could look to branch out with even more diplomatic efforts. The new year may also finally mark the launch of Meghan Markle’s lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, which has faced relentless delays due to copyright issues. The Duchess of Sussex first introduced the world to American Riviera Orchard in March 2024, creating an Instagram page for the brand with an ARO herald and Montecito label, referencing the Californian suburb she and Prince Harry made their home after stepping back from royal duties in 2020.
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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attends a Sentebale reception and panel discussion at The Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa
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According to Page Six, American Riviera Orchard will offer a vast array of products after it launches in the new year, each of which Meghan Markle is said to consider ‘close to her heart’. And what does that encompass? Well, according to MailOnline’s description of a trademark extension document … a lot.
Body creams, body lotions, bath oils, scented oils, edible oils, air fragrance reed diffusers, incense, honey dippers, bird feeders, garden shears, weeding forks, string lights, meditation mats and stationery sets. That’s all in addition to pet shampoo, note cards, letter openers, tote bags, wine bags with handles for carrying or holding wine, non-medicated hand soaps, non-medicated veterinary grooming products, and non-medicated skin care preparations. It seems pharmaceuticals, at least, are not part of the Duchess’ plans.
Meghan Markle recently finished filming her Netflix show, which is yet to receive a release date, but is thought to be a compliment to American Riviera Orchard. Produced by Sony Pictures Television’s ‘The Intellectual Property Corporation’, the as-yet unnamed show will revolve around the Duchess of Sussexes’s passions, including cooking, gardening and entertaining, and comes under the couple’s $100 million Netflix deal. ‘It went well, and it is in the can,’ a Hollywood source told the Daily Beast, meaning that the project – which was reportedly filmed at a property two miles from the pair’s Montecito mansion in California – should be ready to go by the middle of 2025.
THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF EDINBURGH: MILESTONE BIRTHDAYS AND TRIPS DOWN UNDER
As for Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, the royal will be turning 60 in January 2025. A milestone occasion for anybody, and no doubt the mother of two will enjoy a family celebration with Prince Edward and their two children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex. When Sophie turned 50 in 2015, she marked the occasion in a characteristically dutiful way: supporting two charity projects and accepting a position as vice-patron of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Trust. Nowadays, you’re more likely to find the Duchess of Edinburgh campaigning for women’s rights in war-torn cities like Kiev, or on the border of Chad and South Sudan. Sophie has earned a deep respect from the public for her commitment to visiting some of the world’s most politically turbulent areas, confronting crisis head on and using her platform to raise awareness of some truly devastating issues.
Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, in attendance on day nine of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at Château de Versailles in Paris, France
Ramsey Cardy/Getty Images
Closer to home, the Duchess of Edinburgh will be celebrating another anniversary: the Girl Guides turns 115 in 2025. Sophie was named patron of the Guides earlier this year, taking on one of the late Queen Elizabeth’s most treasured positions. The Duchess’ daughter, Lady Louise, spent her childhood in the Brownies, – perhaps that is where the young royal learnt the confidence that is quickly marking her out as one of brightest prospects among a new generation of the Firm. For now, however, Lady Louise is rightfully enjoying her time at the University of St Andrews, where she is rumoured to be dating Felix da Silva-Clamp.
While she may be following in the footsteps of her cousin Prince William by finding love at the Scottish institution, it sounds like Lady Louise is looking forward to forging her own path in 2025, as MailOnline reports that she is considering spending her year abroad in Australia with da Silva-Clamp – rather like Count Nikolai of Monpezat, who moved to Australia for his own year abroad with his glamorous girlfriend, Benedikte Thoustrup, last year.
Lady Louise is not the only young royal looking forward to an education milestone in 2025. Alexander Ogilvy will be finishing up at Sandhurst in the new year, and after a gruelling regime of marathon treks and cabbage-scented rooms, Princess Alexandra’s 28-year-old grandson (said to be the most dashing member of the extended royal family) will have his sights set on life as a 2nd lieutenant. However the year unfurls for these two, it’s certain that the new faces of the Firm will continue to charm royal watchers everywhere.
From California to Australia via Italy and Buckingham Palace, the House of Windsor is set to spread its wings in 2025. With the old guard looking to settle back into tradition and the next generation rewriting the royal rulebook, it’s certain to be a blockbuster year.
