THE Royal Family is done with old traditions as they ditch ribbon-cutting for social impact projects.

Speaking on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, Sky‘s Royal Correspondent Rhiannon Mills said: “They’ve stated it clearer than ever, the causes they want to focus on.”

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Royal insiders reveal the families latest projects go against traditionCredit: Getty

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King Charles celebrated his birthday visiting food hubs and children affected by povertyCredit: Getty
The royal expert was asked if the family had made changes to the way they address the public after the difficult year they’ve had with Princess Kate and King Charles both being diagnosed with cancer.

The Sun’s Royal Editor Matt Wilkinson asked: “Have you seen any kind of change in the way that they have behaved to the public, or have they been more kind of empathetic and sympathetic to people?”

Rhiannon revealed it seemed that the whole family was focusing on projects that really make an impact to people’s lives this year – forgoing ribbon-cutting and plaques – to make a real change.

She revealed: “When we were in South Africa, Prince William very clearly made the point, he’s going to do royal with a small R, and he wants to do stuff that’s going to have impact.

“So this year for him, of course, it’s been about homelessness, mental health, for Catherine, for the things that she has done, it’s still continued to be about early years and the family, for Queen Camilla, it’s been about domestic violence, and for the King, he spent his birthday talking about food waste and food poverty.

“And for me, I just see this as a really interesting step change almost for the Royal Family.”

Earlier this month King Charles travelled down to Deptford to celebrate the first anniversary of The Coronation Food Project on his 76th birthday.

The project aims to tackle food waste as well as food poverty and has so far rescued  940 tonnes of surplus food, estimated as enough to make 2.24 million meals.

A further 1,900 tonnes have been donated by partners of the project, equivalent to 4.5 million meals.

He sat with a group of children from Peckham’s Rye Oak Primary School, who will benefit from the new hub, and listened to them talk about the foods they enjoy, asking about their school lunches.

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Queen Camilla is focusing her time on bringing domestic violence to the spotlightCredit: Getty

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King Charles met with pupils of the primary school Rye Oak benefiting from the Coronation Food ProjectCredit: AP
Humble King Charles is a Duracell Bunny, you wouldn’t know he has cancer – he just doesn’t stop
Asked if he would be putting his feet up for his birthday, he said: “Not quite.”

At the end of the conversation, he said: “I hope you have a very happy Christmas.”

King Charles also visited the large freezer storing much of the food, something the royal expert said he was genuinely excited about.

Rhiannon continued: “He genuinely can see these two massive social issues, food waste, food poverty, and he was like, we need to do something about it.

Timeline of King Charles’ health battle

A look at King Charles cancer diagnosis and recovery.

January 17: Buckingham Palace announces the King has been diagnosed with an enlarged prostate

January 26: The Sun exclusively photograph the King arriving at The London Clinic for his ‘corrective procedure’

January 29: Seen waving and smiling as he left hospital after an extra night

February 5: Palace reveal while in hospital for his prostate operation doctors discovered the the King has a form of cancer

February 10: King issues ‘heartfelt thanks’ in a written statement

February 21: King tells Rishi Sunak he had been “reduced to tears” by get-well cards

March 21: The Princess of Wales and the King have lunch at Windsor Castle

March 22: Kate announces via video statement that she is being treated for cancer

March 31: King attends Easter Sunday service and takes part in ‘walkabout’ with members of the public and aides say ‘it was a significant step’ as King had ‘responded to treatment very encouragingly’

April 4: The Sun exclusively reveals King has ordered aides to ‘supercharge’ his diary for the summer and is ‘raring to go’

April 10: King and Queen embark on break at Birkhall, in Scottish Highlands

April 26: Buckingham Palace announce King will return to public-facing front-line duties

April 30: King marks his public comeback by visiting a cancer hospital with the Queen

Future:

May 8 and 21: Buckingham Palace Garden Parties

May 21 – 25: Chelsea Flower Show

June 6: 80th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France and UK

June 15: Trooping the Colour birthday parade in London

June 17: Garter Day parade at Windsor Castle

June 18 – 22: Royal Ascot

Late June: State Visit by Emperor and Empress of Japan

July 3: Holyrood Week in Scotland

October: Two or three-week tour of Australia

“And I just think we now have a monarchy that is more socially engaged than ever.”

While the Royal Family has always agreed to stay out of politics and keep the monarchy separate – it seems they are moving away from this tradition.

King Charles’ campaign to stop food poverty and Prince William’s focus on homelessness are not political as such, but ‘it runs by the side of politics’ says Rhiannon.

In October, King Charles met with actor Idris Elba, Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy and Yvette Cooper to discuss knife crime – a scene that shocked many.

“It was like he was sitting around the table with half the cabinet,” Rhiannon added.

“I was like, hang on a minute. This is our monarch sitting down, specifically saying to Lisa Nandy, ‘Well, I’m going to watch your progress on knife crime.’ We wouldn’t have seen that from Queen Elizabeth II, would we?”

It’s believed that the King will appear in a documentary alongside the actor next year to tackle knife crime.

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The king has also had discussions on the rise of knife crime in BritainCredit: PA

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While Princess Katherine continues to focus on children’s early learning and mental healthCredit: PA