Royal news live: Reason why Prince Harry’s chief of staff quit emerges as Kate Middleton makes rare appearance

New banknotes worth £78,430 have been sold for more than 11 times that at an auction for charity.

The notes, all featuring King Charles’ portrait, only entered circulation last June and were put up for bidding by the Bank of England.

The £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes were an attractive draw to collectors for their very low serial numbers. A single £10 note with the serial number ‘HB01 000002,’ sold for £17,000 at bidding.

The very first issues – which would feature the serial number ‘000001’ – were all presented to the monarch, leaving all the next in line to go under the hammer.

The single note that attracted the next highest bid was a £50 with serial ‘000003,’ selling for £14,000, followed by a £5 with the same serial, selling for £11,000.

Prince William stole the spotlight in a surprise video with Princess Kate as his new rugged look sparked a major online debate.

The Prince and Princess of Wales joined Snoop Dogg and David Beckham to congratulate Team GB athletes as the 2024 Paris Olympics came to an end this weekend.

However, it was not the couple’s kind message that grabbed the attention of viewers as most seemed preoccupied by their appearances. Kate, who is undergoing cancer treatment, stood smiling in a striped long-sleeved top and a simple necklace. William sported a markedly more casual look, with a Team GB T-shirt and most notably a long stubble.

Royal fans immediately took to the facial hair, which marked a departure from his usual clean-shaven look.

“Love the beard on Prince William,” one social media commented as another pleaded: “William please keep growing that beard!’.

Another illustrated their approval with flame and heart eyes emojis as they wrote: “William with a tan and a beard!!!!”

Others took a more sarcastic approach to the new look saying: “Ohhh... William is really in vacation mode.”

“Someone got permission from the king to grow a beard,” another one wrote.

Some residents of Colombia are claiming the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes tour of the country is being used as a distraction from corruption scandals dogging its government.

Harry and Meghan will begin a four-day tour of the country from Thursday where they will “engage with leaders, youth, and women who embody the aspirations and voices of Colombians committed to progress.”

However, some remain unconvinced. A lawyer based in Bogota told the Mail on Sunday: “I’m sure Meghan and Harry mean well, but everyone here is talking about how obviously they are being manipulated.

“Of course, their star power will be used to bring attention to poor people and certain areas of culture in Colombia but the reality is the Colombian government has been drowning in scandal since it came in two years ago. They need something to appease people at home and make them look good abroad.”

Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard has suffered a setback ahead of its official launch following the discovery of trademark “irregularities”.

According to reports, several items intended to be sold by the luxury brandincluding yoga matts and picnic labels were incorrectly labelled and needed to be “corrected”.

The error, identified by the US Patents and Trademarks Office in July, will cost an estimated $11,382 (around £9,000) to fix.

News of American Riviera Orchard was first revealed earlier this year when the Duchess of Sussex, 42, set up a website and Instagram page for the brand.

While the pages did not reveal any of its products, it did reveal its logo and name “ARO” and the word “Montecito” – a reference to the California town where Meghan lives with Prince Harry and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

The Windsors are enjoying their summer break with an annual sojourn to their private estate at Balmoral imminent. 

King Charles and Queen Camilla have already been joined in Scotland by Princess Anne and it is believed that they will soon be joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales as well as their three young children.

The journey to Scotland marks the furthest distance Kate is reported to have travelled since being diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer earlier this year.

Royal author Phil Dampier told Fabulous: “The fact that Kate is well enough to travel to Scotland and enjoy a holiday at Balmoral is a sure sign she is on the mend and a very positive step.”

Canada reportedly paid for police presence during Harry and Meghan’s visit to the country despite saying they would not use taxpayer money.

Vancouver police spent C$44,555 (£25,436) on 390.5 hours of security-related overtime during the couple’s visit in February for an Invictus Games event, CTV reported.

A representative for the Invictus Games said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s security was paid for by private donors. It is also noted that the police overtime was not specifically used for Harry and Meghan as unrelated protests were also happening in the city.

“We didn’t specifically provide security for them,” a Vancouver police department spokesman told the outlet. “But we had officers in the area they were in [in] case any issues arose due to the ongoing protests in the city.”

A freedom of information request reportedly revealed the Invictus Games had paid $10,221 of the $44,555 security bill while the rest was paid for by the Canadian taxpayer.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are due to begin their tour of Colombia this week despite safety fears.

The Foreign Office warns against all but essential travel to certain parts of Colombia, with kidnapping rates remaining high.

It describes the country as “seriously afflicted by conflict” with a resurgence in violence in parts of Colombia despite the peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) movement to end the civil war.

It comes as Harry maintained last month it was “still dangerous” for Meghan to return to the UK.

In the ITV documentary Tabloids On Trial, the duke said: “All it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read and whether it’s a knife or acid, whatever it is, and these are things that are of genuine concern for me.

“It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”

Harry lost a High Court challenge against the Home Office in February over a decision to change the level of his personal security when he visits the UK, but he has been given the green light to appeal.

During the case, the court was told Harry believes his children cannot “feel at home” in the UK if it is “not possible to keep them safe” there and that he faces a greater risk than his late mother, with “additional layers of racism and extremism”.

An air hostess who served Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip has revealed the late monarch’s flying habits as memorabilia from her flights go under the hammer.

Notes from Elizabeth Evans, a British Airways air hostess from Birmingham, revealed that the Queen liked to drink a martini before meeting guests on royal flights and always requested a particular type of mint - sugar-free Velamints - during take off.

She also preferred to use her own pillows and enjoyed looking at route maps.

Ms Evans served many famous travellers during her 28-year career that began in 1970. She served the royals during their 1989 tour of Singapore and Malaysia.

She collected mementoes from her time - including instruction cards and menus - serving the rich and famous which were found in her study after her death.

The memorabilia, inherited by Mrs Evans’s niece, Jo Smallwood, is expected to fetch between £400-£600 when it goes under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers on Aug 20.

Deepfake videos of Sir Keir Starmer and Prince William are being used to promote financial scams on Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

The artificial intelligence (AI) versions of the prime minister and the Prince of Wales have been used in more than 250 adverts promoting a scam cryptocurrency trading platform. 

The fraudulent adverts, promoting a platform name “Immediate Edge”, suggest the project has been endorsed by the pair, and have reached more than 890,000 people on Facebook and Instagram.

The adverts were found by Fenimore Harper, a media insight and research firm, using Meta’s open-source AI software, called Llama 3.1.

When users clicked the fake link, it would lead them to a landing page asking for the victim’s name, phone number and email address.

In one fraudulent advertisement, the AI prince William said: “I am pleased to announce that I, Prince William, and the entire royal family fully support prime minister Keir Starmer’s initiative and his new platform.”

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