2024: A royal timeline of events

To keep track of royal news, I started writing what is now a long list of who did what and when. Did I mention it's long?

This year is shaping up to be one full of twists and turns. So to keep track of what happened, I started this detailed timeline. And kept adding events. And schedule changes. And scandals. And illnesses. And …. you get the idea.

Now I’m sharing the timeline with my subscribers.

This is a LIVE document so keep checking back for updates.

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THE ROYAL TIMELINE OF 2024

Jan 9: Kate, Princess of Wales, turns 42 (1982)

Jan 10: First anniversary of the publication of Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare (2023)

Jan 17: Kensington Palace revealed that the Princess of Wales had undergone abdominal surgery on Jan. 16 (non-cancerous), and she would be in hospital for 10-14 days, with a recovery extending until Easter (March 31). Around 90 minutes later, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles III would undergo a procedure the next week for an enlarged prostate.

Jan 19: Prince Harry drops his libel claim against Associated Newspapers after accusing the Mail on Sunday of defaming him in a February 2022 article about the security / policing issue. It comes after the judge stated in December that the newspaper had a good chance of proving that Harry’s side conducted a “master class of spinning” designed to mislead the public. Harry has to pay all costs, which the Mail estimated to be around 750,000 pounds.

Jan 20: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, turns 59 (1965)

Jan 26: King undergoes the procedure at the same London Clinic where Kate is recuperating.

Jan 29: Kensington Palace says that Kate is back home at Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor estate (she’s not seen in public). The King leaves hospital with Queen Camilla. He’s expected to be out of the public eye for a month while recovering

Feb 5: King reveals he has cancer, detected during the prostate procedure, and is undergoing treatment. The form of cancer is not revealed.

Feb 6: Prince Harry flies to London for 30-45 minutes with his father.

Feb 7: Bonhams auction house is selling hundreds of items from The Crown, the completed Netflix series.  Proceeds will establish a scholarship program at the National Film and Television School. Their version of the Gold State Coach fetched £56,280

Feb. 8: Prince Harry appears at the NFL awards show in Las Vegas to present the NFL Man of the Year award, ahead of the Super Bowl.

Feb 9: Prince Harry settles his legal action against the Mirror Group Newspapers for unlawful information gathering for “a substantial additional sum by way of damages.” He’d won a preliminary judgment of 140,000 pounds regarding 15 articles. The total settlement was reportedly 300,000 pounds, plus legal costs, per the BBC. (live blog)

Feb 14-16: Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Whistler for the one year countdown to the new winter sport component to the Invictus Games occurring in Vancouver and Whistler in 2025.

Feb 27:  The Queen and members of the British royal family and European royals attend a memorial service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, to honour the life of the late King Constantine of Greece. Prince William backs out at the last minute because of a “personal matter” (on March 22, that matter was revealed to be his wife’s cancer diagnosis and treatment).

Feb 28: Prince Harry loses his legal challenge to the downgrade in his publicly funded police protection after he stopped being a working royal in 2020. He’d asked for a judicial review but, in a stinging judgment, Judge Lane rejected all his claims, ruling that the decision was neither unfair or irrational. Harry says he will appeal. As of late March, the case had cost the government around 500,000 pounds (if Harry loses, experts expect him to pay BOTH sides, now likely well over 1 million pounds).

Feb 28-ish: Social media flips out with wacky conspiracy theories about why Kate hasn’t been seen in public, including that she is out of the public eye because her Brazilian Booty Lift (BBL) went wrong or that her bang trim didn’t work out and she’s waiting for her hair to grow out.

March 10: Prince Edward turns 60 (1964). His brother, the King, makes him a knight of the Order of the Thistle.

March 10: Kensington Palace releases an image of Kate and her kids, taken by Prince William, for Mother’s Day in the U.K. It had been manipulated, and less than 12 hours later, four major photo agencies issue kill notices on the image for breaking their rules. Kate apologizes, saying she experimented in the editing.

Conspiracy theories and memes go into overdrive, including raising the old, refuted allegations that William had an affair with the Marchioness of Cholmondeley (because Kate didn’t wear her wedding ring in the image and they doubt the bricks in another image). Everyone gets involved, from the White House and late night comedians to Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat, the top open-source investigative unit in the world. (Full timeline of the Kate conspiracy furor is here as well as tracing the #wheresKate hashtag to the Sussex squad.)

March 11: Commonwealth Day. The Queen leads the royals at the service at Westminster Abbey. The King sends a video.

March 14: Unfinished watercolour by King Charles done for the BBC production of The Old Man of Lochnagar sells for more than 20,000 pounds, more than double the lower estimate.

March 14: Prince William attends the 25th anniversary Diana Award. After he’s gone, Prince Harry talks to winners via video.

March 14: Meghan soft launches her new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard on Instagram and website. (starting with just a logo, sign-up list, and 15-second video).

March 22: In a 2:20 minute video, the Princess of Wales reveals that cancer had been found in post-operative tests and she had been undergoing preventative chemotherapy since late February. She asks for privacy for her and her family. The video, produced by the BBC, was shot on Wednesday but released at 6 p.m. local time on Friday — timed to be after her children were out of school for the next three weeks on their Easter break. So the previous guidance that she would return to public duties “after Easter” is now moot.