The Royal Dispatch
The Chelsea Flower Show and outings for Princess Catherine
Hi Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie back again to bring you this week's edition of The Royal Dispatch.
This week has been jam-packed. We’ve had the Chelsea Flower Show, a garden party at Buckingham Palace and plenty of royal engagements.
But before we get on to the best royal pictures of the week, time for some history.
On This Day…
24 May 1873, Alexandra Palace opened for the first time on Queen Victoria’s 54th birthday. It opened with concerts, recitals and fireworks, with the aim of “affording all classes of the community, on a grand scale, the means of intellectual improvement and physical recreation”.
However, only 16 days after the grand opening, the building was destroyed in a fire.
The Illustrated London News wrote: “We sincerely regret to say that the grand and beautiful structure on Muswell-hill, completed at the cost of half a million sterling, was entirely destroyed by fire last Monday. Nothing is left of it but the blackened ruins…This disaster was the work of an hour and a half between noon and two o’clock when many thousands of visitors …were assembled. Its cause was the carelessness of workmen employed to repair the leadwork in the roof of the great dome…(when) the men were gone to dinner at half past twelve…a morsel of red-hot charcoal dropped from a brazier…”
The building was re-built and re-opened two years later.
Best Royal Pictures of The Week
Princess Beatrice
How glamorous does Princess Beatrice look? Pictured here alongside Spotify’s chief public affairs officer, Dustee Jenkins, Princess Beatrice attended the 2025 Matrix Awards in New York City on Monday, an event held at The Ziegfeld Ballroom, which celebrates those highlighted by New York Women in Communications (NYWICI), a leading organization for female communications professionals.
King Harald of Norway
A meeting of minds took place on Tuesday when King Harald of Norway met the winner of the 2025 Abel Prize, Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara, in an audience room at the Royal Palace in Oslo. He is a specialist in algebraic analysis, representation theory, and sheaf theory.
King Willem-Alexander
He might be one of the tallest living royals, but the Dutch king was rather dwarfed by this wooden ‘Grand Ring’ structure during a visit to the 2025 Osaka Expo to mark Dutch National Day celebrations on Wednesday.
Princess Catherine
The Princess of Wales was resplendent in yellow as she greeted guests during a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay also attended the naming ceremony for HMS Glasgow at the BAE Systems shipyard in Scotstoun on Thursday. Princess Catherine was appointed as the Sponsor of HMS Glasgow in 2021, a state-of-the-art Type 26 anti-submarine frigate, designed to provide protection to the UK's nuclear deterrent and aircraft carriers.
King Charles
His Majesty shared a joke with footballer David Beckham, as both were in attendance at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show on Monday. King Charles is a patron of the Royal Horticultural Society.
Queen Mary
The Danish queen brought her signature style to a gala dinner for BusinessEurope at Danish Industry in Copenhagen on Thursday. She joined her husband, King Frederik, at the event.
Prince William
Prince William once again proved his love of football when he got stuck in during a visit to a new community impact partnership with Street Soccer Scotland at Leith Community Centre on Wednesday.
Queen Maxima
Queen Maxima also proved her willingness to get stuck in during a visit to Isivivana Community Center Khayelitsha for Stockvel, a community-based savings club, which she attended on Tuesday in her capacity as United Nations secretary general's special advocate for financial health.
The Royal Diary
The diary looks a little less full this week as it's the May school half-term holiday in the UK, but it's set to be a historic week for the King and Queen.
Read on to find out more.