The Royal Dispatch
Queen Letizia gets stuck in and a Dickensian treat for Camilla
Hi Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie bringing you our latest edition of The Royal Dispatch.
It’s been quite the week as reports came from Buckingham Palace on Thursday that King Charles was back in hospital for a temporary period of observation and will be working from home in Highgrove House.
Rest assured we will keep you up to date with all the latest royal news and insights when we have them!
But before we get on to the best royal pictures of the week, time for some royal history.
On this day…
A momentous discovery was made by a group of farmers in the Shaanxi province, China, on 29 March 1974.
Yang Zhifa, his five brothers, Yang Quanyi, Yang Peiyan, Yang Xinman, Yang Wenhai, Yang Yanxin and neighbour Wang Puzhi were digging a well in pomegranate and persimmon fields just an hour northeast of Xi’an, when Yang Zhifa’s shovel hit something solid about 15 metres below the surface.
It was a terracotta head that they mistook for an image of the Buddha.
"At first all we saw was the top of a head," Yang Quanyi told The Mail on Sunday, "then as we dug further we saw the whole head."
The farmers believed it was a bronze relic that they could sell, and broke it off with a hammer to take it back to the village.
"Everyone was afraid to touch it," Yang Quanyi said of the statue, adding that locals feared the repercussions of their actions. "We were frightened that the buddha would punish us."
The lives of the farmers from that moment were vastly changed. Officials and archaeologists descended on the region to excavate the tomb, and the land was claimed by the state. Compensation was siphoned off by officials and several members of the original group died in poverty.
"We got nothing for the discovery,” he told the paper.
"It was the days of collective farms and we were given ten credit points by our brigade leader for finding the warriors. That was the equivalent of about one yuan [5p]."
It soon became clear that their find was far beyond anything they could have imagined. They had found one of 8,000 terracotta foot soldiers, archers, horses and charioteers buried beneath the surface of the field in an area covering seven square miles.
The life-size warriors dated back to the 3rd Century BCE reign of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a united China. The warriors surround his mausoleum, which remains unopened to this day.
While we might be familiar with the image of the Terracotta Army as rows and rows of brown figures, they were once painted in bright colours which faded as soon as they were exposed to light and oxygen. Each statue weighs up to 272 kilograms (600 pounds) and has unique facial features and dress. To this day they face east, which was the direction the emperor’s enemies came from.
The emperor the warriors protected was also a fascinating figure in China’s history. Qin Shi Huang established a centralised form of administration and ended territorial feudal power. He enforced standardisation for weights and measures, and ordered the construction of roads and canals.
To protect his newly founded empire from invasion in the north, he linked fortresses across the border together to form the Great Wall of China, as we know it today.
Best Royal Pictures of The Week
Queen Letizia
Queen Letizia wasn’t afraid to get stuck in on Wednesday during a three-day solo visit to Cape Verde to see visit local projects and learn about the Spanish Cooperation's work in the country. The Spanish Cooperation works to fight poverty through technical, economic and financial cooperation; humanitarian aid; and education.
Prince William
The Prince of Wales appeared to be stepping into Jeremy Clarkson’s shoes as he joined Clarkson's Farm stars Kaleb Cooper (C) and Charlie Ireland (R) during an event for sixty of the Duchy of Cornwall's next generation of farming tenants on Wednesday.
Queen Camilla
Queen Camilla indulged her personal passions on Thursday, watching a scene being filmed during a visit to the set of the ITV drama Trigger Point.
Watch our best moments when royals visited film sets below…
Belgian royals
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium were dressed to impress as they welcomed Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of the Republic of Singapore, and his spouse, Jane Yumiko Ittogi, for a state banquet at the royal castle of Laeken during their state visit to Belgium on Monday.
We also had to shout out this wonderful style moment from Queen Mathilde, reminiscent of Princess Catherine’s look for Commonwealth Day where she expertly matched her outfit to a pillbox hat.
Duchess Sophie
The Duchess of Edinburgh took centre stage for a diplomatic outing on Wednesday. The event was between the UK government and European Parliament Intergroup on Children's Rights, aiming to ensure safety of children is at the top of the international agenda.
Queen Maxima
It was quite the side profile from the Queen of the Netherlands, who waved to supportive passers-by during the signing of the renewed music agreement More Harmony in Society in Kerkrade, on Thursday.
King Felipe
Here come the men in green… King Felipe wore military attire when inspecting troops of the 'Aragon I' Brigade of the Spanish Army on Tuesday, a unit dedicated to peacekeeping missions in the Balkans, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Mali, Iraq and Latvia.
Japanese royals
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Japan's Emperor Naruhito attended a state banquet with their partners at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Royal Diary
The diary is looking a little quieter next week in the lead-up to the King and Queen's state visit, but there's set to be overseas trips for both the Belgian and the Danish royals.
Read on to find out more.