Lady Louise Windsor among royal family members axed from Buckingham Palace balcony appearance to mark VE day
The royal family has gathered on the iconic Buckingham Palace balcony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) day but several notable family members were cut from the line up.
The British government has planned a series of events in the run-up to the anniversary of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender that took effect on May 8, 1945.
In 1945, VE Day was greeted by wild celebrations in London and across Britain.
On that historic day, the future Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret famously stood on the Buckingham Palace balcony with their parents King George VI and the Queen Mother alongside Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Elizabeth, then a 19-year-old princess, and her younger sister Margaret later slipped out to join the throng outside the palace, believed to be the only time during her 96 years she mingled with the public unrecognised.
Exactly eight decades later, her descendants stood on the same balcony to watch a grand military parade and fly-past on Monday.
The ever-shrinking balcony lineup featured one of the smallest contingents of royals to date as King Charles' vision for a 'slimmed down' monarchy continues to take shape.
Charles, 77, was joined by Queen Camilla as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children, who were placed to the monarch's left.
On the right, the King was flanked by his sister Princess Anne and her husband Sir Timothy Laurence, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
Rounding out the line up directly behind Charles was the Duke of Kent, who at 89 is currently the oldest working royal family member.
Noticeably absent were the Edinburgh children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex, who typically stand with their parents during public appearances.
It is unclear why Edward and Sophie's children were axed, although Lady Louise is currently living in Scotland for her university studies.
Working royals the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were not present on the balcony for unknown reasons.
Also nowhere to be seen were the notorious Duke and Duchess of York, who recently made a surprise appearance with the royal family for the Easter Mattins church service.
Appearing on the Buckingham Palace balcony is a time honoured tradition dating back to the reign of Queen Victoria.
During Queen Elizabeth II's reign more than thirty extended family members often crowded onto the balcony while at the King's coronation the appearance was limited to about a dozen 'working royals'.
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The Advertiser
6 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Why Scott Morrison's King's Birthday honour boils my blood
For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS. These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend. I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it. Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?" Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for. Says it all, really. During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government. The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"? On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution. Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines. Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited. Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership. Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment. As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response. While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker? Phew - send out the debt notices! Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching". In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so. You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership". In reality, it's an entirely different story. Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us. And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people. READ MORE: Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people." Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it. This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside. For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS. These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend. I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it. Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?" Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for. Says it all, really. During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government. The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"? On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution. Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines. Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited. Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership. Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment. As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response. While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker? Phew - send out the debt notices! Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching". In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so. You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership". In reality, it's an entirely different story. Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us. And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people. READ MORE: Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people." Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it. This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside. For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS. These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend. I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it. Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?" Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for. Says it all, really. During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government. The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"? On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution. Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines. Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited. Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership. Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment. As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response. While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker? Phew - send out the debt notices! Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching". In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so. You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership". In reality, it's an entirely different story. Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us. And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people. READ MORE: Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people." Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it. This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside. For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS. These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend. I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it. Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?" Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for. Says it all, really. During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government. The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"? On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution. Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines. Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited. Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership. Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment. As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response. While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker? Phew - send out the debt notices! Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching". In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so. You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership". In reality, it's an entirely different story. Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us. And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people. READ MORE: Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people." Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it. This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Horrific': Albanese condemns shooting of Nine journalist in US
Tomasi has been covering the unrest in Los Angeles, where 2000 National Guard members and 700 marines have been deployed by the US president to help 'restore order' following a series of protests against immigration raids. Loading The protests evolved into riots, with cars set on fire and objects lobbed at police. Police deployed tear gas and fired rubber bullets at demonstrators. Speaking on Nine's Today show on Tuesday morning, Tomasi said her injuries were minor. 'I have a bit of a bloody big old bruise, and it's a little bit sore, but I am all OK,' she said. 'It's a really crappy thing that's happened. But I really don't want to be the story … it's a really chaotic situation that's unfolding in Los Angeles.' The day of the shooting, Tomasi went live around 5am LA time after 'thousands of protesters' appeared on the street. 'We felt that presence of the Los Angeles Police Department and law enforcement really ramp up and [we] went live … police started pushing their way up the street. They'd begun firing tear gas canisters and those rubber bullets, and we moved on to the sidewalk, really tried to stay out of the way,' she said. 'I was really focused on the camera and was finishing that report … and I got hit. [Cameraman] Jimmy scooped me up, and we made our way out of there as quickly as possible. It was a bit of a shock.' The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to Nine it had launched an investigation into the incident. Nine owns this masthead. British photographer Nick Stern was also hit in the leg by a rubber bullet, and had to be carried away by protesters. Tasmania Greens senator Nick McKim has called the incident 'shocking' and questioned whether the officer's actions were deliberate. 'It certainly looked deliberately done. And if it was, that's absolutely … a cowardly act,' he said on Today. 'The fact that you've got someone in uniform who appears to take a deliberate potshot at an Australian journalist, that is completely unacceptable. And it needs to be raised at the highest levels.' Loading Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth said journalists should be safe at work. 'I understand [Tomasi] is OK and she wasn't seriously injured, but Australia absolutely believes in the freedom of journalists to do their job and to do their job safely, and that journalists should be protected. And so this is obviously a very difficult circumstance.' In a statement on social media, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance – the union representing Australian journalists – said the 'shocking' footage was 'evidence of the lengths media workers go to report the truth'. 'Tomasi appears to be deliberately shot while she is speaking to the camera. Journalists reporting from the front line of protests and wars fulfil the essential role of bearing witness, and should be accorded the same protections as other frontline workers,' the statement read. 'We are grateful to learn both Lauren and her cameraperson are safe, but this situation highlights the need to centre worker safety. No one deserves to be shot or injured during the course of their work.'
The Age
6 hours ago
- The Age
‘Horrific': Albanese condemns shooting of Nine journalist in US
Tomasi has been covering the unrest in Los Angeles, where 2000 National Guard members and 700 marines have been deployed by the US president to help 'restore order' following a series of protests against immigration raids. Loading The protests evolved into riots, with cars set on fire and objects lobbed at police. Police deployed tear gas and fired rubber bullets at demonstrators. Speaking on Nine's Today show on Tuesday morning, Tomasi said her injuries were minor. 'I have a bit of a bloody big old bruise, and it's a little bit sore, but I am all OK,' she said. 'It's a really crappy thing that's happened. But I really don't want to be the story … it's a really chaotic situation that's unfolding in Los Angeles.' The day of the shooting, Tomasi went live around 5am LA time after 'thousands of protesters' appeared on the street. 'We felt that presence of the Los Angeles Police Department and law enforcement really ramp up and [we] went live … police started pushing their way up the street. They'd begun firing tear gas canisters and those rubber bullets, and we moved on to the sidewalk, really tried to stay out of the way,' she said. 'I was really focused on the camera and was finishing that report … and I got hit. [Cameraman] Jimmy scooped me up, and we made our way out of there as quickly as possible. It was a bit of a shock.' The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to Nine it had launched an investigation into the incident. Nine owns this masthead. British photographer Nick Stern was also hit in the leg by a rubber bullet, and had to be carried away by protesters. Tasmania Greens senator Nick McKim has called the incident 'shocking' and questioned whether the officer's actions were deliberate. 'It certainly looked deliberately done. And if it was, that's absolutely … a cowardly act,' he said on Today. 'The fact that you've got someone in uniform who appears to take a deliberate potshot at an Australian journalist, that is completely unacceptable. And it needs to be raised at the highest levels.' Loading Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth said journalists should be safe at work. 'I understand [Tomasi] is OK and she wasn't seriously injured, but Australia absolutely believes in the freedom of journalists to do their job and to do their job safely, and that journalists should be protected. And so this is obviously a very difficult circumstance.' In a statement on social media, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance – the union representing Australian journalists – said the 'shocking' footage was 'evidence of the lengths media workers go to report the truth'. 'Tomasi appears to be deliberately shot while she is speaking to the camera. Journalists reporting from the front line of protests and wars fulfil the essential role of bearing witness, and should be accorded the same protections as other frontline workers,' the statement read. 'We are grateful to learn both Lauren and her cameraperson are safe, but this situation highlights the need to centre worker safety. No one deserves to be shot or injured during the course of their work.'
