Meghan is coming back to Australian television, and this time the contestants will be children. Before anyone starts making room for the Sussexes at the school gate, though, this is a television booking, with no Australian relocation announced.
Over in Norfolk, Catherine has been inspecting someone else’s op-shop purchases, which is precisely the sort of royal encounter I would enjoy. Charles, meanwhile, begins a Caribbean tour where the questions awaiting him are considerably harder than what he thinks of a second-hand tea set.
Put the kettle on. There’s rather a lot to get through.
The Duchess of Sussex will join Poh Ling Yeow as a special guest when Junior MasterChef Australia returns to Network 10 in 2027. The announcement follows Meghan’s appearance on the adult competition, filmed during her Australian visit in April.
Some early reports described Meghan as a co-host, but the production announcement calls her a special guest. That leaves the precise extent of her involvement less clear than some of the headlines suggest.
Meghan said returning was “an easy yes” after enjoying her earlier experience with the team. She also pointed to cooking with her own children as a reason she was looking forward to meeting the young contestants. Poh welcomed the reunion.
As television bookings go, I can see the logic. Meghan has been building her public identity around food and entertaining, including her Netflix series With Love, Meghan. A familiar Australian format gives her an opportunity to work within a programme viewers already know, rather than having to persuade them to buy into an entirely new one.
It also gives the broadcaster a name guaranteed to attract attention beyond the usual television pages. Whether that attention translates into people staying for the cooking is the more interesting question.
There is some relevant experience beyond her own series: Meghan appeared as a guest judge on the American programme Chopped Junior in 2016. This will not be her first encounter with children who can probably cook circles around most adults watching at home.
Reports have suggested Harry, Archie and Lilibet could accompany her during filming, but that remains unconfirmed.
Catherine’s visit to Café 98 in Hoveton, Norfolk, produced a lovely little exchange when a customer offered to show her some purchases.
“Oh, yes please!” she replied, going over to inspect a box of cups the woman had bought as a gift.
Catherine said she loved browsing op shops while studying at St Andrews, telling shoppers: “You never know what you’re going to find.”
The café sits inside a shop supporting East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, known as EACH, of which Catherine is royal patron. Her surprise stop last week included time with the volunteers sorting donations upstairs, as well as those working in the shop.
Earlier, Catherine had returned to The Treehouse hospice in Ipswich, which she officially opened in 2012. She met families receiving support and saw its expansion project, which includes a hydrotherapy pool and additional care space. EACH says it still needs to raise £1.4 million to complete the development by spring 2028.
A royal visit cannot finish a fundraising appeal on its own. It can, however, put the organisation’s name in front of people who might otherwise never hear about it. In this case, an enjoyable exchange over someone’s shopping also offers a reason to explain what the shop pays for.
The King’s tour runs from October 27 to November 4, taking him to the Bahamas and Guyana before Antigua and Barbuda, where Queen Camilla joins him for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The official programme includes conservation engagements and meetings with community representatives. Those are familiar subjects for Charles, particularly his longstanding environmental interests.
The demands surrounding the visit are more difficult territory. Caribbean campaigners are seeking a formal apology for Britain’s role in slavery, alongside reparations, while questioning the monarchy’s continuing place in their countries. Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali has said an apology should be the next step after Charles’s acknowledgement of slavery’s horrors.
It is worth separating two issues that are often bundled together. Membership of the Commonwealth does not require a country to retain the King as head of state. Guyana is already a republic; the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda remain constitutional monarchies.
That means a country can value its Commonwealth relationships while deciding it wants a different constitutional future.
For Charles, the visit also carries a personal historical connection. He attended the Bahamas’ independence ceremony in 1973 as Prince of Wales. More than half a century later, he returns as its King, facing questions about whether that arrangement should continue.
I do not think those questions can fairly be dismissed as people spoiling a royal occasion. They concern the history of the countries he is visiting and the institution he represents.
Nor will one speech settle them. The revealing part of this tour will be how directly Charles addresses what his hosts are asking, and whether they feel his response goes far enough.
Prince William has offered a fairly unambiguous assessment of Kevin Sinfield’s knighthood.
“I think, frankly, he should have been Sir Kevin years ago,” he told BBC Breakfast.
The ceremony itself took place at Windsor Castle on October 7. Sinfield was recognised for services to rugby league and rugby union, as well as the motor neurone disease community.
His fundraising was inspired by his friend and former Leeds Rhinos teammate Rob Burrow, who was diagnosed with MND in 2019 and died in 2024. Sinfield has raised millions through extraordinary endurance challenges, including seven ultramarathons in seven days.
William’s admiration came with concern about what all that running might be doing to Sinfield’s joints. He also praised his lack of ego, which feels particularly relevant when discussing someone whose fundraising has repeatedly required such punishing physical effort.
William also spoke about writing to Burrow’s family after his death, saying: “It’s always better to say something around grief than it is to ignore it.”
His support has extended beyond the investiture ceremony. William and Catherine visited Sinfield during his latest running challenge, and Sinfield has credited them with helping bring attention to the MND campaign.
A knighthood recognises Sinfield’s contribution publicly. Continuing to acknowledge the family whose loss sits behind that work matters too.
Finally, something for those of us who examine the jewellery in royal photographs before reading the caption.
Royal Jewellery: From Coronations to Keepsakes will open at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, on June 25, 2027, bringing together more than 300 pieces spanning five centuries. Around two-thirds will be exhibited for the first time.
The Diamond Diadem associated with Queen Elizabeth II’s image on stamps and coins will feature, as will Queen Victoria’s Small Diamond Crown. The Crown Jewels themselves are staying at the Tower of London.
Among the exhibitions highlights is a bracelet set with pebbles collected during Victoria and Albert’s first journey alone together. There is also a thistle brooch containing their eldest daughter’s first milk tooth, removed by Albert himself.
The exhibition runs until March 19, 2028, with general ticket sales opening on November 3. If London is on your travel calendar next year, I’d be putting this on my list! I have hopes I will be there – just have to convince my husband!
Until next week, keep the tea piping hot and the tiaras polished.
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