Prince William pulls out of godfather King Constantine’s memorial service due to ‘personal matter’

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Prince William has pulled out of a memorial for his godfather at Windsor Castle, hours earlier than he was due to give a studying.

Palace officers mentioned solely that his absence on the service, for the late King Constantine of Greece, was due to a “personal matter” and that the Princess of Wales, who’s recovering from belly surgical procedure, “continues to be doing well”.

Hours after the occasion, it was introduced that Thomas Kingston, the husband of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent’s daughter Lady Gabriella Kingston, had died instantly on Sunday on the age of 45. The financier was discovered useless at an deal with in Gloucestershire; an inquest might be held to set up the trigger of his dying, however there aren’t any suspicious circumstances.

William’s absence left Queen Camilla essentially the most senior royal attending the St George’s Chapel occasion, as King Charles is continuous to obtain remedy for most cancers.

But additionally current have been the disgraced Duke of York, who, with ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, led the primary contingent of British royals as they walked downhill from Windsor Castle to the church.

Andrew smiled as he strode forward of Sarah, adopted by their daughter Princess Beatrice along with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Zara and Mike Tindall, and the King’s cousin Lady Sarah Chatto.

Constantine II’s widow Queen Anne-Marie was joined by their kids, Crown Prince Pavlos, Princess Alexia, Prince Nikolaos, Princess Theodora and Prince Philippos, in addition to a quantity of their grandchildren.

Former prime minister Sir John Major was additionally invited by the Greek royal family to attend the service, as was ex-Formula One racing driver Sir Jackie Stewart and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain.

Constantine was a primary cousin as soon as eliminated and a crusing companion of the late Duke of Edinburgh, and died on the age of 82 in January final yr, many years after being toppled from the throne in a army coup.

William had been anticipated to attend the ceremony alone, as Kate is taking a break from official engagements till after Easter following her surgical procedure in January.

King Charles has additionally postponed virtually all public engagements whereas he continues to obtain remedy for an undisclosed kind of most cancers.

William lately returned to royal duties after taking day without work to take care of Kate, who underwent belly surgical procedure on the London Clinic for an unknown situation. She remained within the personal hospital for 13 days whereas recovering earlier than she returned to the household’s Windsor house.

While she reportedly deliberate to proceed enterprise some make money working from home, she isn’t anticipated to return to public engagements till after Easter and has not been seen in public since Christmas Day.

Prince William has attended a number of engagements in current weeks, together with an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle, an air ambulance charity occasion, and the Baftas, the place he walked the pink carpet alone.

There are at present no official engagements scheduled for the inheritor to the throne within the royal diary.

On Friday, Charles was pictured smiling whereas wanting by way of some of the 7,000 messages and playing cards he had obtained since his prognosis.

It got here days after he carried out his first face-to-face official duties – an viewers with prime minister Rishi Sunak and a privy council assembly on Wednesday – since his situation was introduced.

The kind of most cancers he has has not been revealed; neither is it recognized what number of rounds of remedy are deliberate, however to this point he has had at the very least two.