The royal family’s 2025 marked a step forward for the King and the Princess of Wales, with both sharing good news in the wake of their cancer diagnoses.
But it was also dominated by the scandal surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, with the King moving to draw a line under the controversy as he formally stripped his brother of his titles in a dramatic banishment.
– The King and Queen
The King brought Christmas cheer when he revealed in December he had been given the go-ahead to reduce his schedule of cancer treatment in the new year.
Charles, who has been facing weekly treatment for nearly two years, described the “good news” as a “personal blessing” and urged others to check which screening tests they might be eligible for via a new national tool screeningchecker.co.uk during his Stand Up To Cancer broadcast.
The monarch, who is known for being a workaholic, has forged ahead with a busy programme of royal duties over the past 12 months.
He travelled to Poland on Holocaust Memorial Day in January to attend moving events marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.
In March, he suffered a setback after spending time in hospital due to the side effects of his cancer treatment.
The King and Queen celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in April during a state visit to Italy, which included a visit to the Colosseum and a private meeting with the ailing Pope Francis after they postponed a state visit to the Vatican because of the pontiff’s health.
Charles also became the first British monarch to address the Italian parliament.
The same month, he poignantly reflected on his experience of cancer, saying it had brought into “sharp focus the very best of humanity”, describing how diagnosis is “daunting and at times frightening”.
The deeply personal, written message was released to coincide with a Palace reception he hosted to celebrate organisations helping people with the disease.
In May, Charles and Camilla spent two days carrying out engagements in Canada – their first trip to the country as its King and Queen, with Charles opening the current session of parliament.
National commemorations including a Palace flypast marked the 80th anniversary of VE Day and the King paid tribute to the sacrifice of the wartime generation at a celebratory concert on Horse Guards Parade.
In June, the monarch clocked up the 1,000th day of his reign since his accession to the throne.
One engagement took the King out to sea, when he dropped in on the crew of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales in the English Channel, ahead of the ship’s deployment to Japan.
In lighter moments, the King played a carrot with the London Vegetable Orchestra at a reception for community music groups and knighted former England footballer Sir David Beckham.
He also shared his personal playlist in a collaboration with Apple Music, choosing Beyonce’s Crazy In Love as one of his favourite hits.
In October, Charles became the first British monarch since the Reformation to pray alongside a Pope, when he joined the new pontiff, Leo XIV, at a public service in the Vatican for a rescheduled state visit.
Charles marked his 77th birthday by taking the controls of a tram-train as he officially opened a new rail depot in Taff’s Well near Cardiff in south Wales.
The Queen paid tribute to her friend the author Dame Jilly Cooper, who died after a fall, saying she hoped the author’s “hereafter” would be “filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs”.
Camilla later visited the set of Disney+ hit show Rivals, based on Dame Jilly’s “bonkbuster” books, and met stars Nafessa Williams, Victoria Smurfit, Alex Hassell and Bella Maclean.
After suffering acute sinusitis, Camilla missed the funeral of the Duchess of Kent, who died aged 92 in September.
She also served up jacket potatoes with TikTok star Spudman, paid tribute to the war dead at Westminster Abbey’s Field of Remembrance and met survivors of economic abuse as she continued her charity work surrounding domestic abuse.
Charles and Camilla also hosted three incoming state visits to the UK – the first time there had been this many in one year in nearly four decades.
Along with welcoming the French and German presidents, the visits included the high-profile trip by controversial US president Donald Trump.
The American leader was feted with a banquet, but kept within the grounds of Windsor, away from the public, for the royal elements of his stay.
Mr Trump praised the Princess of Wales for being “so radiant and so healthy and so beautiful”, called Charles a “great gentleman and a great King” and said the visit was “wonderful” and that he ate “whatever the hell they served us” at the sumptuous state dinner.
– The Prince of Wales
The Prince of Wales began the year by making a public declaration of his love for his wife on her 43rd birthday.
In a rare move, William issued a heartfelt written message on social media after a turbulent 2024 which saw Kate diagnosed with cancer, praising her as “most incredible wife and mother”, and saying “the strength you’ve shown over the last year has been remarkable”.
He said he and Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis were proud of her, adding “we love you”.
To the most incredible wife and mother. The strength you’ve shown over the last year has been remarkable. George, Charlotte, Louis and I are so proud of you. Happy Birthday, Catherine. We love you. W pic.twitter.com/VIW5v2aKlu
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) January 9, 2025
The heir to the throne carried out international duties on behalf of his father by attending Pope Francis’ funeral and delivering a landmark speech at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil.
He staged his Earthshot Awards in Rio, posed in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue and scored a penalty at the Maracana stadium.
William revealed his children are not allowed mobile phones and admitted it was a “a little bit of a tense issue” for 12-year-old George.
He marked the second anniversary of Homewards – his initiative to develop a blueprint for eradicating homelessness, with the programme now in “delivery mode”.
William was also pictured next to his disgraced uncle, the then-Duke of York, at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral in September, just weeks before Andrew was finally stripped of his royal titles.
The Wales family also moved home in the autumn, leaving Adelaide Cottage for a fresh start in the Grade II-listed eight-bedroom Forest Lodge in Windsor Great Park.
– The Princess of Wales
Kate announced she was in remission from cancer in January after a surprise visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London where she was treated.
She described it as a “relief” and said she remained “focused on recovery”, adding “there is much to look forward to”.
I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to The Royal Marsden for looking after me so well during the past year.
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) January 14, 2025
My heartfelt thanks goes to all those who have quietly walked alongside William and me as we have navigated everything.
We couldn’t have asked for more.… pic.twitter.com/f3sA7yZdOi
Kate hugged fellow patients and offered support and shared her own experiences of chemotherapy.
She made a surprise appearance at a Holocaust Memorial Day service in London and throughout the year gradually increased her public engagements.
She supported the King and Queen at the three incoming state visits, attending her first state banquet in nearly two years in honour of Emmanuel Macron in July, doing the same for President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany and Donald Trump.
The princess warned about the “epidemic of disconnection” created by smart phones and other gadgets, and urged society to “invest in the relationships you have with each other” in an essay in October.
She missed Royal Ascot as she sought the right balance following her cancer treatment, but attended the VE Day commemorations, Trooping the Colour and the annual Order of the Garter service, and made a solo visit to a V&A storage facility in London.
She also debuted a new “bronde” look, stepping out with a blonder balayage in September.
The Waleses carried out a visit to Southport to show their support after last year’s fatal knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
William and Kate met the parents of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, at two schools which the girls attended.
Kate also staged her annual carol concert in Westminster Abbey, where she was joined by William, her children, Hollywood actors Kate Winslet and Chiwetel Ejiofor and singer Katie Melua.
– Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
2025 was the year the King’s brother was finally banished from the royal family.
Andrew had been embroiled in controversy for years over his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and allegations, which he denies, that he sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was a teenager and had been trafficked by Epstein.
Ms Giuffre’s death by suicide in April, her posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl and the release of documents and emails relating to Epstein intensified the focus on the late Queen’s second son.
It emerged he emailed Epstein telling him “we are in this together” in 2011, three months after he claimed he had broken off all contact with the sex offender.
Andrew stepped away from his public role in 2019 and later paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre, whom Andrew claimed never to have met despite being pictured with his arm around her at now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s home in London.
In 2022, his mother Queen Elizabeth II ordered him to stop using his HRH style and removed his honorary military roles.
Andrew agreed to no longer use his Duke of York title in October, but the King went a step further a fortnight later and dramatically stripped him of both his right to be a prince and his dukedom, making Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor a commoner for the first time.
In what was dubbed the siege of Royal Lodge, there was growing pressure for Andrew to give up his 30-room mansion after it emerged he had been paying a “peppercorn” rent for decades.
He finally agreed to quit Royal Lodge for a new home on the King’s private Sandringham estate in Norfolk in the New Year, with Charles personally funding his new life with an annual stipend.
Just before Christmas, newly-surfaced emails from the Epstein files revealed one sent from Balmoral and signed “A” asking Maxwell “have you found me some new inappropriate friends?”.
Andrew has faced calls from a powerful US congressional committee to give evidence about Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019.
The loss of Andrew’s titles meant his ex-wife reverted back to her maiden name of Sarah Ferguson, with the former duchess also criticised for writing to Epstein after his conviction calling him a “supreme friend”, despite publicly disowning him in the media.
Meanwhile, there was some joyful family news for the former Yorks when their daughter Princess Beatrice gave birth to her second child, Athena, welcoming her several weeks prematurely in January 2025.
– The Duke of Sussex
Harry settled a High Court case after securing an “unequivocal apology” from News Group Newspapers in January for “serious intrusion”, including unlawful activities by private investigators, into his private life while younger and that of his late mother Diana.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, ruled out trying to deport Harry after it was alleged that drug use referenced in his memoir could have disqualified him from a US visa, with the American president remarking “I’ll leave him alone” and adding “He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible”.
In May, Harry gave an interview to the BBC in which he claimed the King would not speak to him because of his legal battle over his security and he did not know “how much longer my father has” as he described his hopes for a “reconciliation”.
The sit-down chat came after the duke lost a Court of Appeal challenge against the Home Office over his security arrangements while in the UK.
He was finally reunited with the monarch on a whirlwind working trip to the UK in September which included the WellChild Awards and Nottingham’s Community Recording Studio.
Harry and Charles had afternoon tea at Clarence House after 19 months apart, with the duke describing his father as “great”.
But there was no reunion with his brother William.
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan signed a new watered down first-look deal with Netflix.
Output in 2025 focused on Meghan’s critically panned lifestyle series With Love, Meghan.
And the duke cut ties with Sentebale, the charity he founded to help Aids orphans in Lesotho in memory of his mother.
He was left devastated after a bitter boardroom battle with chair Dr Sophie Chandauka, who made allegations of bullying, harassment and misogyny at the charity.
Harry attended the Invictus Games in Canada with Meghan and, on a solo trip, walked through an Angolan minefield with the Halo Trust, just like his mother Diana did 28 years ago.
He made a surprise visit to Ukraine with the Invictus Games Foundation, where he defended his controversial memoir Spare in an interview with The Guardian, saying “my conscience is clear”.
Ahead of Remembrance Sunday, he expressed his pride at fighting for his country, his love of the “things that make us British” including the “banter of the mess, the clubhouse, the pub, the stands”, and warned how easy it is for veterans to be forgotten “once the uniform comes off” in a passionate essay.
During lighter moments in 2025, he channelled presenter Alison Hammond as he lip-synced to a viral clip from The Great British Bake Off with US talk show host Stephen Colbert.
– The Duchess of Sussex
Meghan launched her lifestyle brand As Ever – renamed from American Riviera Orchard amid trademark difficulties – in 2025, selling jams, flower sprinkles and later on wine, after her show With Love, Meghan premiered on Netflix.
Two seasons of the series plus a Christmas special aired, but the show was widely savaged in reviews and branded “pointless” and an “exercise in narcissism”.
Harry made a cameo appearance in the holiday one-off in December when he jokingly insulted his wife’s cooking and came face to face with a beetroot salad made up of all the things he does not like.
Meghan also released her Confessions Of A Female Founder podcast and made an appearance on friend and entrepreneur Jamie Kern Lima’s podcast, in which they discussed the “power of ‘yet'”.
The former Suits star also revealed she sends emails almost every night to her children before she goes to bed at night for them to read when older.
In June, Meghan posted a video of herself twerking to the Starrkeisha song Baby Momma in a bid to bring on labour while pregnant with Princess Lilibet, to mark her daughter’s fourth birthday.
She flew to Europe for Paris Fashion Week to support Pierpaolo Piccioli’s debut show for Balenciaga, wearing a oversized white button-down shirt, wide-legged trousers and a matching shawl by the Italian designer.
The Sussexes also called for stronger protection for children online after unveiling a memorial in New York City to young people who lost their lives due to the harmful effects of social media.
And Meghan sent a letter to her estranged father Thomas Markle after he was treated in intensive care in the Philippines after having his leg amputated.
At the end of the year, the Sussexes rebranded their Archewell Foundation charity as Archewell Philanthropies and Meghan shared a rare photo of her family on Instagram.
The post, captioned “Happy Holidays! From our family to yours”, showed the Sussexes on a small bridge surrounded by greenery, with Meghan holding hands and bending down to touch heads with Lili, while Prince Archie wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist.
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