Royal news – live: Kate Middleton continues recovery as Meghan Markle speaks out about ‘toxic’ social media

The Palace has broken its silence over unfounded conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton’s health being shared on social media.

The Princess of Wales, 42, was seen for the first time in public two days ago after she was admitted to hospital for abdominal surgery in January for an unspecified condition. Gossip website TMZ snapped the princess in an Audi 4×4 near Windsor, alongside her mother Carole Middleton.

The exact details of the princess’s condition have not been revealed but the Palace said previously it was not cancer-related, and that Kate wished her personal medical information to remain private.

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Speaking to Sharon Osbourne on the reality show on Tuesday, the 58-year-old said of Harry: “I think it’s really sad. At some point, I think he’s going to come back and be part of the gang – he might need to. I think we’re a very forgiving nation, I think everyone would give him a chance.”

The Duchess of Sussex has encouraged people to use their voice “to advocate for what is right” during a discussion on the importance of representation in media and entertainment.

Meghan led a keynote speech on Friday titled Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On And Off The Screen which marked International Women’s Day, alongside speakers including US actress Brooke Shields.

“Your voice is not small, it just needs to be heard,” former Suits actress Meghan said, during the annual SXSW Conference.

Meghan said that when she was 11 years old she wrote to Procter & Gamble and got an advert changed from saying dish washing liquid was for women, but for people all over America.

The 42-year-old said: “It’s funny to look back at it now as it was before social media where you had a reach that was so much greater, it was just an 11-year-old with a pen and paper but goes to show if you know there is something wrong and you’re using your voice to advocate for what is right, that really land and resonate with people.”

The uncle of the Princess of Wales said he had the “best of times” on Celebrity Big Brother, after his eviction.

Gary Goldsmith, wearing a denim shirt, said in his first exit interview: “This is the first television programme that I have ever done, my comfort zone is back in Slough, it took me a while to acclimatise.”

He said he was “self-doubting” when he joined the ITV show, and he should have been “more authentic”. “I could have been way more gregarious,” he said.

Speaking about his many references to the royal family, he said: “People were asking me a lot of questions specifically about that because they didn’t know what to ask me. And I did volunteer it a lot.”

“First time on TV and I cried like a baby, twice,” he said about his experience.

The Duke of Edinburgh has said the monarchy is “as important as ever” in “trying to bring people together”.

Edward was all smiles on Wednesday when he visited a London youth centre as the patron of London Youth.

He told the Daily Mail: “Our role – being part of the monarchy – in trying to bring people together is as important as ever, if not more so today.”

He also said that he has recently visited charities that assist refugees and new immigrants to demonstrate what the modern monarchy can do.

“I’m always intrigued that when you scratch the surface of any Brit, you find there’s usually much more to them than just, you know, ‘Made in Britain’,” the duke said.

“I think we all wonder how we can reach out to those communities who perhaps don’t always think that this, the monarchy, is something for them.”

He also said that people at family support charities were “somewhat surprised” by his visit to lend support to new Britons.

London Youth chief executive Pauline Daniyan said the duke is “incredibly supportive in terms of the work we do, generous with his time and makes things happen”.

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, made an appearance on the panel in honour of International Women’s Day on Friday 8 March, alongside some famous faces, including Katie Couric and Brooke Shields. During the panel, which took place in Texas, Meghan spoke candidly about the challenges of motherhood, as she shares four-year-old son, Archie, and two-year-old daughter, Lilibet, with Harry.

While she noted that motherhood is “not perfect,” she went on to praise her husband, who was sitting in the audience at the event, for being such an amazing support system and father.

Meghan Markle has decried the “toxicity” of social media during a keynote panel at the South by South West (SXSW) festival in Texas on International Women’s Day.

Deadline reports that Markle used her time to highlight the detrimental effect social media can have on women.

The Duke of Edinburgh has stressed the importance of improving diversity and inclusion in sport, saying “there are still elements of the sporting community who still are negative about a lot of what’s going on”.

Speaking at the Community Sport and Recreation Awards in Leeds, West Yorkshire, Edward said: “We must do better to make everybody feel part of sport.”

The duke made a speech at the event organised by the Sport and Recreation Alliance at Headingley Stadium, which celebrated clubs’, organisations’ and individuals’ contributions to grassroots sport.

The Duchess of Sussex said we have lost our sense of humanity on social media, as she recalled the “cruel” comments aimed at her while she was pregnant with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Meghan led a keynote speech on International Women’s Day titled Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On And Off The Screen, alongside speakers including US actress Brooke Shields.

During the annual SXSW Conference, Meghan, 42, said that even though social media sites are “making dollars, it doesn’t make sense”, emphasising the “negative effect” on mental health and physical safety.

The Duke of Sussex has been double-nominated at the British Book Awards for his controversial memoir Spare, as those up for gongs were celebrated for “starting conversations and pushing boundaries”.

The 39-year-old royal’s headline-grabbing book – in which he accused his brother, the Prince of Wales, of pushing him into a dog bowl in a row over the Duchess of Sussex – has been shortlisted for two book of the year prizes.

Harry used the tell-all book to make various claims about his family including that William called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”, that the King was jealous of the Prince and Princess of Wales and Charles refused to allow the Duchess of Sussex to join the Duke in Scotland as the late Queen was dying.

Charlotte McLaughlin reports: