Connect with us

Published

on

The King and Queen are commemorating the life and service of Queen Elizabeth II with private prayers and a moment of reflection at a Scottish church.

The royal couple made the short journey by car from the nearby Balmoral Estate to Crathie Kirk where monarchs have worshipped since Queen Victoria.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

King thanks people for ‘love and support’

A small group of Balmoral estate workers, members of the public and pupils from Crathie Primary School had gathered close to the church.

The Rev Kenneth Mackenzie, minister of Crathie Kirk, who officiated at the event, said: “I think that those of us that did get to see the Queen in different situations, but particularly up here, felt it today, were reminded of the loss,” he said.

“And wherever they might be, in their own homes or wherever, I’m glad that people will have the opportunity to reflect and give some thanks for the life of the Queen.”

The King outside Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral, Scotland
People walk outside Crathie Kirk near Balmoral, Scotland

Crowds also gathered outside Buckingham Palace in central London and Windsor Castle and left written messages and flowers.

The event will be a deeply personal moment for the King, who became sovereign when his mother died peacefully on September 8 last year at Balmoral, aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.

The King has been staying at his Birkhall residence and Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire during the summer.

Sky News royal correspondent Laura Bundock said: “This has felt like a day where the whole family has been reflecting on what has been a huge, monumental year of change – for them as a family, and the wider country.”

She added: “It was always going to be an emotional day, particularly for the King, and I’ve really reflected on the sense of symmetry we have – that the late Queen would always go to Sandringham to mark the anniversary of her father George VI’s death, that was where he died, and now we see the same moment mirrored by the King, as he chose to come to Balmoral Castle.”

Queen Elizabeth II photographed by Cecil Beaton in October 1968. Pic: Royal Collection Trust/His Majesty King Charles III 2023
Image:
Queen Elizabeth II photographed by Cecil Beaton in October 1968. Pic: Royal Collection Trust/His Majesty King Charles III 2023

Prince Harry, who flew to London for a WellChild award ceremony on Thursday ahead of the start of the Invictus Games in Germany, also paid tribute to his grandmother.

He said: “I know exactly one year on that she is looking down on all of us tonight, happy we’re together, continuing to spotlight such an incredible community.”

Harry was spotted at St George’s Chapel in Windsor – the final resting place of the late Queen, this morning.

Bundock said some members of the Royal Family have been there to pay their respects in private.

Prince Harry. Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

The Prince and Princess of Wales, who visited the Welsh cathedral of St Davids for a short private service on Friday, also paid tribute, saying: “We all miss you.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

The Prince and Princess of Wales marked the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death with a small service in St Davids.

The message written by William and Kate on X, formerly known as Twitter, read: “Today we remember the extraordinary life and legacy of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth. We all miss you. W & C.”

A picture of the late Queen outside Windsor Castle
Image:
A picture of the late Queen outside Windsor Castle

Anne Daley and Bartley Graham commemorate the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's death, at Windsor Castle

Princess Eugenie wrote on Instagram: “Thinking of you today. Missing you so much but remembering what a life of service, love and dedication to everyone and to your family, who loved you so very much. Forever grateful to you. And always in my heart.”

It was followed by two red heart emojis and an image of a smiling Eugenie sat next to her grandmother on what appears to be a bench outside a cabin on the Balmoral estate.

The King has also recorded a message and released a favourite photograph of his mother on the first anniversary of her death.

He recalled his mother with “great affection” and remembered her “devoted service” and “all she meant” to the country, and released a portrait of her taken by Cecil Beaton in 1968 when she was 42.

In it, she is standing side on to the camera, wearing her Garter robes and the Grand Duchess Vladimir’s Tiara, made of 15 interlaced diamond circles.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

In a short statement written and recorded at Balmoral Castle, where Queen Elizabeth II died, her son said: “In marking the first anniversary of Her Late Majesty’s death and my accession, we recall with great affection her long life, devoted service and all she meant to so many of us.

“I am deeply grateful, too, for the love and support that has been shown to my wife and myself during this year as we do our utmost to be of service to you all.”

Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson marked the anniversary by posting an update about the late Queen’s corgis on X.

She wrote: “As we mourn a year on, we also celebrate the wonderful times we shared with Her Late Majesty the Queen.

“She entrusted me with the care of her corgis Sandy and Muick and I am delighted to say they are thriving.”

To mark Accession Day, bells rung at Westminster Abbey, while soldiers and horses who took part in the state funeral procession and proclamation salutes signifying the new reign performed anniversary gun salutes in the King’s honour.

Captain Amy Cooper – lead rider in the procession which carried the Queen’s coffin to lie in state in Westminster Hall – gave the order to fire a 41-gun salute at midday in London’s Hyde Park.

A 62-gun salute was also planned at the Tower of London by The Honourable Artillery Company.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Gun salutes ring across UK

Rishi Sunak also paid tribute, noting her “sharp wit”.

With the “perspective of a year”, the prime minister said the “scale of Her Late Majesty’s service only seems greater”.

Remembering his meetings with her, he added: “I was struck by her wisdom, by her incredible warmth and grace, but also her sharp wit.”

Mr Sunak said while the country should be proud of the late Queen’s “remarkable legacy of service”, a “remarkable bond” between the country and the monarchy “continues to grow today under the reign of His Majesty The King”.

A woman lays flowers outside the Buckingham Palace on the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's death
Image:
Flowers have also been left outside Buckingham Palace

A woman lays flowers outside Buckingham Palace on the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's death

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Queen Elizabeth II “always enjoyed a special bond with her people”.

He added: “It was a relationship built from her understanding that service of this great nation is the thread that unites sovereign and subject.”

Continue Reading

UK

Rats, flies and maggots: The Wigan homeowners plagued by 25,000 tonnes of illegal waste

Published

on

By

Rats, flies and maggots: The Wigan homeowners plagued by 25,000 tonnes of illegal waste

“That smell of maggots, rotting food and maggots, my house smells like that.”

For Louise, not her real name, home has become a hell she cannot escape.

“We just couldn’t move for flies, and then we noticed an increase in rats,” she says.

Louise lives near Bolton House Road in Wigan. At the end of a row of terraced houses sits a former scrapyard, which has been transformed into an industrial-scale illegal dump site.

The wagons started coming last winter, “20, maybe 30 times a day,” Louise remembers.

“Eighteen-tonne wagons. Full of all sorts; nappies, black bin rubbish, chemicals, plastic.”

Within a few weeks, she and her neighbours realised the waste was just being dumped, not sorted or managed. It piled up, higher and higher.

They contacted the council, the Environment Agency and the police – but Louise claims no one did anything to stop the lorries.

Her retired neighbour, Tom, says it felt like the authorities “didn’t want to know”.

Though he does remember someone from the council asking him if he could go and “have a look for them” and “report back” information about what sort of waste was being dumped.

Louise and Tom are both so worried about who could be behind this that they are only comfortable speaking anonymously.

The fire which lasted nine days

By July’s heatwave, the site had long been full. The wagons had stopped months earlier, so 25,000 tonnes of waste, several storeys high, sat festering in the sun.

Lorries and vehicles in the former scrapyard lay buried, unseen, beneath the shredded and rotting filth – and then the fire started.

For nine days, dozens of firefighters from across Greater Manchester fought to bring the fire under control.

Pic: Wigan Council
Image:
Pic: Wigan Council

Pic: Wigan Today
Image:
Pic: Wigan Today

The nearby primary school had to shut due to the acrid smoke.

The sheer amount of water needed by fire engines to tackle the blaze left residents without any – while many were forced to keep their windows and doors shut in the 30C-plus heat.

Some were left with chest infections, others were hospitalised.

“I think it’s awful to let people live with that toxic rubbish right next to our house after us all asking for help and nothing’s materialised,” Louise says.

The crime costing the economy billions

Sky News has been investigating how, across the country, waste crime is a growing scourge and a booming business being exploited by criminal gangs.

Being paid to remove rubbish only to dump it illegally without sorting it or paying tax is an easy way of making huge amounts of money, with poorly enforced legal repercussions and a huge cost to the environment.

It’s something the previous head of the Environment Agency called “the new narcotics”.

– It’s thought a fifth of all waste in England is being illegally managed

– That’s around 34 million tonnes a year, enough to fill about four million skips

– It costs the economy around a billion pounds a year, with legitimate operators thought to be losing a further £3bn from missed business

In July, we tracked down a group of suspected organised fly-tippers who waved wads of cash on TikTok after dumping waste in the countryside.

‘Absolutely soul-destroying’

The residents of Bolton House Road are not the only victims of this toxic dump.

Last winter, Neil Hardwick rented out three diggers to an individual, unaware of the growing illegal dump site in Wigan.

By March of this year, he had not received several rental payments and had received a call from the Environment Agency warning him about what was happening at the site.

Neil and Carla Hardwick
Image:
Neil and Carla Hardwick

With his daughter Carla, he went to Bolton House Road in an attempt to retrieve the machinery, worth approximately £300,000 in total.

At the site, Carla says a group of men slapped her, as well as spat at her. The men allegedly told her father: “We want you to give us £100,000, and we’ll allow you to take your diggers back, or we can cut your throat.”

Carla and Neil say an officer from Greater Manchester Police dismissed their report, and claimed their machinery was not stolen.

That officer also threatened to arrest the pair if they did not leave the area, they say.

“I just wanted us to get those machines back. But the fact that a man can spit in a woman’s face and get away with it, and the police are not interested, well, it is maddening,” Carla said.

The Hardwicks returned to the site 10 days later with officers from the National Crime Agency but found their machines smashed up and destroyed.

Mr Hardwick said the ordeal was “absolutely soul-destroying”.

“It’s caused us so much grief, damage to business, just absolutely brought us to our knees,” he said.

A vehicle used to transport waste to the illegal dump
Image:
A vehicle used to transport waste to the illegal dump

Greater Manchester Police told Sky News there is an ongoing complaint relating to the incident involving Neil and Carla Hardwick at Bolton House Road, and “this process will take time”.

“As part of this complaint, our Professional Standards Directorate are assessing all elements of the investigation including all crimes and reviewing bodyworn footage,” a spokesperson said.

The £4.5m bill

Finding out how the illegal dump in Wigan happened, and who’s responsible, is hugely challenging.

The landowner has not responded to Sky, nor have the companies which allegedly own the lorries seen by residents transporting the waste.

They appear to be either refuse or haulage companies that boast of their environmentally friendly credentials.

The firms seen moving waste to the illegal dump did not reply to Sky News
Image:
The firms seen moving waste to the illegal dump did not reply to Sky News

One company’s website claims it diverts most of its waste away from landfill, and advertises its “innovative approach” to waste management.

“We’re passionate about the environment,” the website says.

Josh Simons, the local Labour MP, has been outraged by the case.

Speaking before his promotion to the Cabinet Office, he said it is “buck-passing” between Wigan Council, the police, and the Environment Agency.

Mr Simons says he was told at the start of the year that there was a criminal investigation, “and therefore no action can be taken to prevent people from dumping more on the site or intervening”.

“That just doesn’t seem right to me,” he says.

He also says information and financial support from the Environment Agency to Wigan Council has been poor.

“The number [the council] have come up with is about £4.5m to clear the waste.

“Anybody who knows local authority budgets at the moment knows they don’t have nearly five million pounds stashed behind the sofa. So what’s supposed to happen?”

The land itself is not worth £4.5m – and Mr Simons thinks this makes working-class areas uniquely vulnerable to this kind of crime.

The funding and powers of the Environment Agency need to change, says Josh Simons MP
Image:
The funding and powers of the Environment Agency need to change, says Josh Simons MP

Paul Barton, director for environment at Wigan Council, said: “Our top priority is to ensure those residents feel heard and safe while the Environment Agency carries out their investigation with our full cooperation.

“We want the site to be cleared as a matter of urgency and are continuing to work with the Environment Agency to survey and sample the waste so polluters/landowners – who are the responsible parties – can progress this as soon as possible.”

Paul Clements, director of operations at the Environment Agency, said: “We are prioritising local people, businesses and the nearby school as we work… to deal with this illegal waste site as quickly as possible.

“Our staff continue to visit the site and at the forefront of our minds is the impact the illegal waste is having on the local community.

“We are continuing to progress our criminal investigation as a priority. This includes actively pursuing many lines of enquiry, interviewing under caution and using the enforcement tools available to us.”

Additional reporting by Adam Parker, OSINT editor, and Niamh Lynch, planning producer

Continue Reading

UK

Urgent action needed to stop fly-tipping by gangs, peers say

Published

on

By

Urgent action needed to stop fly-tipping by gangs, peers say

The Environment Agency (EA), police and other agencies are failing to stop fly-tipping by organised crime groups, a cross-party group of peers has found.

In a damning letter to the government, members of the House of Lords’ Environment and Climate Change Committee called for an independent review of waste crime, with the current approach “inadequate”.

Their report described the EA as “slow to respond to even the most flagrant and serious illegality” – and said its taskforce on waste crime appears “ineffective”.

Police are accused of showing a “lack of interest” in the crime, while penalties for criminals do not match their profits and are “insufficient to deter future offending”.

Read more:
Dirty work: The fly-tippers turning trash into cash

‘The new narcotics’

Sky News has been investigating the boom in waste crime – a trade so lucrative it has been named the “new narcotics”.

Our most recent investigation found that for months the Environment Agency failed to prevent 20 lorries a day dumping industrial levels of waste at the end of a residential street in Wigan.

Over the summer, the 25,000 tonnes of rubbish burnt for nine days – making life hell for residents.

In July, we tracked down a group of suspected organised fly-tippers who waved wads of cash on TikTok after appearing to dump waste in the countryside and in farmers’ fields.

The Lords’ committee has called for the EA’s Joint Unit for Waste Crime to do more to encourage collaboration between various authorities, and for the Department for Environment, Rural and Food Affairs to develop and publish targets for tackling this issue.

Peers have also demanded an end to what they call the “merry-go-round of reporting” where members of the public who report fly-tipping and waste crime in their area get bounced between various agencies.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Criminals benefitting from trash

This is something Sky News has often heard from victims – they will call the police, only to be told to speak to the council, which then pushes them over to the EA.

Peers want a “single telephone number and web portal” which would triage responsibility for each case.

Read more from Sky News:
Could the UK run out of drinking water?
Mystery of what killed billions of starfish solved

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

The boom in waste crime

An EA spokesperson said: “We recognise the recommendations of the report and are committed to doing more.

“Last year alone, our dedicated teams shut down 462 illegal waste sites and prevented nearly 34,000 tonnes of waste being illegally exported – showing that we can make real change despite the challenges involved.”

Continue Reading

UK

King heckled over Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein during visit

Published

on

By

King heckled over Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein during visit

The King has been heckled over his brother Prince Andrew’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a visit to a cathedral.

Charles was shouted at by a man in the crowd outside Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire on Monday, who asked: “How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?”

The protester, who was filming on a mobile phone, also said: “Have you asked the police to cover up for Andrew? Should MPs be allowed to debate the royals in the House of Commons?”

King Charles during his visit to Lichfield Cathedral. Pic: AP
Image:
King Charles during his visit to Lichfield Cathedral. Pic: AP

The King did not respond to the comments, which came as the monarchy faces increasing pressure to resolve the controversy surrounding Andrew, who earlier this month said he would stop using his Duke of York title and his knighthood after revelations in the posthumous memoir of sex assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.

The prince has always strenuously denied all allegations against him from the late Ms Giuffre.

Reports also emerged that claimed Andrew asked a royal close protection officer to “dig up dirt” on Ms Giuffre. The Metropolitan Police said it is “actively looking into the claims”.

At the moment, Andrew resides at Royal Lodge, a Windsor mansion where he effectively lives rent-free. He’s done so since 2003.

Obstacles to a settlement are reportedly where the prince, who remains eighth in line to the throne, will live and what financial recompense he will receive for the funds he spent renovating the home.

The Sun reported he is keen on Harry and Meghan’s former home Frogmore Cottage.

Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein. Pics: PA/Sipa/Shutterstock
Image:
Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein. Pics: PA/Sipa/Shutterstock

‘The royals need to be challenged’

Calls are still growing for Andrew’s dukedom to be revoked, which can only be done by an act of parliament.

Downing Street has indicated it its reluctance to do so, suggesting the King would not want the issue to take up politicians’ time.

Graham Smith, chief executive of anti-monarchy group Republic, said: “The royals need to be challenged, and if the politicians won’t do the job and the police won’t investigate, then more and more members of the public will be asking tough questions.”

He said he believed Monday’s heckler was “one of our own members but doing their own thing”.

After the visit to the cathedral, the King laid flowers at the UK’s first national memorial commemorating LGBT armed forces.

He was joined by dozens of serving and former members of the armed forces, as he met veterans who told of the trauma inflicted by the military’s former “gay ban”.

The memorial, titled An Opened Letter, was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum.

Continue Reading

Trending