Donald Trump threw another fit on his social media website on Sunday, this time challenging a host of rivals to a “mental acuity test.”
Trump, who is refusing to debate any of his Republican presidential rivals but instead offered to debate Meghan Markle, is demanding that US President Joe Biden, right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch and others take a test of his choosing, at a place of his choosing.
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“It will be a tough one,” the former president wrote on Truth Social. “Nobody will come even close to me!”
Trump was triggered by a Wall Street Journal poll in which 49% said he was not mentally up for the job of president. (That number was 60% for Biden.)
“A few years ago I was the only one to agree to a mental acuity test, & ACED IT,” Trump wrote in response to the poll, which he claimed was “probably rigged.”
Trump hasn’t taken a “mental acuity test,” or at least hasn’t publicly revealed the results of such a test if he did. However, in 2020 he took the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, which is used to check for signs of cognitive impairments that could be an indication of dementia.
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Trump has often bragged of passing the assessment, and insisted that it was hard.
But it’s not supposed to be.
“It is supposed to be easy for someone who has no cognitive impairment,” Dr Ziad Nasreddine, who invented the test, told MarketWatch in 2020.
It asks the subject to complete tasks like identifying an elephant, or remembering and then repeating five words ― which, in Trump’s case, were infamously “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.”
Now, however, he seems to think passing the MoCA means he can challenge Biden, Murdoch, Murdoch’s sons, and the heads of the Wall Street Journal to the test of his choosing.
Neither Biden nor Murdoch have responded to Trump’s “challenge,” but the former president’s critics had plenty to say:
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What a narcissistic idiot. Trump boasts about his “mental acuity test”, which was being able to remember the words “person, woman, man, camera,TV”. pic.twitter.com/t7dsxPcr8s
This senile old dotard is still bragging about acing a mental acuity test. As someone who was tested years ago due to depression, I can tell you this test is so simple, that’s it’s very telling that one would be boastful about passing it. pic.twitter.com/t1UbwbWyUJ
Person: Donald Trump Woman: Fani Willis Man: Witness #1 Camera: In the Fulton County Courtroom TV: Broadcasting the trial worldwide https://t.co/3F4XcUUEbb
PLEASE, let’s not forget that the test didn’t actually examine his mental acuity. The test was given to monitor cognitive decline over time. In the Fox interview where he discussed it, Trump confessed the memory questions were the most difficult for him. https://t.co/gavlADJC9k
Suits creator Aaron Korsh has claimed he was “irritated” by the Royal Family’s supposed interventions when it came to Meghan Markle’s character after she began dating Prince Harry.
The Duchess of Sussex was still playing Rachel Zane in the US drama when she met her future husband, and her character was eventually written out of the show in the lead-up to their wedding.
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Prior to that, however, Aaron has alleged that the Royal Family “weighed in on some stuff” to do with Meghan’s character, which left him rather displeased.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: “I will say, and I think Harry put this in the book, because I heard people talking about it — [the royal family] weighed in on some stuff.
“Not many things, by the way, but a few things that we wanted to do and couldn’t do, and it was a little irritating.”
Aaron went on to say that one particular grievance was related to the term “poppycock”, which he’d planned to have Meghan’s character say as a nod to his in-laws, who use the term regularly.
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Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane during the sixth season of Suits
USA Network via Getty Images
“The Royal Family did not want her saying the word,” the producer and writer claimed. “They didn’t want to put the word ‘poppycock’ in her mouth. I presume because they didn’t want people cutting things together of her saying ‘cock’.”
Interestingly, Aaron said the term was then changed to “bullshit” in the script, adding: “There was maybe one or two more things, but I can’t remember.”
Asked how the Royal Family got their hands on the script in the first place, Aaron said: “I don’t know how they got ’em. I was aware that they were reading them because I got the feedback, but I don’t remember the process by which they got them.”
Aaron Korsh
Alberto E. Rodriguez via Getty Images
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Buckingham Palace had no comment when contacted by HuffPost UK. We have also contacted representatives for the Duchess of Sussex.
Prince Harry previously wrote about Meghan leaving Suits – and the alleged royal interference that preceded it – in his book Spare, which was released at the beginning of this year.
“Meg packed up her house, gave up her role in Suits. After seven seasons,” he wrote.
“A difficult moment for her, because she loved that show, loved the character she was playing, loved her cast and crew – loved Canada.
“On the other hand life there had become untenable. Especially on set. The show writers were frustrated because they were often advised by the Palace comms team to change lines of dialogue, what her character would do, how she would act.”
Even a personal plea from Meghan Markle couldn’t convince Taylor Swift to appear on the duchess’ now-defunct podcast, Archetypes.
New reports are offering more insight into Markle and husband Prince Harry’s ill-fated partnership with Spotify, which came to an abrupt end earlier this month.
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Despite their own fame, the Sussexes were said to have trouble finding big guests to book on their flagship show.
A personal note from Markle wasn’t even enough to merit a real response from Swift. According to insiders at the Wall Street Journal, the pop star turned down the invitation via a representative.
Taylor Swift performs during the opener of her Eras Tour in Glendale, Arizona, on March 17.
via Associated Press
Beyond getting snubbed, sources say the royals struggled to find guests and “material consistent with their brand”.
Though there were discussions about a second season, plans did not move forward on a follow-up.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex speaks at the One Young World 2022 Manchester Summit in Manchester, England, on Sept. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
via Associated Press
Spotify and the Sussexes announced they were ending their partnership in a joint statement on June 16, where each said they “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together”.
Harry and Meghan’s camp called the move more of a pivot than a problem, with a representative for the couple’s production company Archewell telling WSJ: “New companies often make changes in their start up phase, both with people and strategy, and we are no exception. We’re more equipped, focused and energised than ever before.”
The Duke and Duchess announced their partnership with Spotify in 2020 after striking a deal which was reportedly worth millions.
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Prior to that, the pair had teamed up with Netflix, producing the 2022 docuseries Harry & Meghan and presenting the series Live To Lead, which featured interviews with late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
“I don’t care what my fucking son did, if I was getting crowned — he would sit in the very front row,” Welch said.
Osbourne didn’t agree, saying: “I think Harry’s a fucking twat.”
But she didn’t stop there.
“I think he’s a fucking twat,” she repeated, before piling on. “He’s a whining, whingeing, complaining, woe is me. ‘I’m the only one that’s ever had mental problems. Like my life was so hard.’”
Osbourne noted that “everybody’s fucking life is hard”, before going even further with her attack.
“You were the prince of a goddamned country who dressed up as a fucking Nazi and now you’re trying to come back as the Pope. Suck it,” Osbourne added.
You can hear her complete comments below, starting around the 38-minute mark.
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Attacking the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is sort of an Osbourne family tradition.
Back in 2018, Osbourne’s mother, Sharon Osbourne, was caught on tape claiming that Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, wasn’t really Black.
And Kelly Osbourne isn’t the only celebrity who recently had harsh words for Prince Harry.
Last week, sports writer and Spotify executive Bill Simmons called Harry and Meghan “fucking grifters” on his podcast after it was announced that the production company founded by the couple would be parting ways with the streaming platform less than a year after the debut of their podcast “Archetypes.
“‘The fucking grifters.’ That’s the podcast we shoulda launched with them,” Simmons said. “I gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories.”
Sir Karl Jenkins wants everyone to know he’s no impostor.
The Welsh composer good-naturedly addressed the array of unhinged theories about his appearance at King Charles’ coronation on Saturday ― namely, the allegations that he was actually Meghan Markle in a wild disguise.
“I look this way all the time,” Jenkins said of his prodigious mustache, retro mop and ’70s-chic glasses in a TikTok video on Tuesday.
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“I understand there’s been a lot of interest in me since I appeared at the coronation,” Jenkins said, noting that some of his music was used in the ceremony.
He told viewers he was not there “to steal the Crown Jewels”, as some people online have joked. (Though isn’t that what you’d say if you were there to steal them?)
Jenkins assured viewers there was “nothing sinister” about his style choices or his presence at the coronation. “I’ve had the mustache since I was 18 years old,” he said. “It was very trendy then.”
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Sir Karl Jenkins holds his Insignia of Knighthood award after it was presented at Buckingham Palace on Oct. 6, 2015.
John Stillwell – WPA Pool via Getty Images
You’ve heard Jenkins’ composition Adiemus, at least if you ever saw those commercials for the Pure Moods CDs in the ’90s. (A piano arrangement of the song can be heard in the background of the TikTok video above.)
Last month, the former Top Gear host faced widespread criticism over an opinion piece he penned in which he said he “hated” the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level”.
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He added in the piece that he “dreamed” of the day she’d be “made to parade naked through the streets” while crowds “throw lumps of excrement at her”.
Shortly after its publication, Clarkson faced calls to be dropped as the host of ITV’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, which the channel’s CEO responded to at the time in a letter that was made public this week.
In the letter, McCall told one complainant their “concerns are completely understandable”.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
Chris Jackson via Getty Images
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“ITV has no editorial control over Jeremy Clarkson’s independent journalistic output in The Sun or anywhere else he chooses to publish,” she wrote (via Deadline).
“Everyone at ITV is very aware of our responsibilities as a Public Service Broadcaster and I’d like to be clear that the comments made were Jeremy Clarkson’s own and are in no way endorsed by ITV. There is no place on ITV for the comments made in that article.”
McCall added: “It is also worth adding that Jeremy Clarkson is not an ITV employee and that when he appears on ITV it is as a quiz show host on a show which does not provide a platform for his opinions.”
Carolyn McCall
LEON NEAL via Getty Images
At the height the controversy last month, Clarkson said he was “horrified to have caused so much hurt”, but stopped short of an actual apology at the time.
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Since then, he shared a lengthy statement on Instagram claiming he’d sent an email to both Meghan and her husband Prince Harry on Christmas Day to say his language in the column had been “disgraceful” and he was “profoundly sorry”.
He claimed: “Usually, I read what I’ve written to someone else before filing, but I was home alone on that fateful day, and in a hurry. So when I’d finished, I just pressed send.
“And then, when the column appeared the next day, the land mine exploded.”
A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex later said: “On December 25, 2022, Mr Clarkson wrote solely to Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex. The contents of his correspondence were marked Private and Confidential.
“While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his long standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories, and misogyny.
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“Unless each of his other pieces were also written ‘in a hurry’, as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have rejected Jeremy Clarkson’s apology over his column in The Sun newspaper in which he said he “hated” Meghan, and disputed that he wrote to both of them.
On Monday, the former Top Gear presenter shared a lengthy statement on Instagram claiming he had sent an email to both Meghan and Prince Harry on Christmas Day to say his language in the column had been “disgraceful” and he was “profoundly sorry”.
However, a statement issued by the couple’s spokesperson on Monday in response to Clarkson’s Instagram post, states that he only wrote to Prince Harry, not his wife.
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It goes on to question Clarkson’s excuse that he wrote the offending column in a “hurry” and addressed his “long standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories, and misogyny”.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
Chris Jackson via Getty Images
Harry and Meghan’s spokesman said: “On December 25, 2022, Mr Clarkson wrote solely to Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex. The contents of his correspondence were marked Private and Confidential.
“While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his long standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories, and misogyny.
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“Unless each of his other pieces were also written “in a hurry”, as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate.”
In December, the presenter faced widespread backlash after the publication of the opinion piece in which he described how much he “hates” the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level”.
The TV star added that he dreams of the day “when [Meghan] is made to parade naked through the streets” while crowds “throw lumps of excrement at her”.
Jeremy Clarkson
Ian West – PA Images via Getty Images
In the days that followed, the column incited a record-breaking number of complaints to the press regulator Ipso, with The Sun eventually issuing an apology after removing the article from their website, at its author’s request.
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In his Instagram apology, Jeremy said: “Usually, I read what I’ve written to someone else before filing, but I was home alone on that fateful day, and in a hurry. So when I’d finished, I just pressed send. And then, when the column appeared the next day, the land mine exploded.”
He concluded: “I emailed Harry and Meghan in California to apologise to them too.
“I said I was baffled by what they had been saying on TV but that the language I’d used in my column was disgraceful and that I was profoundly sorry.
“Over the last thirty years, I have written very nearly five thousand newspaper and magazine columns, so it was inevitable that one day, I’d do a Harry Kane and sky one of the damn things. Which is what happened with the piece about Meghan.”
The Duke of Sussex brought up the column while discussing “accountability” during Prince Harry: The Interview, which aired earlier this month.
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Harry said: “Not only was what he said horrific, and is hurtful and cruel towards my wife, but it also encourages other people around the UK, and around the world – men particularly – to think that it’s acceptable to treat women that way.
“To use my stepmother’s words recently as well, there is a global pandemic of violence against women.”
He added: “It’s no longer a case of me asking for accountability, but at this point the world is asking for accountability, and the world is asking for some form of comment from the monarchy but the silence is deafening. To put it mildly.
“Everything to do with my wife, after six years, they haven’t said a single thing.”
In the 2021 interview, Meghan said members of the royal family had “concerns and conversations” when she was pregnant with her son, Archie, about how dark his skin would be ― a claim that was widely understood and reported as an allegation of racism and prompted global uproar.
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In an interview that aired on UK television Sunday, Harry denied that was the implication. When ITV’s Tom Bradby noted that the Duke of Sussex had “accused members of your family of racism” in the Winfrey interview, Harry pushed back.
“No, I didn’t. The British press said that,” Harry said. “Did Meghan ever mention that they’re racist?”
Bradby mentioned Meghan’s revelation that “there were troubling comments about Archie’s skin colour.”
“There was concern about his skin colour,” Harry replied.
“Right. Wouldn’t you describe that as essentially racist?” Bradby followed up.
“I wouldn’t,” Harry said. “Not having lived within that family.”
“The difference between racism and unconscious bias, the two things are different,” he continued. “But once it’s been acknowledged, or pointed out to you as an individual, or as an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you therefore have an opportunity to learn and grow from that in order so that you are part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism.”
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The Sussexes have declined to name the members of the royal family involved in the conversations about Archie’s skin, though the couple clarified after the interview that the comments were not made by Queen Elizabeth or Prince Philip.
Prince William responded to the claims by saying that the royals are “very much not a racist family,” while Buckingham Palace issued a statement after the interview saying that “the issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning” and would be “addressed by the family privately.”
Amid ongoing backlash at the time, royal sources told media the palace was considering appointing a diversity tsar as part of an effort to modernise the monarchy.
The Duke of Sussex spoke to ITV’s Tom Bradby in an interview that aired two days before the official publication of his autobiography, “Spare.”
Jane Barlow – PA Images via Getty Images
While Harry defended his family in Sunday’s interview, he also called out the royal institution for its failure to take the opportunity for change, noting that no diversity tsar materialized.
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“Everything they said was gonna happen hasn’t happened. I’ve always been open to wanting to help them understand their part in it, and especially when you are the monarchy ― you have a responsibility and quite rightly people hold you to a higher standard than others,” he said.
He pointed to a recent racist incident as a “very good example of the environment within the institution.” In December, a royal aide who had served for decades as the late Queen Elizabeth’s lady in waiting, Lady Susan Hussey, apologised and resigned after she was called out for repeatedly asking Black charity founder Ngozi Fulani where she “really came from” during a palace reception.
Later in the interview, however, Harry defended Lady Hussey and insisted she meant no harm.
“All we’ve ever asked for in the last … few years is some accountability [from the monarchy],” he said. “And I’m very happy for Ngozi Fulani to be invited into the Palace to sit down with Lady Susan Hussey to reconcile because Meghan and I love Susan Hussey. She thinks she’s great.”
“And I also know that what she meant – she never meant any harm at all, but the response from the British press and from people online because of the stories that they wrote was horrendous. Was absolutely horrendous the response.”
Harry has given a series of interviews as part of a media blitz to promote his new memoir, “Spare,” which accidentally went on sale in Spain several days before its official Jan. 10 publication date.
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More bombshells from Prince Harry’s leaked memoir, “Spare”:
Britain’s ex-head of counter terrorism has revealed that police investigated multiple “disgusting and very real” threats against Meghan Markle.
The outgoing Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner, Neil Basu, said the danger posed to the Duchess of Sussex would have left her feeling “under threat all of the time”.
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Basu confirmed the threats came from the far right and they had led to prosecutions.
The comments throw new light on Prince Harry’s frustration over a decision not to allow him to pay for police protection for himself and his family when in the UK.
The Duke of Sussex, who quit as a senior working royal in 2020, won the right to challenge the Home Office in the High Court after being told he would no longer be given the “same degree” of personal protective security when visiting.
He continued: “I’ve talked publicly for many years about the threat of extreme right-wing terrorism in this country.”
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Asked if there were serious and credible threats from the far right directed at Meghan, he replied: “Absolutely. If you’d seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it, the kind of rhetoric that’s online, if you don’t know what I know, you would feel under threat all of the time.”
Asked if there had been genuine threats to Meghan’s life, he replied: “Absolutely. We had teams investigating it. People have been prosecuted for those threats.”
“There were many serious, credible threats against Meghan Markle emanating from the far-right?”
“Absolutely.”
Former head of counter terrorism for the Met Police, Neil Basu, tells @cathynewman about the “disgusting and very real” threats Prince Harry and Meghan Markle faced. pic.twitter.com/JPqfBFaCDO
The Sussexes personally fund a private protection team in the US for their family.
Harry told Oprah Winfrey the couple have signed multimillion-pound deals with Netflix and Spotify to pay for the security.
But he and Meghan lost their taxpayer-funded police protection in the UK in the aftermath of quitting as senior working royals.
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Speaking to Winfrey during the couple’s sit-down interview in 2021, Harry said he was told that “due to our change of status – we would no longer be ‘official’ members of the royal family”.
He said he had been shocked by this and “pushed back” on the issue, arguing that there had been no change of threat or risk to the couple.
Meghan, during the same interview, told how she had written to her husband’s family urging them not to “pull his security”, but had been told “it’s just not possible”.
The couple have offered to pay for police protection in the UK themselves, rather than ask taxpayers to foot the bill, his legal representative has said.
In September 2021, he filed a claim for a judicial review against the Home Office decision not to allow him to personally pay for police protection for himself and his family while in the UK.
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A government spokesperson said at the time: “The UK government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate. It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements. To do so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.
“It would also not be appropriate to comment on the detail of any legal proceedings.”
Prince William and Prince Harry gathered outside Windsor Castle with their partners in an unexpected show of unity following the death of their grandmother, the Queen.
The new Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, greeted mourners and well-wishers together late Saturday afternoon, as they looked at the many floral tributes left by the public.
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All four royals were dressed in black as they walked along the gates of Windsor Castle.
After arriving at the same time, the couples walked along separately, with William and Kate speaking to people on one side of the crowd and Harry and Meghan speaking to people on the other side.
William and Harry, who are thought to have experienced a rift in recent years, also joined forces in July 2021 to unveil a statue marking what would have been the 60th birthday of their late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
On the walkabout in the Windsor grounds on Saturday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex held hands as they looked at the tributes, with Harry at one point affectionately putting his hand on his wife’s back.
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The new Prince and Princess of Wales were given bunches of flowers by members of the crowd as one visitor waved a Welsh flag.
William was also seen lightly touching Kate’s back at one moment as she crouched down to speak to a child at the front of the gates.
At one moment, he was also given a small Paddington Bear.
The royal couples look at the piles of floral tributes lining the road in Windsor.
Kirsty O’Connor via PA Wire/PA Images
It was the Cambridges’ first public appearance together since they were announced as Prince and Princess of Wales by King Charles III on Friday, and the first time both women have appeared in public since the Queen’s death.
Princes William and Harry both travelled to Balmoral on Thursday to be at their grandmother’s bedside, but neither of their wives joined them in Scotland.
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On Saturday morning, Prince William, alongside Camilla, Queen Consort, was a witness to the formal proclamation of his father’s accession to the throne.
Earlier on Saturday, the first heir to the throne also issued a deeply personal statement speaking of the loss of the Queen – his “Grannie” – and what she meant to him and his family.
“So much will be said in the days ahead about the meaning of her historic reign. I, however, have lost a grandmother,” he said.
“She was by my side at my happiest moment. And she was by my side during the saddest days of my life.”
Wellwishers and the media were surprised to see the royal couples together.
But according to the PA news agency, a royal source said the new Prince of Wales asked his brother and his wife to join them in viewing the tributes.
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The source said: “The Prince of Wales invited the Duke and Duchess to join him and the Princess of Wales earlier.”