King Charles and Family Are All Smiles in United Front Amid Recent Drama

King Charles III

Family drama has been intense in the British royal family over the past week, but King Charles III and three senior members of his family were all smiles for a new photo.

On Tuesday, Dec. 5, King Charles posed for photos alongside Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton ahead of The Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace. The royal family welcomes hundreds of Diplomatic Corps members for the annual event in London.

In the pictures, King Charles, his wife, the heir to the British throne, and the future queen seemingly present a united front in the wake of controversial royal news. Queen Camilla notably wore the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara worn countless times by the late Queen Elizabeth II. Meanwhile, Princess Catherine donned the Queen Mary's Lover's Knot Tiara for the occasion.

The jovial family photo comes on the heels of a recent scandal involving the book Endgame by Omid Scobie. In it, Scobie references an alleged conversation between members of the royal family about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son Archie's skin color before he was born. Markle first mentioned the incident publicly during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 but didn't name names. (Winfrey later clarified that the mystery royal family members weren't Queen Elizabeth or Prince Philip.)

Although versions of Endgame released in the U.S., U.K. and other countries didn't include names, the Dutch translation initially available on shelves reportedly did. The books that outed which royal family members were involved in the conversation about Archie's skin color were pulled from shelves, and revised editions will be available in the Netherlands on Dec. 8, Scobie told People.

Next: King Charles Breaks Silence Amid New Royal Family Drama