Former England captain will become ambassador for foundation that was embroiled in controversy when Charles was Prince of Wales

King Charles has turned to brand Beckham to help him rebuild the reputation of his main charitable foundation after a cash-for-honours scandal.

Former England footballer David Beckham is to become an ambassador for the King’s Foundation, formerly the Prince’s Foundation, to help promote its work. Beckham met the monarch at his Highgrove home in Gloucestershire last month, where he was given a personal tour. The 49-year-old said he was looking forward to exploring a newly discovered shared interest with the monarch in rural skills, nature and the British countryside. They had also swapped beekeeping tips, said Beckham.

Wedding of Hugh Grosvenor, godfather to the princes’ sons, is ‘society wedding of the year’. Yet why will Harry not attend?

When Hugh Grosvenor, the seventh Duke of Westminster, marries at Chester Cathedral next week the 33-year-old will relinquish the status bestowed on him by society bibles of Britain’s “richest, most eligible bachelor”.

It is not just his £10bn inherited wealth and pole position in the Sunday Times list of 40 richest people under 40 in the UK that means his marriage to Olivia Henson, 31, is being billed as the society wedding of the year.

National Trust gives first successful seedling from illegally felled Northumberland tree to King Charles

The first successful seedling nurtured from seeds collected from the 200-year-old Sycamore Gap tree, which was illegally felled, will be planted in Windsor Great Park after being given to King Charles by the National Trust.

The king intends that the seedling, presented as a gift on the last bank holiday Monday in May, known as Celebration Day, when we remember those no longer with us, will be planted when it has matured into a sapling for visitors to the park to enjoy it as a symbol that hope and beauty can come from loss, the charity said.

Palace officials have struggled to find the workers needed to open the doors at the king’s London home this summer

Even the monarchy is not immune to Brexit. The king’s London home, Clarence House, will be closed to tourists this summer because of staff shortages in the royal household caused by Brexit and the pandemic.

Palace officials had hoped to open this summer, along with another royal retreat, Frogmore House, where Prince Harry and Meghan had their evening wedding reception. But the Royal Collection Trust, the department of the royal household that oversees tourist visits to the palaces, has struggled to find people willing to work in front-of-house, retail, catering and other jobs.

King makes first official link with Moray school where he experienced angst and opportunity as teenage boarder

King Charles III has agreed to become a patron of the Gordonstoun Association, reflecting an affection for his alma mater in Scotland despite the teenage angst he experienced there.

The patronage is his first official link with the Moray institution, which he attended from 1962 until 1967, and was welcomed by the school principal, Lisa Kerr, as a “great honour”.

Jonathan Yeo’s divisive painting of the king raises the question of whether paintings of the monarchy have become irrelevant and anachronisitic

Why do reports always say that a portrait of someone great and good has been “unveiled”? The word is an empty metaphor that turns the first viewing into a ceremony; it also mystifies the entire procedure and makes it somewhat morbid.

Portraits of kings, presidents, prime ministers and the like are effigies, meant to replace the mortal being. Once the official image has been fixed in place, the living subject can be sent off to die. The unveiled portrait draws a veil over another ceremonial occasion: what we are looking at is posterity’s verdict, so in effect we are attending a funeral.

We would like to hear from people who have seen a portrait of the king in a public building and how they feel about it

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, is offering portraits of the king to all Church of England churches, as well as job centres, coastguards, universities and other public institutions, having previously offered them to local authorities, court buildings, schools, police forces and fire and rescue services.

Do you have a portrait of the king in your workplace and how do you feel about it? Or have you seen a portrait of the king in a public building and how do you feel about it?