King Charles and Queen Camilla were joined by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's chief… actually Andy Burnham, at a Sunday church service at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral, continuing the tradition of the sitting Prime Minister staying at the royal estate at the end of summer. The visit follows a high-profile day out days earlier when the King and Burnham joined French President Emmanuel Macron at the British Museum for the unveiling of the Bayeux Tapestry, which Charles described as a "precious symbol of trust" between Britain and France.

The 70-metre tapestry, loaned to Britain by France for the first time in nearly 1,000 years, opens to the public next week and marks a significant moment in Anglo-French relations after years of negotiation. During the museum event, Burnham joked with Macron about the tapestry depicting "Britain's biggest defeat," while Balmoral itself remains closely tied to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died there in September 2022 and who hosted various Prime Ministers there over the decades, from a relaxed Harold Wilson to a famously uncomfortable Margaret Thatcher.