King Charles has received encouraging news about his medical treatment, with his doctors said to be “very pleased” with his progress.
The monarch’s latest health update comes as he continues to follow medical advice closely but there was another reason for the King to feel positive this week.
Charles has made an unusually generous contribution to a British milliner facing a growing problem, a shortage of traditional straw.
The monarch has donated an entire field of wheat from the Sandringham estate to hat designer Emily Hurst, who has been struggling to source Maris Widgeon, a heritage British wheat variety prized by milliners for its fine, workable straw.
Hurst specialises in creating straw hats and trained at Charles’ Highgrove estate, recently explained her difficulties to the King.
Poor harvests and increasingly extreme weather conditions have made the traditional crop particularly difficult to obtain, leaving designers with limited supplies just as demand for summer hats continues.
After hearing about Hurst’s predicament, he offered her an entire field of the wheat grown on the estate, giving the designer access to a crop that could potentially provide material for hundreds of hats.
The scale of the gesture left Hurst stunned.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, she described the moment as “surreal”, saying she was still trying to take in the extraordinary gift.
“We’ve got a whole field’s worth here, I could potentially create hundreds of hats from this,” she said.
“It’s quite hard to imagine if I’m honest, it’s still quite surreal, it’s still sinking in.”
2026-08-11 00:51:00
