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Kate leads way with visit to a children's hospital

- RUSSELL MYERS

THE Royal Family put on a united front last night a week after the King and Princess of Wales were dragged into the royal race row by the Duchess of Sussex's biographer.

The monarch was joined by the Queen, Prince William and Kate at a dazzling Buckingham Palace reception, which heralds the start of the festive period for the royals.

Aides stressed it was "business as usual" in the days that followed Charles and Kate being identified as central to the claims of "unconscious bias" by Meghan.

A new book by Omid Scobie named the two senior royals as the subject of a letter she wrote to the King following her allegations that the royals had "concerns" over the skin colour of her unborn son Archie with Prince Harry.

Thousands of copies of the Dutch translation of the book Endgame were pulled as Mr Scobie rushed to deflect blame for the pair being identified.

Buckingham Palace is due to present options to the King over whether it will take legal action following reports the Dutch translation of the book may have been from an early draft manuscript.

But the royals seemed to brush aside concerns at a Diplomatic Corps reception last night, as Kate looked stunning in a Jenny Packham dress and her favourite Lover's Knot tiara, which was often worn by Princess Diana.

The annual gathering welcomed more than 500 members of the Diplomatic Corps in the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace.

A royal aide said: "We are very much focused on the job in hand.

Kate earlier in the day hugged parents and spoke to sick children as she visited a children's hospital in London to open a new unit.