LONDON — Nearly two weeks after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle relocated to the United Kingdom with their two children, the Duchess of Sussex has yet to make a public appearance in Britain, even as her husband prepares to step into the spotlight for a longstanding charity commitment.

Harry is set to attend the WellChild Awards in London in the coming days, continuing a patronage he has held since 2007. The annual ceremony celebrates the achievements of seriously ill children and honors the caregivers and medical professionals who support them, and Harry has attended nearly every year of the event’s run, typically delivering a speech and presenting an award to a young honoree.

While Harry’s appearance at the charity event has become something of an annual fixture, reports indicate it could be some time before Meghan is seen in public in Britain. According to reporting from Express UK, the Duchess is currently focused on helping the couple’s children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, settle into their new life in the country, following the family’s move from their home in Montecito, California.

That reasoning has not stopped speculation from building over the broader purpose and direction of the family’s relocation. With Meghan keeping a low public profile since the family’s return, questions have persisted over why the couple chose to move back to Britain in the first place, and what their longer-term plans might look like now that they are settled on British soil.

Harry’s connection to the country runs deep, having spent nearly his entire life there before stepping back from royal duties and relocating to the United States in 2020. He retains family ties, longstanding charitable commitments and, as supporters of the move have noted, a fundamental sense of belonging in Britain that predates his marriage to Meghan by decades.

Meghan’s own ties to the country are considerably less established. Her personal and professional life, including her mother and much of her broader social circle, remains rooted in the United States, raising questions among royal watchers over what specific role or activities she intends to pursue now that the family has relocated across the Atlantic.

Some charitable organizations in Britain have publicly welcomed the prospect of Meghan’s renewed presence in the country. She has previously served as patron of charities including Smart Works, a group that helps women prepare for job interviews, and Mayhew, an animal welfare organization operating in London and internationally. Both organizations have expressed enthusiasm about the possibility of deeper engagement with Meghan now that she and her family are based in the U.K.

Even so, questions remain over whether renewed charitable involvement alone will be sufficient to explain the scope of the family’s relocation, or whether Meghan has a more defined plan for her public role in Britain that has not yet been disclosed. It remains unclear whether her current absence from public view reflects a temporary period of settling in, or a longer-term pattern that could persist well beyond the family’s initial adjustment period.

What does appear clear, according to those following the family’s move, is that the relocation was driven primarily by a desire to keep the family unit together and to give Archie and Lilibet an opportunity to spend more time in their father’s home country, connecting them more directly with Harry’s British roots and extended family. That consideration, observers note, is consistent with the priority both parents have consistently placed on their children throughout their public statements since stepping back from royal life.

Beyond that underlying rationale, however, much of the broader commentary surrounding the family’s return has remained speculative, with various theories about the couple’s motivations and plans circulating without clear confirmation from Harry, Meghan or their representatives. Some reports have suggested tensions or disagreements behind different explanations for the move, with various royal-watching outlets offering competing, and at times contradictory, accounts that have subsequently been challenged or walked back by other sources close to the couple.

Harry’s upcoming WellChild Awards appearance continues a pattern he has maintained for nearly two decades, having become one of the few official patronages he retained following the family’s 2020 departure from senior royal duties. In past years, Harry has typically attended the ceremony without Meghan, delivering remarks reflecting on the resilience of the children and families the charity supports, and reflecting on his own experience as a parent in relating to the challenges those families face.

The timing of Harry’s appearance, coming so soon after the family’s broader relocation to Britain, is likely to draw continued attention from royal commentators and media outlets, both for what it reveals about Harry’s individual public engagements going forward and for what it does not yet reveal about Meghan’s own plans. With Meghan remaining out of the public eye for now, her first public appearance in Britain since the family’s return remains an open question, one that royal watchers are likely to continue speculating about until she reemerges publicly, whether through a charity engagement, a social media announcement, or some other means of reintroducing herself to British public life.

For now, the family’s return to the United Kingdom appears to be unfolding gradually, with Harry resuming familiar public commitments while Meghan continues working behind the scenes to settle the family into its new home. Whether that pattern continues, or whether Meghan steps into a more visible public role in the weeks ahead, remains to be seen, leaving much of the broader narrative around the family’s relocation still very much in progress.

Mr Mullen’s departure comes as the bank announces a rise in income and profits in its latest accounts

Newcastle challenger bank Atom Bank has announced the departure of its chief executive Mark Mullen. Mr Mullen, who co-founded the bank in Durham ahead of its move to Tyneside this year, has stepped down after a period of speculation around possible takeover bids for the digital-only bank.

Current chief financial officer Andrew Marshall will become interim CEO as Atom starts the search for a permanent successor to Mr Mullen. The announcement came as accounts for Atom for the year ending March 31 showed a growth in net operating income to £99.8m, while profit before taxation increased significantly from £5.1m a year earlier to £9.4m.

In the accounts, Mr Mullen said the company’s performance had been “positive”, though he stressed the need to find a “better balance in the composition of our earnings”.

He added: “We delivered these results despite considerable macroeconomic volatility, maintaining exceptionally low levels of both arrears and forbearance at just 0.9% across the loan portfolio. In the final quarter of the financial year, the impact of the potential economic fallout from the war in Iran played through into higher modelled Expected Credit Losses (ECLs) for the year at £9.4m against £7.1m in FY25.

“In the course of the year, we further expanded and established new deposit platform partnerships. We grew retail deposit balances to more than £8.3bn and launched our first Cash ISA.

“We have invested in our behaviouralisation and price elasticity modelling and continued to leverage our Elvet Securitisation programme. Growing our retail deposit capabilities will remain a key strategic focus. We continue to work toward increasing our maximum aggregate balance, driven by the upcoming launch of our latest savings variants.”

In this morning’s announcement of his decision to step down, Mr Mullen said: “After 12 years as CEO, I have decided to hand over the leadership of Atom. It has been a privilege to build this business and I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together, growing Atom into a leading UK bank that successfully competes with the High Street banks.

“Atom is a fantastic company with a bright future. I wish Andrew and my permanent successor well.”

Atom chair Lee Rochford said: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Mark for his leadership, dedication and significant contributions since he founded the business 12 years ago. Under his leadership, Atom pioneered digital banking in the UK.

“His vision of an online bank devoted to customer service has been adopted across the industry and helped make Atom one of the UK’s most trusted banks for customers. That is a legacy to be proud of.”

Mr Marshall said: “I am pleased to take on the role of Interim CEO and to lead Atom after 10 years with the business. Mark leaves us with a strong foundation and an excellent team, and I look forward to working with the board and leadership team to maintain our momentum.”

Richard Holden has written to transport secretary Heidi Alexander asking for action to be taken on the A303 traffic problems

A senior politician has called for urgent action on the A303 following a fact-finding visit to villages surrounding Stonehenge. Richard Holden, the shadow transport secretary, wrote to his government counterpart, Swindon South MP and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, urging action in the wake of the scrapped £2bn Stonehenge Tunnel project.

Mr Holden visited communities in the Stonehenge area at the invitation of Dr Monica Devendran, the Wiltshire Councillor for Amesbury West.

During his visit, Mr Holden said there was “a clear and consistent concern that the underlying transport problems affecting communities along the A303 corridor have not gone away”.

In his letter, he wrote: “Residents are particularly concerned that, despite the cancellation of the scheme, there appears to have been little consideration given to mitigating the continuing impact of congestion and the increasing volume of diversion traffic through surrounding villages.”

He highlighted a recurring issue of “the routine rerouting of traffic by satellite navigation services through villages such as Shrewton, Berwick St James and other nearby communities whenever congestion or incidents occur on the A303”.

Locals, he said, “described the resulting rat-running as causing severe congestion, speeding, noise, pedestrian safety risks and disruption to local businesses.

“In many cases, these roads are simply not designed to accommodate such volumes of through traffic,” he added. Mr Holden called on the Department for Transport to engage with Google Maps and other mapping services “to reduce unnecessary routing of strategic traffic through unsuitable villages wherever practicable”.

He said: “It is clear that local communities feel current navigation algorithms are exacerbating an already difficult situation, particularly following the cancellation of the improvement scheme.”

He also voiced concern that “no credible alternative has yet been put forward to address congestion, improve resilience along the A303 corridor, or reduce the impact of diversion traffic on neighbouring villages when issues do occur”.

He also called for “secure, sensible and low-cost mitigations, such as screening” to “stop people dangerously slowing down, pulling over, hanging out of windows, or standing up through sunroofs, often with children, to take photographs of Stonehenge”.

The A303 Amesbury-to-Berwick Down highway scheme, which included proposals to divert the arterial route through a tunnel past Stonehenge, was scrapped by the incoming Labour Government in July 2024 as part of a review of unfunded or unaffordable transport commitments.

The Government subsequently brought the project to a formal close when Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander revoked its Development Consent Order, citing “exceptional circumstances”, a substantial change in deliverability, and the scheme’s failure to align with current strategic policy objectives.

At the point the scheme was halted, the estimated cost stood at between £1.4bn and £1.7bn, with £179.2m already spent on planning, design and development by the time the project was abandoned.

In May, a motion put forward to Wiltshire Council by Cllr Devendran was passed by 91 votes to one, compelling council leader Ian Thorn to write to Ms Alexander regarding A303 traffic concerns.

Cllr Thorn said he would “drive to Swindon and talk to her myself” about the issue.

This week, Cllr Devendran told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I will continue pressing the Government, National Highways and relevant stakeholders to ensure local communities are heard and kept informed as this work progresses.

“I thank Richard Holden for visiting Stonehenge, listening directly to residents, and taking the concerns of local communities to the Secretary of State for Transport.”

Construction at Rox Resources’ Youanmi gold project has fast-tracked in recent weeks, according to boss Phillip Wilding.

In mid-July, on the back of receiving its final environment for Youanmi, Mr Wilding said he was confident construction would intensify in due course, as Rox moves toward first production in the middle of CY27.

On Monday, Rox said a lot of progress had been made at the project’s processing plant by its selected provider Interquip, while construction of the 351-room accommodation village is finished and now ready for use – although additional refurbishment works, including to the sports courts, will get under way this month.

“Importantly, all works are firmly on schedule,” Mr Wilding said.

“Bulk earthworks have been completed at all sites in the Youanmi processing plant area, with concreting now complete for the screen plant and CIL plant, and tanks under construction. 

“The tailings dam has started taking shape, with clearing completed, cut-off drain established and preparations underway to build the outer wall. 

“Mining has also progressed well, with the initial levels in United North now complete and extending well past the definitive feasibility study mine plan. 

“Works are progressing to commence production stoping, as the high-grade ore stockpile continues to grow.”

Rox closed trade on Monday up 1 per cent to 63 cents.

Sebi approved NSE’s draft offer document on Friday, according to its website. The IPO, expected to raise around Rs 30,000 crore, will comprise an offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 14.89 crore equity shares.

IFCI shares jumped to Rs 107.36 apiece on Monday morning. IFCI owns more than a 50% stake in Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL), which in turn, holds over 4% stake in NSE. Through its controlling interest in SHCIL, IFCI enjoys indirect exposure to NSE, making its stock particularly sensitive to developments related to the exchange’s IPO.

Key things to know about mega NSE IPO

NSE is yet to announce the IPO price band or issue date, but traders told The Economic Times that the issue is likely to open around September 18, with listing expected around September 25. The Economic Times, citing sources, reported that NSE is likely to price the IPO at around Rs 1,800 per share or slightly higher.
The filing would mark the culmination of a long listing process first initiated in December 2016, when NSE filed its first DRHP for a Rs 10,000-crore issue. Ahead of listing, the grey market premium (GMP) jumped to Rs 250-280 per share soon after the regulatory nod on Friday evening, from around Rs 150-180 earlier in the day, according to grey market brokers.

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“The valuation at which the offering is priced will be critical to how the market responds,” said Manan Doshi, co-founder of Unlisted Arena. “If the pricing leaves adequate value on the table for investors, it could significantly enhance investor participation and create strong positive sentiment around the issue,” he added.
Also Read: NSE grey market premium soars on Sebi’s IPO approval

IFCI share price

IFCI shares have delivered a whopping 100% return in 2026 so far, as the multibagger stock jumped over 43% in one month amid growing optimism over NSE IPO. The shares of the company have jumped over 18% in just one week.

In the longer term, IFCI shares have delivered stellar returns of more than 500% in three years and 850% in five years. The company has a market capitalisation of nearly Rs 28,700 crore.

Technical view on IFCI share price

IFCI remains in an uptrend, forming a higher high and higher low structure, said Sudeep Shah, Head of Technical and Derivatives Research at SBI Securities. He noted that the stock is trading above its key moving averages, while the rising ADX on both the weekly and daily timeframes indicates strengthening bullish momentum. The rising green histogram bars on the MACD further reinforce the positive bias, he added.

“The stock also closed above its previous swing high of 95.80 last week, signalling a breakout. The immediate support is placed in the Rs 96–95.5 zone. As long as the stock sustains above this support, the uptrend is likely to extend further,” the analyst said while explaining the technical charts of IFCI.

Also read | NSE IPO gets Sebi approval: 10 important points investors should know as D-Street debut inches closer

Disclosure: This article has been written by Debaroti Adhikary, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an investment advisor. Debaroti Adhikary does not hold any financial interest in the company named in the article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of the EconomicTimes Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment.

When the central bank of the Netherlands confirmed this week that it had moved tonnes of the country’s gold out of North America, it said the relocation would make it “better prepared for severe crises”.

Some 86 tonnes from the combined total of about 313 tonnes held in the US and Canada were relocated to London “in view of increasing geopolitical unrest”, it said, so the shiny stuff could be “readily available for use in a crisis situation”.

Questions were bound to follow. Why were the Dutch doing this? Were they anticipating some major economic shock on the horizon?

It seems not, but the move was clearly in response to the unstable and uncertain state the world finds itself in, with trade and military wars prompting countries to take precautions and hold their gold closer to home.

Earlier this year, France announced it had removed its gold reserves from the US to home shores. Meanwhile, Germany’s Bundesbank transferred more than 216 tonnes of the metal from storage locations abroad – 111 tonnes from New York and 105 tonnes from Paris – over a few years ending in 2016., external

It is a strategy which has played out before in times of global instability. “Some European central banks moved part of their gold holdings to New York during the Cold War,” said research analysts Lina Thomas and Daan Struyven of Goldman Sachs.

Joseph Cavatoni, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, told the BBC while wars and trade tensions were “playing into some of these decisions”, it didn’t “top the list” of motivating factors.

Inflation, interest rates and just having gold in a place where it can be traded quickly also played a role.

“I don’t get a sense that there’s an impending doom,” Cavatoni said, “but what I do think is people are being better educated around how to manage their reserve assets, growing their reserve assets, and actually thinking more effectively around how to make the most of those assets.”

De Nederlandsche Bank said the gold removed from the US and Canada between March and August this year was now being held in the vaults of the Bank of England.

“We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness,” said the governor of the Dutch central bank, Olaf Sleijpen.

London was seen as the best choice due its position in the world as a major trading centre. If you want to be able to buy or sell gold fast in a crisis, London is the place to be, which makes the Bank of England a popular storage spot.