The news that the King and Queen will continue to live in Clarence House, despite a multi-million pound refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, is the focus of many of the front pages. The Daily Telegraph, external reports that the decision marks the first change to the monarch’s official residence in almost 200 years.
The palace will remain as the administrative headquarters of the Royal Family and the Daily Mail, external says the plan is to instead open the doors to the public more each year. The Times, external quotes a Palace spokesman saying the King “retains huge affection” for the building, and that it’ll be “a buzzing hive of royal activity in every other way”. The Sun’s, external headline is: “Buck stops here”, while the Daily Express, external goes with “Palace not fit for a King”.
Many of the papers carry photographs of the devastation in Venezuela caused by two powerful back-to-back earthquakes. The Daily Mirror, external shows rescue workers looking for survivors in the rubble of destroyed buildings, with the headline “Quake hell”. Images published by the Guardian, external show patients in the port city of Catia La Mar being treated in the streets, after the hospital was evacuated.
The record temperatures in the UK continue to feature prominently on the front pages. “50 year record broken again” says the i Paper, external, after a new high of 36.7C in Somerset. The Daily Telegraph, external reports that farmers across Britain are “scrambling to salvage” this year’s pea harvest, as the heatwave puts “extreme pressure” on crops. The front page of the Times, external pictures a large wildfire on moorland in Derbyshire.
The Daily Telegraph, external reports that Reform UK-led North Northamptonshire council put up barriers and temporary traffic lights around a dead deer on an A-road, as it was too hot for workers to remove the carcass. The paper says the local Conservative group has described the response as “ridiculous”. The council says the temporary signals were necessary to stop road users “coming into contact with the obstruction”.
And the Daily Mail, external reports that scientists have discovered that apes laugh just like humans. Researchers analysed the laughter of orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees and humans and found they all laugh with evenly spaced rhythmic intervals. The study is also picked up by the Sun , externaland the i Paper, external. Both papers sum up the findings with the phrase “Chuckle brothers”.