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Given her advancing years and remarkably busy schedule, it was understandable that the Queen, by mutual consent, chose not to attend Prince Louis’s christening. But the 92-year-old monarch poignantly retains a place in an intimate family portrait taken in the Morning Room at Clarence House last week, watching over the next generation of her family. The oil on canvas portrait of the Queen, by Michael Noakes between 1972 and 1973, appears to have been raised several inches up the wall from its previous position to ensure it is visible in the official picture by photographer, Matt Holyoak.  Below her, gathered together for the first time, are the faces of those who will carry the baton for decades to come, including all five Cambridges and Meghan Markle. In the absence of the Queen, Carole Middleton takes centre stage in the wider family snapshot, standing alongside the Prince of Wales and directly behind her daughter and 11-week-old grandson, peacefully sleeping following his baptism in The Chapel Royal at St James's Palace. Pippa Matthews, the Duchess of Cambridge’s sister, who has a small pregnancy bump of her own, is joined in an official royal portrait for the first time by her husband, James Matthews, a hedge fund manager, who is positioned just behind her. The Cambridges, in their first official portrait as a family of five Credit: Matt Holyoak Prince George, four, smiles naturally, his head slightly tilted to one side as his father places a reassuring arm around his back while his three-year-old sister, Princess Charlotte, sits next to her mother, jauntily clutching her knee. When the group was last pictured together in the Morning Room, for Prince George’s own christening in October 2013, both Prince Harry and Ms Middleton, as she was then, were single. The Queen sat alongside the Duchess of Cambridge and the young future king, with the Duke of Edinburgh, behind her. The latest portrait conveys the gradual shift towards the next generation as the younger ranks are swelled by new births and happy marriages while the most senior members of the family take a back seat. The Queen, and the Duke of Edinburgh, 97, did not attend the christening in what was described as a "mutual decision" made some time ago. Sources insisted it was not due to ill health on the part of the Queen but because Her Majesty had a busy schedule in Scotland the previous week and in London in the following days, including the RAF centenary and the visit from Donald Trump. The Duchess of Cambridge holds Prince Louis in the garden at Clarence House following his christening Credit: Matt Holyoak The four photographs released by Kensington Palace  on Sunday night include an image of the Duchess of Cambridge gazing adoringly at her younger son, seen awake in public for the first time. Looking skyward in the sunny garden, the baby prince displays his big blue eyes while clutching onto his mother’s dress with a small chubby hand. In the first official portrait of all five members of the Cambridge family, Prince George appears slightly apprehensive, one hand plunged into his shorts pocket. His younger sister, meanwhile, displays the confident, possibly cheeky, personality that has already become familiar, smiling directly at the camera, one hand behind her back and the other holding onto Prince Louis’s christening gown, a replica of the 172-year-old royal christening robe. The next generation of The Firm gather together for Prince Louis's christening Credit: Matt Holyoak She had worn the gown herself at her own christening just three years ago and her elder brother two years before that. Mr Holyoak said: "I was truly honoured at being asked to take the official photographs at the christening of Prince Louis, and to witness at first hand such a happy event. “Everyone was so relaxed and in such good spirits, it was an absolute pleasure. I only hope I have captured some of that joy in my photographs." The photographer has worked with a host of celebrities, his photos regularly splashed on the covers of magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Shortlist and Dazed and Confused. He photographed the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh as part of a series of portraits released to mark their 70th wedding anniversary.

A teenager was recently mowing a lawn when he was attacked by snakes. Connor Stoll has wounds on the back of his right leg from where he was bitten by two snakes on July 11 while he was doing yard work just outside of Jacksonville, Florida, WTXL.com reported. The 17-year-old was using a push lawn mower when the snakes struck him on his calf and knocked him down, according to news4jax.com. “I fell to the ground and I went over and moved to our truck and just sat there and tried to stop the bleeding from my leg,” Stoll said of his reaction, WTXL.com reported. Stoll went to an area hospital, where he was treated for 7 hours, but doctors told the teenager it could have been worse since the “venom

Thomas Markle has said his daughter Meghan is struggling to cope with the burdens of royalty, and refuses to take his calls. He said he is worried the Duchess of Sussex is hiding the pressure of her new life behind a “pained” smile as she adjusts to her “prim” duties as wife of the fifth-in-line to the Throne. But he revealed she has not been in touch since a phone call after the Royal Wedding while he was recovering from the heart operation which caused him to miss her big day. He told the Sun on Sunday: “My thing about my daughter right now is that I think she is terrified. “I see it in her eyes, I see it in her face and I see it in her smile. I’ve seen her smile for years. I know her smile. I don’t like the one I’m seeing now.” Thomas Markle, pictured here on Good Morning Britain in June, said his daughter had stopped taking his calls Credit: REUTERS/REUTERS He said that while her expression might be due to a “bad couple of days” it worried him, and led him to conclude she was under “too much pressure”. Adding that he could “die soon”, he said he wishes they would reconcile so he could tell her how proud he was - but she no longer answers her phone to him and staff at Kensington Palace will not return his texts. Mr Markle said: “I had a heart attack, doesn’t anybody care? I could actually die soon. Does she want this to be the last thing we’ve said to each other?” He said they pair had never gone so long without speaking, and that he wanted to clear the air and tell her how proud he is. Speaking from his seaside home in Rosarito in Mexico, the retired lighting director, 73, also offered an apology, saying: “If I had one message for her it would be that I’m sorry for anything that went wrong. I’d like to put our differences behind us and get together. I miss you very much.” Watch: Meet the Markles In early May Thomas Markle caused headlines around the world when it emerged he had colluded with a photographer to sell staged ‘paparazzi’ shots of his wedding preparations. After the scandal broke, Meghan is understood to have forgiven her father and his invitation to the Windsor ceremony was not withdrawn. But he developed chest pains on the day he was due to be driven to the airport and went instead to Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, ten miles over the US border,  where surgeons installed stents to open his clogged arteries. Meghan's father watched the ceremony from his hospital bed Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA After watching the Prince of Wales walk his daughter down the aisle on television from his California hospital bed, he texted Meghan to tell her she looked beautiful. They discussed the wedding and he wished the couple a happy honeymoon. “That was the last call,” he told the newspaper. "The phone number I had been calling Meghan on is no longer picking up, and I don’t have an address for her. "I can send something to the palace, but there is no guarantee it would get to her. “I sent a text to my palace contact saying I would like to reach my daughter and got no reply.” Markle, who was reported paid £7,500 for a tell-all June interview with Good Morning Britain, said he wanted a father-daughter relationship, adding: “I took care of my mother the last five years of her life. "My daughter said to me she would take care of me in my declining years. I’m not talking about money - I’m talking about taking care of me.” On Saturday the Duchess of Sussex drew admiring glances at Wimbledon when she watched the ladies; singles final from the Royal Box with her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge.

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