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Prince George made us a Christmas present, and other things that happened while we were gorging

All the news that's fit to mint.

Jenna ClarkeEditorial Director
6 min read
12:41PMDecember 25, 2022.
Updated 2:40PMDecember 26, 2022
The Oz
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All the news that's fit to mint.

What's happening in (The) Oz:

🏏  A guided meditation for your three naps today - also known as the Boxing Day Test - starts now

🐡 A bloke swallowed a bluebottle in Bondi, which is, weirdly, not the strangest thing consumed there

💔 An aged care resident has allegedly been murdered

✈️ Those Qantas passengers stranded in the middle of nowhere have been rescued

🤭 Prince Louis continues to be the most relatable royal

🎨 Prince George goes full Francis Bacon for us

🤦🏻‍♂️ Rishi Sunak stars in the (unintentional) reboot of The Thick of It

🥶 The US got black ice and blackouts for Christmas

👋🏻 King Charles to Prince Andrew: "You're on your own, kid"

⛪️ King Charles to Harry and Meghan: "Who?"

🙏🏻 King Charles to the rest of the Commonwealth: "I love you"

Happy holidays to you and yours!

May this find you rested, relaxed and with an overwhelming sense of serenity that is as incomprehensible as the ingredients of yesterday's Tofurkey. 

Anyway, moving on. Here's something for you to wash down your 14th ham inspired meal for the day - an early 2023 vibe shift.

Let's no longer say "I'm fine" when we are absolutely not. Let's no longer do things we really don't want to do, especially when it involves freezing your face off.

Like this inspirational bloke:

The weather in some parts of the US right now is at Frozen levels. Not even Elsa would cope.

Millions of people are experiencing below freezing temperatures, rolling blackouts and black ice during their holiday coffee run.

@willowinwa

Dude was fighting for his life #seattleice #freezingrain #merrychristmas

♬ original sound - user4522906965080

Bluebottles are not on the menu in Bondi

However an 18-year-old is in hospital after swallowing a mini jellyfish while taking a dip off the packed Sydney beach on Sunday.

After making his way back to shore he was treated on the sand by lifeguards before paramedics took him to St Vincent's Hospital.

His condition is still unknown.

Aged care murder investigation underway 

The death of an aged-care resident in a coastal town in regional WA has become a murder investigation after a post-mortem reportedly found the woman was strangled to death.

Monica Mary Stockdale, 70, died at the aged care facility where she lived in Albany - a historical whaling town about five hours south of Perth.

WA Police announced on Saturday a 19-year-old man, Jacob Hoysted, had been charged with her murder.

Plane wrong

A Qantas flight from Singapore bound for London on Friday carrying 356 passengers got stuck in a place called Azerbaijan, which borders eastern Europe and Asia.

A mechanical issue, thought to be a fire in the cargo hold but wasn't, forced the Qantas flight to make the emergency landing leaving everyone at the Baku airport.

On Saturday, Qantas confirmed a recovery flight carrying crews to fix the plane was en route from Sydney.

“The aircraft will then pick up customers at Baku Airport and continue on to London,” the airline said.

“It is expected to arrive at Heathrow early on Christmas morning (London time).

“The aircraft operating the recovery flight is one of the operational spares that Qantas has on standby over the holiday season to help recover customers in the event of an unexpected disruption like this.”

Meanwhile, flights between Sydney and Denpasar have been impacted as bad weather forced a Bali bound flight to divert to Jakarta.

Hundreds of Australians faced major delays and cancellations and will continue to be impacted by ongoing weather conditions after Flight QF43 from Sydney to Denpasar and flight QF44 from Denpasar to Sydney were severely impacted by the delays on Christmas Eve.

The C in MCG will stand for "crying" today

Welcome to day one of the Boxing Day Test at its spiritual home of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. 

Australia will take on South Africa and will pause the match at 3.50pm as a mark of respect for Shane Warne.

Warnie's name and Test cap number 350 has been painted onto the grass.

The players also have something planned for the morning’s ceremonies.

“We will the floppies during the anthem tomorrow,” Aussie captain Pat Cummins said. “It’s something we’ve spoken a little bit about, we were all in Pakistan when Warnie passed. We’ll share some stories.

“I think it is another one of those moments, Boxing Day on the calendar everyone goes back to their to their childhood waking up and going to the TV and seeing the anthems.

“It will really hit home that Warnie won’t be part of it this year.”

In some lovely news, Scott Boland - the player having the Test series of his career so far - has been named in the side to play.

According to our man on the ground - The Australian's cricket writer Peter Lalor - it will give Boland a "chance to bowl the house down in front of his home crowd, as he did on debut last year."

Speaking of surprising gifts

Prince George made us this:

He's nine.

Nine.

The talent of someone who would have only just got his pen licence is seriously impressive.

Prince Louis made his Sandringham debut

Rishi Sunak stars in The Thick of It

Meawhile the British government cannot seem to catch a break or stop itself from being the personification of a face palm.

Prime Minister, and former banker, Rishi Sunak has volunteered at a soup kitchen serving breakfast to the less fortunate during the holidays.

The PM, who is also a billionaire-by-marriage, was filmed serving some bacon and eggs to a gentleman while attempting to make small talk about all the job opportunities in finance that exist outside of London now.

The man is homeless.

However before we get all Markle on this. Maybe, just maybe, he was doing that British thing of ignoring the bleeding obvious and not drawing attention to something that may make the man uncomfortable. 

The Queen used to do it all the time, however QEII could read a room.

King Charles makes his first Christmas address

And it was lovely.

The new(ish) Monarch pair tribute to his late mum in his first Christmas message, reflecting on her legacy and faith in humanity.

From St George’s Chapel in Windsor - where the Queen and Prince Philip are buried and where Harry and Meghan were married -  the King thanked well-wishers for the “love and sympathy” shown to his family after her death.

“Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones,” he said. “We feel their absence at every familiar turn of the season and remember them in each cherished tradition.”

In his message the he focused on "light overcoming darkness" and his late mother's ability to do so, while thanking those who served so generously.

"My mother's belief in the power of that light was an essential part of her faith in God, but also her faith in people - and it is one that I share with my whole heart," he said.

"It is a belief in the extraordinary ability of each person to touch with goodness and compassion the lives of others and to shine a light in the world around them."

The King commended the "selfless dedication" of the armed forces and emergency service personnel, health workers, teachers, public servants, and the charities and communities who "so readily respond to the plight of others". As well as nurses - many of whom are striking across the UK for better pay and conditions.

"Such heartfelt solidarity is the most inspiring expression of loving our neighbour as ourself."

While the Prince and Princess of Wales' recent trip to Wales was mentioned as "shining a light" on that giving spirit, Harry and Meghan were omitted from King Charles' message.

It was recorded on December 13, two days before the release of the final three episodes of the Sussexes' Netflix series aired.

Before the speech was aired, this charming Christmas Eve message dropped online featuring both the King and Queen's Consort, Camilla.

Andrew out in the cold

Prince Andrew was also left out of the message, after the King removed the disgraced non-working royal's offices from Buckingham Palace.

The Sun reported the King has made it clear that Andrew is not a working royal and “is on his own’.

Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, are both invited to Christmas at Sandringham, with Charles continuing the long standing tradition of the senior royals attending St Mary Magdalene’s church on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. 

A tradition that was paused for the past couple of years due to Covid.

Mary is hot

While Europe shivers, the Danish heirs are heating things up in Hobart.

The Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark enjoyed Christmas day in Princess Mary's home town.

The official royal household posted this over the weekend to confirm where they were.

Mary repped Aussie label Zimmermann here in a $1500 frock from the Fall 2022 collection.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/the-oz/news/prince-george-made-us-a-christmas-present-and-other-things-that-happened-while-we-were-gorging/news-story/ebb1cdf2daa6503d580d291e2f86a479