The four-month-old royal made his first appearance of Harry and Meghan’s Africa tour by posing with one of the heroes of the anti-Apartheid movement as he was held by his proud parents.

Archie was the centre of attention as the group, which included the archbishop’s daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe. 

The archbishop’s daughter also joked about his comfort in front of the camera, saying: “You like the ladies. He’s going to be a ladies man.”

The veteran Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was effectively the leader of the liberation struggle during Nelson Mandela’s long imprisonment, said he was “thrilled by the “rare privilege and honour” to meet the royals.

The 87-year-old cleric spent half an hour with the couple and Archie at the historic premises of his Legacy Foundation in Cape Town, the Old Granary, a restored centuries old edifice built by slaves.

For the informal meeting Meghan sat with Archie on her lap and Harry beside her, while the retired archbishop and his daughter sat opposite them.

The group laughed as they watched the duchess take her son’s arms and dance with the young royal who appeared to be wearing dungarees, a top and socks.

Footage of Meghan and Harry making their way to see the elderly statesman has been posted on the couple’s official Instagram account.

Archie is carried by Meghan and the four-month-old is seen smiling and laughing as the Sussexes…

The 62 year old has led his diocese, which covers Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland, for the past twelve years – a job which he said was an “amazing privilege and joy”.

After being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018, Bishop Alan took a sabbatical while he underwent treatment.

He also took part in a clinical trial which he hopes will help others in future.

Speaking about his decision to step down, he said: “The last 12 months have been exhausting and it has been difficult to focus on anything other than my treatment plan. I have just received my last proton injection as part of the clinical trial and this stage of the journey is complete. I now need time to recover and regain my strength and energy.

“Having advanced prostate cancer means that I will be receiving quarterly hormone injections for the rest of my life and will have very regular check-ups with my oncologist. There are no guarantees, but it is hoped that I will be free of further treatment for years to come.”

Bishop Alan will retire on 31st December this year and is expected to serve over the Christmas period.

Paying tribute, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All-Ireland, Most Rev Dr Richard Clarke, said: “With our prayers, we all wish for Bishop Alan a happy and fulfilling retirement.

“We know that the decision to retire on grounds of ill-health has been a difficult and painful one for…

The law, in Himachal Pradesh state, is designed to prevent ‘forced conversion’ but Christians fear it will be used to put limits on their ability to pray for people and offer help.

Similar laws are already in force in six other states (Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Uttarakhand) and are gaining in popularity because it is believed that forced conversions happen and need to be prevented. Hindu radicals are calling to impose them at the national level.

A priest performing a conversion ceremony will also have to give a month’s notice and people who reconvert to their original religion are exempted from this requirement.

The bill prohibits the ‘offer of any temptation in the form of any gift or gratification or material benefit, either in cash or employment, free education in a reputed school run by any religious body, easy money, better lifestyle, divine pleasure or otherwise’.

The Christian freedom charity Open Doors suspect this could now mean anyone praying for someone else’s healing will be accused of enticing people into forced conversion.

The bill suggests seven years of jail for forced conversions, while the existing 2006 Freedom of Religion Act, which the new bill seeks to revoke, was proposing three years.

Any person or organisation violating the provisions will also not be allowed to accept donations.

The Ministry of Home Affairs…

After Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament was deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, peers were summoned back to the chamber at 3pm on Wednesday – with MPs returning to the House of Commons at 11:30am. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, sitting with Bishop Sarah Mullally and the other Lords Spiritual, asked the minister of state for departing the EU, Lord Callanan, whether there would be more openness if the government sought another Brexit extension. 

He asked: “Would the noble Lord agree with me that parliament has, justifiably or not, seen its reputation sink very, very low over the last few months and one of the ways of dealing with that is transparency.

“Will he therefore – regardless of how many letters there may or may not be – will he undertake that the government will be completely transparent and honest in the spirit, and not merely the letter of the law, about the actions they take over the next few weeks in connection with an extension?”

Lord Callanan replied: “We always endeavour to be as transparent as possible with regard to these matters whilst of course, still preserving the confidentiality of the negotiations.”

Later on, the head of the Church of England joked that he knew all about big divisions, saying the debate going on “‘demonstrates the total division across parliament, which is only a shadow of the immense divisions across the…