REPORTS: KATHRYN WILSON. LAURA BENJAMIN.

PRINCESS BEATRICE A CLASS ACT WITH A BIG ART

With a question mark still hanging over our Christmas celebrations, Princess Beatrice is keen to promote the art of giving, backing an online auction featuring works by artists including Sir Antony Gormley and Katharine Le Hardy (below). More than 40 paintings, sculptures and photographs will go under the hammer in a bid to raise money for the Northwood African Education Foundation (NAEF), of which the Princess (left) is patron.

The cash will go directly to a school set up by NAEF in Ethiopia, a country that recently declared a state of emergency. Calling it a “hugely challenging year”, Beatrice thanked those involved, adding: “Their donations will enable the charity to raise money in difficult times, ensuring they can continue to provide full-time education to more than 400 children currently at St George’s Ethiopia.”

The initiative will get the thumbs-up from her younger sister, Princess Eugenie. Before becoming associate director at art powerhouse Hauser & Wirth’s in London in 2015, she spent almost two years in New York working for online auction house Paddle8.

The auction is live until 3 December. Visit givergy.uk/NAEF.

REPORTS: KATHRYN WILSON. PHOTOS: DAVE J HOGAN. GETTY IMAGES. KATHERINE LE HARDY/NAEF. WOKINGHAM FOODBANK

THE COUNTESS OF WESSEX SCONES GET ROYAL SEAL OF APPROVAL

She is one royal you can always bank on to roll up her sleeves and get to work during a crisis. And that was the case when the Countess of Wessex made an unofficial visit to a food bank close to her home in Surrey.

Casually dressed in jeans, a jumper and boots, and with a floral face mask, Sophie helped prepare food parcels (right) for needy families at the Wokingham Foodbank, a short drive from Bagshot Park, where she lives with her husband the Earl and their children Lady Louise and Viscount Severn. She also chatted to volunteers about how they have responded to the pandemic, and posed for socially distanced photos (left).

Always a good mixer, Sophie’s visit came days after completing the Act Your Age challenge for Girl Guiding UK (of which she is president) and BBC Children in Need, baking 55 cheesy bacon scones – one for every year of her life.