As Prince Charles tours the Middle East this week, he will be once again following in the footsteps of one of his predecessors in the role. But while Jerusalem does not feature on his itinerary this time, when the future King Edward VII embarked on his tour of the region 151 years ago, the Holy Land was high on his agenda.

Photographs of the future king of England taken when he explored the Middle East in 1862 have gone on show in Edinburgh.

King Edward VII, then known simply as the Prince of Wales, spent four months in the Holy Land and the surrounding areas on an educational visit.

With one national treasure playing another, only the most committed republican could resist the charms of Helen Mirren’s serene portrayal of the Queen.

But only the most committed royalist would fail to feel slightly queasy by the end of this paean to the monarch.

A plaque is to be unveiled in Brighton in memory of the UK’s first Jewish chief constable — 170 years after he was murdered with an iron poker in his office.

When Henry Solomon died in 1844, thousands of mourners lined the streets, while Queen Victoria donated the sum of £50 to support his widow and nine children and the Brighton Town Commissioners gave £500.