The ultimate royal guide to wearing sequins: Princess Kate, Duchess Sophie & more sparkly party outfits

23 Dec, 2025 | Admin | No Comments

The ultimate royal guide to wearing sequins: Princess Kate, Duchess Sophie & more sparkly party outfits

Royal ladies wearing sequin dresses – the best glittering fashion moments from the Princess of Wales, Princess Charlene of Monaco, Princess Beatrice and Duchess Sophie.

Royal style
23 Dec, 2025 | Admin | No Comments

Exclusive: Real Housewives of London star Amanda Cronin unveils ‘Barbie’ home near Buckingham Palace after 2-year renovation

Real Housewives of London star Amanda Cronin has unveiled her fabulous London mews house in an exclusive shoot with HELLO!

Homes
22 Dec, 2025 | Admin | No Comments

The Princess of Wales’ ‘Quality Street’ dresses has Christmas style unwrapped

The Princess of Wales has worn some hugely sparkling festive dresses in ‘Quality Street’ style jewel tones – rich reds, royal blues, burnt oranges, sapphire greens and purples.

Royal style
22 Dec, 2025 | Admin | No Comments

Duchess Sophie’s lace dress may just be her most heavenly look yet

The Duchess of Edinburgh looked incredible wearing a white lace, ‘princess-style’ dress as she appeared on Radio Christmas earlier this month.

Royal style
22 Dec, 2025 | Admin | No Comments

Peter Phillips’ fiancée Harriet Sperling joins the royal ‘inner circle’ on lavish ski trip with Zara and Mike Tindall wearing £425 festive knit

Princess Anne’s son, Peter Phillips, and his fiancée, Harriet Sperling, joined Zara Tindall and her husband Mike on a ski trip. Harriet wore a £425 knitted cardigan by premium brand Wiggy Kit.

Royal style
22 Dec, 2025 | | No Comments

‘I’m getting married in July but I slept with someone else in Ibiza’

Agony Aunt Coleen Nolan has advise for a reader who is struggling because he’s getting married next year but has cheated on his partner

sex-relationships
22 Dec, 2025 | Admin | No Comments

Prince George the fashion influencer – future king sells out £27 jacket in seconds

The Prince and Princess of Wales’s eldest son, Prince George, looked so smart at The Passage in Victoria, wearing a red and blue zip-up jacket by Boden, which sold out as soon as the young royal wore it.

Royal style
22 Dec, 2025 | Admin | No Comments

I’m a dentist – two ‘harmless’ festive drinks could be wrecking your teeth

Christmas is a time of over-indulgence. From one too many pigs in blankets to copious bottles of Baileys, there’s always an excuse to eat and drink to excess. And don’t get us wrong, while we love having a packed-out social calendar where we can devour said festive treats, we also need to remember to take care of ourselves physically. This includes our oral health, too. (Picture: Getty Images)
Metro spoke with Dr Mohammad Ali, dentist and founder of Emerdency, to unpack some of the worst Christmas culprits that have more serious health consequences than you’d think. Dr Ali explains: ‘As people get into the Christmas spirit with festive coffees and hot chocolates, these drinks can be far more harmful than most realise. Their combination of sugar, acidity, and long sipping times creates the perfect environment for enamel damage.’ (Picture: Supplied)
The sugar intake in festive coffees is enough to begin softening enamel within minutes of contact, according to the expert, and repeated sipping over an evening increases the risk of erosion over time. Dr Ali reveals that many festive drinks also contain sugar levels that exceed those found in some desserts, making them particularly problematic when consumed frequently and over long periods. (Picture: Getty Images)
But it doesn’t end there. Not only can these ‘harmless’ drinks hurt your teeth and gums, but they can also contribute to wider health concerns if enjoyed more regularly. Here, Dr Ali unpacks the worst festive beverage contenders and shares the potential health issues behind them. Remember, no one is telling you to cut out these treats completely. Life would be pretty boring, otherwise. Like anything, it’s all about enjoying in moderation.

So, what are the two Christmas drinks the expert wants you to be aware of? (Picture: Getty Images)

Festive coffees

‘Although festive coffees feel comforting, nutritionally, they are closer to having a pudding,’ says Dr Ali. He states that many large festive coffees from high street chains contain between 40 and 55 grams of sugar, which is about 11 teaspoons. Even more shocking, he says that some have more calories than a McDonald’s cheeseburger. Dr Ali adds: ‘Because they are sipped slowly while hot, the sugary syrups coat the teeth and remain for much longer than cold drinks. This raises the risk of cavities and enamel erosion.’ Finally, the sudden rise in sugar intake can also trigger rapid blood glucose spikes, placing strain on the body and increasing inflammation. (Picture: Getty Images)

Hot chocolate and cream-topped drinks

Hot chocolate is very popular with children (and adults, who are we kidding?) and is often seen as a small festive treat. Many versions include cream, marshmallows or chocolate sauce, ‘all of which contain high sugar levels and have a sticky texture that clings to enamel,’ says Dr Ali. Because hot chocolates are strongly linked with Christmas, children often become more interested in them and will likely want to drink them daily through December. However, this gives mouth bacteria ‘a steady supply of sugar’, allowing them to ‘produce decay-causing acids throughout the day.’ Dr Ali reveals that sticky residues from cream and marshmallows can remain on the teeth for much longer than standard sweets, ‘increasing the risk of gum inflammation, faster decay, energy crashes and weight gain.’ (Picture: Getty Images)

The health issues behind these drinks

‘Many people do not realise that during the festive season, they often at least double their usual daily sugar intake,’ shares Dr Ali, who stresses that it’s ‘not recommended.’ Consuming so much sugar during a short space of time can set off a chain reaction of health problems — not just immediate dental effects. (Picture: Getty Images)

The health issues behind these drinks

• Poor sleep quality: Dr Ali says that festive coffees can contain more caffeine than standard lattes, especially in larger sizes. This can raise cortisol levels, making it harder to fall asleep, causing night waking, and leading to next-day exhaustion.
• Weakened immune system: ‘Large sugar intakes can temporarily blunt some white blood cell activity for several hours,’ Dr Ali warns. Over time, high blood sugar is known to weaken the immune system, especially in people with or at risk of diabetes.
• Increased diabetes risk: According to Dr Ali, the daily mix of hot chocolate and sugary coffees can cause repeated blood sugar spikes. Not a major scare if you sink the odd bev, but if they become a consistent addition to your diet, they can contribute to weight gain around the abdomen, insulin resistance, fatigue and mood changes.
• Cardiovascular strain: Dr Ali explains that sugary sweet drinks can work together to raise cholesterol and increase inflammation. This can place ‘added pressure on the heart and cardiovascular system’ at a time of year when people are less active and often eating richer foods.

The take-home for all of the above? One hot chocolate isn’t going to harm you, and enjoying Christmas won’t give you diabetes. Again, the word ‘moderation’ is key.

(Picture: Getty Images)

A dentist’s advice for a safer and healthier Christmas drinking season

The one thing Dr Ali wants you to remember more than anything? Understanding the risks behind festive drinks makes it easier to make informed choices. The ultimate goal is to then limit harm to your teeth and general health. He recommends… (Picture: Getty Images)

A dentist’s advice for a safer and healthier Christmas drinking season

• Avoid slow sipping
• Aim to finish your drink within 20 to 30 minutes to reduce the length of acid attacks
• Use a straw for acidic beverages, as this can reduce direct contact with the teeth
• Rinse with water afterwards
• Avoid brushing straight after acidic drinks, as enamel remains soft for around 30 minutes
• Make simple swaps
• Choose options with no added sugar, request half syrup in festive coffees and try darker hot chocolate versions
• Treat festive drinks like desserts
• Limit coffees, hot chocolates and other sugary festive drinks to once a day to protect teeth and keep blood sugar levels stable

(Picture: Getty Images)

Health
22 Dec, 2025 | Admin | No Comments

Study finds an ancient diet can boost your heart health

We all know that a Mediterranean diet has a lot of health benefits, but have you considered a Nordic one? New research has suggested that having a Nordic diet full of fish, vegetables, berries and whole grains could not only boost your heart health but also reduce the damaging effects of Type 2 diabetes. Swedish scientists looked at the impact of a Nordic diet on the health of more than 100 people in a study. So, what did they find? (Picture: Getty)
Publishing the results in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers found the diet helped slash the amount of fat in the livers of participants. They said their findings showed the diet could be an effective way to manage type two diabetes and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), which is a liver disease not linked to alcohol but rather to cholesterol levels and obesity. (Picture: Getty)
The team also found that the diet helped more than half of the participants with MASLD go into remission, with some patients also reporting a reversal of pre-diabetes. The Nordic diet differs from the Mediterranean one as it focuses on lean proteins, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. While the Mediterranean diet is rich in olive oil, the Nordic diet promotes the use of canola and rapeseed oil, both of which are rich in monounsaturated fats that promote heart health. (Picture: Getty)
Professor Ulf Risérus, study co-author, said: ‘The healthy Nordic diet gave the best results in the study participants with diabetes. Just over 20 per cent of their liver fat was reduced and glucose control improved over one year. More than half of the participants also saw a remission of their fatty liver disease. This makes these results equally important for people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease as those with type 2 diabetes.’  (Picture: Getty)
Dr Michael Fridén, also co-author, said: ‘Even though participants were allowed to eat as much as they wanted from the foods recommended, they still lost weight. In many previous studies of different diets, calorie intake has been restricted, which is effective in the storm, but increases in hunger can be difficult to follow in the longer term.’(Picture: Getty)
Previous research has also discovered that eating a traditional Nordic diet may help you lose weight faster than a more processed diet. In a study, the researchers split 150 people into three groups, where the first was asked to follow a low carb plant-based diet, low in animal products such as meat, seafood, eggs and dairy. The second followed a healthy Nordic diet. The third was the control. All participants were also told to limit their consumption of sweetened drinks, sweets, candy and snacks with added sugar. (Picture: Getty)
A year later they found the low carb plant-based diet and Nordic diets were similar in reducing liver fat as well as bad cholesterol. The Scandinavian meal plan was also more effective in reducing blood glucose over the long term, and also had more beneficial effects on body weight. However, the researchers could not prove exactly why the Nordic diet had this effect, but say it could be due to its higher consumption of oats and wholegrain bread and low butter consumption. (Picture: Getty)
Health
22 Dec, 2025 | Admin | No Comments

Exclusive: Inside the ‘weirdly wonderful’ world of the Marchioness of Bath as she prepares for Christmas at Longleat

Emma Thynn, the Marchioness of Bath, gives us a glimpse of her life during the festive period at Longleat, from hosting a family feast to welcoming celebrity guests

Homes
Copyright © All rights reserved. | curiousdrive.com