As the end of the year fast approaches, we thought you might enjoy a photo recap of the royal highs and lows of 2024.

It was a challenging year for the royal family, with some serious health revelations from King Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales.

But there were also more positive moments as the months ticked on. There were visits to Nigeria and Colombia by Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and increased visibility for several members of the clan, such as Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh.

As questions swirled over how much the public is entitled to know about the royal family, the relative transparency from the monarch and his daughter-in-law put a spotlight on the cancer struggles faced by so many.

The King became patron of Cancer Research UK, visiting cancer patients as he resumed his public-facing duties at the end of April. Kate’s annual Christmas carol concert highlighted the themes of love and empathy in the “darkest times.”

Summer provided some much-needed levity when Taylor Swift chose to go Instagram-official with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in a selfie with Prince William during her Eras tour. Meanwhile, Kate’s surprise appearance at the Wimbledon men’s singles tennis final had the center court crowd on their feet.

Here’s our look at 2024 in images:

January: Just a few weeks into the year, it was revealed that both Charles and Kate were dealing with health conditions requiring time in hospital. Palace statements didn’t reveal the exact diagnoses for either of the royals, which created considerable speculation, but it was confirmed that both would be out of action for a number of months.

February: William – dealing with his father’s cancer revelation and his wife’s recuperation from an unspecified abdominal surgery – was called on to pick up some of the King’s responsibilities. He found himself thrust into an increased role. Queen Camilla and Princess Anne also took on more engagements.

March: Across the pond, Prince Harry and Meghan visited Uvalde, Texas, to spend time with the family of a teacher killed in the May 2022 school shooting there. The couple have kept in touch with the family since the massacre. Within days of the tragedy, Meghan traveled to Uvalde to pay her respects after two teachers and 19 children were killed by a gunman.

April: In April, Charles looked cheerful as he returned to public duties with his first engagement since revealing his cancer diagnosis back in early February. The monarch took the opportunity to visit a cancer treatment center in London, run by UK charity Macmillan Cancer Support, of which he has been patron for nearly three decades.

May: Charles’ first official portrait since his coronation – which depicts the monarch against a fiery red background – proved divisive, with some saying it reminded them of a hellish landscape. Not long after the painting was unveiled, it was vandalized in the London art gallery where it was on display, by activists seeking to draw attention to animal cruelty in farms across the UK.

June: William celebrated his 42nd birthday in style at Taylor Swift’s Eras tour at London’s Wembley Stadium. He was spotted dancing in the crowd and even posed for a photo backstage with the singer, accompanied by two of his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. “Happy Bday M8!” Swift later posted on her official X account.

July: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh attended Royal Week in Scotland, which celebrates Scottish culture. Like many royals, Sophie has stepped up over the past year to support the British monarch as he has been undergoing cancer treatment. It was a year of firsts for the duchess, who became the first member of the British royal family to visit Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, to show her solidarity with survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. Later in the year, she headed to Africa, visiting Tanzania and Chad, which is in the grip of a refugee crisis amid war in neighboring Sudan.

August: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex took their third international trip of the year, heading to the Colombian capital of Bogotá, following earlier appearances in Canada and Nigeria. It might have looked like a typical royal visit, but as the couple are no longer working royals, the four-day South American trip was done in a private capacity. They used the event to raise awareness about online harms ahead of the first Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children.

September: Kate made public her cancer-free status and her plans to return gradually to public engagements. The announcement was accompanied by a joyful video showing Kate, William and their three children – Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte and Prince George – walking through the English countryside, as well as playing among sand dunes and wading in the sea.

October: Charles took part in his first long-haul multi-country trip since his cancer diagnosis, to Australia and Samoa. The visit was full of the usual pageantry but not without drama when a lawmaker interrupted his speech at Australia’s Parliament House, declaring “You are not my King.” Charles later revealed that he regretted not visiting other countries in the region, like New Zealand and Fiji, but was following doctor’s advice, according to the PA Media news agency.

November: William visited South Africa to engage in a back-to-back schedule of eco-related engagements, culminating in the 2024 Earthshot Awards. The glitzy ceremony was attended by the likes of American actor Billy Porter and Australian conservationist Robert Irwin, the son of the late “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin. Environmental issues were the defining theme of the four-day visit to the country – a cause that has been championed by three generations of royals, including William’s grandfather, Prince Philip, and his father, King Charles III.

December: Kate looked radiant as she hosted her annual Christmas carol service last Friday at Westminster Abbey. It was the fourth iteration of her “Together at Christmas” concert, which this year was themed around love and empathy. The princess arrived early to make sure she had plenty of time chatting with guests and musical performers. She then headed back outside to greet her family as they arrived. Read more on this story here.

Don’t miss: King Charles serenaded during visit to iconic power station

King Charles was in jovial form on a visit to London’s redeveloped Battersea Power Station on Thursday, and that was even before he met multi-award-winning British singer Raye, who joined the King on stage, to the delight of the crowd.

The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter’s performance of Christmas songs showcased a voice that won her six Brit awards this year, but she was still starstruck to meet Charles, admitting to everyone gathered that this is “very scary, very fancy, very amazing.”

Earlier, the King met small-business owners at a Christmas market set up by King’s Trust alumna Megan Jones, who founded Curated Makers, an initiative that connects small businesses with retail spaces, after she took part in the King’s Trust’s enterprise program. Charles was then welcomed to Apple’s new UK head office by CEO Tim Cook and hundreds of employees.

The monarch met young people recently supported by a partnership between Apple and the King’s Trust. As some shared the new skills and technology they had mastered, the King told them they were “going to go from strength to strength.”

As pollution worsens in the Indian capital, parents are facing an impossible choice: stay or go.

Amrita Rosha, 45, is among those choosing to flee with her children. Both of them — Vanaaya, 4, and Abhiraj, 9 — suffer from respiratory problems due to rising pollution and need medication.

Every year for the past decade, a blanket of smog has enveloped Delhi when winter approaches, turning day into night and disrupting the lives of millions of people. Some of them, particularly young children with less developed immune systems, are forced to seek medical care for breathing issues.

Rosha ensures her children get top health care — including doctors’ visits, steamers, inhalers and steroids — and trips outside Delhi to escape the choking air.

While wealthy families like the Roshas can escape, it’s a different story for those without the means to leave.

About 15 miles away in a Delhi slum, Muskan, who goes by her first name, looks on with worry at the remaining medicine drops for her children’s nebulizer, a machine which turns liquid medication into fine mist to be inhaled through a face mask or mouthpiece.

The mother rations its use because she struggles to afford more.

“We give half-half (of the dosage) of the medicines to our children,” she said, referring to Chahat, 3, and Diya, 1. They’ve been on nebulizers since each of their first winters, as early as they were born.

Muskan bought the $9 nebulizer after weeks of hard work on the streets. She makes a living picking up rags and other pieces of refuse, and her husband is a day laborer.

“When they cough, I feel scared that my children may die. I’m filled with regret, as I keep worrying about something awful happening to them,” she said.

Leaving Delhi

The suffering of Delhi’s children, year after year, has become impossible to ignore.

“Children are having to rely on steroids and inhalers to breathe … all of north India has been pushed into a medical emergency,” Delhi’s Chief Minister Atishi, who goes by her first name, said last month.

The Supreme Court has stepped in to monitor the measures introduced to curb pollution, which is generally caused by a combination of factors including vehicular emissions, crop burning and construction work, along with unfavorable meteorological and climatic conditions.

This has included banning cars, demolition and construction work, and spraying roads with water. Authorities have also increased public transport and cracked down on crop burning.

Despite these measures, Delhi has remained the most polluted city across India in November for eight years, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Manjinder Singh Randhawa, a doctor in the pediatric intensive care unit at the Rainbow Children’s Hospital, said this year he has been diagnosing younger children with asthma in “a very critical state” for the first time.

In the long-term, pollution can have a serious impact on the respiratory, immune and cardiovascular systems, he added.

In some parts of Delhi last month, pollution levels exceeded 1,750 on the Air Quality Index, according to IQAir, which monitors global air pollution. Any reading above 300 is considered a health hazard.

During these weeks the pollution levels for PM 2.5, smaller particles which can penetrate deep into the lungs, spiked to more than 70 times the health limits set by the World Health Organization. It was over 20 times that level this week. Studies indicate that inhaling PM 2.5 can lead to cognitive impairment in children.

A costly escape

Some parents, like Deepthi Ramdas, prioritized their children’s health and relocated years ago. When her son Rudra was born three years ago, she did not think leaving Delhi would ever be on the cards. But that changed when she saw him admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit in January 2022.

The doctors told her she should leave Delhi if she wanted her son’s lungs to develop, Deepthi recalled. Since she had family in the southern state of Kerala, she decided to go.

“It was not an easy decision. I had to quit my job which I loved… and because my husband had to continue to be in Delhi for work… we got into a long-distance marriage,” she said.

But Deepthi finds relief in knowing Rudra has had no breathing issues in Kerala. They visited Delhi in the first week of December to meet their father. “We hoped since he is 3 now (that) his lungs would be stronger, but within a few days Rudra had an attack and was on nebulizers again,” Deepthi said.

“Looking at him like that was heartbreaking. There is no way I am moving back to Delhi,” she said, sharing pictures of Rudra from when he was in hospital in 2022 to him playing outdoors in Kerala in October.

Anxiety in the air

Many parents in Delhi are living under anxiety fueled by their inability to escape the city due to work and other commitments.

When Urvee was expecting, she recalls her husband, Prateek Tulsyan, responding to news of pollution by saying he’d ensure there were enough air purifiers at home to protect his child. However, nine months after delivery, Reva had her first attack.

Urvee added: “I am constantly checking her temperature, do not allow her to go out or eat anything that may exacerbate her condition. I am now an over-protective parent.”

If she hears Reva sneeze, she knows a cough is coming, followed by congestion and then the need for the nebulizer.

Urvee said they’ve decided to move to Guwahati, northeast India, where the air quality is better, during the high pollution months next year.

“I am born and brought up here, comfortable here, so to create another home there won’t be easy but we have no choice,” she said.

No way out

Muskan and her neighbors in the Delhi slum are not as fortunate.

She runs to the shared nebulizer when her children show symptoms like chest pain, coughing or vomiting. She says the children ask for it themselves and use it with practiced precision. But not everyone is able to afford to have the machine at home.

Some of her neighbors rush to the nearest private clinic and pay about 80 rupees or $1 for each treatment.

One of them is Deepak Kumar, a daily wage worker with four children. His youngest and only daughter, Kripa, 1, is using a nebulizer for the second consecutive winter season since her birth.

“The doctor asked us to buy it, but we do not have that kind of money,” he said.

One visit to the doctor costs more than his daily wage.

Nights are the worst. When there are no doctors available, he relies on balms and steam to help his daughter get through the night. Even when she is sleeping well, the mounting debt due to medical expenses keeps him awake.

“Yes, I am in debt of 20,000 rupees ($235) and to pay that off I am trying to work even harder,” he said.

Many like Kumar have come to Delhi from different parts of India to seek a better life, but they’re stuck.

“It should not be so hard to live in the capital,” he said.

Israel wasted no time after Bashar al-Assad’s fall to bomb all the Syrian military assets it wanted to keep out of the rebels’ hands – striking nearly 500 targets, destroying the navy, and taking out, it claims, 90% of Syria’s known surface-to-air missiles.

But it is Israel’s capture of Syria’s highest peak, the Mount Hermon summit, that may prove among the most lasting prizes – though officials have insisted that its occupation is temporary.

“This is the highest place in the region, looking upon Lebanon, upon Syria, Israel,” said Efraim Inbar, director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS). “It’s strategically extremely important. There is no substitute for mountains.”

The summit of Mount Hermon lies in Syria, in a buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces for fifty years until last weekend, when Israeli troops took control of it. Until Sunday, the summit was demilitarized and patrolled by UN peacekeepers – their highest permanent position in the world.

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, on Friday ordered the military to prepare for the harsh conditions of winter deployment. “Due to developments in Syria, it is of immense security importance to maintain our control over the summit of Mount Hermon,” he said in a statement.

Israel captured the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau in southwestern Syria that abuts Mount Hermon, in the 1967 war and has occupied it since. Syria attempted to retake the territory in a surprise attack in 1973, but failed, and Israel annexed it in 1981. The occupation is illegal under international law, but the United States recognized Israel’s claim on the Golan during the Trump administration.

Israel has for decades held some lower slopes of Mount Hermon, and even operates a ski resort there, but the peak remained in Syria proper.

“We have no intention to intervene in Syria’s internal affairs,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video days after Israel bombed hundreds of Syrian targets and seized the demilitarized buffer zone. “But we certainly intend to do everything necessary to take care of our security.”

Mount Hermon’s summit is a tremendous asset under Israel’s control. At 9,232 feet (2,814 meters), it is higher than any point in Syria or Israel, and second to only one peak in Lebanon.

“People sometimes say in the age of missiles, land is not important – it’s simply untrue,” Inbar said.

In an academic paper published in 2011, he wrote of the many advantages presented by Mount Hermon.

“It enables the use of electronic surveillance deep into Syrian territory, giving Israel early-warning capacity in case of an impending attack,” he wrote. Advanced technological alternatives like airborne surveillance, he argued, was simply not comparable. “In contrast to an installation on a mountain, these cannot carry heavy equipment such as big antennas, and they can be shot down by anti-air missiles.”

The peak is just over 35 kilometers (about 22 miles) from Damascus, which means that control of its Syrian foothills – also now in IDF hands – put the Syrian capital within range for artillery cannons.

The Israeli prime minister has said his “hand is extended” to the new government in Syria. But in the post-October 7 world, he and other national security heavyweights have made clear they are not going to take any chances.

“Mostly, it’s a comfort for us,” retired Brigadier General Israel Ziv said of Israel’s operations in Syria. “We have learned what happened in other countries when you have a terror organization that captures military equipment.”

Netanyahu has also insisted that the occupation is temporary. “Israel will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7 style attacks,” he said. His criteria for withdrawing, he said, was a Syrian force “that is committed to the 1974 agreement can be established and security on our border can be guaranteed.”

It is unclear when that may be achieved.

Whether the military withdraws “is a political decision,” Inbar said. “The military would love to stay there.”

Mike Schwartz and Tim Lister contributed to this report.

South Korea’s parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday in an extraordinary rebuke that came about after his own ruling party turned on him following his refusal to resign over his short-lived martial law attempt.

It is the second time in less than a decade that a South Korean leader has faced impeachment proceedings in office and means Yoon is suspended from exercising his powers until the decision is finally adjudicated by the country’s Constitutional Court.

Following the vote, Yoon conceded that he will “stop temporarily for now, but the journey to the future that I’ve walked past with the people for the past two years should not stop.”

“I will not give up,” he said in a statement shared by the country’s presidential office.

“With all the encouragement and support for me in mind, I will do my best until the last moment for the nation,” he added.

The country’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who will serve as acting president under South Korean law, told reporters that he would “devote all my strength and effort to stable operation of state affairs.”

The dramatic decision marks the culmination of a stunning political showdown after Yoon briefly declared martial law on December 3 and sent soldiers to parliament, where lawmakers fought past troops to enter the building and vote down the decree.

Yoon’s gamble backfired spectacularly, galvanizing many in the vibrant Asian democracy to call for his removal.

Opposition parties tried impeaching him a week ago – but Yoon survived after members of his ruling People Power Party boycotted the vote, saying they hoped the president would voluntarily resign instead.

Yoon then doubled down – giving a defiant speech on Thursday in which he defended his martial law decision, lambasted the opposition, claimed he was trying to save the country and vowed to “fight until the last moment with the people.”

Yet moments before that speech, the leader of Yoon’s party withdrew his support for the president and backed impeachment as the “only way… to defend democracy”, instructing lawmakers to vote with their conscience.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Seoul on Saturday, braving the cold to call for Yoon to resign ahead of the vote, which was passed by 204 lawmakers with 85 voting against it.

Meanwhile, thousands of the president’s supporters gathered in downtown Seoul, with many waving US and South Korean flags, chanting slogans and holding up signs in support of the embattled Yoon.

Yoon, who has been immediately suspended of his powers, now awaits a ruling by the Constitutional Court – one of the country’s highest courts – to confirm his fate, which can take up to six months.

If confirmed, he will become the second South Korean president to be thrown out of office by impeachment after Park Geun-hye, the country’s first female leader.

The now acting president, Han Duck-soo, also faces his own political problems and is being investigated over his role in the martial law decision, adding to the political uncertainty in the weeks ahead.

A former prosecutor and conservative firebrand, Yoon has had a difficult two years in office, mired in low approval ratings and political scandals involving his wife and political appointments.

Since he took office in 2022 he has also faced political gridlock with an opposition-majority parliament – which prevented from moving forward on legislation to cut taxes and ease business regulations, as his main rivals in the Democratic Party used the legislature to impeach key cabinet members and hold up a budget bill.

His administration cracked down what he referred to as “fake news” with police and prosecutors raiding multiple media outlets, including MBC and JTBC, as well as the homes of journalists.

Yoon argued that his frustration with the political deadlock drove him to take a bold power move, surprising not only members of his own party but also many military leaders.

Police raids and treason investigations

In his late-night address declaring martial law, Yoon accused the opposition of “anti-state” activities and being in cahoots with North Korea, without providing evidence – a charge his opponents have strenuously denied. He also portrayed his act as the only way to break the political deadlock in parliament.

But it was met with shock and anger across the country, which remains deeply scarred by the brutality of martial law imposed during decades of military dictatorship before it transitioned into hard-won democracy in the 1980s.

Dramatic scenes from that night showed security forces breaking through windows in the National Assembly to try and prevent lawmakers from gathering, and protesters confronting riot police.

Since then, pressure on the president has grown, with police, parliament, prosecutors and the anti-corruption body launching separate investigations into Yoon on treason allegations. On Tuesday, lawmakers approved a special counsel to investigate whether Yoon committed insurrection and abused his power by issuing martial law.

Last week, South Korean prosecutors detained former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun, who allegedly recommended the martial law imposition and resigned in the wake of the scandal. Kim attempted to end his own life in custody late Tuesday, according to the head of the country’s correctional service.

On Thursday, Yoon said he had only discussed the martial law decree with Kim before declaring it. Meanwhile parliament has already impeached both Yoon’s justice minister and his police chief.

Senior government officials have testified at various government hearings over the last week revealing some extraordinary details about the night of the martial law order.

Special Warfare Command Commander Kwak Jong-geun testified that he received a direct order from President Yoon to break the doors of the National Assembly and drag out the lawmakers, but he did not comply.

South Korea, one of East Asia’s most important economies and vital US regional ally, now faces months of protracted political uncertainty of the kind that dominated the country during the last impeachment crisis in 2016 and 2017.

Then-president Park Geun-hye was ultimately impeached by lawmakers over corruption allegations, kicked out of office by the Constitutional Court, jailed and later pardoned.

Georgian lawmakers voted in a far-right former soccer star as the country’s next president on Saturday, amid mounting popular anger over the government’s halt to EU accession talks.

Mikheil Kavelashvili, 53, is a former MP for the ruling Georgian Dream party and played for the English soccer team Manchester City during the 1990s. He was the only candidate in the running.

For the first time, the president was chosen not by a national election, but in parliament by a direct ballot of a 300-member electoral college made up of MPs and representatives of local government. Because the four main opposition groups have boycotted parliament since October’s disputed election, Kavelashvili was a shoo-in to win.

In total there were 225 electors present for the vote, and 224 voted for Kavelashvili, who was the only candidate nominated, Reuters reported. He will be inaugurated on December 29, the news agency said.

Kavelashvili is a hardline critic of the West and his upcoming presidency will no doubt deepen tensions in the country between pro-Kremlin forces and pro-European Union protesters, many of whom who have camped out in Tbilisi for the past 16 nights following the government’s decision to halt talks on joining the EU.

The outgoing president, Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-Western figure who has joined the opposition protesters, said the presidential vote makes “a mockery of democracy.” Before the vote, she vowed to remain in office despite the result, insisting she holds the only legitimate institution left in Georgia.

“I’m here and will remain – standing together with everyone!” Zourabichvili said late Friday.

This is a developing story and will be updated.