ROYALS

Time to bless your feed with a new episode of our heartfelt new podcast, Love Stories, from The Australian Women's Weekly. Love Stories is about celebrating and appreciating love in all its forms. Think the stories behind how your favourite couples first met, siblings who have seen each other through thick and thin, parents and children and the deep bonds we have with our pets, and those who've loved, lost and learned to love themselves again. Find, follow and subscribe (or hit the +) to The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories wherever you like to listen to or watch your podcasts: on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and more.  There's a gorgeous back catalogue for you to binge on and catch all the feels! Olympic sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell, Georgie Tunny and Rob Mills spill on babies and marriage, Matty and Esther Acton on being 40 year old grandparents, Katie Noonan on the grief of divorce, David and Lisa Campbell on their long marriage, Jess Row and Peter Overon, Julie and Mick Goodwin and so many more!

First, let us introduce you to Curtis and Rachel McGrath, who are part of our special Love Stories: Acts of Service series <3 (and who have some very special news to share about their family)

 

Content warning: This episode discusses combat injury, traumatic limb loss and newborn emergency surgery. If it raises anything for you, support is available: Wounded Heroes Australia crisis line 1300 532 112 (24/7 for ADF members, veterans and their families); Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling 1800 011 046 (24/7) | Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7). 

Curtis McGrath was searching for landmines in Afghanistan when the ground beneath him changed his life forever. Two years into their relationship, Rachel was 1500km away when she got the call. 

In this episode, Curtis and Rachel sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the day everything changed, the months of hospital treatment and rehab that followed, and the slow work of rebuilding a new normal.  

They open up about a proposal on top of a mountain in Canada, the wedding that scraped in just before COVID-19 hit, and becoming parents to a son whose own fight for life began just days after he was born. Plus, there's an exciting announcement about the newest addition to their family. 

To all veterans who may be watching or listening to this episode, we thank you for your service. 

Moments you'll hear: 

• Rachel and Curtis' first meeting, and the door that got shut in his face 
• The blunt question Rachel asked Curtis before he deployed 
• The day in 2012 when everything changed 
• The moment in hospital that made Curtis realise what life looked like now 
• Meeting Prince Harry at the Invictus Games, and what Curtis really thought of him 
• The proposal: a Banff Gondola, lots of stairs and a beautiful sunset 
• A diagnosis days after their son Monty was born 
• An exciting announcement about the newest addition to their family 

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave...  

🗣️ Get in touch  

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au/love-stories-podcast  

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected]  

If you share your love story on social media, please tag us. We’re @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women’s Weekly at magshop.com.au/LOVESTORIES 👈🏽  

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes Australia.  

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice  

Need help now? Wounded Heroes crisis line 1300 532 112, 24/7, Australia wide. 

Credits 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Leah Porges 

Production by Leah Porges 

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn more: The Australian Women's Weekly website

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You've been waiting on a new episode from us for a while! Let us make it up to you by treating you to this beautiful new podcast Love Stories, from The Australian Women's Weekly. Love Stories is about celebrating and appreciating love in all its forms. Think the stories behind how your favourite couples first met, siblings who have seen each other through thick and thin, parents and children and the deep bonds we have with our pets, and those who've loved, lost and learned to love themselves again. Find, follow and subscribe (or hit the +) to The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories wherever you like to listen to or watch your podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and more.  There's a gorgeous back catalogue for you to binge on and catch all the feels! Olympic sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell, Georgie Tunny and Rob Mills spill on babies and marriage, Matty and Esther Acton on being 40 year old grandparents, Katie Noonan on the grief of divorce, David and Lisa Campbell on their long marriage, Jess Row and Peter Overon, Julie and Mick Goodwin and so many more! 

First, let us introduce you to Martin and Kim Shaw, who are part of our special Love Stories: Acts of Service series <3

 

Content warning: This episode discusses veteran suicide, family and domestic violence, PTSD, and severe financial hardship. If it raises anything for you, support is available: Wounded Heroes Australia crisis line 1300 532 112 (24/7, for ADF members, veterans and their families) | Open Arms — Veterans & Families Counselling 1800 011 046 (24/7) | Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) | 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 (24/7). 

When a veteran or their family rings Wounded Heroes Australia at 2am, the voice on the other end is Martin Shaw. As the charity's president since 2011, he knows how impactful the voice on the phone can be. The words he says every time are the same ones that helped his wife fall for him: "Don't worry, I’ve got you.” 

Kim Shaw heard him say those words before she ever loved him. She was focusing on work and not looking for love. When he first asked her on a date, she initially turned him down. When he tried again, she said yes and they were married within 12 months – but Wounded Heroes remained a major focus. Martin even took a crisis call on their honeymoon, but Kim never flinched. 

Theirs is a quieter kind of love story: two people who have built a marriage around holding other families together. And it’s the perfect place to begin our Acts of Service series, a new monthly limited series from The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories in partnership with Wounded Heroes Australia.  

In this episode, Tiffany Dunk sits down with Martin and Kim to talk about the marriage behind Australia’s only national, 24/7, non-government funded veteran crisis service. 

They explain what a $6.10 prescription, a $100 fuel voucher or a pizza delivered on Anzac Eve actually buys. Not a solution. A night. One in twenty Australian households has someone who has served. In 2023, suicide was the leading cause of death among ex-serving ADF members. Martin and Kim are two of the people who pick up when those numbers turn into a phone call. 

And Martin makes the case that sits at the heart of this whole series: everyone who signs up to defend this country does it out of love. Their whole life, as he puts it, is actually built around love. 

Moments you’ll hear: 

• The words Martin says to every veteran who rings in crisis, and why Kim calls them the most comforting thing she has ever heard. 
• “You’re a flirt, I’m not interested”: the knockback, the chase down the office stairs, and the wedding twelve months later  
• The $1,000 a soldier’s wife handed back, and the ten-year-old boy whose PTSD diagnosis changed the course of Martin’s life.   
• The night a veteran rang from a pizza shop with no wallet, no phone and no car, and what $6.10 fixed the next morning. 
• Anzac Eve in a house with no electricity, where a soldier had pawned his medals and his children had agreed to sell their PlayStation. 
• Why Martin has lent his own charity close to half a million dollars, including his own  superannuation.  
• The two times of year Wounded Heroes braces for: Christmas with New Year, and Easter with Anzac Day. 
• Martin on what love actually means here: “You don’t have to wear a uniform to be a warrior”. 

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch 

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au/love-stories-podcast 

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected] 

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we’re @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women’s Weekly at magshop.com.au/LOVESTORIES 👈🏽 

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes. 

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice 

Need help now? Wounded Heroes crisis line 1300 532 112, 24/7, Australia wide. 

Credits 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Leah Porges

Production by Leah Porges 

Our wonderful The Australian Women’s Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Australian Women’s Weekly website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary this week and appear more in love than ever. So, how do Kate and Wills keep the spark alive? This week New Idea's Zoe Burrell and royal commentator Angela Mollard, discuss the secret to the couples happy marriage and how they might be celebrating in lockdown. Plus, we chat all about Prince Harry's new TV appearance and what this could mean for his future work, and Camilla' surprising exercise routine in lockdown. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A series of text messages from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to her father Thomas Markle have been revealed in court papers and what they reveal is explosive! In this week's podcast New Idea's Zoe Burrell and royal commentator Angela Mollard dissect these text messages and discover what Thomas' relationship with Harry and Meghan is REALLY like. We also discuss the couple's shock decision to boycott the press, Prince Philip's kind words and how the Queen is celebrating her 94th birthday in lockdown. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Meghan Markle forges ahead with her new Hollywood plans in LA, Harry's friend has revealed that he is 'finding life a bit difficult.' So could brand Meghan be making Harry's life worse? This week, New Idea's Zoe Burrell and royal commentator Angela Mollard discuss how Harry is coping in LA, the couples plans for a tell-all interview and the thing that Meghan has made Harry give up. Plus, we reveal Beatrice's secret wedding hopes and what's on Camilla's reading list.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meghan and Harry are in the US now and they've confirmed the name of their foundation, Archewell. But has the former HRH Prince Harry made the biggest mistake of his life? Plus, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford discussed surprising Prince William on his 13th birthday, and they share the sweetest story about Princess Di. And one member of the royal family is really stepping up through the coronavirus crisis, and it's truly heartwarming.

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On Sunday evening, Queen Elizabeth II delivered a brave speech amid the COVID-19 pandemic to the people of the UK that left a lasting impression on those that watched. "I am speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time," the monarch begun. "A time of disruption in the life of our country: a disruption that has brought grief to some, financial difficulties to many, and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all."

 

This is only the fifth speech the monarch has ever given outside of her annual Christmas addresses, so Angela and Zoe bring you a special episode of ROYALS to unpack what The Queen said.

 

“We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again…”

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Are Harry & Meghan acting like rude teenagers? That's the question being asked by Royal biographer Angela Levin and on this week's episode Zoe and Angela discuss. Plus Megxit has happened, so what are the Sussexs going to do next? And we go deep on why Prince William wants to help his country during COVID19. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prince Charles, 71, has tested positive to COVID-19, commonly known as coronavirus, Clarence House confirmed. The Prince of Wales has tested positive for Coronavirus,' the statement began. 'He has been displaying mild symptoms but otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual. In accordance with Government and medical advice, the Prince and the Duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland.' His wife Camilla, 72, tested negative for the virus. So what does all this mean for the Royal Family?

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The Queen has gone into quarantine. Prince Charles and Camilla have escaped to Scotland and Prince William and Kate are in lockdown in Norfolk with their three kids. So how are the Royal family staying connected and why do they all need to be in different parts of the country? Join Angela Mollard and Zoe Burrell as they discuss how the coronavirus is impacting the Royal family and why Princess Beatrice is the unluckiest princess in the world right now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.