“Woke Royals”

When Andrew Lownie submitted his manuscript for his incendiary book about Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, he was braced for heavy legal redactions. But in the end there were far fewer deletions than feared. “I was surprised by what the lawyers let through,” he tells me.

The result of this leniency is among the most lurid, marmalade-dropping, outlandish books published about a senior royal. Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York makes Prince Harry’s Spare look positively restrained.

Andrew and Harry are destroying the Monarchy.

Prince Harry has been hit with a wave of criticism in the Channel 5 documentary Prince Harry: My Terrible Year, with royal experts savaging both his behaviour and his struggling media ventures. Royal biographer Ingrid Seward accused Harry of crossing the line when it came to Princess Kate, telling viewers: “He rubbished Kate for money he didn’t even need – that will not be easily forgiven.” The remark referred to claims Harry has made in recent years, which some insiders say have worsened family tensions.

Jeffrey Epstein sold Prince Andrew’s “most intimate secrets” to foreign intelligence agencies around the world, a new book has claimed.

Compromising material on the Duke of York is alleged to have been passed to Israel’s Mossad, the Saudi Arabian authorities and the Libyan intelligence services under Colonel Gaddafi.

Details of the claims are made in a new book on the prince, by author Andrew Lownie, which describes how the royal was easy prey for a “rattlesnake” like Epstein.

On the morning of Tuesday, February 9, 1999, a small group gathered at an airport for private planes just outside New York, ready to catch a Gulfstream jet to the US Virgin Islands. One of the three waiting passengers was the glamorous British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late media baron Robert Maxwell.

Her personal assistant Emmy Taylor waited with her. The third and final member of the group was Prince Andrew.

Andrew and Ghislaine were good friends – and over the years had been occasional lovers – and through her, the prince had come into the ambit of her boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein

Netflix has announced it will not renew its $100 million deal with the insufferable Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, aka, The HarryMeg.

A quick rundown of the planet healing itself…

Among those attending the 40th anniversary bash for the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, one guest stood out – King Charles III.

The presence of the UK’s sovereign at an Islamic studies institute was hardly a surprise, however. And not just because he is the centre’s patron. Charles, it is fair to say, is an unabashed Islamophile. He may have claimed some three decades ago that, as king, he intended to be the defender of faith – rather than the defender of the faith as his official role has it – but there is definitely one faith that he prefers above all others. And it’s not that of the Church of England.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s hopes of a new Netflix deal are ‘dead’ after their two most recent shows flopped, it was claimed today.

The Duchess of Sussex has ‘had everything going for her’ but the viewing figures for With Love, Meghan have still been ‘dismal’, an insider at the streamer reportedly said.

Meghan’s lifestyle show failed to break into Netflix’s top 300 programmes for the first half of 2025 and was even thrashed by multiple seasons of Suits.

The Duke of York is off the hook.

After more than five years of him living under suspicion, fearing that knock at the door, the FBI has drawn a line under its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s network of friends and associates.

It will release no more files nor pursue any “third parties”.

But there should be no popping of champagne corks at Royal Lodge, the Duke’s Windsor home.

Until quite recently I was very confident that the monarchy would survive for the foreseeable future. Polling suggested that support for a republic was becalmed at around 20%, although always higher among younger age groups, and that this figure had barely shifted in decades. Big occasions like royal weddings and the old Queen’s Jubilees brought forth an enormous groundswell of goodwill. Protests by anti-monarchists felt mean-spirited and joyless.

King Charles III is officially in charge of saving the planet: his role has been redefined to include leading on “environmental sustainability”.

The monarch’s job as “Head of Nation”, which he undertakes alongside that of “Head of State”, will now include four key themes, confirmed by Buckingham Palace in an annual report.

The King and his household will work on the topics “national unity”, “community impact”, “environmental sustainability” and “cultural heritage”.

Well, you can’t say that we weren’t warned. Repeatedly. At the beginning of this week, the Duchess of Sussex wrote in a subscriber newsletter, in that inimitably faux-chummy way that she has perfected:

“First off, a sincere thank you for making the debut of As Ever absolutely extraordinary. We had a feeling there would be excitement, but to see everything sell out in less than an hour was an amazing surprise. We are pleased to share that on 20 June, we’re going live with the products you love – plus, some new delicious surprises.

‘Absolutely extraordinary’ is one way of describing the profoundly underwhelming launch of a few pieces of overpriced tat. But as veteran Meghan-watchers know, such barrages of hyperbole are par for the course, and so I lay in wait, metaphorically speaking, for the ‘delicious surprises’ that we have been promised.

The British monarchy stands as a symbol of national continuity, tradition, and sovereignty. At its heart lies the Coronation Oath, a solemn vow the monarch makes to rule according to law and custom, to maintain the Protestant religion, and to uphold the rights and freedoms of the realm. This oath, taken before God and country, is more than a ceremonial rite; it is a pledge to defend British sovereignty and constitutional heritage.