Alexander Larman

Whisper it, but the tide may be turning for one of Britain’s most unpopular, and unfortunate, men. The news that Thames Valley Police have admitted to using unlawful warrants to search Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s homes when he was arrested earlier this year is undeniably a victory for the beleaguered former Duke of York. It also might well be the beginning of the end for the police investigation into allegations of his misconduct in public office. There was widespread scepticism when it was announced that Andrew would be taking the police to court, and Buckingham Palace sources were quick to stress that the King would not be funding any part of the legal process. But Andrew has now won the first round at the Royal Courts of Justice.

The news of the death of Jeffrey Archer at 86 came in somehow typical circumstances. The bestselling novelist, Conservative peer and all-round reprobate was hard on the publicity trail for Adam and Eve, which he was calling his final book, although, typically, he was leaving the door ajar for future literary endeavours. Apparently his ‘sudden and peaceful’ death came between writing sessions at his Westminster penthouse. A home where he liked to show guests at his famous Krug and shepherd’s pie parties the views over the Thames that Monet had once painted.

As controversy continues to rage about the ‘he said/he said’ dynamic in Earl Spencer’s damning memoir – and whether Prince Harry knew (and, crucially approved) of the allegations in the book – there is, at least, the opportunity to draw light relief from something rather less consequential. It might seem strange to remember this, given the various other disasters in the world today, but Meghan Markle – now, of course, a resident in Britain once again – is continuing to run her As Ever brand. Even though she no longer has the backing of Netflix and her cursed With Love, Meghan television specials to promote it, it continues to be a going concern. Now, we have been treated to Meghan's dinner party hosting tips. They are neither profound nor revelatory.

Although 2026 isn’t a significant anniversary year for J.R.R. Tolkien, there has been more attention paid to the author recently than most deceased authors get when it’s their centenary. Firstly, D.J. Taylor published his critically acclaimed quasi-biography of Tolkien, The King Under the Mountain, which is the first serious attempt to examine the writer and his legacy since Humphrey Carpenter’s authorised life in 1977. And now, as if in serendipity, Westminster Abbey has announced that there will be a new memorial to the Lord of the Rings creator in Poets’ Corner, to be designed by artist Stephen Broadbent.

When Earl Spencer was interviewed by Larry King in 1997, he had nothing but words of praise for the-then Prince Charles, in the aftermath of Diana’s death and funeral. When Larry King asked if the Prince of Wales had had anything to say about Spencer’s fiery eulogy, his guest replied, ‘Not about the speech, no, but he was perfectly polite all day’, and went on to stress that, ‘Nothing nasty has ever been said about it by him to me.’ Spencer attempted to claim that he was drawing a distinction between Charles as king and Charles as unpleasant brother-in-law.

As soon as it was announced, somewhat unexpectedly, that Harry and Meghan would be returning to Britain, with the primary intention of educating their children at expensive private schools there, commentators – including this one – speculated that it would be a three-ring circus and that their presence in the country would be eventful, if not wholly consequential. And so it has come to pass. A mere few weeks after they touched down once again in Blighty, the dynamic duo and their brood dominate the royal coverage, possibly to the chagrin of the so-called ‘working royals’. But H ‘n’ M have long been skilled at drawing on various purses without necessarily putting the hours in, and the latest row about their security is a fine example of this.

The death of the convicted sex offender, actor and writer Chris Langham of pancreatic cancer at the age of 77 brings to an unhappy end one of the most turbulent public careers of any English entertainer. Langham was jailed for ten months in 2007 after having been found guilty of downloading and possessing level five child pornography, and while his sentence was reduced to six months on appeal, the taint of his conviction clung to him for the remainder of his life.  While Langham continued to deny that he had accessed the material for anything other than research purposes – and to make sense of the child abuse that he claimed that he had suffered in his youth – the judgement of Detective Superintendent Paul Fotheringham of Kent Police proved to be the lasting one.

The death of the Norwegian monarch, King Harald, at the age of 89 might, initially, seem like a sad but ultimately inconsequential event as far as the British royal family are concerned. Still, at a time when there are only a few monarchies left in Europe, there is an informal fraternity of sorts between the kings and queens who still – some would say anachronistically – cling onto their thrones. And in the case of the Oxford-educated King Harald, there were many parallels, for good and bad, that King Charles, Prince William and the rest of the Windsors would do well to learn from. Given Norway’s rather smaller size than Britain, it is unsurprising that its monarchy has always been a more informal and less rulebound institution than ours.