Alexander Larman is an author and books editor of Spectator World, our US-based edition
Cometh the hour, cometh the Prince of Wales. At least, that is what Prince William and those around him will be desperately hoping the result of his trip this week to Rio de Janeiro will be: a reset for the royal family after weeks of terrible, existentially damaging headlines, mainly but not entirely revolving around
John Lewis’s Christmas advert is back – and this year’s effort is even more mawkish, unfocused and wearying than ever. The latest promo, conceived by advertising veterans Saatchi & Saatchi, is yet another underwhelming instalment in the store’s increasingly desperate attempt to sell their wares. Everyone’s favourite bastion of middle-class sensibility has latched on to
There is a saying, variously attributed either to Euripides or Shakespeare, that is something along the lines of ‘the sins of the father will be visited upon the children.’ By anyone’s reckoning, this is deeply unfair and wholly undeserved, but the treatment of Prince Andrew’s children, the Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, will soon bear out
It’s all over for Prince Andrew or, as he is now known, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. The former Duke of York, ex-trade envoy and, for all we know, Grand Pooh-Bah of Kazakhstan, has been stripped of every one of his titles. Andrew has also been ejected from his Windsor mansion by his brother, the King. Mr
About 20 years ago, the actor and comedian Steve Coogan did a tour called, with typical self-deprecation, Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge and Other Less Successful Characters. I saw the show and it was, as you’d expect from Coogan, amusing and cleverly performed. Yet it ended strangely; Coogan sang a self-lacerating song called ‘Everyone’s a Bit
One of the many horrors of the Prince Andrew scandal is the way that, ever since it worsened a now scarcely imaginable ten days ago, there is the growing sense that it is becoming uncontainable. The depth and extent of public anger became clear yesterday when, during a visit to Lichfield Cathedral, a lone protestor,
When I last wrote about the banned old Duke of York, following his voluntary decision to stop using his titles, I suggested that many will now be wondering why the last step of throwing him out the Royal Family altogether cannot be taken. Over the past week, something that would have been unlikely – even unthinkable –
In any other week – or month, or year – King Charles’s visit to Rome would have been a truly seismic occasion, laden with symbolism and religious importance. Some may have recalled the unexpected significance of that great Father Ted line, ‘That would be an ecumenical matter’, when the news was announced that the King
When did you last go to a Pizza Hut? It’s one of those curious groups of fast food establishments – ‘restaurant’ seems rather too grandiose a term – that fell through the reputational cracks several years, perhaps even decades, ago, and has yet to expire. It was too expensive and fancy for those who wanted
If the Royal Family had hoped the punishment meted out to ‘the Banned Old Duke of York’ would suffice in the court of public opinion, they would now be disappointed. Since Friday’s revelations that Prince Andrew would ‘no longer use’ his dukedom or other honours following the stream of scandals about his friendship with paedophile
After much speculation, Prince Andrew has relinquished his royal titles, most notably the Dukedom of York and the Order of the Garter. This represents an existential humiliation for the beleaguered ‘Randy Andy’. This represents an existential humiliation for the beleaguered ‘Randy Andy’ Yet it could have been seen coming a royal mile off. The latest
At the close of Milos Forman’s Oscar-winning film, Amadeus, the central character, the terminally envious court composer Salieri, declares: ‘I speak for all mediocrities in the world. I am their champion. I am their patron saint.’ It’s one of the many memorable lines in the film, adapted from Peter Shaffer’s play, which revolves around the
The Duchess of Sussex has been largely absent from the public eye since the release of the second series of With Love, Meghan, which came and went without anyone – save sarcastic journalists – bothering to pay it much attention. However, Meghan Markle is nothing if not indomitable. And so, shortly after she and her
It has not been a good year to be the Duke of York. Firstly, Andrew Lownie’s devastating joint biography of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, Entitled, splashed allegations of the grim antics of the prince over its unforgiving pages, to bestselling effect. In a few weeks, Virginia Giuffre’s posthumously published memoir will also be published.
The death of the actress Diane Keaton at the age of 79 was greeted with an understandable mixture of sadness and surprise. Sadness, because the death of one of the leading ladies of the Seventies and Eighties (and beyond) robs the film industry of one of its true originals, and surprise, because nobody had any
Whether you consider World Mental Health Day an important and necessary means of drawing attention to often overlooked issues, or a gimmicky fad that somehow manages to overlook the other 364 days a year that such matters are equally important, there is no doubt that the royal family have been doing their bit to raise awareness. Never
You’ve got to feel sorry for Prince Harry. After some of the best headlines he’s had in years during his well-received return to Britain last month, that goodwill has swiftly been dismantled under a blizzard of bad publicity. There was the accusation that he or someone around him leaked sensitive information about his brief meeting
The Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant once remarked that every successful musician has what he called ‘an imperial phase’, during which they can apparently do no wrong. In the case of Taylor Swift, the most successful and famous musician on the planet, her imperial phase has lasted from 2012, when she released her breakthrough album Red, until
When I found out about the death of Dame Jilly Cooper while waiting for a train, I said, out loud, ‘Oh no!’ with such vehemence that several of the commuters around me shuffled away, clearly frightened by their proximity to a madman. Cooper’s death at the age of 88 – a good innings, but also
For many, it is hard to overstate the appeal of Greggs, one of those rare high street chains that provides good-quality food at affordable prices. When it comes to such hero items as the steak bake or the sausage roll – whether with actual sausage or the vegan equivalent – it has inherited the Lyons
