Alexander Larman

Today marks the centenary of Elizabeth II’s birth. Less than four years after she died, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch is still regarded with both veneration and genuine fondness by the people that she ruled over. It has been announced that the controversial memorial dedicated to the Queen in London's St. James's park will include a statue of her in her Garter robes – along with Prince Philip in naval uniform. A new charity, the Queen Elizabeth Trust (patron: King Charles) is also being launched today alongside a so-called ‘digital memorial’ that will allow members of the public to share their memories of her. Our beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer bleated that: As our longest‑serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II devoted her life to public service.

The news that the original Oxfam bookshop on St Giles in Oxford is not to close is not just a relief, but a rare victory in the ongoing battles between town and gown in the city. The building’s owners, Regent’s Park College, had attempted to take back the relatively modest space that the bookshop occupies and turn it into a common room for graduate students to ‘socialise and study’ in, which sounds like an arch euphemism. The college (my alma mater, in the interests of transparency) is keen to attract lucrative academics, and was apparently happy to ride roughshod over the literary desires of locals to do so.

Not since the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay in 1788 has a visit to Australia been so eagerly awaited as that of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Their quasi-royal tour seems mostly designed to bolster the publicity for a ‘girls weekend’ hosted by Meghan. The event, taking place in Sydney in a few days, still has tickets available – shock – at a mere £1,675 for a VIP pass. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, the couple's visit is receiving what those in Meghan's former trade of acting euphemistically refer to as 'mixed notices'. On the one hand, most observers acknowledge that Prince Harry is generally at his best when he is allowed to go off the leash and meet ordinary people and that his innate talent at connecting with well-wishers is reminiscent of his late mother.

Prince Harry used to be fun. It is easy to forget this given the Meghan-Montecito-highly litigious incarnation of the Duke of Sussex, but there was a reason why, for many years, he was the most popular and accessible member of ‘the Firm’. Less stiff than his brother and considerably less cerebral than his father, he conveyed a sense that he was Harry Wales, the royal you’d want to go for a pint with. Or, as we now know, to have ‘movie snuggles’ with journalists, with whom he could complain about being ‘hungover again for the third day running’.

The news that Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie will not be attending the royal family’s Easter service at St George’s chapel in Windsor might initially strike the uninitiated as insignificant. After all, every family has their own commitments over Easter, and given that both the princesses have young families of their own, they might be forgiven for choosing to prioritise lower-key private events over a get-together of the royal clan. Yet there are two things that make this noteworthy. The first is that it has been (subtly) briefed that the princesses have not been made welcome this year, with the telling statement that they have made 'alternative plans' for Easter.

After a period of several months in which attention has been mainly focused not on Prince Harry but on his uncle, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the pendulum looks as if it is swinging back to Montecito all over again. The news over the past week or so has not been good. Firstly, it was announced that the Sussexes’ much-ballyhooed deal with Netflix is spluttering to a close. Their last few projects have failed spectacularly, chief among them the ridiculed With Love, Meghan.  Secondly, Tom Bower’s latest exposé of all things Brand Sussex, Betrayal, is about to be published. Harry and Meghan have already denounced the book as a 'deranged conspiracy', but that hasn't stopped it selling briskly on Amazon.