Alexander Larman is an author and the US books editor of The Spectator.
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There has been a recurring theme when it comes to meetings between the Duke of Sussex and his now estranged family in recent years. If he has any such meeting, sympathetic media outlets (if such a thing exists) will somehow learn of the contents and a (typically pro-Harry) story will appear shortly afterwards. Unsurprisingly, the
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When ITV executives commissioned The Hack, the new drama series dealing with the News International phone hacking scandal, they surely hoped they were getting another Mr Bates vs. The Post Office. Not only did it star that show’s Toby Jones as – bizarrely – Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, complete with ludicrous wig, but it was
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It is tempting to imagine Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson enduring a mutually resentful existence in Royal Lodge. Like an aristocratic version of Roald Dahl’s The Twits, perhaps. Or, to be vulgar, one might call them The Twats instead. The less-than-grand old Duke of York has now spent several years beset by stories linking him to disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey
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The news that the once-beloved, now-beleaguered coffee chain Starbucks is to fire nearly a thousand staff and close dozens of shops in both North America and Britain may not come as a surprise to many. Like many other relics of the Nineties – such as the Friends theme tune, Cool Britannia and vodka Red Bulls
As his new documentary shows, he’s not going anywhere
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Sarah ‘Fergie’ Ferguson, the beleaguered Duchess of York, may have finally met her reputational Waterloo. Despite showily cutting off all contact with the late paedophile and financier, Jeffrey Epstein, after his 2008 conviction and imprisonment for sex offences, it has emerged that she sent Epstein a toadying email in 2011 calling him a ‘steadfast, generous
Twelve Churches is a hugely accomplished and endlessly readable book, rich in historical and ecclesiastical detail
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Royalist or republican, you have to feel some sympathy for King Charles. In the past ten days alone, not only has he been largely responsible for ensuring that the first part of Donald Trump’s unprecedented second state visit went smoothly but before that, he had an audience with his hitherto estranged son, Prince Harry. It
The actor follows in Bryan Cranston’s footsteps
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President Trump arrives back in the United States today, and Keir Starmer will have returned to 10 Downing Street breathing a sigh of relief that this unprecedented second state visit went about as well as it could have done. However, there may be different feelings in Buckingham Palace and the other royal residences. Certainly, Trump’s
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So, the Donald was on his best behavior after all. There had been rumours flying around that President Trump would use his speech at the formal banquet that has been thrown in his honour by King Charles to make some pointed reference to free speech and its perceived absence thereof in Britain today. In the
His schtick wore thin a long time ago, and his continued presence owed as much to a lack of imagination as it did genuine talent
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The Donald has touched down in Britain for his unprecedented second state visit. It makes sense in a way that this most unconventional of American presidents is being granted a privilege that has never been offered to any other US leader, namely a repeat performance of pageantry and pomp that will flatter this Anglophile’s ego
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In the end, the Sundance Kid died in his sleep. The death of the actor, director and Sundance Film Festival founder Robert Redford at the age of 89 removes one of the last great American icons of cinema from the world stage. Redford was prematurely youthful, even towards the end of his life, never quite
Can Hollywood ‘do’ God?
The awards were perfectly entertaining, but had absolutely nothing to say about bigger, more serious issues
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Over the weekend, Prince Harry attracted the best headlines and coverage in this country that he has received for months – possibly since he and Meghan staged their abdication of all responsibilities and fled to Montecito in 2021. This was all because of his carefully choreographed charitable and public endeavours. The praise included ‘how easy
Grand? Probably not. Finale? Hopefully.
King feels too much and thinks too little
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The Ginger Pimpernel – as the world will probably not be calling the Duke of Sussex – has popped up once again. It was widely assumed that, after his surprisingly successful quasi-royal visit to Britain this week, he would be returning to Montecito and his family, but he has wrongfooted everyone by instead hopping over