King Charles sounded 'giddily elated' at Diana's death, Spencer claims

The claims touch on a sensitive moment in the royal family's history, nearly three decades after Diana's death in a Paris car crash in 1997.

Cameron Walker reported that "there was certainly some rumors that Megan would also turn up, but it was certainly just the prince." Harry declined to comment on his uncle's memoir allegations. The presence of police and military personnel at the event underscored its status as a high-level royal engagement.

Lambeth Palace withdrew an interfaith award given to Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi after controversial remarks he made in 2007 surfaced. The award was withdrawn on the 25th anniversary of September 11, compounding the sensitivity of the decision. Ashrafi's past comments included a reference to Osama bin Laden as the "sword of God." The cleric's spokesperson has argued that the remarks were taken out of context, while the palace initially presented the award as recognition for interfaith reconciliation efforts.

Jacob Rees-Mogg highlighted a stark reduction in British naval capacity between the end of the Cold War and 2024. Personnel fell from 63,000 to 33,000, while the fleet contracted from 160 ships to 63 ships. The decline in warships is particularly acute: destroyers and frigates dropped from 30 vessels in 2010 to 13 by 2025. Rees-Mogg questioned whether the current fleet is adequate to protect the nation, arguing that for an island nation, the Navy must be the centerpiece of defense strategy.

Stuart Anderson, the Conservative shadow minister for war readiness, rejected the Prime Minister's presentation of a choice between social security and national defence. Anderson characterized the framing as an ideology that works against the nation's defence: "I certainly don't agree with the prime minister and his approach really set out an ideology that comes against uh the defense of this nation." He argued that both social security and defence are essential and should not be pitched against each other. Anderson asserted that the UK currently lacks the defence readiness necessary to safeguard itself.

Anderson cited NATO data showing Britain's military position deteriorating across multiple measures. On defence spending as a percentage of GDP, the UK has fallen from roughly 3rd place to around 12th and continues to drop. More alarming are readiness tables: the UK ranked 31st out of 32 NATO nations in recent assessments. Iceland, which possesses no military, is the only NATO member ranking lower than Britain. The figures illustrate both the financial squeeze on UK defence and questions about operational preparedness compared to allied nations.

Panelists on Rees-Mogg's show found common ground on defence procurement failures. Rees-Mogg stated: "Whenever you look at defense procurement, you see the waste is dreadful and that we didn't manage to put that right when we were in office and nothing has happened since." Scarlett Maguire highlighted inefficient "cost plus" contracts that allow contractors to pass costs to the government rather than compete on price. James Price noted that large defence firms lack incentive to meet project timelines. The contrast emerged between Britain's decade-long ship production cycles and South Korea's rapid defence manufacturing, suggesting institutional rather than technical problems.

The panel debated whether civil servants alone bear responsibility for failed projects like HS2, a major infrastructure scheme. Scarlett Maguire argued: "It's not just it's not about the civil service. It's also about MPs about each one saying there's plenty of blame to go around." Panelists agreed that failures stem from a systemic British problem involving MPs, civil servants, and industrial policy together rather than dysfunction in any single institution. The discussion reflected frustration that both Conservative and Labour governments have struggled to address these same failures, suggesting the problem persists across political cycles.

Andrew Griffith made his first speech as Conservative shadow chancellor by attacking the government's economic policy. He drew a pointed comparison to his Labour predecessor: "Like his predecessor, I fear the chancellor isn't listening. He's Rachel Reeves without the rhetoric." Griffith critiqued Labour for high debt levels, increased taxation, and what he characterized as a burden on the self-employed. He demanded the chancellor rule out new taxes and an exit tax on business owners. Griffith pledged that a Conservative government would replace IR35, the tax legislation that governs how self-employed contractors are taxed, and would scrap certain inheritance taxes he views as obstacles to economic growth.

Rees-Mogg argues the legislation creates barriers to independent consulting and self-employment by introducing uncertainty about tax treatment. The debate reflects a wider divide between Labour's focus on government revenue and the Conservatives' emphasis on removing barriers to business formation.

The West of England combined authority illustrates his point: staff costs spiked from £4.2 million to £20 million over six years. Rees-Mogg questions whether devolution is simply a mechanism to justify higher taxes while creating new bureaucratic positions. The critique suggests that recent devolution experiments have failed to deliver efficiency gains and instead ballooned administrative overhead.

He stated: "You don't need these jobs." A panelist in the discussion, identified as Mirrison, defended the salary as appropriate for a role consolidating functions previously held by multiple abolished bodies. Rees-Mogg countered that transparency of public salaries is fair scrutiny and that the roles themselves may be unnecessary regardless of how they are compensated. The exchange reflects a fundamental disagreement about whether regional governance bodies represent genuine administrative efficiency or costly duplication.

Rees-Mogg raised concerns about the Office for National Statistics being relocated to Newport, citing this as an example of how decentralizing government agencies leads to talent loss and institutional degradation. He argued that moving established offices away from London and established centres damages their capacity to attract and retain specialized expertise. The relocation of statistical agencies is particularly troubling, he suggested, because it undermines the independence and quality of data collection and analysis essential to sound policy-making. The broader point Rees-Mogg was making is that devolution-driven relocations prioritize political symbolism over institutional effectiveness.

Buckingham Palace issued a rare public statement in response to Lord Spencer's allegations, according to royal correspondent Robert Hardman. The palace's response suggested that fraternal grief may have clouded Spencer's memory. Hardman noted the echoes of Queen Elizabeth II's famous phrase "recollections may vary," a line the late Queen deployed when facing uncomfortable claims. Hardman observed: "it was an extraordinary statement in response to an extraordinary claim. I mean definitely had echoes of her late majesty's immortal line recollections may vary." The palace's carefully worded response stops short of a direct denial, instead implying that Spencer's recollection of events may be unreliable without explicitly contradicting him.

Lord Spencer's memoir also alleged that Diana's father, Johnny Spencer, had a romantic liaison with the future Queen Elizabeth II when he served as her equerry, and that Lord Mountbatten had to intervene to stop it. Royal correspondent Robert Hardman dismissed the claim as implausible based on the timeline. Johnny Spencer became equerry to Elizabeth II in 1952, by which time she had been married to Prince Philip for five years, was the mother of two children, and was, Hardman noted, "very happily married." Hardman stated flatly: "The idea that be some sort of liaison with her equerry. I mean, it's for the birds." The claim collapses when examined against documented facts of the Queen's marriage and family status at the time Spencer allegedly served in the role.

Alex Armstrong reported on the government's facing pressure to take action against the group. The protests focused on migrant arrivals and border control, with Patriot Platform using the demonstrations to build public visibility. The calls for a ban reflect concerns about the group's ability to mobilize activism around sensitive immigration issues and the government's limited options for responding to protest movements that operate within legal bounds.