Royal family
Fact check: did Harry and Meghan have a secret wedding?
Oh dear. Not content with having claimed that baby Archie was denied his rightful title, last night’s interview with the…
Minister’s Sussex snub
What does No. 10 think about Harry and Meghan’s Palace intrigue? Perhaps we can glean some insight from the comments…
Prince Harry’s brave revelation
Monarchy is madness, a national delusion in which adults behave as children and project onto the objects of their desire.…
What the Oprah interview means for the monarchy
An institution that weathered and survived the abdication crisis and the aftermath of the death of Diana Princess of Wales…
Harry and Meghan’s incendiary accusations
Well! On the bright side, Oprah Winfrey got her money’s worth. Also on the bright side, Prince Harry is sixth…
Portrait of the Week
Home First-dose coronavirus vaccinations totalled more than 20 million. A study suggested that in the over-eighties, a single dose of…
Diary
Santa Monica is a soothing place to be locked down. I moved here from New York for four months in…
Princess Eugenie and the perilous business of baby names
Naming a child turns out to be one of the hardest things you can do. The secret to nailing it…
Harry, Meghan and the nature of public service
Well, the ways have parted. That 12-month revision of the departure of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for California…
Portrait of the week
Home On Sunday 7 February, as the week began, 11,465,210 people in the United Kingdom had received a first vaccination…
His mother’s son
The echoes of Diana in Prince Harry
Portrait of the week
Home The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine began, rather slowly, to be given to some old people in hospital and health workers.…
The Spectator’s Notes
My inbox is crowded with messages from Old Etonians attacking Simon Henderson, the headmaster of Eton. They are furious that…
Marriage of inconvenience
‘We have to stop it now!’ says Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter), smoking another cigarette, obviously. She’s talking about the…
Royal Notebook
Not since the befuddled twilight of George III has a monarch been confined to Windsor Castle for such a duration.…
Case history
Boris’s new permanent secretary is a complicated choice for No. 10
Portrait of the Week
Home The number of people with the coronavirus disease Covid-19 who had died in hospitals by the beginning of the…
Portrait of the week
Home At the beginning of the week 319 people in the United Kingdom had been found to be suffering from…
Harry and Meghan’s farewell tour
Farewell tours tend to be the preserve of ageing rock stars. Royals, cut from the cloth of Elizabeth Windsor, are…
Portrait of the Week
Home The government told Britons returning from 11 quarantined towns in northern Italy to isolate themselves, for fear of spreading…
Barometer
What a hole The World Health Organisation added processed meats to its list of ‘known’ carcinogens. A few of the…
Portrait of the week
Home The Budget, still scheduled for 11 March, had to be rewritten after Rishi Sunak was made Chancellor of the…
Step back
At this time of year in Colorado the crime of puffing is widespread. It is so cold that in the…
Barometer
Parliamentary motions The government floated the idea of moving the House of Lords permanently to York. Until it was found…
Family matters
There are as many explanations for Harry and Meghan’s problems with the royal family as there are commentators. May as…
