Good evening. Despite not being published until next week, the Duke of Sussex's autobiography is already making headlines around the world. We have the latest on all the revelations, from an alleged fight with his brother to the disclosure that Harry killed 25 people in his role as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan.
Evening briefing: Today's essential headlines
Labour | Sir Keir Starmer has announced that a Labour government would introduce a Take Back Control Bill to devolve power away from Westminster. Delivering his first major speech of 2023, the Labour leader accused the Tories of engaging in "sticking plaster politics" as he called for a focus on delivering long-term fixes to the nation’s problems.
However, he refused to stand by his promise to scrap tuition fees, citing the “damage that has been done” to the economy. Meanwhile, Grant Shapps will unveil plans to introduce minimum service levels across key services on Tuesday in a bid to beat the strikes, but a wider crackdown on the unions is set to be shelved by the Government.
- Ukraine | Putin's offer of peace talks in exchange for land dismissed
- Climate | UK's average annual temperature tops 10C for first time
- Jamaica | British tourist's murder was 'contract killing', police say
- Environment | Farmers to be paid double for planting hedgerows
- History | Mystery of ancient dots on Europe's caves is solved
The big story: Spain the source of royal revelations
The release of Prince Harry’s memoir was supposedly being conducted amid the tightest security. No advance copies of Spare have been officially released ahead of its publication on Tuesday, and the publicity campaign has been restricted to a tiny handful of interviews with journalists selected for their sympathy towards Harry and Meghan.
Yet the couple’s best-laid plans were ruined when Spanish bookshops decided to put the memoir on sale five days early. As news outlets rushed to snap up Spanish-language versions of the book - called En La Sombra, or In The Shade - the publishers’ PR strategy went out the window. An avalanche of royal revelations has subsequently followed.
These include reports that Harry is said to claim in the book that the Prince and Princess of Wales encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform to a party in 2005. The Prince and Princess “howled with laughter” when they saw him in the costume, according to Page Six magazine.
Claims that William shoved Harry to the floor in a physical altercation at Kensington Palace in 2019 have also been reported by the Guardian. Camilla Tominey writes that for Harry’s claim that William not only physically attacked him, but also encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party, suggests he is the ultimate “spare”; an over-pampered prince wanting all the privileges but none of the responsibility of royal life. She adds that "rather than taking ownership of his actions, everything is everyone else’s fault".
Coronation doubts
Harry also cast doubt over his attendance at King Charles's Coronation. In a new trailer for a one-on-one interview with ITV, he said the "ball is in their court".
In the clip, host Tom Bradby asks Harry about his plans for the coronation, which is due to take place at Westminster Abbey on May 6. “If you are invited to the Coronation, will you come?,” Mr Bradby asks. Declining to confirm his attendance, Harry replies: “There’s a lot that can happen between now and then."
Today's developments follow a rebuke from Nelson Mandela's granddaughter. Ross Clark writes that Nelson Mandela represented everything that Prince Harry is not.
'Taking of human lives'
Harry is also set to disclose that he killed 25 people in his role as an Apache helicopter pilot during his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.
In his autobiography, he said that he flew on six missions that resulted in “the taking of human lives”, something he said he was neither proud nor ashamed of.
He added that in the heat of combat he did not think of them as “people” but as “chess pieces” that had been taken off the board.
Gordon Rayner writes that it is the first time that Harry has discussed the number of Taliban fighters he personally killed during his military service, and is likely to increase concern about his personal safety.
Comment and analysis
- Tom Harris | Starmer is playing Blair’s game – and it’s getting results
- Tom Stevenson | Get ready for market lift-off in 2023
- Ruth Kelly | Failure to reform childcare would be an expensive error
- Con Coughlin | The UK is finally realising the real Iran threat
- Michael Deacon | Nagging wives are the key to a good marriage
World news: Pope Francis leads farewell to Benedict
As 12 pallbearers lifted Pope Benedict XVI's coffin, cries of 'Santo Subito' could be heard – an appeal to make him a saint. Pope Francis bent his head in silent prayer and placed his hand on the coffin of his predecessor as the Vatican laid to rest the only pontiff to have resigned from the Seat of St Peter in six centuries. It was the culmination of a moving two-hour ceremony in which red-robed cardinals, heads of state, bishops, nuns, priests and the faithful crowded into St Peter’s Square to say a final farewell to the man born Joseph Ratzinger in Bavaria 95 years ago.
Thursday interview
Simon Bird: ‘The Inbetweeners wouldn’t be made today’
The comic actor shot to fame as the nerdy Will. He talks about sounding like Rishi Sunak – and how his new show satirises Christianity
Sport news: Raducanu blasts 'slippery' court
Emma Raducanu blamed slippery indoor courts for an ankle injury which forced her to retire from the ASB Classic in tears and may jeopardise her Australian Open prospects. After commandeering the opening stages of her second-round match against Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova, the British No 1 rolled her left ankle during a rally at 5-5 in the second set. The match had been postponed from Wednesday due to persistent rain in Auckland and, with the stormy weather not letting up, organisers opted to move matches to the indoor practice facilities on Thursday. Molly McElwee writes that Raducanu did not appear affected by the unglamorous setting, not unlike the courts she grew up playing on at Bromley Tennis Centre, but she was not happy with the standard of the "very slick" playing surface.
Editor's choice
- Travel | How Antarctica has become the world’s newest over-tourism battleground
- Music | Inside the tour that sent Iron Maiden ‘barking mad’
- Property | Inside Sweden’s collapsing housing market – and how Britain could be next
Business news: US bank forced to fire 40pc of staff
Crypto-focused bank Silvergate is to cut 40pc of its staff as the crisis in the digital asset sector sparked by the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's empire rumbles on. The meltdown in the sector, triggered by the bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX in November, promoted a $8.1bn (£6.8bn) run on deposits held by Silvergate in the final quarter of last year. Meanwhile, Next raised its profit forecast after a successful Christmas shopping season despite the cost-of-living crisis. The clothing and home furnishing retailer expects full-year pretax profit of £860m, up from a previous forecast of £840m.
Tonight starts now
Cough remedies are like gold dust – here’s how to make your own | Nothing says January quite like the scent of a steaming mug of Lemsip wafting through the office. When you’re ill it’s an oddly comforting smell; when you’re well, it’s vile – somewhere between lemon bleach and industrial strength limoncello. If you’ve noticed a lack of Lemsip around, it isn’t because your colleagues are in fine health – far from it. It’s because there’s a run on it. If you are under the weather and can't get hold of over-the-counter medicine, it can be worth trying a DIY treatment.
Three things for you
- Review | A Man Called Otto: Forrest Grump? No thank you
- Fay Weldon | ‘She-devil’ was every repressed 1980s woman’s fantasy
- Tax | Why making a phone call to HMRC could cost you £140
And finally... for this evening's downtime
Southern England’s little-known alternative to the Hamptons | There are few situations in modern life when being ill-prepared and disorganised can lead to interesting things. Travel is, occasionally, one of them. Laura Fowler writes that at low tide, when the sky is blue and the pale sand flats of West Wittering in West Sussex stretch out forever, they can resemble an English version of Whitehaven, the slice of paradise in Australia’s Whitsunday Islands.
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