Alexander Larman is an author and books editor of Spectator World, our US-based edition
Rishi Sunak’s political journey over the past few years was summed up by him well in a joke he made responding to the King’s speech earlier this month: ‘On the government benches, life comes at you fast…before you know it, you have a bright future behind you, and you are left wondering if you can
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, according to the old adage; and so it stands that someone who you find generally objectionable can also, occasionally, be correct. Many people who would not count themselves fans of Prince Harry would find it hard not to sympathise with his ongoing campaign against more scurrilous elements
The protesters were out, as usual, but nobody was paying them a lot of attention. For all the angry bellowing and sign-waving of ‘Not my King!’ and ‘Down with the Crown’, most observers were not focusing on a small, disaffected rabble outside parliament, but instead on the constitutional and historical significance of the occasion. The
When the King greeted Keir Starmer last Friday, his first words to him were: ‘You must be utterly exhausted and nearly on your knees’, to which the new Prime Minister replied: ‘Not much sleep.’ From the body language and easy rapport between the two men, most inferred that this was a relationship that was likely
The prince has become as unloved a figure in the United States as he is in Britain
It must be a strange time to be Prince Harry. A year and a half ago, he was the most famous man in the world, thanks to the headline-grabbing publication of his autobiography Spare. Whether you thought it was brave, incisive and fascinating, or overwritten tawdry nonsense, it was hard not to have an opinion
JK Rowling’s denunciation of Labour leader Keir Starmer marked a rare moment in the election – a campaign in which the celebs have fallen quiet. At the 1997 election, Labour’s landslide was accompanied both by explicit endorsements from the great and the good. Noel Gallagher and Geri Halliwell, those two Britpop icons, both appeared alongside
This year has been one of the worst imaginable for the Royals. The King and the Princess of Wales are both battling cancer, and now Princess Anne has been hospitalised, suffering what is said to be ‘minor injuries and concussion’ following an incident involving a horse. The Princess Royal, who is 73, was rushed to
In any other year, the major story of the Trooping the Colour would be how grim and unseasonal the wet, cloudy weather was this June. How the cold and rain potentially rendered the pageantry and pomp of this historic affair somewhat anticlimactic – not that the countless spectators, in person and watching on television, cared.
I have recently had the bad fortune to read a forthcoming biography of the Princess of Wales. Its greatest fault isn’t just that it’s poorly written, incurious or unrevealing, but that it came out at exactly the wrong time. What would, under normal circumstances, have been a harmless enough puff book now becomes irrelevant the
She will not be fully back on show for some time to come
The attack by animal rights activists on the new portrait of King Charles, currently on display at the Philip Mould gallery in London, is both depressing and predictable. It is depressing because it suggests that any work of art, whether historic or contemporary, is now fair game for a bunch of privileged, often spoilt young
Eighty years ago, in the run up to D-Day, King George VI and his Prime Minister Winston Churchill were caught up in an unseemly private squabble. Both men wished to accompany the combined Allied forces into battle, knowing that – as long as the initiative succeeded – it would be an unparalleled public relations coup.
The monarch spoke, intelligently and affectingly, about how D-Day represented the finest hour that Churchill had promised his people
On 16 October 1946, the Duke of Windsor, the former Edward VIII, and his wife Wallis were visiting England for a short period. They were staying with their friends the Dudleys at Ednam Lodge in Surrey, and felt sufficiently comfortable not to store Wallis’s impressive collection of jewellery in the house’s safe room, but instead
Touring the country’s literary festivals as an author isn’t glamorous. Like travelling salesmen, we get into our cars or board trains to head to destinations that are often hundreds of miles away to talk about our books for an hour or so. The audience – if the talk has gone well – will then hopefully
The cliché about Oxford – and as a resident of the city, I have skin in the game here – is that it’s the most beautiful city in Britain. Think of all the writers and poets who have rhapsodised about its glories, from Evelyn Waugh immortalising (some would say fossilising) it in Brideshead Revisited to
Jonathan Yeo’s choice of red background color is certainly unorthodox
The first official portrait of King Charles III since his coronation has been unveiled. Both the artist Jonathan Yeo and the King should be delighted: the vast oil on canvas, which was seen for the first time at Buckingham Palace today, captures a remarkable likeness of the King. One particular work of his might give
The couple’s charitable endeavor has been banned from soliciting or spending any money for the time being