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[00:00:00] going on beneath the day's big stories.
[00:00:03] stories. Now on BBC News Newscast.
[00:00:09] Newscast. A huge row has broken out out between Buckingham Palace and
[00:00:12] and Princess Diana's brother Earl Earl Spencer. It's around this moment
[00:00:16] moment when the very young princes princes William and Harry were walking
[00:00:19] walking behind their mother's coffin
[00:00:21] coffin at her funeral in 1997. Earl
[00:00:23] Earl Spencer's new book makes some some explosive claims about what
[00:00:26] what was said at the time by the
[00:00:28] the King. Then Prince Charles. We We will discuss what's going on in
[00:00:32] in this episode of Newscast. Hello,
[00:00:35] Hello, it's Adam in the Newscast Newscast studio. And it's Daniella
[00:00:38] Daniella also in the Newscast studio. studio. So we're recording this episode
[00:00:40] episode of Newscast on Thursday afternoon afternoon at just before 3:00. But
[00:00:44] But it seems to me all the action action on this story happened on
[00:00:48] on Wednesday night. Just explain explain to us what went on. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Because on Wednesday
[00:00:52] Wednesday night, the Daily Mail, Mail, who are Serialising Earl Spencer's
[00:00:55] Spencer's new book about his sister sister called Swan Song, dropped
[00:00:58] dropped a story ahead of the first first extract of the book appearing
[00:01:02] appearing where they. Which is coming coming out about now. Yeah, exactly.
[00:01:06] exactly. They are. The mail are going going to be serialising the book book for the next few days. They
[00:01:10] They dropped a new story about the
[00:01:12] the upcoming serialisation last night, night, which recounted a real. Earl
[00:01:16] Earl Spencer said he had with the the King back in 1997 when the King
[00:01:19] King was Prince of Wales. Earl Spencer Spencer said that he challenged the
[00:01:23] the King about whether Princes William William and Harry should walk behind
[00:01:25] behind Diana's coffin in challenging challenging the King. The King got
[00:01:29] got cross and said rest assured your your sister will be forgotten soon.
[00:01:33] soon. And that became a massive headline. headline. And then we got this response
[00:01:36] response from Buckingham Palace and and I'll just read the whole thing thing because it's one of those Buckingham
[00:01:40] Buckingham Palace quotes where you you need to hear the whole thing. thing. And also we will talk about
[00:01:43] about the backstory to this because because it's very interesting and
[00:01:45] and a big part of the nation's history. history. So here is the Buckingham Buckingham Palace statement from
[00:01:49] from Wednesday night. It says while while we do not comment on books
[00:01:51] books as a matter of principle, His His Majesty is mindful that the pain
[00:01:55] pain of fraternal grief can cloud cloud reason, affect judgement and
[00:01:59] and colour memory in ways that others
[00:02:01] others do not recognise, even many many years after such a loss. It's
[00:02:05] It's quite poetic statement as statements statements go. Normally you'd expect
[00:02:08] expect a no comment. Yeah. What do do you make of that? It was interesting.
[00:02:12] interesting. And when we first saw saw the mail story last night, my
[00:02:14] my gut feeling was I don't think
[00:02:16] think they'll say anything. I think
[00:02:19] think they will probably stay away away from this because it's messy.
[00:02:23] messy. It's personal. It's difficult difficult and they'll just let it
[00:02:27] it roll and say nothing. And of course, course, the late Queen's motto, we're
[00:02:29] we're told never explain, never complain. complain. So I did think initially
[00:02:33] initially it would really very much much be a moment for that and there
[00:02:36] there would be a silence. But they they responded quickly to that. You
[00:02:39] You know, within a couple of hours hours of the Daily Mail story being
[00:02:43] being published, we had this statement, statement, as you say, it's quite
[00:02:46] quite poetic, a little bit flowery flowery in parts in terms of what's
[00:02:50] what's been said, but it is also also pretty robust and very direct.
[00:02:54] direct. You get exactly what they they mean there. You can feel the
[00:02:58] the anger in it and, you know, talking
[00:03:00] talking to people around the palace
[00:03:03] palace after this had been published, published, I think there's, you know,
[00:03:06] know, the level of anger about this this is something I haven't really really experienced that often with
[00:03:10] with them. There's been lots of situations situations where they're cross, they're they're furious. They want to challenge
[00:03:13] challenge something we've been saying saying or doing. You can feel they're
[00:03:16] they're upset about something. They They were furious, I would say about
[00:03:20] about this really furious on a number number of levels. One, because they
[00:03:22] they just do not believe it's true.
[00:03:25] true. Lots of people said it doesn't doesn't sound like the King, even
[00:03:28] even in those charged days after after the death of Diana. It just
[00:03:31] just doesn't feel like the kind of of thing he would have said. They're
[00:03:35] They're upset about the nature of of the book, the idea that Earl Spencer
[00:03:38] Spencer is making money from his his sister's story again, and they
[00:03:42] they just think the timing of it
[00:03:44] it doing it now that it is unconscionable unconscionable is what someone said
[00:03:48] said to me, which is again, another another very much a palace word.
[00:03:51] word. But, you know, they're really really upset about it. Because if
[00:03:53] if we sort of parse the statement. statement. So His Majesty is mindful
[00:03:57] mindful that the pain of fraternal fraternal grief. So that sounds like
[00:04:00] like a quite sort of putting your your hands around somebody who's
[00:04:04] who's suffered loss. I get why he's he's upset. Yeah. But then very quickly
[00:04:07] quickly it veers into that that can can cloud reason. So in other words,
[00:04:11] words, this can make you have the
[00:04:13] the wrong motives. Then affect judgement,
[00:04:16] judgement, make you do well things
[00:04:17] things that are bad for you, your
[00:04:20] your family, your nephews, the country country and then colour memory. In
[00:04:23] In other words, it can make you misremember
[00:04:26] misremember things. So you then write write stuff that is not accurate.
[00:04:29] accurate. Recollections may vary. vary. Yes, which is the longer version
[00:04:32] version of. That which was the statement statement that Buckingham Palace Palace put out after Meghan and Harry
[00:04:36] Harry did their interview with Oprah. Oprah. Yeah, on behalf of the Queen, Queen, where they accused senior
[00:04:39] senior members of the royal family family of making racist comments. comments. Yeah, exactly. It is a a longer version of that statement
[00:04:43] statement with very much the same same themes and the same direction
[00:04:47] direction of travel with it really. really. And then in ways that others
[00:04:49] others do not recognise, which suggest suggest that they there's no one
[00:04:53] one else who would corroborate this. this. Yeah, it's very much Earl Spencer's
[00:04:56] Spencer's own memory of that particular
[00:04:58] particular conversation. Also interesting, interesting, that very first bit
[00:05:01] bit they say, well, while we do not not comment on books as a matter
[00:05:04] matter of principle and the reason reason they said that is because
[00:05:07] because there are endless royal books books published every year about
[00:05:10] about everything, and lots of them
[00:05:13] them do have accusations in it. Criticisms Criticisms of the royal family. They
[00:05:16] They you know, they generally don't don't say anything. They actually actually didn't say anything. After
[00:05:19] After Harry published spare. And And I think that was because they'd they'd already said something after
[00:05:23] after the Oprah interview. And it it was actually a lot of it was the the same territory and they sort
[00:05:27] sort of had had their say then on on this one, I think they felt they
[00:05:30] they had to respond because they they viewed it as a book from somebody
[00:05:33] somebody who was part of the wider wider family and that it wasn't just
[00:05:37] just a pundit or a journalist or or a royal watcher saying something.
[00:05:40] something. It was somebody from within within a little bit. And I think
[00:05:42] think that was quite a driving force force for wanting to say something,
[00:05:45] something, which is why they said said why we do not comment on books
[00:05:48] books as a matter of principle. They're They're saying that. But this book book was different. And I suppose
[00:05:52] suppose we'll hear more from Earl Earl Spencer not not verbally, but
[00:05:56] but in written form, because we're we're going to get more extracts extracts over the next few days,
[00:05:59] days, and then the book will hit hit the shelves and we'll get the the full, full version of what he's
[00:06:02] he's saying. Yes, exactly. We'll We'll hear his words through the
[00:06:06] the extracts and what we see. And And you know, there will be a full full media round, I suspect, off
[00:06:09] off the back of the book publication publication on Tuesday. So, you know,
[00:06:13] know, I think we can probably say say we will be hearing from Earl Earl Spencer in the days ahead. And
[00:06:17] And also he's somebody that OK, we've we've not heard a huge amount from
[00:06:19] from in the last year or so, but but actually he has been quite, quite
[00:06:23] quite vocal. So we can talk about about the eulogy at Diana's funeral
[00:06:26] funeral in a second because that's that's a massive, massive, as I said,
[00:06:28] said, historical moment for the story
[00:06:30] story of the country. But I was just just going on, on the book websites.
[00:06:34] websites. He's written loads of history history books. So he's a Royal historian.
[00:06:38] historian. History books often as as well. Yeah. So he's written quite quite a lot of books already. I was
[00:06:41] was then remembering a couple of of years ago he wrote a memoir about about his time at his private school.
[00:06:45] school. Yeah. And he then did lots lots of interviews around that, saying saying he'd had to have quite a lot
[00:06:49] lot of therapy to process the really really serious discipline he went went through at that school. So I
[00:06:53] I just wonder if like he's been on on a bit of a journey as a writer
[00:06:56] writer that's kind of brought him him to this point. Yeah, I think
[00:06:59] think that definitely that in terms terms of his evolution as an author
[00:07:03] author and the kind of things he's he's writing about, you know, he
[00:07:05] he was ten years ago, he's writing
[00:07:07] writing about rather distant historical historical projects as time moved
[00:07:11] moved on times. Yeah, exactly. Things Things are rather closer to home
[00:07:14] home now, and perhaps he feels more more comfortable writing about his
[00:07:17] his own experiences and his own family
[00:07:19] family history. You know, he himself, himself, he's had another divorce divorce recently. He's remarried.
[00:07:23] remarried. He seemed incredibly happy happy with his fourth wife and, you
[00:07:27] you know, personally, again, maybe maybe he feels this is the moment
[00:07:30] moment he has said about why he's he's written this book. He's talked
[00:07:33] talked about the fact that it is is an anniversary next year of Diana's
[00:07:36] Diana's death, the 30th anniversary anniversary of her death. Lots of of people still always ask him what
[00:07:40] what happened. What do you remember? remember? What are your recollections?
[00:07:43] recollections? And he just felt he he was wanted once and for all to
[00:07:46] to answer all those questions and and put them down in a book. And And that is his personal reason for
[00:07:50] for publishing. Let's go back then then to September 1997. And this
[00:07:53] this is going to end up being a bit bit like an episode of old Newscast.
[00:07:57] Newscast. But today, so Diana died
[00:08:00] died in the tunnel in the car crash crash in France at the end of August
[00:08:04] August 1997. That was then that immense
[00:08:07] immense kind of outpouring of national national grief. Just remind us what
[00:08:10] what that was like at the time. I
[00:08:14] I mean, nobody quite knew how big
[00:08:16] big that moment would be historically historically or just how emotional
[00:08:20] emotional people would feel or how how the country, the world would would respond to the death of Diana.
[00:08:24] Diana. There was a massive outpouring
[00:08:26] outpouring wherever you looked of of people's own personal sadness
[00:08:29] sadness and grief, there was no sense sense of restraint or people holding
[00:08:32] holding back. It was, I suppose, suppose, terribly un-British for
[00:08:35] for a better way of putting it. And
[00:08:37] And the thing about this is Earl Earl Spencer would obviously, as
[00:08:41] as the younger brother of Diana, Diana, have been very involved in
[00:08:44] in terms of what happened after her
[00:08:46] her death. So and part of what we're we're seeing in the book here is
[00:08:50] is about some of those moments. What What were the conversations? What
[00:08:53] What were the decisions made? Who Who was making the decisions in those
[00:08:56] those early days? Diana's body was was brought back from France on a
[00:08:59] a military aircraft accompanied by by Charles. Yeah. The King as Prince
[00:09:03] Prince of Wales went back to accompany
[00:09:06] accompany the body of his ex-wife ex-wife back to the UK. She was given
[00:09:09] given a version of military honours honours on her return. You know,
[00:09:13] know, the Spencer family were there there for that moment too, but it
[00:09:17] it was always a difficult moment moment when you are, I suppose, a
[00:09:20] a private family, even though you you are an aristocratic private family.
[00:09:23] family. As the Spencers were having
[00:09:24] having to deal with the officialdom, officialdom, the diplomacy, the pomp
[00:09:28] pomp and ceremony that comes with with royalty in this moment, especially
[00:09:32] especially after the divorce. Diana Diana was of course, a divorcee within
[00:09:34] within the royal family, So there there were so many complicating factors
[00:09:38] factors and you can understand how how any of the conversations that
[00:09:40] that were happening as a family that that we must have been incredibly
[00:09:44] incredibly charged and emotional emotional and difficult and people
[00:09:47] people had different views. And just just a reminder of how intertwined
[00:09:50] intertwined the families were. Earl Earl Spencer is the late Queen's
[00:09:54] Queen's godson. That's right. I mean, mean, they were very friendly with
[00:09:57] with the wider royal family. There There were lots of connections. Earl
[00:10:01] Earl Spencer's father was incredibly incredibly close to several members
[00:10:04] members of the royal family, so there there was definitely a connection. connection. They knew each other
[00:10:08] other well. And then September the the 6th, which. Was the day of Diana's
[00:10:12] Diana's funeral, it was a Saturday Saturday and I'm showing my age now, now, but I mean, I can remember it
[00:10:16] it like it was yesterday. I can picture picture myself sitting, probably
[00:10:19] probably sitting on the floor in in the living room, watching it and
[00:10:23] and being just amazed that this event event was, was happening in this
[00:10:26] this way. And the first sort of glimpse glimpse we got of what this event
[00:10:30] event was going to be like was the
[00:10:32] the procession of the coffin on the
[00:10:34] the gun carriage, followed by. Princes
[00:10:37] Princes William and Harry walking walking behind their mother's coffin
[00:10:41] coffin with their father, the King King with their grandfather, the
[00:10:44] the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip Philip and with Earl Spencer, and
[00:10:48] and that incredible moment when the the close up camera went on top of
[00:10:51] of the coffin. And there were those those flowers there with the card
[00:10:53] card written to mummy by Prince Harry.
[00:10:55] Harry. So, you know, it was a day
[00:10:58] day full of moments that were just just like, you know, you just held held your breath. You couldn't quite
[00:11:02] quite believe what you were seeing. seeing. But for those two boys, I
[00:11:04] I think at the time, it's hard to to remember. Is it that people thought
[00:11:07] thought it was very brave of them
[00:11:09] them to walk behind the coffin with
[00:11:12] with their family? And I don't know know how. The consensus was that that it was great that they'd done
[00:11:16] done it. They'd done it. And it was was an incredibly brave, courageous, courageous, meaningful thing for
[00:11:19] for them to do. I mean, the argument argument in Earl Spencer's book now, now, it was quite the opposite of
[00:11:23] of that. And he had told the King, King, they mustn't do this. They're
[00:11:26] They're too young. Their mother wouldn't wouldn't want them to be doing this.
[00:11:29] this. Earl Spencer said that. Charles Charles said back to him, well, I
[00:11:32] I did that for my uncle Earl Mountbatten's
[00:11:35] Mountbatten's funeral. And Charles Charles Spencer said, but were you
[00:11:38] you were 30 when you did that? Not Not 12 and 15 years old. So you can
[00:11:42] can just sense what the nature of of the conversations may have been.
[00:11:44] been. But I think it's that key idea
[00:11:47] idea that the King would have said said to Diana's brother, don't worry,
[00:11:50] worry, your sister will soon be forgotten.
[00:11:53] forgotten. That is such I mean, that's
[00:11:55] that's an incredibly incendiary, incendiary, incendiary comment to
[00:11:58] to make. And that is where we're we're really getting the pushback pushback from Buckingham Palace.
[00:12:02] Palace. And if. That is what he said
[00:12:05] said after the death of his ex-wife,
[00:12:07] ex-wife, that caps off a very, very
[00:12:11] very fractious period between Charles
[00:12:13] Charles and Diana because that decade
[00:12:17] decade long of their split up was was so horrible. It was horrible.
[00:12:20] horrible. It was a very public breakdown, breakdown, you know, on every level
[00:12:23] level when the relationship was breaking breaking down, every royal engagement
[00:12:27] engagement they did, you could see see the frostiness even just one
[00:12:30] one single image. You knew that they they weren't getting on. You then
[00:12:34] then had, you know, the Camilla factor,
[00:12:36] factor, the Panorama interview, Charles Charles interview, Jonathan Dimbleby. Dimbleby. I mean, there were these
[00:12:40] these just endless public moments moments being played out in terms
[00:12:43] terms of this breakdown of a relationship. relationship. So it was an incredibly
[00:12:45] incredibly difficult time. And really really interesting thing to do today,
[00:12:48] today, though, has been to rewatch rewatch Earl Spencer's eulogy from
[00:12:52] from the Funeral because I obviously obviously remember it being a great great bit of rhetoric at the time,
[00:12:56] time, but as a 17-year-old not quite quite appreciating all the maybe
[00:12:59] maybe politics that was in it. And And so here's the moment where Earl
[00:13:02] Earl Spencer makes a promise to his his late sister about the future
[00:13:06] future of her children, William and and Harry. On behalf of your mother
[00:13:09] mother and sisters, I pledge that that we, your blood family, will
[00:13:12] will do all we can to continue the
[00:13:15] the imaginative and loving way in in which you are steering these two
[00:13:19] two exceptional young men so that that their souls are not simply immersed
[00:13:22] immersed by duty and tradition, but
[00:13:25] but can sing openly as you planned. planned. We fully respect the heritage
[00:13:29] heritage into which they have both both been born and will always respect
[00:13:32] respect and encourage them in their
[00:13:34] their royal role. But we, like you,
[00:13:37] you, recognise the need for them them to experience as many different
[00:13:40] different aspects of life as possible,
[00:13:42] possible, to arm them spiritually
[00:13:45] spiritually and emotionally for the the years ahead. It's interesting interesting on the coverage of that
[00:13:48] that moment. I've watched it back back today. You know, there are no
[00:13:52] no pictures, no shots of any of the the royal family in that moment. moment. You know, the camera is firmly
[00:13:56] firmly tuned on Earl Spencer and and Earl Spencer alone, but it was
[00:13:59] was an incredibly forceful, powerful, powerful, well received eulogy that
[00:14:03] that Earl Spencer did to his older, older, older sister. There. Everybody
[00:14:07] Everybody felt it was from the heart. heart. It was really about Diana,
[00:14:11] Diana, and he was protecting William William and Harry, and that's what
[00:14:13] what he was trying to do. And I think think that was an incredibly difficult
[00:14:17] difficult moment for the royal family, family, and I'm not sure they've they've ever got over it because,
[00:14:20] because, you know, the criticism criticism was so direct that they they weren't going to give William
[00:14:24] William and Harry the kind of life life and support that they might might need, that they wouldn't be
[00:14:28] be free to develop and to flourish
[00:14:31] flourish and to thrive. And you do do wonder whether lots of things
[00:14:34] things that we have seen in recent recent years perhaps stem back to
[00:14:38] to that moment back in 1997. Well, Well, it just shows you that this
[00:14:41] this argument that's happening between between Earl Spencer and Buckingham
[00:14:45] Buckingham Palace now, well, you you can see it playing out there there in between the lines of that
[00:14:49] that eulogy completely. I mean, but. but. It's not even between the lines
[00:14:52] lines is the lines. Yeah, 100%. You You know, that has stayed and it
[00:14:56] it has festered and it's never quite quite been resolved and perhaps has
[00:14:59] has always I think particularly between between Earl Spencer and the King,
[00:15:02] King, you would be if you were the the King, you would be wary if someone
[00:15:05] someone had said that about you as as a father in such a public space
[00:15:08] space at such a difficult time. And And it's interesting, some of the
[00:15:11] the people I've talked to about the the King in this moment are really
[00:15:14] really keen to say, you know, he he the other element about this is
[00:15:17] is it was a really difficult time. time. But he's also an incredibly incredibly compassionate person.
[00:15:20] person. And the idea that he would would be wanting to, however difficult
[00:15:24] difficult it had been, you know, know, he was poleaxed by grief. Someone
[00:15:27] Someone said to me at that time and
[00:15:29] and focused very much on his sons sons and looking after them. And
[00:15:33] And it just they didn't feel that that the flavour of this conversation conversation would have happened,
[00:15:36] happened, that it would have been been the type of thing that would would have been said. But yeah, I
[00:15:40] I mean, it really did set the tone tone for the wider relationship between
[00:15:43] between the Spencers and the Royals.
[00:15:44] Royals. You also then think the idea
[00:15:47] idea that a senior royal as Charles
[00:15:50] Charles thought that Diana would would be forgotten. But then you you look at what the royal family
[00:15:54] family did to commemorate her. So So there's a fountain outside Kensington
[00:15:58] Kensington Palace that will be there there forever. Yeah. That's not the
[00:16:01] the actions of an institution that that wanted to airbrush somebody.
[00:16:04] somebody. No. And also remember what what happened that week after her
[00:16:07] her death, where there had been a a lot of criticism of the Queen,
[00:16:09] Queen, the late Queen for not publicly publicly saying anything, not coming
[00:16:13] coming back to London, not to share
[00:16:14] share in the nation's grief. That That kind of mood ahead of her then
[00:16:18] then making a public statement before
[00:16:20] before the funeral. They knew. They They knew quite. They were quite
[00:16:24] quite quick to pick up on exactly exactly what was happening and they they were very well aware, I think,
[00:16:28] think, the royal family, that Diana Diana would not be forgotten. And And also just another moment from
[00:16:31] from the funeral actually that I I was reminded of today was the applause
[00:16:35] applause that accompanied the eulogy. eulogy. We can hear a bit of it now now from the radio four coverage
[00:16:39] coverage of that day in 1997. And
[00:16:41] And I think if I'm correct, the applause applause started outside. It did.
[00:16:44] did. And then the people in Westminster Westminster Abbey picked up on it.
[00:16:47] it. But it gives you a sense of the
[00:16:49] the public mood. A moving tribute
[00:16:59] tribute from Charles Earl Spencer.
[00:17:04] Spencer. And spontaneous applause
[00:17:06] applause breaks out in Westminster
[00:17:09] Westminster Abbey. In Westminster
[00:17:16] Westminster Abbey. Bringing it back back up to date, this is going to to be a multi-day story, isn't it?
[00:17:20] it? Because the serialisation is is over a couple of days and then then the book itself comes out. Yeah,
[00:17:24] Yeah, we've got a few days of this this to go. I mean, what we don't
[00:17:27] don't know always in these situations situations is have we had the best
[00:17:30] best stuff first, you know, is is is this the strongest material that
[00:17:33] that Earl Spencer has in the book book in terms of what he has to say
[00:17:35] say about the royal family? You know, know, we don't know until we see
[00:17:38] see it. But yeah, we've got a number number of days of this ahead. And And then when he does interviews
[00:17:42] interviews to promote it, does he he add to it? Well he will. How does
[00:17:45] does he react when he's challenged challenged about whether it's true true or not? Yeah. He's got evidence
[00:17:49] evidence to back it up. Well yeah. yeah. True. And also I think now
[00:17:51] now because anything he subsequently subsequently does will be also have
[00:17:55] have him having to respond to the the Buckingham Palace statement. statement. So it's not just about about him being challenged about
[00:17:58] about what he says in his book or or him being able to explain what what he said and why he's saying
[00:18:02] saying it. He's also now going to to have to respond to what Buckingham Buckingham Palace are saying about
[00:18:05] about it too. And also he'll be held held to his own standards in the
[00:18:09] the eulogy because I can imagine imagine if Oprah was interviewing interviewing him, she would say,
[00:18:13] say, were you true to your word? word? Did you give your nephews all all these opportunities that helped
[00:18:16] helped them to escape from royal royal life? And you'll have to have have an answer for that. He will.
[00:18:20] will. Yeah, exactly. In terms of of other things happening on your your beat because it's never a dull
[00:18:24] dull moment. So a couple of days days ago, Harry and Meghan, their
[00:18:28] their children were starting their their new school in the Cotswolds,
[00:18:30] Cotswolds, but it didn't go as planned. planned. It didn't know. So what
[00:18:34] what happened here was, you know, know, we know that the move back
[00:18:36] back to the UK by Harry and Meghan
[00:18:38] Meghan happened relatively quickly quickly in terms of activating a
[00:18:41] a move. It wasn't something where where the moving lorries had been been put six months ago and everyone
[00:18:45] everyone was planning it. The decision decision to go was relatively late
[00:18:47] late on and things had to move quickly. quickly. There was a they chose a
[00:18:51] a school, a private, a prep school school in the Cotswolds for their
[00:18:53] their children, Archie and Lilibet. Lilibet. There was a security check,
[00:18:57] check, a security risk assessment assessment done on the school run.
[00:19:00] run. They were in August, the security security team that they have employed
[00:19:04] employed here in the UK did the school school run. It was August. School
[00:19:08] School runs look very different when when you do them in the second week
[00:19:10] week of September. So when they started started to do to go to school, this
[00:19:14] this particular school, a 20 minute minute run became an hour. But more
[00:19:17] more importantly for Harry and Meghan's Meghan's team, they go in two vehicles.
[00:19:21] vehicles. That was the plan. So Harry Harry and Meghan all one of them
[00:19:24] them with the children and then a a separate convoy with some security.
[00:19:26] security. The convoy got split up up so they couldn't keep together.
[00:19:30] together. It meant that Harry and and the children were in one vehicle
[00:19:34] vehicle and the security team were were in another. They couldn't kind kind of catch up with each other.
[00:19:37] other. It you know, it was a messy messy picture. And after two days,
[00:19:40] days, the security team just said, said, this is not going to work. work. We can't keep you safe. You're
[00:19:44] You're sitting in, you know, traffic traffic for too long. You need to
[00:19:48] to do something different. So they they have moved the children to a a school closer to where they are
[00:19:52] are staying, which we believe to to be in the Northamptonshire area.
[00:19:55] area. And that was happening at the the same time as the meeting of this
[00:19:57] this committee, which looks at how how much security the state provides
[00:20:01] provides for VIPs and royals. Yeah, Yeah, that's right, that was happening
[00:20:03] happening at the same time. And now now we know that Harry and Meghan
[00:20:06] Meghan and the children are having having a risk management board, an
[00:20:09] an RMB done by Ravec to look again again to reassess their security
[00:20:13] security risk now that they are back back in the UK and they have a new
[00:20:17] new routine to life. So we know that. that. Presumably the school run will
[00:20:20] will feature in that it will you you know, they've had one failed failed version. Of it and they have
[00:20:24] have a new one. They've had to provide provide Harry and Meghan lots of of details about their life in the
[00:20:27] the UK, how it's going to play out, out, what they're going to do, where
[00:20:30] where they go, where they're living living and there'll be an assessment assessment done. On whether they
[00:20:34] they should have taxpayer funded funded security off the back of that.
[00:20:37] that. And then another thing that's that's happening. Kind of on the
[00:20:40] the Buckingham Palace official calendar, calendar, although it's not happening happening at Buckingham Palace, it's
[00:20:43] it's happening in Scotland at Dumfries Dumfries House. One of the properties properties that the King's own the
[00:20:47] the King owns there, and he's having
[00:20:49] having his own AI summit. Yeah, he's he's using what Buckingham Palace
[00:20:52] Palace like to call his convening convening power. It's something holding
[00:20:54] holding a meeting, holding a meeting. meeting. But what is interesting
[00:20:57] interesting about this, I mean, everything everything to do with AI that is is interesting about it. And the
[00:21:01] the King, you know, he is an intellectually intellectually curious person and
[00:21:05] and he will be interested in AI. AI. And as he said in his you know, know, he's interested in keeping
[00:21:09] keeping the humanity at the heart heart of AI. That is very much you
[00:21:12] you know, what the King will be interested
[00:21:14] interested in. But he also he likes
[00:21:17] likes this convening power. He likes likes to bring people together. The The Queen didn't do this so much.
[00:21:20] much. The late Queen, his mother, mother, she liked to go places and
[00:21:24] and be seen and do a day of visits visits somewhere and around the UK.
[00:21:27] UK. He likes to bring people together. together. And basically if there
[00:21:30] there was like the Cop Climate Change Change summit in Glasgow, she'd host host a thing the day before for all
[00:21:34] all the Prime Ministers where she'd she'd come and wow them so that the
[00:21:37] the summit hosted by other people
[00:21:38] people went, yeah, yeah, exactly. exactly. So the King really likes
[00:21:42] likes to do that. He is. So there's there's been a formal meeting today.
[00:21:45] today. There's going to be a dinner. dinner. The King is staying overnight overnight at Dumfries House. Some
[00:21:48] Some of those tech leaders are also also staying overnight. So there'll
[00:21:51] there'll be an element of the informal informal as well and the chat. And
[00:21:54] And I think the King thinks it's it's an important part of his role role to do this kind of thing. And
[00:21:58] And I suppose it's an interesting interesting it's such a cliche. This This isn't it. The clash of the ultra
[00:22:02] ultra modern and the ultra ancient ancient than some people would say.
[00:22:05] say. The royal family is not that that ancient. And yeah, they're the
[00:22:08] the past. And actually anyway, I'm
[00:22:10] I'm trying I'm trying to write an an A politics essay in real time
[00:22:14] time on an episode of Newscast. And And that's your job, right? Daniella?
[00:22:17] Daniella? Thank you very much. Thanks,
[00:24:20] Join me Tom Brook for Talking Movies
[00:24:24] Movies on BBC News. I lost my sight
[00:24:30] sight completely when I was eight eight years old. Clive, this is a
[00:24:33] a moment in the history of the United United States. My name is Gary O'Donoghue
[00:24:37] O'Donoghue and I'm the chief North North America correspondent for the
[00:24:39] the BBC. When I started out in journalism,
[00:24:42] journalism, it was still legal to to discriminate against disabled
[00:24:44] disabled people. I was told you can't can't be a reporter if you're blind.
[00:24:48] blind. People really hadn't done done what I was trying to do before before me. As you can see, we're
[00:24:52] we're on the ground behind our car,
[00:24:55] car, which is not ideal, but that's that's the shelter we have at the
[00:24:58] the moment during the Trump assassination assassination attempt. I think my
[00:25:01] my blindness was an interesting factor factor because one of the central
[00:25:04] central interviews we got was with with the eyewitness Greg. I learned
[00:25:07] learned afterwards look pretty striking. striking. Secret service is looking
[00:25:10] looking at us from the top of the the barn. I'm pointing at that roof.
[00:25:13] roof. You spend your whole life interpreting interpreting the world through what
[00:25:16] what you hear because I can't see. see. I just listen to what he said. said. I listened and I asked the
[00:25:20] the same questions over and over over again. He remained consistent. consistent. He sounded credible.
[00:25:23] credible. It was the thing that persuaded persuaded me. I accidentally hung
[00:25:26] hung up on the President of the United United States. Phone rings Gary,
[00:25:29] Gary, I've got the President with with me. I'm handing you over now.
[00:25:33] now. Fortunately, they rang me back. back. He was in the Oval Office. Office. He fairly reflective mood.
[00:25:37] mood. I think we ended up with something something different to what you normally
[00:25:40] normally get with those interviews interviews that the President does. does. It's listening and telling
[00:25:44] telling stories. That is the core core of what we do. We get the experience
[00:25:47] experience of all people we serve
[00:25:49] serve because we have people of all
[00:25:52] all kinds in this organisation. What
[00:26:03] What new industries are created? created? Because what we've seen seen throughout history is new industries
[00:26:07] industries are created and it's that that process that actually opens
[00:26:10] opens new doors. That was the that that was the mandate from Prime Minister
[00:26:14] Minister Starmer. He wants the UK
[00:26:15] UK to be an AI superpower. He recognises
[00:26:19] recognises that the ingredients are are all right here. Putting the customer
[00:26:22] customer at the centre of everything everything we do. I really think
[00:26:25] think that's how the company started, started, but I think we lost our
[00:26:28] our focus because we got a little
[00:26:30] little too distracted on efficiency
[00:26:34] efficiency and technology. AI is
[00:26:37] is real AI and total pay off just just like cars in total paid off
[00:26:40] off from TV and total paid off. But But most people involved didn't do
[00:26:44] do well. The revolutionary you know, know, time upon us.
[00:26:52] Time upon us and I think, you know, all industries will be adopting
[00:26:54] adopting AI in some shape or form.
[00:26:57] form. I've always been fascinated
[00:26:59] fascinated by science since I was was a kid. Really. It's just such
[00:27:03] such a broad subject. Sometimes a
[00:27:05] a science story can seem quite abstract, abstract, and once I've got my head
[00:27:09] head around the story, it's really really my job to try and guide the
[00:27:12] the audience step by step through
[00:27:14] through it. But it's not just about
[00:27:17] about explaining or understanding understanding the difficult concepts.
[00:27:19] concepts. It's also about explaining explaining why it matters. What I
[00:27:23] I want to do was to bring the audience
[00:27:25] audience with us. The Artemis II
[00:27:28] II mission was such a visceral experience,
[00:27:32] experience, seeing the engines fire,
[00:27:34] fire, it was almost blinding. Wow.
[00:27:37] Wow. Oh, my goodness. It does feel
[00:27:40] feel like we're entering into a new
[00:27:43] new era of space exploration and
[00:27:45] and the Artemis II mission is just just the start. There's no limit
[00:27:49] limit to how far science can take
[00:27:51] take us. There is always more to
[00:27:55] to discover. To me, trust is about
[00:28:06] about presence. About fostering relationships
[00:28:09] relationships all around the world world over years. We're not chasing
[00:28:12] chasing stories. We're already there. there. It's about patience. Not rushing
[00:28:16] rushing to be the first, but striving striving to get it right. To get
[00:28:20] get to the truth. Precision. Knowledge.
[00:28:22] Knowledge. Facts. Wading through
[00:28:24] through endless waves of disinformation. disinformation. We can't just ask
[00:28:28] ask the questions. We have to question
[00:28:30] question the answers. Debate, debate, debate, debate. We have to create
[00:28:33] create a space for opposing voices voices to be heard and challenged.
[00:28:37] challenged. We fight every day. To
[00:28:39] To earn your trust and we never take
[00:28:42] take it for granted. We capture the the story. Fact check the story.
[00:28:46] story. We break the story. We explore
[00:28:49] explore the story so. You can trust
[00:28:51] trust us to tell it. I was here at
[00:29:00] at the very first protest. The Janta Janta Party had organised about a
[00:29:03] a month ago, and this is so much
[00:29:05] much bigger. We've been driving towards towards the site of this wildfire,
[00:29:09] wildfire, but we've just stopped stopped at the side of the road here here because of what we saw out the
[00:29:13] the window. Spain is still burning. burning. This man has been pulled
[00:29:17] pulled out successfully. It's taken
[00:29:18] taken a mammoth mammoth rescue effort. effort. These young rebels are heading
[00:29:22] heading back to the front line to
[00:29:24] to perform. There's a hunter base
[00:29:26] base there. These men have been trying
[00:29:30] trying to take two years now. From From the entrance of the pub this
[00:29:33] this morning you get very little little sense of the terrible scenes scenes that. Were witnessed here
[00:29:37] here last night. There. When the
[00:29:39] the story breaks. BBC News.
[00:30:12] Live from Washington. This is BBC News. Possible war crimes by
[00:30:15] by the US that is the verdict of of a United Nations panel investigating investigating two deadly strikes
[00:30:19] strikes in Iran from February. The
[00:30:20] The US rejects the report. President
[00:30:23] President Trump says the US is making making major progress towards opening
[00:30:26] opening its first permanent army army base in Poland, calling it an
[00:30:29] an historic step for both countries. countries. And King Charles urges
[00:30:32] urges leading tech bosses developing developing AI to protect humanity
[00:30:36] humanity as he warns of existential
[00:30:37] existential danger. Those who have
[00:30:42] have created these technologies are are now increasingly warning that
[00:30:45] that AI risks developing darker capacities.
[00:30:49] capacities. Perhaps even to take
[00:30:52] take life.