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