#abdication-crisis

#abdication-crisis

Donald Trump has suggested that the war with Iran will be over in two to three weeks. The rest of the world just shrugs. We'll believe it when we see it.

When Spain's King Juan Carlos fell over and broke his hip while on an elephant hunt with a girlfriend in Botswana in 2012, he probably thought that Spaniards would accept this as a minor gaffe after a lifetime of public service. The monarch had, after all, weathered numerous scandals, including a string of extramarital affairs and investigations into his family's financial affairs, during the previous 37 years of his reign.

Our parliament should always be a place where talents are recognized and merit counts. It should never be a gallery of old boys' networks, nor a place where titles, many of which were handed out centuries ago, hold power over the will of the people.

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

Many said travelling to the US at this moment would hand Donald Trump an unwelcome diplomatic win and risk appearing to legitimise policies and rhetoric they strongly oppose. Some argued the King's presence could be interpreted as an endorsement of the current administration, particularly given criticism of its approach to foreign policy, immigration and international alliances.

In a social media post reporting that the King would cooperate with the police investigation into his brother Andrew's ties with the late serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, CBS News mistakenly referred to the monarch as King Charles II a distant ancestor of King Charles III who died more than 300 years ago in 1685. The mistake, which was slapped with a community note on X, quickly went viral, with social media users dunking on the suggestion that a 17th-century monarch had been reached for comment.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

I think the practicality of the idea that he can stay living in Sandringham, I think that's a non-starter,

King Charles III will grant police full access to all files held at Buckingham Palace relating to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, underscoring the monarchy's commitment to transparency and accountability. The dramatic move follows Andrew's arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The 66-year-old was detained on Thursday - his birthday - at his temporary home on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. He was questioned for 11 hours at Aylsham Police Station before being released under investigation.

The committees not had a chance to reflect on these allegations because recess means Parliament isn't sitting this week. My task this week is to make sure that the committee's got options in front of them when they meet on Tuesday for how we might or might not take this investigation forward. Obviously, we can't and don't want to compromise a police investigation.