The dormant conflict in Yemen has erupted once more, with the Houthi rebel group seizing control of the Red Sea port city of Mocha and a number of islands from Yemeni government forces in recent weeks. This has given the Houthis a foothold close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key trade gateway linking Asia and Europe.

The advance of the Houthis has alarmed Yemen’s northern neighbour, Saudi Arabia, for three main reasons. First, the Houthis’ drive down the coast constitutes a military setback for the Saudis and the pro-government forces they have long supported militarily and financially in Yemen.

Second, the Saudis have become more reliant than ever on access to Bab al-Mandab to export their oil since the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the outbreak of war between the US, Israel and Iran in February 2026. Control of Yemen’s western coast would allow the Houthis to further restrict Saudi Arabia’s energy exports.

And third, the Houthis are closely allied with Iran. This means Tehran now has the possible means to control two of the most important maritime chokepoints for the transit of global oil supplies. The Bab al-Mandab Strait was carrying roughly 7% of global oil supplies by June.

How did we get here?

The renewed hostilities bring to an end a ceasefire in the Yemeni conflict that had been in place since 2022. The Houthis, in origin a movement that emerged in the 1990s to protect the interests of Yemen’s substantial Zaydi Shia Muslim population, had previously engaged in armed conflict with the longtime Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In the aftermath of Saleh’s forced resignation in 2012, which followed popular mobilisation against his autocratic rule, the country entered a period of instability. During this period, the Houthis moved from their stronghold in the north of the country to take control of the capital, Sana’a, in 2014.

Unwilling to see its southern neighbour come under the control of forces allied to Iran, Saudi Arabia launched an all-out war in March 2015. The objective was to restore the internationally recognised government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Saleh’s one-time deputy who had succeeded him in office, to power.

The fighting persisted for several years, but an effective stalemate was reached early on. While attempts to negotiate a lasting agreement to end the war failed, all sides agreed on a ceasefire in April 2022. The ceasefire lapsed in October of that year but both sides largely refrained from major escalatory actions and the level of conflict remained low.

Hopes for a more substantial deal between the warring parties were briefly raised in March 2023. That month saw China broker a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries after their 2016 suspension.

But in a clear assertion of its independence from Iran, Houthi leadership expressly rejected the notion that normalisation of relations between the two regional powers should lead to a deal between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.

The prospects of a long-term deal to end the conflict were dealt a further blow by the Houthi response to Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which followed the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on in October 2023.

Shortly after that war began, Houthi fighters fired several missiles and drones at an Israeli ship in the Red Sea. The US Navy also shot down Houthi-launched missiles and drones heading towards Israeli territory, in what was the first US action in defence of Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.

There was further escalation in January 2024, when the Houthis staged a large-scale attack on several US Navy vessels in the Red Sea. This was followed by US and UK airstrikes against Houthi targets. In May 2025, the US and the Houthis agreed a ceasefire which was mediated by Oman.

The relative peace that followed came undone in July 2026. On July 13, the Saudis attacked Sana’a International Airport in order to prevent a plane carrying the Houthi delegation to the funeral of Iran’s slain supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, from landing. The Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia claimed the flight represented a violation of Yemen’s sovereignty.

The Houthis launched missile attacks on airports in the south of Saudi Arabia in response, while also declaring the imposition of a strict maritime embargo against Saudi vessels. On Telegram, Houthi official Yahya Saree announced an end to what he called the “de-escalation phase” of the conflict.

The recent rapid advance of the Houthis along Yemen’s western coast has focused attention on the group’s potential to disrupt global oil supplies even further. However, the offensive also has major implications for Yemen itself.

It constitutes a major setback for the Saudi-backed forces in Yemen, which are far more diverse than is commonly assumed. These forces include those under the control of Tareq Saleh, nephew of the fallen autocrat, as well as southern groups with aspirations for autonomy and other tribal and local forces.

The advance also represents a challenge for the Houthis themselves. They now control a swathe of new territory, and with it a larger population. There are questions regarding the capacity of the Houthis to withstand the inevitable attempts to dislodge it from its new position.

Earlier in the conflict, in 2015, the Houthis won control of areas in the south such as Aden, Abyan and Lahj. But they were soon pushed back by government forces and resistance fighters, and forced to relinquish their control of these areas.

Recent reports suggest that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has requested that the US launch airstrikes against the Houthis. The invitation was apparently declined, but is unlikely to be the final word in the seemingly endless conflict between Riyadh and its antagonists in its southern neighbour.

By OLIVIA CHRISTIE, NEWS REPORTER

Published: 21:51 BST, 16 September 2026 | Updated: 22:42 BST, 16 September 2026

Lidl announced earlier this year it had plans to open more stores in Cambridgeshire

A new Lidl supermarket could open in a Cambridgeshire village but there are concerns that a busy road nearby could be made “far worse” by the development.

Earlier this year, Lidl announced a “wish list” of 876 locations, including some in Cambridgeshire, where it wants to open new stores. Plans have since been revealed for a new Lidl in Hartford, near Huntingdon, which would be on a plot of land south of Main Street (B1514).

A Lidl spokesperson previously said: “A new Lidl foodstore off Main Street/B1514 in Hartford would provide local residents with an additional shopping option, while reducing the need to travel further afield for regular grocery shopping.

“The site, located to the east of Hartford and adjacent to Huntingdon Road, has previously been identified for development. We believe a new Lidl foodstore would deliver a range of community benefits, including greater access to affordable shopping and the creation of new jobs for local people.”

The land that the new store would be built on had outline planning approval for 25 to 30 homes. However, the Lidl spokesperson said this scheme had “not progressed”. A planning application sought a request for an EIA Screening Opinion which has now been deemed as not an EIA development. The local planning authority considered that the project would “not give rise to ‘significant effects’ on the wider environment owing to its scale, nature and location”.

Several locals have now shared their concerns about the new supermarket. One person said: “The traffic resulting from the development would make an already busy road far worse.”

They questioned why Huntingdon needs another supermarket, adding “we have plenty”. Within a short distance from the site are other supermarkets such as Tesco Extra, Sainsbury’s and a Lidl just seven-minutes away by driving.

Another objector claimed: “It will increase road use on what is currently a busy area. The jobs that will be created in the long term are not necessarily the ones needed for Huntingdon – lots of retail opportunities currently.”

Meanwhile another person said they are “highly concerned” that Lidl has given “too little consideration” to the current traffic flows and congestion along Main Street.

They added: “The proposed entrance is very close to a pedestrian crossing and the two bus stops, and almost opposite the exit from Owl Way. A more sensible and less dangerous entrance, in my opinion, as a local resident, would be off Huntingdon Road, where all leaving traffic could be directed to turn right up to the roundabout, rather than try to cross the already very busy traffic flow.”

The supermarket giant intends to submit a full planning application for the new Lidl store.

Forever Home ended on a major cliffhanger tonight but fans are going to have to wait to find out what happens next.

Graham Norton’s Forever Home has been airing throughout the week, but this will no longer be the case.

The series continued to air tonight, Wednesday, September 16 on Channel 5, as Carol Crottie (played by Amy Nuttall) and mum Moira (Denise Welch) work out how to handle the body in the basement.

Elsewhere, Kaden (Lewis Cope) confronts increasing financial pressure as he attempts to sell his father’s property ahead of the birth of his and Dan’s (Shane Zaza) child.

Forever Home has shown its opening three episodes across three successive evenings on Channel 5, but regrettably for viewers, the drama will not continue tomorrow night.

In its place, an acclaimed period drama that has been absent for nearly a year will occupy the 9pm slot. All Creatures Great and Small officially returns with series seven premiering on Thursday, September 17, on Channel 5.

The complete principal cast will once again feature in the new episodes, headed by Nicholas Ralph as the renowned vet James Herriot, Samuel West as Siegfried Farnon and Rachel Shenton as Helen Herriot.

Taking place one year following the conclusion of series six, it marks a fresh chapter in All Creatures Great and Small with the conflict finally concluded as a “new vet in town threatens the status quo”.

The official synopsis adds: “James is stumped over a cat’s mystery illness, while Helen embraces the future over tradition.

“As Jimmy prepares to start school, everyone pitches in to help.”

Advertisement

However, the Forever Home story is far from finished, with three further episodes still to come.

Viewers will need to wait until Monday, September 21 for episode four to air on Channel 5.

Episodes five and six, the penultimate instalment and grand finale of Forever Home, will then be broadcast on consecutive nights, Tuesday, 22 September and Wednesday, September 23 respectively.

Forever Home continues on Monday, September 21, at 9pm on Channel 5.

It has been revealed that the soap star will be taking a break from his role as Alfie Moon in the BBC soap this Christmas season to star as Muddles in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend.

This will be before his criminal trial for allegedly drink driving which has been scheduled for November 2027 at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.

His temporary absence will happen following the permanent departures of a number of other characters on EastEnders.

READ MORE: Update on police investigation at Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm

This week saw the death of Zoe Slater played by Michelle Ryan while according to The Metro, actresses Kellie Bright and Charlie Suff will be departing soon as will Aaron Thiara who plays ‘bad boy’ Ravi Gulati.

In addition Jessie Wallace – who portrays Alfie Moon’s partner Kat – is set to depart Albert Square, though temporarily as she is also performing in a pantomime.

Another cast member who has been missing from the soap from some time is Lacey Turner, who has played Stacey Slater for over two decades since 2004.

Lacey Turner will be in the next series of Strictly Come Dancing (Image: Ray Burmiston/BBC/PA)

Set to be a contestant in the upcoming season of Strictly Come Dancing, she is taking a break from Eastenders but remains a fan.

She explained she was “really sad” at the departures from the show, complementing both Mr Thiara and Ms Bright.

She said: “I always hope they will come back. They’re part of the furniture.”

Mr Richie, who will be returning, is also well known for coming fourth on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2020 as well as hosting a number of TV game shows.

He also has strong links to Oxford’s theatre scene, having performed at the New Theatre in 2006 in a production of Scrooge.

READ MORE: BBC Saturday Kitchen chef silent as 100s of restaurants shut and jobs lost

More recently, he appeared in the city in 2025 as part of the Prat Pack, bringing a mix of music and comedy to local audiences.

The show teams him with fellow entertainers Bradley Walsh, Brian Conley and Joe Pasquale, who bill themselves as a tongue‑in‑cheek take on the classic Rat Pack.

Their 2025 tour stopped at the New Theatre Oxford on George Street for a one‑night date on 22 May, mixing big‑band standards, comedy and stories from their decades in showbusiness.

The New Theatre was one of a string of venues on the national run, giving city audiences a chance to see Mr Richie perform live alongside his long‑time friends.

Lena Dunham has revealed she’s welcomed her first child – a baby girl – via surrogate.

The Girls creator wrote about her journey to parenthood alongside her husband, Luis Felber, in an op-ed for Vogue published on Wednesday.

The Famesick author has been candid over the years about her reproductive health struggles, including a yearslong battle with endometriosis and undergoing a hysterectomy.

The 40-year-old said her daughter arrived 13 days late “in the face of a solar eclipse and a meteor shower”.

“I sat on a hospital bed, between the legs of a woman I hadn’t known a year ago, waiting for a glimpse of this person who I had been waiting for with something related to patience, but also none at all,” she wrote.

“I was so focused on our surrogate – in awe at her concentration, her period of quiet followed by what sounded like a roar – I forgot to look down until I heard our baby’s cry. I saw her face, gasping just as she did,” Dunham recalled, saying her midwife instructed her to talk to her newborn.

“‘Hello’ I said. ‘I’m your mama. You…you look nothing like I thought you would, but exactly right. We’ve been waiting for you, do you know that? It was so nice of you to come,’” Dunham shared.

Ashraful Islam made one unusual request to the police officers who came to arrest him

A student has avoided jail after he was found in possession of hundreds of images of child abuse, including hundreds of images categorised as the most serious.

On Friday, September 10, Ashraful Islam, 21, of Chippenham, Gloucestershire, pleaded guilty to taking indecent images of children and voyeurism when he appeared in court.

He was given a 26-month custodial sentence suspended for three years, and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) was imposed for a period of 10 years, reports GloucestershireLive.

Islam was arrested in connection with an unrelated matter in March 2026.

Advertisement

His phone was seized, and as part of this, a significant number of child abuse images were located, including nearly 350 images classed as category A – depicting the most serious form of child abuse.

As well as this, images showing ‘upskirting’ of schoolgirls were also found on Islam’s phone.

In police footage of Islam’s arrest, when asked by a police officer if he needed to take anything to the police station, Islam replied, “I really need to put my uni work in, otherwise I fail.”

READ MORE: Body found by Noah Woods search team in pond after tot disappeared from park

READ MORE: Woman found with ‘face hanging off’ after alleged murder in Springburn flat

Det Con Will Saunders of Wiltshire Police said: “Islam was found in possession of hundreds of images of child abuse. Each of these images represents a real victim who has suffered serious, life changing abuse and those who view, possess, or share such material are contributing to that harm.

“I’d like to thank the officers who worked on this case particularly the digital forensics unit whose hard work allowed us to uncover a true picture of his offending.”

As well as the custodial sentence and SHPO that has been granted, Islam must also pay a £228 surcharge and complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

Ensure our latest stories always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, was recorded visibly struggling to speak during a Wednesday meeting on Capitol Hill.

McConnell, who returned to Capitol Hill Monday after an absence of more than 90 days, appears to have been brought to earth by two colleagues, who told him that it was time to cast a vote, or even what vote to cast during a markup of the Farm Bill.

The Kentucky Republican, who served for nearly two decades as the GOP leader in the US Senate, has been plagued by health complications during his final term in office.

He suffered a fall on June 14, was briefly hospitalized, and had not been seen in public while recovering at his home in Washington DC for nearly three months.

In a post on X, McConnell noted Monday, that he was ‘really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing … colleagues.’

‘My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier. I’m still not quite back to 100%, but I’ve assured Leader Thune that, as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me,’ the former longtime Senate Leader continued.

‘Elaine and I are very grateful for all the continued well wishes from our fellow Kentuckians, and I’m glad to get back to more of business as usual on their behalf this month,’ McConnell’s X post concluded. 

Capitol Police were seen gathering at McConnell’s home on Monday, and he emerged from the property that had elevated security measures to vote in the 5:30 vote series just before 6:00 PM on Monday. Minutes later he was on the Senate floor casting his ballot, and huddling with colleagues while in a wheelchair. 

Senator Mitch McConnell talks to his Chief of Staff Terry Carmack during a Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday in Washington, DC

McConnell spoke with reporters outside of the US Senate chamber on Monday, but due to Congressional rules, there is no recording allowed in the hallway where he gave remarks. Wednesday’s committee meeting was the first time McConnell was widely heard. 

Weeks after his hospitalization, he spoke with some of his congressional colleagues by phone and indicated that he was on the mend and looking forward to returning to work soon.

However, both Democrats and Republicans alike were not satisfied with his explanations.

After further pressure mounted to provide ‘proof of life,’ evidence McConnell released a photo of himself and his wife from the hospital, with a newspaper that was dated July 12, which some initially suspected was AI generated.

He disappeared for weeks after providing the photo, until his office put out a second picture on July 27.

Weeks later, it was revealed that he was discharged from the hospital and would continue his recovery at home.

‘Senator McConnell continues his recovery from a fall at home in June,’ a comment from his doctor attached to the photograph said.

‘Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation.’ 

Another statement from his office revealed that he had also had a mild case of pneumonia.

McConnell, who is not seeking re-election in this year’s midterms, has been dogged by health scares throughout his final term. 

Even before his fall earlier this summer, he frighteningly froze in a May hearing on Capitol Hill, raising alarms about his health and even prompting an attack on his staff by President Donald Trump.

Robert Karem, a staffer on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee, interrupted McConnell to tell him that Democratic Senators Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, as well as Louisiana Republican John Kennedy, all still had questions. The hearing went on for 30 minutes after Karem’s interjection.

Karem was attacked by Trump as a ‘bum’ in a Truth Social post after a clip of the staffer’s interaction with the senator made the rounds online. 

The Houthis have been accused of launching a drone towards the holy city of Mecca, while the militant group claims to have shot down a Saudi fighter jet amid escalating conflict across the region. 

The developments come as fears are growing of a new global oil supply crisis after  Houthi rebels seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea after attacking a Saudi pipeline.

The Iran-backed group have been fighting a civil war in Yemen against a Saudi-led coalition since 2014.

The Iran war has forced Saudi Arabia to shift its exports away from the Persian Gulf, since Iranian attacks have stifled shipping through the gulf’s sole exit, the Strait of Hormuz.

And on Tuesday morning, Brent crude rose 1.17 per cent to $106.92 a barrel, while the average US diesel price last week surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time as the war, compounded by Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, further squeezed global supplies.

Meanwhile in the UK, rises in petrol, diesel and airfares has pushed UK inflation up to its highest level in five months due to disruptions from the war in Iran.

Inflation rose to 3.1 per cent from 2.9 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree was quick to dismiss Saudi claims that the group had targeted Mecca, after widespread condemnation.

‘Our operations target its oil facilities and military bases, which are far removed from the sacred sites,’ he said.      

Mecca is regarded as the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and is the holiest city in Islam. 

Muslims who are physically and financially able are required to make the pilgrimage to the city at least once in their lifetime, with millions travelling there each year. 

Major General Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led Coalition Forces, condemned the attempted attack on X, writing: ‘This hostile attempt will also remain a black mark in the record of violations by the extremist terrorist Houthi militia, as a deliberate act intended to provoke the feelings of millions of Muslims.’

He vowed to take any ‘necessary and deterrent measures’ against the group.

And the Houthis on Wednesday said they shot down a Saudi fighter jet, claiming a locally made munition was used to target the warplane.

‘The Yemeni Armed Forces, with Allah’s aid and grace, succeeded in shooting down a Saudi F15 fighter jet while it was carrying out hostile operations in support of its military mobilisations in the airspace of Marib province,’ Saree said on social media, while accusing Saudi Arabia of launching 450 strikes.

He said the jet had been targeted ‘using a locally made air-to-air missile’.

Saudi Arabia has relied on the East-West Pipeline, which runs 1,200km (124 miles) across the breadth of the country, to move its crude production from Gulf ports to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea. From there it can be put on tankers for export. 

But authorities were forced to shut down the pipeline after an attack on Thursday that Saudi Arabia blamed on drones from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.

Repairing the damage, including at a major pumping facility, could take three to five weeks, officials have said. 

The pipeline may work partially during the repairs, one of the officials said, but they could not say how much oil might get through.

The pipeline has been moving an average of 2.6 million to four million barrels per day since late August – a quantity that will be lost to the market if the pipeline’s flow stops completely, according to an analysis issued Monday by Rystad Energy, a Norway-based research firm. 

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels continued to expand their threat to Saudi shipping routes out of the Red Sea by capturing the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish, government and Houthi officials said Monday.

The islands lie 160km (99 miles) north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The strait is a choke point that connects the Red Sea to the open ocean and Saudi Arabia’s key Asian markets.

The Houthis’ advance also puts them just 20 miles from the US military base in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, on the other side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

For more than a month, the Houthis have been striking Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping in the Red Sea, stepping up pressure on global oil prices and boosting Iran’s leverage in its war with the US.

Houthi threats have kept the Kingdom on high alert, with air raid warnings sounding across the country daily, while a series of ballistic missile and drone attacks by the group wounded 13 civilians on Monday. 

The rebels deployed on the Hanish islands after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago, according to two government officials and a Houthi official.

Last week, the rebels seized the port city of Mokha and the island of Mayun, inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Government forces are now attempting to rally and fight back. On Sunday, the military said it launched airstrikes on Houthi positions in Mokha, the coastal town of Dhubab and elsewhere in Taiz province.

A combination of satellite images shows the Saudi Arabia East-West pipeline before (top) and after (bottom) attacks

Supporters of Yemen’s Houthi rebels chant and raise rifles during a rally organized to celebrate the group’s capture of Mayun Island on September 11

Advertisement

A rebel spokesman said the Houthis fired dozens of missiles and drones at the King Khalid Airbase in the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, targeting hangars, radar installations and ammunition depots. 

The statement on Monday by Saree did not specify when the strikes took place but the Houthis often take hours or days to claim responsibility for attacks.

General al-Maliki said the attacks struck civilian areas in Khamis Mushait and other nearby cities, injuring 13 civilians and damaging several houses and vehicles. He did not say whether the airbase had been hit.

The Iran war has gouged Saudi oil production, which was down to six million barrels per day in August from nearly ten million in September the previous year, according to the International Energy Agency.

The fighting has also displaced nearly 94,000 people in Yemen who have since fled their homes.

‘Many of them don’t have enough food or water as they had to flee with whatever they could carry. In some areas, whole villages have reportedly emptied,’ said Khanzad Shah, acting head of Islamic Relief, a charity that operates in the area.

Around 200 schools have been converted to shelters in southwestern Yemen to absorb an influx of families, said Basma Alloush, deputy director of communications at the International Rescue Committee, an aid group.

A furious Prince Charles told Earl Spencer days after Princess Diana‘s death, ‘rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough’, according to a devastating memoir.

In allegations that will send shockwaves through the Royal Family, Charles Spencer‘s bombshell book – to be exclusively serialised in the Daily Mail from tomorrow – lifts the lid on an incendiary row with the now King over funeral arrangements.

The argument followed the decision, opposed by Diana’s brother the Earl, that Prince William and Prince Harry, then aged 15 and 12, would walk in their mother’s funeral procession.

The Earl says he insisted to the then Prince of Wales that Diana would not have wanted her young sons to endure such a public ordeal. It is claimed Charles then questioned the Spencer family’s sense of duty before saying his ex-wife, whose death sparked a global outpouring of grief, would soon be forgotten.

Earl Spencer says the comments ‘unleashed’ by the King almost 30 years ago reflected ‘his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death’.

The astonishing account of the King’s alleged outburst is included in Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which Earl Spencer, 62, says he has written to correct ‘untruths’ told about his older sister.

The Daily Mail can disclose that it includes a string of further extraordinary claims about Diana’s failed marriage to King Charles and the tumultuous aftermath of her tragic death in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Revelations from the book are set to plunge Buckingham Palace into a fresh storm just weeks after the dramatic return of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children to the UK from California.

Charles Spencer, the ninth Earl Spencer, delivers his famously defiant eulogy at his sister’s funeral

Advertisement

On September 6, 1997, six days after Diana’s death, Earl Spencer famously delivered a defiant eulogy at her funeral that was later named one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century.

His raw oration in Westminster Abbey was delivered after he walked alongside William and Harry, as well as Prince Charles and Prince Philip, behind Diana’s coffin in a funeral procession through central London broadcast to 2.5billion people worldwide.

In his book, Earl Spencer writes that when one of Queen Elizabeth’s most senior aides told him in the days before the funeral that William and Harry would take part in the procession, he responded: ‘That’s not going to happen.’

But minutes later he received a phone call from Prince Charles who insisted that 18 years earlier he had walked in the funeral procession of Lord Mountbatten, his great-uncle, who he affectionately called ‘uncle Dickie’.

The memoir describes how Charles ‘went nuts’ after Earl Spencer pointed out that the Prince had been 30 at the time of Lord Mountbatten’s funeral in 1979.

In one of the book’s most extraordinary passages, Earl Spencer writes: ‘Prince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting. Then he stopped.

‘I assumed the pause signalled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. ‘Rest assured,’ he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough!’

From left, the Earl, Prince William, Prince Harry and Charles at Diana’s funeral on September 6, 1997

Advertisement

The Earl, Diana and Charles at the Earl’s 21st birthday party in 1985 at the Mirabelle restaurant in London

Earl Spencer said that he was ‘so stunned’ by the alleged remarks that he took a few seconds to reply.

‘I can’t believe you just said that,’ I said flatly, before hanging up,’ he writes.

Earl Spencer’s description of the shocking outburst threatens to reopen the wounds of the so-called War of the Waleses and Prince Charles’s bitter split and eventual divorce from Diana.

A Palace spokesman said: ‘While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.’ 

Described as ‘historic’ and ‘extraordinarily moving’, Swan Song is due to be published worldwide next Tuesday – in the UK by Penguin Michael Joseph, a division of Penguin Random House – with the Daily Mail’s exclusive serialisation starting tomorrow.

It comes as police in the Netherlands investigate what publishing sources say is the ‘extremely suspicious’ theft of four copies of the memoir from a lorry earlier this week.

The Daily Mail revealed how a lorry packed with thousands of copies of the book, which were wrapped in black plastic to hide their contents, was broken into after it was parked overnight in a car park while the driver slept in the cab.

Read more: 

Extracted from Swan Song: Diana, My Sister by Charles Spencer, to be published by Michael Joseph on September 22, £28. © Charles Spencer 2026. To order a copy for £23.80 (offer valid to 10/10/26; UK P&P free on orders over £25) go to www.mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937.