LONDON — Prince William had to be taught by his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, how to give his children a piggyback because he never received one himself growing up, according to new claims from former royal household staff featured in an upcoming book.
The details are included in “Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants,” a book by author Tom Quinn that draws on interviews with people who worked inside royal households, offering a rare glimpse into the private family dynamics behind palace walls.
According to a former Kensington Palace maid quoted in the book, Catherine had to walk her husband through basic parenting gestures that many families take for granted, including something as simple as carrying a child on his shoulders.
“Kate had to explain many of the things that parents outside the royal family do with their children as a matter of course,” the former maid told Quinn. “She had to show him how to give the children a piggyback, for example. William said very quietly, ‘My father never gave me a piggyback.’”
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The remark, if accurate, offers a window into the emotional distance that has long been described in accounts of William’s own childhood, when royal duties and public appearances often took precedence over conventional family life. William and his younger brother, Prince Harry, were raised under near-constant public scrutiny, accompanying their parents, King Charles III and the late Princess Diana, on numerous official tours from an early age.
That upbringing, according to the accounts gathered in Quinn’s book, appears to have shaped both William’s approach to fatherhood and his temperament more broadly. An extract published in The Times cited another former staff member describing both Charles and William as prone to impatience.
“[King Charles and William] both get irritated very quickly. They are very picky. It comes naturally to them,” the former staff member said.
In such moments, according to the same account, it is Catherine who often serves as a stabilizing presence within the family. A source close to the household suggested that role has become an essential part of the couple’s dynamic since their 2011 wedding.
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“I don’t know where William would be without Kate — she hasn’t had everything done for her throughout her life, so she calms him down when he gets a bit fractious,” the insider said, adding that “she sometimes has to be treated as her fourth child.”
The claims add to a broader portrait offered throughout the book of Catherine as someone who navigated the unfamiliar customs and rigid hierarchies of royal life with patience and discretion, rather than attempting to immediately reshape them to her own preferences. A former Kensington Palace employee described her approach to adapting to palace culture in similar terms.
“Kate is someone who slowly and carefully absorbs the atmosphere of a place, the relationship between people and the rules,” the employee told Quinn. “She doesn’t jump in straight away and try to change everything to suit her way of thinking. She bides her time and is very intelligent and intuitive about other people, what they do and how they behave.”
That same source said Catherine received guidance not only from William, who reportedly wanted to help her avoid some of the difficulties his mother, Diana, faced after marrying into the royal family, but also from household staff themselves.
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“She was also coached — not just by William, who wanted Kate to avoid the problems his mother had encountered, but also by the staff,” the source said. “Kate was always happy to accept advice both from the lower staff, with whom she got on very well, and from the courtiers, even though some of them were initially very snooty about her.”
The dynamic described in the book reflects a period of significant adjustment for Catherine, who began her relationship with William in 2003 while both were students at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. The couple married on April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony watched by a global television audience, after which Catherine took the title Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge. William, meanwhile, was granted the titles Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus by his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The couple’s titles changed again more than a decade later. On September 9, 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and Charles’s accession to the throne, William was formally invested as Prince of Wales, a title that made Catherine the Princess of Wales — a title previously held by William’s mother, Diana, until her death in a car crash in Paris in August 1997 at the age of 36.
William and Catherine now have three children together: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, all of whom have grown up largely out of the harsh media spotlight that defined their father’s own early years, a shift widely attributed to the couple’s deliberate efforts to shield their children from the level of public exposure William and Harry experienced as boys.
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Quinn’s book joins a growing body of published accounts from former royal staff members offering insight into life inside Britain’s royal households, a genre that has proliferated in recent years as former employees, biographers and royal commentators continue to produce detailed portraits of the family’s private dynamics. Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace do not typically comment on individual claims made in such books, and neither William nor Catherine has publicly addressed the specific anecdotes attributed to them in “Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants.”
The book adds to renewed public interest in the Wales family’s private life this year, amid continued scrutiny of the broader royal family’s internal relationships following years of public tension between William and his brother, Prince Harry, who has separately made a series of claims about their upbringing and relationship in his own memoir and subsequent interviews.
SYDNEY — Matt Dee, a former lifeguard who became a household name across Australia as one of the stars of the long-running reality television series “Bondi Rescue,” has died, according to an announcement shared by a clothing brand he championed as a mental health advocate.
The news was posted Wednesday morning on the Instagram page of FTW Revolution, a clothing label connected to Suicide Prevention Australia, for which Dee served as an ambassador. The post appeared alongside a photograph of Dee laughing while holding a beer.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of our Matt Dee,” the statement read. “Matt touched the lives of many, he also did amazing work and he will be deeply missed and forever remembered by those who knew and loved him.”
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Dee’s cause of death has not been confirmed. The FTW Revolution page said funeral arrangements would be shared publicly once finalized.
“This page is being monitored, however, please understand that we may not be able to respond to every message,” the statement continued. “We truly appreciate every kind message, thought and tribute.”
Dee appeared on “Bondi Rescue,” the Australian reality series following lifeguards at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach, from 2008 to 2017. The show became one of Australia’s most internationally recognized television exports, airing in dozens of countries and turning several of its lifeguard cast members, including Dee, into recognizable public figures both in Australia and abroad.
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Beyond his work on the beach, Dee was widely known for his advocacy around mental health, a cause that became deeply personal after he lost both his brother and sister within roughly a year of each other following their struggles with severe mental illness.
His younger sister, Rachel Bridger Dee, died in December 2009 at age 30, after living with schizophrenia for about a decade. His older brother, Jonathan, who had bipolar disorder, died months earlier at age 34. Matt Dee was two years younger than Jonathan and three years older than Rachel. The three siblings were raised by their single mother in Melbourne and spent family holidays surfing at Torquay, on Victoria’s coast.
In a 2011 interview with The Sun-Herald, Dee reflected on the deaths of his brother and sister, describing the guilt and grief that followed.
“What happened was not their fault,” Dee said at the time. “They did their best to manage their illnesses. It wasn’t their fault. They had a problem inside their heads. It’s something we don’t understand. How would we know what it’s like?”
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Dee was open in subsequent years about carrying guilt over his siblings’ deaths, saying he often wondered whether he could have done more to help them. That experience shaped much of his later public work, as he became an ambassador for the Schizophrenia Research Institute and later helped launch FTW Revolution, a clothing brand built around raising awareness and funds for suicide prevention and mental health support.
Tributes poured in across social media following Wednesday’s announcement, with fans and former colleagues remembering Dee as a warm and larger-than-life presence both on screen and off.
“Rest easy, Matt. You were always my favourite lifeguard, and my admiration has only grown after learning and seeing what you stood for,” one person wrote in response to the announcement.
Another commenter wrote: “RIP Matty Dee your humour heroism will be missed and remembered every day.”
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A third tribute read: “Rip my mate Matt Dee. We had so much fun surfing and running a muck together growing up. You definitely lived life to the fullest, see you in the next life legend Spikas.”
“Bondi Rescue” first premiered in 2006 and has run for numerous seasons since, following the daily work of lifeguards patrolling one of Australia’s most famous and heavily trafficked beaches. The show’s format, blending real rescue footage with the personalities of its lifeguard cast, helped popularize a genre of beach-based reality programming that has since been replicated in other countries. Dee was among the cast members who helped define the series during its most widely watched years, appearing in footage that showcased both the physical demands of lifeguarding and the camaraderie among Bondi’s beach patrol team.
Since departing the show, Dee had largely shifted his public focus toward mental health advocacy, using his public profile to speak openly about grief, guilt and the importance of seeking support, subjects that remain heavily stigmatized in many communities despite growing public awareness campaigns in Australia over the past decade.
Suicide Prevention Australia, the national peak body for suicide prevention with which FTW Revolution is connected, has continued to expand its public campaigns in recent years, working alongside ambassadors like Dee to encourage Australians experiencing mental health difficulties, or those supporting a loved one through one, to seek help rather than suffer in silence.
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Dee’s death adds to a string of recent losses among public figures connected to the reality television and entertainment world in Australia, prompting renewed conversation among fans and mental health advocates about the pressures faced by those in the public eye, as well as the broader toll of grief and loss within families affected by serious mental illness.
No further details about the circumstances surrounding Dee’s death had been released as of Wednesday. FTW Revolution said additional information, including funeral arrangements, would be shared once his family had finalized those plans.
This is a developing story, and further details may emerge in the coming days as tributes continue and formal arrangements are announced.
This report touches on suicide and severe mental illness, which can be distressing subjects. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available. In Australia, Lifeline can be reached at 13 11 14, available 24 hours a day, or by text at 0477 13 11 14.
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Consumer group Which? says it was able to create a fake listing for 10 Downing Street on travel giant Booking.com.
The UK watchdog said its researchers were able to book a bogus stay at the prime minister’s address – as well as leave a fake review noting “hanging out” with resident mouser Larry the cat as a highlight.
It said despite clear signs it was fake, Booking.com did not remove the listing until two months after it was uploaded.
“This limited test is not a true reflection of the experience of millions of listings or reviews published on our platform,” a Booking.com spokesperson told the BBC.
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They said because Which?’s listing was not “live” on its site across the two months it was present, “some of our automatic fraud controls were not triggered to completely remove the closed listing”.
People could only see the listing and request to book the property during a 20-minute window opened by Which? so its researchers could try to book it.
Booking.com’s spokesperson added “a range of checks and verification measures” help secure the site, and technologies such as AI “help us detect and remove the majority of fraudulent listings within 24 hours”.
But Which? Travel editor Rory Boland said its checks had been shown to be “unfit for purpose”.
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“If Booking.com’s so-called sophisticated AI systems can’t spot that 10 Downing Street is not a holiday rental, then it’s no wonder scammers can exploit the platform so easily,” he said.
“It would be laughable that we were able to list the UK’s most famous address for rent, if the consequences weren’t so devastating for holidaymakers, who risk losing thousands of pounds to bogus listings and phishing links.”
It is not the first time the site has faced criticism over its security efforts and customer service.
A laptop arrived late. What was on it made things worse. And now Apple is asking a federal court to move faster, arguing that evidence in its lawsuit against OpenAI is being actively destroyed.
Apple filed a new brief on Aug. 31, escalating its legal battle against the ChatGPT maker. The filing accuses OpenAI of withholding key evidence and alleges that a former Apple engineer sent instructions to an OpenAI colleague to destroy documents. The colleague confirmed she would comply, Bloomberg reported.
What Apple’s new court filing says about OpenAI
The brief was filed Monday, Aug. 31, in support of Apple’s motion for expedited pretrial fact-finding in its trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI.
Apple’s lawyers said OpenAI only recently provided a critical piece of evidence: an Apple-issued MacBook that former engineer Chang Liu had been using since leaving the company.
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Initial forensic analysis of the laptop found that Liu and colleagues at OpenAI “were well aware” of his continued unauthorized access to Apple’s third-party cloud storage providers. The filing alleges Liu also “sent instructions for destroying evidence to an OpenAI colleague who confirmed she would comply.”
More OpenAI:
Apple also claimed Liu “used a tool in his work at OpenAI that has the same name as an internal Apple engineering application used for Apple development work.”
The company’s lawyers wrote that the laptop “shows Apple is not conducting ‘fishing expeditions’ but that its trade secrets are being used and evidence is being destroyed,” Bloomberg reported.
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OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why Chang Liu is central to the Apple-OpenAI lawsuit
Liu left Apple for OpenAI in January 2026. He is one of more than 400 former Apple employees who have gone to work for the AI company.
That number is central to Apple’s original complaint, which accused OpenAI of actively recruiting Apple workers and encouraging them to share confidential information, components, drawings and other materials related to unreleased products while taking steps to cover its tracks.
Apple’s filing states Liu “not only downloaded a confidential Apple circuit schematic but also used it in his work” at OpenAI, Bloomberg reported.
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Downloading proprietary schematics is one thing. Using them in your new employer’s work is another. Apple’s lawyers are making that distinction count.
OpenAI has maintained throughout that it followed industry-standard recruiting practices. On the specific issue of Liu’s access to Apple’s cloud storage, OpenAI published text message excerpts and argued he was simply helping a former colleague at Apple, not exfiltrating data.
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Apple integrated ChatGPT into its devices through a partnership announced at its developer conference.Adam/Getty Images
How the Apple-OpenAI relationship collapsed
The two companies had a working relationship not long ago. Apple integrated ChatGPT into its devices through a partnership unveiled at its developer conference. That collaboration began to fray over the past year as OpenAI moved more aggressively into hardware.
The turning point was OpenAI’s decision to bring in Jony Ive. Ive was Apple’s design chief for decades. He is the person responsible for the physical form of the iPhone, the Mac, and much of what people associate with Apple’s look.
He left in 2019. OpenAI hired him to lead hardware. Apple noticed.
The first device from the Ive-OpenAI collaboration, Bloomberg reported, will be a doughnut-shaped smart speaker, roughly the size of a hockey puck, with moving parts designed to give it personality. OpenAI is building hardware products that will compete directly with Apple in categories Apple has owned for two decades.
What Apple is asking OpenAI for and what happens next
Apple wants money, and it wants OpenAI to stop. The company is asking the court for monetary damages. It also wants a court order forcing OpenAI to halt the alleged misuse and destroy any Apple materials still in its possession.
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Earlier in August, Apple made a separate move. It asked a federal judge to immediately issue that stop order, without waiting for the full case to play out. That request is still pending.
The judge is scheduled to hear arguments on Oct. 1 on the motion for expedited fact-finding. It’s this motion in support of which Apple filed the Monday, Aug. 31, brief.
Expedited fact-finding would compress the timeline. Instead of waiting for discovery to unfold over months or years, the way standard litigation usually does, OpenAI would have to hand over documents and sit for depositions much sooner.
That matters because of where OpenAI is right now. The company is building hardware. It is raising money. It is preparing, eventually, to go public.
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A wave of forced early document production arriving during that window could be disruptive in ways that go beyond the legal fees.
For investors watching Apple stock, the case is a reminder that the company’s competitive response to OpenAI’s hardware ambitions is not limited to building better products. Apple is also using the courts.
How aggressively that strategy plays out over the next few months depends, in large part, on what the judge decides on Oct. 1.
Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri shares have surged 38.9% across two sessions, climbing from Monday’s close of Rs 304.45 to Rs 423 at 9:25 am on Wednesday, as investors continued to react to GRT Jewellers’ proposed acquisition of the listed jewellery retailer.
The stock advanced 16.11% on Wednesday, gaining Rs 58.70 after opening at Rs 380. The rise followed Tuesday’s rally, when TBZ hit its upper-circuit level of Rs 366.80.
During Tuesday’s session, the stock opened at Rs 315 and touched a low of Rs 313.10 before rallying sharply.
The rally followed GRT Jewellers’ announcement that it would acquire TBZ’s entire promoter holding and take control of the company.
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Under the share purchase agreement, GRT will acquire 4.95 crore shares, representing 74.12% of TBZ’s voting capital, at a maximum price of Rs 209 per share. The promoter-stake transaction is valued at up to Rs 1,033.71 crore.
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The sellers include members of the Zaveri family and two promoter-group companies, which will exit their holdings after the transaction closes. The acquisition triggered a mandatory open offer for up to 1.73 crore shares, representing the remaining 25.88% of TBZ’s voting capital, at Rs 249.61 per share. If fully accepted, the cash offer could cost GRT as much as Rs 431.10 crore, taking the maximum combined transaction value to about Rs 1,465 crore, according to the company’s filing.Although takeover regulations require an open offer for at least 26% of a target company’s voting capital, GRT’s offer covers 25.88% because that represents TBZ’s entire public shareholding as of the announcement date.
The rally has widened the gap between TBZ’s market value and the transaction prices. At Rs 423, the stock was trading nearly 69.5% above the open-offer price of Rs 249.61, and more than double the Rs 209-per-share price agreed for the promoter stake.
Despite the open offer being priced below the prevailing market value, the two-day advance appeared to reflect investor expectations surrounding the change in ownership and TBZ’s growth prospects under the new promoter.
Following completion of the acquisition, GRT will assume control of TBZ and become its promoter. The existing promoters will cease to be shareholders and will be declassified from the promoter and promoter-group category.
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The transaction is subject to approval from the Competition Commission of India and identified lenders, along with other conditions under the share purchase agreement. The price paid for the promoter stake may be adjusted downwards but cannot be increased.
GRT has said it does not intend to delist TBZ. If the acquisition and open offer reduce public shareholding below the mandatory 25% threshold, the acquirer will take steps to restore compliance within the period permitted by listing regulations.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
The Supreme Court of WA has dismissed Equatorial Resources’ urgent attempt to block its former legal advisers Clifford Chance from starting international arbitration.
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The airline says the price of jet fuel could soar next summer amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East
Felix Armstrong www.cityam.com
09:26, 02 Sep 2026
Passengers queuing up to get on Ryanair planes at Stansted Airport(Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire)
Ryanair is warning that jet fuel prices could rocket next summer, putting some of its European rivals at risk of going under.
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The budget carrier announced it had taken emergency measures to shield itself from the elevated jet fuel costs triggered by the Iran war, scaling back its passenger targets from 216m to 214m for this year.
The Dublin-based airline revealed it had locked in fixed-price contracts for 80 per cent of its fuel requirements for the year ahead, but chose to axe certain flights to reduce the volume of fuel it must purchase at market rates.
The reduced flight schedule is expected to ease Ryanair’s winter losses by €70m to €100m. The carrier remains on course to grow its summer passenger numbers by more than five per cent to 145m this year.
Ryanair cautioned that several of its European competitors face greater exposure to the surging jet fuel costs brought about by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as reported by City AM.
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“If high oil prices continue through to [next summer], Ryanair believes short haul airfares in Europe will increase materially to reflect higher oil prices,” the Dublin-based firm said.
“Some less well-hedged competitors will struggle to maintain capacity or even survive this coming winter season.”
In July, Ryanair disclosed that the cost of the 20 per cent of its fuel requirements that were not fixed-price had more than doubled at the start of this year, to $150 per barrel.
Consequently, the carrier’s operating costs surged 11 per cent to €3.8bn in the three months to June, while its pre-tax profit plummeted 36 per cent to €593m.
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The airline, which is listed in both Dublin and New York, announced in May that it would slash some of its fares to drive up passenger volumes and counter the softening demand triggered by the Middle East conflict.
Ryanair is far from alone in feeling the pinch from the Iran war. Tourism giant Tui swung to a €17m loss in the six months to June, attributing the shortfall to rising fuel costs and subdued travel demand.
Easyjet absorbed a £200m blow to its profits in the three months to June, as fuel costs per passenger rocketed by £100m, or 13 per cent.
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