LONDON — Prince William and Princess Kate are entering a pivotal new season determined not to let Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s return to Britain distract them from their own path forward, according to royal insiders, even as the Sussexes’ presence in the country promises to complicate the family’s public calendar in the months ahead.

The comments come as William and Kate say a poignant farewell to Prince George this week, marking his first day at Eton College, the prestigious Berkshire boarding school William himself attended as a teenager. The milestone arrives alongside what royal sources describe as a broader shift for the couple, who appear more united than ever as they resume official duties following their summer break, and just weeks after Harry and Meghan’s unexpected return to the U.K.

Robert Jobson, author of “The Windsor Legacy,” told Hello! that William and Kate remain firmly focused on their long-term trajectory rather than reacting to developments involving the Sussexes.

“They are on a clear path and they’re thinking about what their future is going to be,” Jobson said. “They’re focused on the kids and their projects. They are on a steady path which leads to the ultimate job, the top job. Now they’re next in line, they’re facing what their position will be, and that will be essentially to prepare the reign that they want and how they want to do it. William will take the lead, but it’s going to be a team effort.”

Jobson pointed to the couple’s public unity as evidence of their strengthened partnership.

“I think they’re certainly stronger as a couple, but also as a family unit,” Jobson said. “You only have to look at them in public; they are very much a united couple and they’re very much doing their job. They really haven’t put a foot wrong. The way that Catherine has come back into the public eye was perfectly handled. They’ve got their image right, they’ve got their engagement at the level they want and they’re spending enough time with their kids.”

Addressing the Sussexes’ return directly, Jobson said he does not expect it to change William and Kate’s approach.

“I don’t think that, because Harry and Meghan are here making a bit of noise, that’s going to necessarily make them do anything,” Jobson said. “They’ll probably think, well, we’ve been down this road before; it creates a circus and we’re not going to get involved.”

Still, Harry and Meghan’s presence will be difficult to entirely avoid. The couple, believed to be living in the Cotswolds, flew into Birmingham last month in time for their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, to begin school. William and Kate have their own busy autumn schedule of engagements planned, including William’s continued work on homelessness and mental health and Kate’s focus on young children and families, while Harry is expected to appear in London later this month at the WellChild Awards, an annual charity event for seriously ill children of which he remains patron.

Hello! royal editor Emily Nash said Meghan’s specific plans remain the more uncertain variable in the equation.

“What really fascinates me is what Meghan is going to do,” Nash said. “She’s essentially a private citizen here in the UK. Will she pop up with or for Harry? If she does, does that make it look more like they’re sort of imitating royal engagements? I think this could become a bit of a problem for them.”

Nash also flagged conflicting reports about Meghan’s potential return to acting, after British actor Theo James dismissed rumors that Meghan would join the third season of the Netflix series “The Gentlemen,” in which he stars, calling the speculation “hot air.”

“The other thing that I found fascinating was Theo James saying that all the rumours around her starring in The Gentlemen are hot air,” Nash said. “That whole sort of PR bombshell about her returning to acting very specifically linked her to that production in particular, and now, people at the heart of it are saying it’s not right. What is going on there?”

Based on her own sourcing, Nash said she expects Meghan to largely continue her existing pattern of activity.

“From the people I’ve been speaking to, I think Meghan’s plan is to carry on doing what she’s been doing,” Nash said. “I’m sure they’re working on some of the things they were doing with Archewell Philanthropies — the work she was doing around online harm, for example, I’m sure we’ll see more of that kind of thing. But do they really want to return to the kind of engagements that they turned their back on? And if they do, how are people going to react to it?”

Meghan is also continuing to build her lifestyle brand, As Ever, and remains patron of Smart Works, a U.K.-wide charity offering coaching and clothing to unemployed women and those on zero-hours contracts. Smart Works told Hello! it is “very excited to welcome the Duchess and her family back to the UK.”

One date likely to underscore the ongoing divisions within the family is the National Service of Remembrance on Nov. 8, when senior royals traditionally gather at the Cenotaph in central London. Having stepped down as working royals in 2020, Harry and Meghan will not be invited to join King Charles and other relatives at the official service, though Harry may choose to mark the occasion elsewhere, as he has done in Los Angeles in past years.

Jobson said any separate observance by Harry would risk highlighting the rift rather than easing it.

“That’s a problem, because if Harry goes somewhere in Oxford and does it, it’s going to look very odd, because it’s going to be an alternative moment,” Jobson said. “As a veteran, he will probably want to do that, so unless they invite them into the fold, which I don’t think they will at this moment in time, it creates an alternative which makes them look divided. You’ve got two conflicting households on the same patch, and that can’t possibly work. I think something has to give along the way. It’s whether they invite Harry back inside, and if that’s the case, then a lot of people won’t be very happy.”

Questions also remain over whether Harry and Meghan will be invited to Kate’s annual Together at Christmas carol concert at Westminster Abbey, or to join the wider family for festive celebrations at Sandringham.

For William and Kate, Jobson said the pair are more likely to stay focused on their own upcoming milestones, including a potential state dinner next month for the Sultan of Oman’s visit to the U.K., hosted by the King and Queen. There is also renewed talk of Kate rejoining William for international travel, with speculation she could accompany him to Mumbai in November for the Earthshot Prize Summit and Awards, which would mark their first major joint overseas trip since visiting the Caribbean in 2022, and Kate’s first appearance at one of William’s environmental events since Boston that same year.

“I think if she’s well enough to go, she will go,” Jobson said. “All the indications are that she probably will. It’s about time that she did.”

Jobson said he ultimately expects William and Kate to rise above any distraction posed by the Sussexes’ return.

“I think they’re going to rise above all this,” Jobson said. “I don’t think they’re going to be involved in a tit for tat. Harry has turned up and put the ball back in their court, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to play.”

TUCSON, Ariz. — A retired FBI agent has laid out a new theory about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, suggesting the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie was taken in a kidnapping-for-ransom plot that unraveled within days, possibly ending in her death from natural causes.

Frank Storey outlined the theory during an appearance on “True Crime With Jen Coffindaffer,” a podcast hosted by fellow retired FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer, on Sept. 2, seven months after Guthrie vanished from her Catalina Foothills home near Tucson. Storey suggested Guthrie may have suffered a fatal heart attack a day or two after being seized, though he stressed his account remains speculation rather than a confirmed finding, and investigators have not endorsed it. No suspects have been named, and authorities have not said whether Guthrie is alive or dead.

Storey pushed back against suggestions that the case has gone cold, arguing that senior bureau agents remain actively assigned to it and that a resolution is likely given his belief that more than one person was involved in the abduction. He said he expects the case to eventually break through the plea-bargaining system, predicting that if one of the participants is later arrested on an unrelated charge carrying a lengthy sentence, that person could offer investigators information about Guthrie in exchange for leniency.

“Somebody always talks,” Storey told Coffindaffer.

Storey is one of several former agents who have offered public theories about the case in recent months, though none of them is directly involved in the active investigation.

The known timeline of Guthrie’s disappearance remains short and largely unresolved. She was last seen alive on the evening of Jan. 31, 2026, at her Catalina Foothills home, after relatives dropped her off. The following morning, a friend contacted Guthrie’s family when she failed to arrive at church; relatives reached the property before noon and called the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff Chris Nanos moved quickly to treat the case as a crime, saying publicly that he believed Guthrie had been abducted and later telling NBC News she was taken from the home against her will. Investigators found drops of blood outside the front door that were subsequently confirmed to be hers.

Footage from a home security system initially yielded nothing, with Nanos saying the system may have been set to automatically delete recordings, leaving detectives to attempt a forensic recovery. Forensic evidence has since become both the center of the investigation and a source of friction among those involved. A mixed DNA sample recovered from the house has not been matched to anyone, and hair analysis failed to identify a suspect, with the sheriff saying several laboratories are working to separate the material found at the scene. FBI Director Kash Patel publicly criticized Nanos for sending samples to a private laboratory rather than the bureau’s own facility, a decision the sheriff has defended as an operational choice. Two men have been detained and questioned at separate points in the investigation, and both were released without charge.

Two ransom notes purporting to come from Guthrie’s kidnappers have also shaped the investigation. The sheriff’s department released both publicly on July 31 to mark six months since the disappearance. The first note was sent to Tucson CBS affiliate KOLD-TV on Feb. 2, one day after Guthrie was reported missing, and was addressed directly to her daughter. It described Guthrie as “safe but scared” and demanded $4 million in bitcoin, a figure that rose to $6 million depending on the timing of payment. The writer set a deadline, stated Guthrie would be held no longer than seven days, warned she would be killed if the ransom did not arrive, and said there would be no negotiation. Nanos said the note contained specific details about the house and about what Guthrie had been wearing at the time of her disappearance.

The second note struck a markedly different tone, claiming Guthrie had died shortly after being taken. The FBI has said some of the numerous messages received throughout the investigation were unserious extortion attempts, while others remain under active review, and the bureau has not specified which category either published note falls into.

Nanos said the department chose to release the notes publicly in hopes that their specific wording or phrasing might jog someone’s memory. Anyone who recognizes distinctive language from the notes has been asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or the sheriff’s department’s tip line at 520-351-4900. A reward of $1.2 million remains available for information leading to Guthrie’s recovery, and Nanos has said he continues to expect an eventual arrest.

Seven months into the investigation, theories continue to outnumber confirmed facts, and the people who know what actually happened to Nancy Guthrie have yet to come forward.

TOKYO — Nintendo Co. appears to have reversed a wave of Switch 2 console bans that struck players worldwide over the weekend, with the company’s support representatives attributing the issue to a temporary system fault rather than a piracy crackdown, according to reports from IT Home and Notebookcheck.

Reports of the ban wave, which displayed error code 2124-4508 to affected users, began spreading on Sept. 5. By Monday morning in Asia, owners in several countries reported that online access to their consoles had returned, suggesting Nintendo had resolved the underlying issue within roughly a day of it first surfacing.

Numerous users on Reddit reported their consoles had been unbanned following the alarming wave that initially left them unable to access Nintendo Switch Online, the eShop and other connected features. According to reporting from SSBCrack News, both new and legitimate game cartridges were reportedly being used by many of those affected, contradicting the pattern typically associated with Nintendo’s usual piracy-related enforcement actions and raising questions about whether the bans had been triggered in error.

Nintendo’s response to the incident was notably inconsistent in the early stages of the confusion. According to SSBCrack, one support agent had initially alleged that illegal software was to blame for the bans, a claim that muddied the situation further given that other affected users insisted they had done nothing to violate the console’s terms of service. The precise scale of the ban wave has remained difficult to determine, and Nintendo had not issued a formal public incident report or disclosed an affected-console count as of the time reporting on the episode was compiled.

According to KOCPC, a Switch 2 console flagged with the 2124-4508 error code loses access to a wide range of features, including the ability to download or play digital games and Game-Key cards, receive system or game updates, participate in online multiplayer, use the console’s GameChat communication features, and access any Nintendo Switch Online services, including its subscription-based retro game library. In effect, any feature requiring an internet connection becomes unusable once a console is flagged, significantly reducing the practical value of an affected unit for as long as the ban remains in place.

The weekend’s confusion echoed an earlier, similarly alarming episode from shortly after the Switch 2’s original launch. In one previously reported case, a Reddit user identified as dmanthey had their Switch 2 banned after purchasing four used Switch 1 games through Facebook Marketplace and patching them on the console, only to later discover the cartridges had been illegally cloned using piracy tools. That user was able to reverse the ban by contacting Nintendo support through live chat and providing photographic evidence of the physical cartridges alongside the original marketplace listing, with the restriction lifted within hours. The user described the appeal process as “fast, painless,” and said the experience compared favorably to support interactions with competitors including Microsoft or Sony.

Not every reported ban has proven so easily reversible. In a separate previously documented case from shortly after the console’s launch, a user known as Funaoe24 warned the broader Switch 2 community that a permanent ban issued by Nintendo could prove genuinely irrevocable, describing losing access to the console’s online features entirely without any clear path to restoration. Some community members expressed skepticism about that particular account, suggesting without direct evidence that the user might have used unauthorized third-party hardware, such as a MIG Flash device, in a manner Nintendo’s systems flagged as a terms-of-service violation. Nintendo has previously banned Switch 2 consoles detected using MIG Flash devices and similar unauthorized hardware without prior warning to the user.

Community discussion of Nintendo’s appeals process has generally suggested that proof of legitimate purchase plays a central role in determining whether a given ban gets reversed. According to community reports compiled by ThatParkPlace, Nintendo support representatives typically escalate disputed cases to a dedicated fraud review team, and while not every appeal succeeds, particularly those tied more directly to confirmed piracy tools such as MIG Switch flash carts, cases involving legitimate secondhand game purchases have frequently seen successful outcomes once ownership evidence is provided.

Nintendo’s aggressive approach to console bans has drawn broader scrutiny and, in at least one instance, legal challenges. According to ThatParkPlace, the company has faced legal pushback in Brazil specifically over its console-ban policies, part of a wider debate over whether device-level restrictions unfairly penalize subsequent owners of secondhand consoles who may have no knowledge that games or hardware associated with a unit were previously involved in piracy-related activity. Community members have also warned prospective buyers to verify a used Switch 2 console’s online access status before purchasing secondhand units, given the risk that consoles previously flagged for piracy-related bans could circulate through resale markets without disclosure.

From a business perspective, the weekend’s ban confusion arrives at a sensitive point in the Switch 2’s product cycle, given the console’s continued strong sales performance following its launch and a recently implemented price increase. A mistaken permanent-ban message affecting legitimate customers carries the risk of weakening consumer confidence if buyers begin to doubt whether their purchases will remain reliably accessible. Nintendo shares traded at 8,748 yen as of 2:25 p.m. Japan Standard Time Monday, down 1.03% from Friday’s close, though that modest decline does not appear directly tied to the ban controversy specifically.

Based on currently available evidence, the incident appears to reflect a short-lived service failure rather than a new, intentional piracy enforcement crackdown or a lasting threat to hardware demand, and there is no indication the episode has prompted any revision to Nintendo’s broader Switch 2 sales projections. Analysts tracking the situation have said three developments would materially change that assessment: a recurrence of the ban wave across multiple countries, an extended eShop outage, or evidence of elevated return rates or weaker sales following the console’s recent price increase. Absent one of those signals, Nintendo’s more significant ongoing challenge remains selling additional Switch 2 units and growing software volume, rather than managing fallout from this particular weekend’s ban confusion.

As of this report, Nintendo had not issued an official public statement detailing the root cause of the weekend’s ban wave, the total number of consoles affected, or whether any compensation or additional remediation steps would be offered to customers who experienced unwarranted restrictions on their consoles over the weekend.

JLR is expected to formally announce a major redundancy programme on Monday

The Business Secretary has ruled out a government bailout for Jaguar Land Rover amid reports that the UK’s largest car manufacturer is set to axe 4,000 jobs.

The company is expected to formally unveil a significant redundancy programme on Monday, with the job cuts to be phased over two years, according to The Times.

JLR confirmed in a statement that it is launching a voluntary redundancy scheme, offering salaried and management staff the opportunity to leave the business.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has held talks with JLR chief executive PB Balaji and is due to meet the firm’s senior leadership team early this week.

Speaking on Laura Kuenssberg’s programme on the BBC, he said: “A company the size of JLR, which is a huge British success story, at various times in its business cycle, the number of, directly, people it employs will change.

“If this is about making sure over time that the workforce is right to make the business as competitive as possible, that’s the conversation we need to have.

“Of course you want to mitigate any job losses.”

When pressed on whether financial assistance could be made available to safeguard those roles, he added: “Not if it’s to bail people out.

“If it’s about long-term investment in the future, we do invest alongside industry on that.”

JLR is continuing its recovery following a significant cyberattack that forced the manufacturer to suspend production last year. The firm employs approximately 30,000 staff throughout the UK and manufactures the majority of its vehicles at plants across the country, including facilities in Solihull, West Midlands, and Halewood, Merseyside.

A JLR spokesperson said: “Over the past three years, we have strengthened our House of Brands and transformed our product portfolio for the next generation.

“As we deliver the next phase of our strategy, we need to adapt to evolving global market conditions while targeting approximately £1.7 billion of savings over the next two years and reduce break-evens to 300,000 vehicles. To achieve this, we must further simplify our organisation, improve efficiency and build greater resilience.”

The firm confirmed it had notified employees and trade union partners of the voluntary redundancy scheme, adding it would “share further information with our colleagues first”.

A Government spokesperson said: “We understand that this will be an uncertain and concerning time for affected workers, their families and wider communities.

“We have taken significant action to back the UK automotive industry by lowering electricity bills for manufacturers, providing £4 billion of capital and R&D funding to manufacture zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) and launching a £2 billion electric car grant to encourage people to buy EVs (electric vehicles).”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Death by a thousand cuts has been going on under the nose of successive governments.

“Years of under-investment, unsustainable ZEV mandates and high industrial energy costs are crippling the industry. There must be further action.

“There have been intensive Government discussions over the weekend to look at how to mitigate these job losses at JLR.

“The business secretary, Jonny Reynolds and myself are meeting the CEO of JLR next week. Unite was pivotal in securing the £1.5 billion government facility for JLR after the cyber attack.

“Once again, we will leave no stone unturned to support these workers. It cannot be acceptable that workers again are made to pay the price.”

JLR disclosed last month that revenues dropped by 9.6% year-on-year to £6 billion for the three months to June 30, driven by a 9.2% fall in vehicle volumes.

This followed a period in which production was significantly disrupted by a series of factors, amongst them a fire at a supplier’s facility.

JLR temporarily halted production of its Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models at its Solihull plant in March, after a severe fire broke out at a component manufacturer’s factory in Norway.

Sales volumes have also taken a hit following Jaguar’s move to discontinue several diesel and petrol-powered models, including the F-Pace.

Jaguar is pivoting towards electric vehicles as part of a sweeping strategic overhaul aimed at revitalising the brand.

JLR posted a pre-tax profit, excluding exceptional items, of £109 million for the quarter, a marked decline from the £351 million profit recorded in the same period a year earlier. Profit margins took a hit from a one-off provision related to US fuel economy regulations, which partly counterbalanced reduced US-UK tariffs.

Earlier this year, JLR announced plans to slash approximately £1.7 billion in costs over the coming years to bolster its recovery efforts.

The firm has been recuperating from last year’s cyberattack, which had a significant impact on the business, its workforce and the broader UK economy.

The car manufacturer was compelled to halt production at its UK plants for five weeks from 1st September last year, which hit sales in late 2025 and resulted in substantial financial losses.

The historic Grade II*-listed building was damaged by fire in March 2020

Plans to transform Bristol’s historic Guildhall into a five-star luxury hotel are poised to move forward after years of setbacks. Developers are seeking listed building consent from the city council to remove asbestos from the former courtroom, which is earmarked to become a bar for guests and the public.

The scheme was initially approved to convert the property into a hotel back in 2013, but it was devastated by fire in March 2020.

More than 50 firefighters battled the blaze, yet the roof of the historic Grade II*-listed building, which sits on Broad Street and Small Street, caved in as flames tore through it.

A notice on the website for the forthcoming Hotel Gotham indicated it is now expected to open later than originally planned, early next year.

The venue will feature 75 bedrooms, a restaurant and a rooftop terrace bar.

In fresh planning documents lodged with Bristol City Council, the developers’ consultants stated that external works were already covered by existing permissions, and that the latest application concerned internal works only, which would ‘not affect the setting or significance of the surrounding buildings, or the wider conservation area’.

They noted that despite technical surveys carried out prior to construction work, the building had ‘continued to yield ‘surprises’, including previously unrecorded alterations.

“Investigations of the plaster linings through service holes revealed that the upper walls were finished with an asbestos reinforced plaster, requiring removal before any work within the room could proceed to ensure the safety of workers and the public,” the consultants said.

“The proposed works to replaster the former courtroom will not impact on the street scene, or other buildings within the setting and do not require planning permission.

“As they affect the internal fabric of Grade II*-listed building, they do require listed building consent.

“The proposed works are confined to the former courtroom and concern the plaster finishes and linings of the walls above the timber panelling, benching, and doors. The work will require removal of no historic fabric.”

The consultants said the courtroom ranked amongst the most significant spaces within the Guildhall, and would be restored to active use as a hotel bar after falling into a prolonged state of disrepair.

The site traces its origins back to the 13th century and underwent substantial reconstruction during the 1840s, emerging as a gothic revival-style building.

It functioned as the city’s crown court for a considerable number of years, with the basement having served as a prison.

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