King Charles beamed and waved as he walked to Mary Magdalene Church for Sunday service this morning.

The 74-year-old monarch looked excitedly ahead of the church service at Sandringham Estate Chapel after a short hospital stay last week for treatment for an enlarged prostate.

Stepping out for the first time since greeting fans outside the London Clinic after being discharged on Monday, the Monarch donned his signature camel coat and carried an umbrella.

He looked fit as he returned to Sunday service for the first time in weeks.

Charles was flanked by Queen Camilla, 76, who looked stylish in a wide-brimmed fur hat, navy blue coat and light blue scarf.

A group of about twenty supporters had gathered to wish the 75-year-old king good luck on his visit to the 18th century church.

But they were disappointed to find the gates to the paddock area outside the church were locked, meaning they could not reach the cordoned off path where spectators are normally allowed to stand.

It meant that they had to view the king from a distance of about 150 meters.

Today is King Charles' first Sunday service in three weeks; he was still being monitored at the London Clinic last Sunday and the week before he chose to rest ahead of the routine procedure.

Charles and Camilla were greeted outside the church by the rector of Sandringham, Canon Paul Williams, who shook his hand warmly and gave him a reassuring pat on the back.

The rector exchanged a few words with the king and Charles replied with a smile on his face, giving the impression that everything was fine.

Part-time engineering firm employee Kay Miller from Witchford, Cambridgeshire, who saw Charles walking to church today, said: 'He looked fine.

“I saw him going to church earlier in January when we were able to stand along the path as he walked by, and he looks exactly the same now.

'I came today on the unlikely chance that we would see him. It looks like he's back to his old self, and it's great to see him back in the air. It certainly seems like he's better.”

Kay's friend David Patterson, from Haddenham, Cambridgeshire, added: 'It's great he walked to church. He's not a young man, but it shows he's fit.”

Royal fan Annabel Young, 27, from Ipswich, Suffolk, who was with her three-year-old son Jasper Davies-Young, said: 'It was so nice to see him back in his old routine.

“It's just a shame we couldn't get through the closed gates and had to make do with seeing him from afar.”

After the service, the King and Queen were escorted out of the church by the rector and his assistant after the hour-long service.

The royal couple chatted with the two white-clad clergy for a few seconds before saying their goodbyes and walking back to Sandringham House for lunch.

The king turned and admired an array of snowdrops before entering through a gate into the private grounds of his home on his 20,000-acre Norfolk estate.

It comes after Queen Camilla stepped up her royal duties, while King Charles took some recovery time following his procedure.

She has had a busy week, carrying out various royal engagements while her husband recovered at home after leaving the London Clinic, where the Princess of Wales also recovered.

Mother-of-three Kate, 41, needs time to recover from a planned abdominal operation earlier this month and is not expected to return to her royal duties until after Easter.

As a result, Prince William also postponed his royal duties for a short time to be there for Kate and their three children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five.

With three working royals out of action, Queen Camilla has led the royal charge as the highest-ranking royal currently conducting orders.

He earned his fifth Grammy, for best classical crossover album, for “Hornsmoke,” which includes his serious compositions “Horse Opera for Brass Quintet,” Piano Concerto No. 2 and other pieces.

Mr. Schickele's classic recordings also include Quartet No. 1, “American Dreams,” by the Audubon Quartet; “Schickele on a Lark,” by the Lark Quartet; and “The American Chamber Ensemble plays Peter Schickele.”

He wrote the score for the 1972 science fiction film 'Silent Running', starring Bruce Dern. With Robert Dennis and Stanley Walden he also contributed songs to the Broadway revue “Oh! Calcutta!”

Mr. Schickele and his wife, who survives him, divide their time between homes on Manhattan's Upper West Side and in Bearsville. In addition to her and their daughter Karla, he is survived by a son, Matthew, and two grandsons.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Schickele, tired of the road and also, somewhat, of PDQ Bach, took a long sabbatical, concentrating on his new radio program 'Schickele Mix'. It was nationally syndicated for about 15 years and engaged him in serious discussions about music, combined with playing works by composers as diverse as Chopin, Gershwin and Philip Glass.

In the 21st century, when the radio show ended, Mr. Schickele revived PDQ. In 2015 he held a gala concert in honor of the 50th anniversary at the town hall.

The first thing to tell you about Bansko, Bulgaria is what it is not. It’s not a sanitized alpine ski resort full of British parents clutching rictus grins as banknotes fly out of their pockets, surrounded by Eurotrash playing Europop from portable speakers as they zip down the slopes in designer clothes. In other words, it’s not boring.

No. Bansko is a place with character. For example, on our first day on the mountain we discovered that the place was frequented by sharks. Benign sharks, as sharks go, but sharks nonetheless.

These were unemployed ski instructors on the hunt for idiotic beginners who arrive at the top of the slope hoping for the best and find they can barely stand.

The sharks offered to take them to safety for €50. We saw several unfortunate skiers descending the slopes in this way, terrified and in the grip of death.

But the sharks were honorable and good-tempered. Leaving their escorts crying but unharmed, they graciously accepted their shaking wads of cash and headed out to score a bottle of Jägermeister. That’s what I mean. Bansko was colorful.

My fiancée, Roxanna, took snowboarding lessons from an instructor who kept a bottle of Jägermeister in his ski suit pocket – we didn’t ask if he bought it with sharking proceeds – and recommended snails of it to her as a reward. relaxing at strategic moments.

She found it very useful and we bought a bottle to take home.

Meanwhile, my three teenagers (plus a buddy) and I were taking ski lessons from an abstract young man with the temperament of a physicist, who immediately declared that he was not there to be our friend, but to teach us how to ski. . And teach us to ski, he did. Most efficient. It’s amazing what you can achieve without the talk.

Even the youngest, ten years old, made good progress without – as far as we know – a Jägermeister.

We all stayed in a beautiful chalet with the unlikely name ‘Diana-Ross’. It was run by a group of super-chilled British ex-pats with a strange appetite for Backgammon, who we called ‘the friends’.

There was home-cooked food, made by a Bulgarian mother wearing a headscarf; a sauna and a hot tub; and a bottomless supply of home-brewed rakia (a fruit brandy) that you can enjoy behind a small bar in the lounge.

The ski rental place was next door and the mountain was five minutes away.

We visited some hot spas, which were steaming and still in the cold air.

The last evening we had a traditional Bulgarian dinner in a restaurant where men in embroidered vests played accordions and guitars raucously until you gave them enough money to leave. Every evening the air was laced with wood smoke.

But about the skiing.

Bansko is located in the Pirin Mountains, at an altitude of approximately 914 meters.

The resort is essentially a single mountain with beautiful runs of varying difficulty, plus some decent off-piste areas that could keep a family entertained for a week.

This is one of the things that makes it good. If you have semi-independent teenagers, like me, or groups of skiers with different abilities, you can give everyone free rein without fear of losing them forever. All roads lead to the bar at the foot of the mountain. Just tell them approximately what time they need to be back and bring in the beers.

Speaking of which, for this trip I also got my hands on a handful of gadgets called Milos (www.okmilo.com/en-gb/), which I highly recommend. These are small, round, very powerful walkie-talkies that you can attach to your arm or ski helmet and are voice-controlled.

As long as you speak loud enough, your group can chat all the way down, even from some distance away. This means, at least in theory, that no one is left behind.

It also means that when you’re bombing towards a junction in a track, you can shout ‘right, right!’ and it’s their own fault if they turn left.

Bansko being Bansko, you’ll eventually see them at the bottom. (Just make sure you use the small cord to loop the Milo around the strap, as it may have a tendency to come loose if you fall.) A must-get.

But I was talking about the skiing.

The runs themselves evolve – yes, evolve – around the crest of the mountain, taking shape as they go down, winding along a single bar and culminating in that one point at the bottom.

When you arrive at the top (at 2,600 meters) you stand in the wind atop an empty white dome that stretches in all directions.

Apart from one or two nonsensical signposts there are no markings. You need to gird your loins, check that the kids are ready – they are – and head over the top, following the lines of other skiers until you reach the posts and fences that demarcate the sides of the different runs.

It can be quite difficult to determine whether you are driving blue or red, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s all very skiable.

For thrill seekers there are several decent black runs – one long, straight one in particular – and acres of fluffy off-piste (I’m told it’s fantastic, but I’m not an off-piste type).

For beginners, meanwhile, there are some greens populated by good-natured instructors, a collection of very pleasant blues and some extremely friendly reds. Something for everyone, in other words.

Bansko is nothing if not affordable. But in these times of boomerang demand and unstable economies, prices are no longer at rock bottom.

In December it was revealed that the cheapest resort in the world was Bardonecchia in Italy, where a week for one adult, excluding flights and accommodation, works out to £531.65, according to Post Office research. In Bansko the equivalent cost is £641.62. Which brings me to an overwhelming question: is the extra fun worth the extra £90?

I damn well think so.

Ask any Norwegian what the most beautiful coastline in the world is and chances are you will get the same answer.

“It’s the stretch that runs north of Bergen all the way to the Russian border,” they’ll tell you with a proprietary gleam in their eyes.

Few who have been there would disagree. It’s not just the fjords with their almost sheer cliffs that plunge into the inky waters below.

There is something else that is just as attractive. As you head towards the Arctic Circle, as the trees and houses thin out and you enter the land of the midnight sun, you have an inescapable feeling of leaving the mess and chaos of everyday life behind. To go to the edge of things.

The problem in the past was that anyone who wanted to venture to the edge of the world had to do so aboard a gigantic cruise ship, or on a rugged, practical ship that offered good views but little comfort. to go with them. Until now, that is.

For the past 18 months, Havila has been sailing this route in hybrid boats that run on a mixture of liquefied natural gas and electricity. The battery packs are the largest ever installed on a passenger ship. As a result, they have no emissions. In addition, all their waste is recycled on board.

Not only are the boats extremely comfortable, with large windows taking in the views, a walkway that runs around the entire perimeter of the ship, two gymnasiums and two plunge pools, but they also have great food that changes regularly to reflect the ship’s specialties to reflect. regions you pass through.

One day there might be reindeer on the menu – the taste is somewhere between beef and venison – the next day it’s king crab.

And for those whose appetite has been sharpened by the sea air, there is a special gourmet restaurant with a five-course evening outing.

Four of us – me, my wife and our two very worried teenage children – join 400 other passengers in Bergen for a six-night cruise to Kirkenes.

“They’re really into gray here, aren’t they?” says my fifteen-year-old daughter, sobbing, as she stares at the upholstery.

It is true that there is a certain monochrome madness throughout the ship. But their fears soon disappear when they see their cabin: a junior suite with double bed, sofa bed, flat-screen TV, balcony and – perhaps best of all – a shower that actually works.

Our fellow travelers are a predictably mixed bunch. Mostly Scandinavian, a few Brits – but certainly not oldies – and several outliers: both a Lutheran minister and a man with the shortest shorts – and most buttoned-up legs – I have ever seen.

The one thing we all have in common is that none of us expect nightly entertainment: and that’s a good thing, because there isn’t any. And so, with a discreet parp on the horn, we left.

The Havila boats function both as cruise ships and as passenger ferries: in six days they make 34 stops. Not that you would be aware of it; Thanks to hybrid engines, you glide almost silently from port to port.

This not only gives you the chance to meet the locals who use it as much as train commuters, but also gives you the feeling of being part of what’s happening on shore, rather than just watching it. to survey from a distance.

There are excursions at every stop of any significant length. In Trondheim we go e-biking and cycle through the old city with its river lined with red wooden warehouses. Then it’s back on board to sail into the Geiranger Fjord.

About 18 years ago, Geiranger was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, putting an end to crazy plans to run power lines from one side to the other.

As we enter the fjord, the captain turns off everything except the electric motor, so that the boat is now completely silent. “It’s a bit mystical today,” says an announcement over the ship’s PA. It certainly is. Abandoned farms lie along the mist-shrouded coast – the farmers eventually gave it all up and sought a less harsh life in the city – while huge streams of water flow down the cliffs into the sea.

Not surprisingly, the further north you go, the more the temperature drops. Slowly at first, and then with a sharp bump once you cross the Arctic Circle.

We pass a lighthouse that until 20 years ago was occupied by the keeper, his wife and their three young children. The children were only allowed out at low tide and then had to be tied to a rope at the lighthouse to ensure they were not swept away.

Perhaps the most unexpected pleasure of traveling through a landscape where the sun never really sets, but remains on the horizon for most of the night, is what film cameramen call “the golden hour” – the time around sunset when everything seems to change. radiates a golden glow – lasting all evening and into the wee hours of the morning.

And it’s not just the light that’s different. One of the strange things about Norway is that the Gulf Stream actually works.

For anyone who grew up constantly being told at school that the Gulf Stream is the reason Britain enjoys such a wonderfully temperate climate, while simultaneously staring glumly out of rain-swept windows, this will come as quite a surprise. But even though there are only occasional white patches along the coastline, the mountains beyond are covered in thick snow – even in what passes for high summer in Norway.

At Bodo we disembark, don flotation suits and climb aboard a fleet of motorboats that bounce us across the water to Saltstraumen, where the world’s strongest tidal current forms great foaming eddies that are believed to have sucked down entire whalers. their downfall. Five days after leaving Bergen we arrive at the Lofoten Islands, where moose roam the forests, the waters teem with sea otters and every year around June the Lofoten Insomnia cycling race is held for those who spend 24 hours on the 230 cycling want to cycle. km from one end of the island chain to the other.

Shrouded in a gray haze we finally arrive in Kirkenes, only 15 km from the Russian border. If you wish, you can stay on board and spend another six days on the way back to Bergen.

But for us it is the end of the journey. Or not completely.

We go to the famous Ice Hotel nearby to put on special harnesses and go for a walk with huskies. I spend all my time being dragged through thick birch forests by my tirelessly energetic husky. But am I complaining? Strangely enough, no.

Along with everything else about a week unlike any other, it was extraordinary and worth every moment.

The Princess of Wales has proven she is fit for the ‘rough life’ of royal life with her eloquent delivery of this week’s events – despite the royal racing row following the publication of Omid Scobie’s book, experts have told Palace Confidential said.

Richard Eden, diary editor of the Daily Mail, noted that Kate’s calm and confident composure during a series of public appearances this week, including the Buckingham Palace Diplomatic Reception and the Royal Variety Show, had demonstrated her “suitability to be queen”.

Her calm comes after King Charles and Kate Middleton were named among the royals who allegedly made comments about Prince Archie’s skin color in a Dutch translation of Scobie’s new book, Endgame.

Royal editor Rebecca English noted that this is not the first time the Princess of Wales has shown courage in times of turmoil. In 2012, French magazine Closer printed images of the then Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing in the south of France in 2012 – but her response was stoic and professional.

After spending time with the royal family in Malaysia on the day the media storm erupted, Rebecca thought Kate was “as cool as a cucumber” and “as elegant and affable as she had ever been” – even though William, on the other hand, was tense and tense. of anger.

Presenter Jo Elvin then asked Mr Eden about Omid Scobie’s constant reference to the Princess of Wales as ‘Katie Keen’ in Endgame – a character from the US cult comic series Archie.

Katy Keene, it turns out, is a well-known character from the cult American comic series Archie. And also happens to be a favorite of Meghan.

Last year, the former actress used her Archetypes podcast series (RIP) to tell listeners about her love for the comic. “I read a lot of Archie Comic books as a kid,” she told Mindy Kaling. “I’ve always wanted this cookie cutter’s perfect life.”

In the 1960s cartoon, later turned into a television series starring Lucy Hale, Katy is the girl next door, longing for fame and dripping with ambition, who eventually becomes a Broadway star.

Meghan, meanwhile, made it clear that she sees herself more as Betty – the kind but meek character from the Archie stories known for rescuing injured birds and helping the homeless.

“I’m the smart one, not the pretty one,” she told Kaling.

During the podcast, Mr Eden further explained: ‘Omid Scobie, a Brit, raised in Britain, who would never have heard of this comic, suddenly heard this term. “Who could he have heard it from?”

“I think he may have given away more than he likes to say,” he added.

The podcast went on to discuss the claim that Harry and Meghan have been excluded from the high society wedding of the year of Harry’s childhood friend Hugh Grosvenor, while William and Kate have both been invited.

Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, and one of the richest men in Britain, is said to have wanted to invite the Sussexes but has apparently decided against it to avoid clashes on his big day amid rising tensions between the royals after the release of Omid Scobie’s new book.

He is said to have chosen the Prince and Princess of Wales over the Sussexes to avoid awkward moments for King Charles and Queen Camilla during the wedding, The Sunday Times reported.

In the podcast, Rebecca explained the matter further: “I think this story is actually a good example of the ongoing unrest that is still reverberating because of Harry and Meghan’s decision two or three years ago.”

‘A story emerged this weekend… that Harry and Meghan were not invited to the wedding because William and Kate and Charles and Camilla were going.’

“It just shows how uncomfortable the situation really is,” she added.

Richard Eden went on to clarify his understanding that Harry and Meghan had originally received a save the date card but were subsequently rejected, adding that the couple informed the New York Post of their situation.

But “the Duke of Westminster effectively had to choose a side, and it is clear which side he chose,” he said.

For Rebecca, the situation highlighted the priorities of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

‘It struck me that we have heard such a deafening silence on the big topic of the week [of] really serious allegations of racism, and there’s no word from the Sussex’s, but they feel they should tell whether they got a save the date card or not.

“I’m losing it, I have to say,” Rebecca concluded.

King Charles appeared in good spirits this afternoon, despite claims in a new book that he is a ‘spoiled’ monarch.

The monarch, who recently celebrated his 75th birthday, was spotted attending Sunday service at the church in Sandringham, Norfolk, in a ‘business-as-usual’ pose following inflammatory claims – and beamed as he strolled around the grounds.

It follows claims by royal biographer Omid Scobie, whose new book Endgame is published on Tuesday, that the king has his shoelaces ironed for him.

Mr Scobie, who is considered close to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle but has denied being their “friend”, also claimed the King likes to have an inch of toothpaste squeezed onto his toothbrush and travel around with freshly steamed bed linen.

Despite the claims, the immaculately dressed king walked purposefully to Mary Magdalene Church this morning, where he shook hands with the pastor before the service.

An excerpt from 42-year-old Scobie’s new book Endgame, published in The sun states: ‘If laces are worn even the slightest bit, an employee should quickly replace them with a new, ironed pair.

“There’s even a rumor (which, surprisingly, sources have confirmed) that Charles likes it when someone squeezes exactly an inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush before his bedtime.”

Other claims in the book, which was leaked to The Sun on Sunday, say the monarch called Prince Harry “that fool” when the Duke of Sussex revealed details of the family feud in a Netflix documentary.

Scobie writes that an aide said the show ‘took the wind out of everyone’s sails’, while there were ‘heads in hands’ in the palace with ‘migraines coming’.

Buckingham Palace said it had no comment when contacted by MailOnline.

The latest plug comes after Scobie launched a hateful attack on the Princess of Wales, portraying her as a woman terrified of doing anything other than grinning photo opportunities.

In an interview published today to accompany his latest book, author Omid Scobie says: ‘The little achievements we’ve seen from the Princess of Wales might go unnoticed if it were from another member of the Royal Family, but with Kate it’s like ‘wow!’ ‘

His cruel lashing – described by a friend of the princess as ‘hideously unfair’ – will enrage the royal family.

Insiders said the princess – intelligent, hardworking and passionate about the causes she promotes – has proven popular with the public in recent years.

But in a striking indication of the dismissive tone of the new book, Scobie says that ‘we are infantilizing’ [Kate] massively so that the bar is always lower’.

Today’s Sunday Times says the book portrays the princess ‘as a woman terrified of doing more than taking grinning photos’.

In the past, Scobie, 42, has been called the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s ‘mouthpiece’ for his sympathetic portrayal of the couple.

His new book Endgame, a frontal attack on their perceived enemies, is expected to further widen the rift between Harry and his family.

Leaked extracts seen by The Mail on Sunday paint an unflattering picture of King Charles, with Scobie branding him “a flawed father” and a conniving person – and accusing him of effectively punishing leaks about his sons to the press .

Predictably, William also comes under fire. The author says he is increasingly in cahoots with palace courtiers who devise dirty tricks.

According to Scobie, the Prince of Wales uses his aides and their press contacts to portray his younger brother as emotionally vulnerable.

Endgame also suggests that William and Kate found the Sussexes’ merciless quips in US animated satire South Park earlier this year ‘very funny’. William, it adds, hated Meghan from the start.

And the book says the king thought his son was a ‘fool’ for making a heartbreaking Netflix documentary claiming his father told ‘lies’ and his brother ‘screamed and shouted’ at the Sandringham Summit, which led to the Sussexes moving to the US. US.

Writing about what he sees as a power struggle between the favored prince and the ‘unpopular’ king, Scobie claims that Charles is jealous of William’s position and knows that although his reign will only be a transitional one, his eldest son will have time to breathe new life. the monarchy.

• Next week the king and queen will visit East Africa
• For all the latest Royal news, photos and videos, click here

By Jamie McBride

Published: 12:38 EDT, October 26, 2023 | Updated: 3:30 AM EDT, October 27, 2023

Finally! Here we go. Curtain up, drum roll. Light, action and here comes the judge, closely followed by the Duke of Sussex, a day late.

In the corner of a civil courtroom, sitting in a light wooden witness box, Prince Harry initially seemed happy to finally have his day in court. But after five blood-curdling hours of cross-examination by Andrew Green KC, acting for Mirror Group Newspapers, one wonders if he felt so buoyant.

With scrupulous courtesy, the famous lawyer took the prince through his evidence step by step. Time and time again it seemed to me that the Prince had difficulty convincingly verifying the facts of his case and had a frighteningly weak grasp of details. He was vague about when he first read the MGN newspaper articles in question.

He wasn’t quite sure why he thought the printed information had been obtained illegally. He was even vague about a hunting trip with his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy to South Africa in 2005.

This is the kind of event you would think someone would remember, with lions and giraffes and rhinos thundering around, but no. “I can’t remember,” he said.

When repeatedly asked how he could prove articles had been hacked, he said, “You’d have to ask the journalists themselves.” All he had in his prickly arsenal was the belief that “the timing was suspicious.” More difficult questions were answered with, “That’s a question for my legal team.”

It was astonishing. At various stages, he also couldn’t remember what his lawyers had or hadn’t shown him before the trial began, and struggled to be precise. “More than thousands, maybe millions,” he guessed at the number of articles written about him.

But while the princely sketch was sketchy and his brush strokes worse than slippery, his oily big picture was vibrant, overwhelming and unsurprising. “I’ve experienced hostility from the press since I was born,” he said at one point.

This is clearly and demonstrably untrue, but it is what Prince Harry believes to be true, which is why we are where we are today.

Again and again he turned to the judge and took it upon himself to explain to Your Honor how the newspaper industry works. “Knowing what I know in my experience,” was how he put it. He also took the time to berate specialist journalists, suggesting they used “imaginary sources.”

However, there was at least one moment when it became clear that his knowledge of newspapers is not as extensive as he thinks. “I have never heard of anyone writing a story that has already been printed and sent out [selling] it on,” he said, which must have given news editors across the country a good laugh on a grim day.

For his big moment, Harry wore a dark suit, white shirt, purple tie and clutch bag with snazzy beaded bracelets on his right wrist.

The courtroom, with its low ceiling and unflattering lighting, was stacked with silk in wigs—at least five, including David Sherborne, Harry’s lavishly lavish lawyer.

There were boxes and boxes of evidence all over the room, a testament to the hours and hours of work and the millions and millions of pounds this case is costing.

In the coffin, the prince was regularly asked to look up paragraphs of his testimony, in various legal anthologies, on numbered pages of the coffin files that he had to retrieve from the floor.

“It’s like you’re working out,” he grumbled. Mr Sherborne had to arrange for a junior lawyer to sit next to him to help him navigate the paperwork – something even Johnny Depp himself managed at his trial in London.

For those in the courtroom or, like me, watching the court footage, it was a fascinating spectacle. Harry has never been seen like this; under continued pressure, is asked to answer for himself and his barrage of accusations in the gloomy confines of a court of law.

Sure, he’s no stranger to public conversation, but this was a far cry from being coddled and spoiled by his showbiz buddies in a rose garden.

This was serious, formal, demanding. With Mr Green circling again and again, how must Harry have longed for the scruffy embrace of an Oprah interview or the sultry ministry of his sympathetic friend Tom Bradby from ITV. Instead he had forensic Mr. Green. ‘So? So?’ barked the KC at one point, as Harry watched over an irrelevant point of annoyance.

It came as no surprise that the Prince’s level of ferocity seemed to increase as the day wore on – you don’t need a dipstick to gauge the true depths, but here he is anyway.

“Repeat the question,” he demanded at one point. At other times, he had trouble finding the on-screen evidence for him. “It’s on the screen for you,” Mr. Green told him.

‘It’s not,’ said Harry.

“I think so,” the lawyer said.

“If you say so,” said Harry, a 38-year-old man who can still pinpoint his inner Kevin the Teen with unsettling ease. Hour after hour, the Harry who appeared in court was a combustible mixture of victimization and arrogance. The latter often took precedence, but his broken side, the damaged side, was never far away.

My favorite exchange of the day was a very revealing one about a news story about Harry celebrating his 16th birthday at a gastropub in Fulham. The prince was convinced that MGN had obtained this story illegally. Mr Green suggested that the celebrity chef who worked there might have called the newspaper himself.

“As a cook, he’d be too busy to make that call,” Harry said. In response, Mr. Green suggested that he get other chefs to work for him.

“I have no idea, I’ve never worked in a kitchen,” said the prince, somehow managing to contradict himself, acting like a legitimate snob, and at the same time making no sense.

What ultimately emerged from his historic first day in court is, dare I say, a man who is strangely insubstantial and simply cannot admit he is wrong, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He often complained in general terms about his treatment by the media over the years, rather than addressing the specific issues presented to him.

“Prince Harry, let’s try to concentrate on the question I’m asking,” Mr Green said, tired late in the afternoon session. The case continues. Prince Harry is back in court today.

They were once the go-to destinations where hard-working Brits and their families would enjoy donkey rides, the helter skelter and ice creams.

But the once-glorious seaside towns of Clacton-on-Sea and Skegness have now been ranked as the worst beach holiday destinations in Britain in a new survey, with spots including Burnham-on-Sea, Mablethorpe and Southend-on-Sea sitting just above them in the ranking of 118 places. Topping the table is Bamburgh in Northumberland, with Dartmouth in Devon in second place.

The list has been generated by a Which? Travel survey of over 3,000 holidaymakers, with ‘boozed up’ day drinkers blamed for the poor rating for Clacton, Skegness and Southend. 

However, despite the towns’ low scores holidaymakers still found ‘plenty’ to recommend, such as Clacton’s ‘lovely’ seafront gardens and Skegness’s ‘old-fashioned charm’.

Editor of Which? Travel Rory Boland has called for more investment to help the resorts ‘level up’ and said the rankings were a ‘shame’ as the towns offer ‘exactly’ the type of seaside holiday Britons want.

Mr Boland says: ‘Where was my last UK seaside break? Southend-on-Sea. This small city on the Essex coast finished an unhappy fifth from bottom in our survey.

‘Now, I’m not going to try and convince you it deserves to be up the other end of the table. Is it as nice as Bamburgh, or Dartmouth? No. But for that holiday where you want to have some fun and not spend a lot of money, it’s fantastic.

‘In Southend my kids and I won (and lost) a fortune on the penny slot machines, took a spin on the carousel aboard a pair of pink elephants and ate £9 fish and chips with our toes in the miles of sandy beach. It was not a warts-free holiday. Rubbish blew around our feet while we walked along the promenade and many buildings looked run down, a reflection of the struggles Southend and many other traditional seaside resorts have in raising enough revenue to regenerate their town centres.

‘Not for the first time we also had to cross the road away from boozed-up and shouty day drinkers. This is a perpetual problem in some seaside resort towns. Clacton, Skegness and Southend all received one star from visitors for the lack of peace and quiet, and some visitors complain that the boisterous atmosphere can tip into feeling unsafe.

‘That’s a shame, because what Clacton, Skegness and Southend offer is exactly the sort of seaside break many of us want. Big beaches, big entertainment and small prices. More should be done to help them level up and become first-class holiday resorts.’

The survey asked holidaymakers to rate coastal resorts they have visited across a range of categories including quality of beaches, seafront, tourist attractions, food and drink, scenery, peace and quiet, and value for money.

Southend-on-Sea in Essex ranks 110th with an overall ‘customer score’ of 56 per cent.

Meanwhile, Clacton-on-Sea in Essex and Skegness are consigned to joint last with customer scores of just 48 per cent.

Skegness manages a paltry one star for ‘peace and quiet’, ‘scenery’ and ‘seafront/pier’, but does manage to scrape together two stars for ‘food and drink’, ‘tourist attractions’ and ‘shopping’. And three stars for beaches.

Clacton-on-Sea’s star ratings are almost a mirror image.

Bamburgh, with a population of a little over 400, tops the charts for the third year in a row with an overall destination score of 88 per cent, while Portstewart in Northern Ireland ‘makes an impressive survey debut’ in third.

Which? says that table-topping Bamburgh is ‘renowned for its stunning sandy shoreline’ that’s ‘backed by its ancient imposing castle’.

Visitors awarded it a full five stars for scenery – ‘unsurprisingly given its unique setting’ – as well as for the quality of its beach and seafront.

Which? adds: ‘It also secured five stars for peace and quiet, meaning day trippers never have to jostle for a spot. One beachgoer commented that there is “super-soft sand that stretches as far as the eye can see, and there is plenty of space, so the beach never feels crowded”.’

Dartmouth secures its silver-medal position on the podium with a score of 85 per cent.

It snared a perfect five-star rating for scenery and accommodation, and was awarded four stars for shopping, its seafront, food and drink options and tourist attractions. It also earned a respectable three stars for value for money, and peace and quiet.

Which? says: ‘Proving that hustle and bustle can be more than welcome, however, one respondent praised Dartmouth’s “atmosphere and vibrance”, which they noted is “not found in many coastal towns”.’

Portstewart in Derry/Londonderry is honoured with bronze thanks to an overall score of 84 per cent.

Which? reveals that its attractions include ‘an attractive harbour and promenade’ and a ‘wealth of tourist attractions including a championship golf course’.

Visitors, the consumer group says, praised the ‘fantastic beach’ as well as the selection of cafes’ selling home-style baking’.

Tying in fourth place with a score of 83 per cent are Portmeirion in Gwynedd; St Andrews in Fife; and Tynemouth, Tyne & Wear.

‘Quirky’ and ‘magical’ were words used by visitors to describe Portmeirion, a town constructed over 50 years between 1925 and 1975 that harbours a colourful array of Italianate buildings.

St Andrews, meanwhile, drew praise for its ‘expansive’ beach and ‘characterful’ buildings, Which? says, as well as its renowned golf course, ‘a highlight that contributed to its five-star score for tourist attractions’.

Visitors enthused over the ‘beautiful’ beaches in Tynemouth, the consumer group reveals, and the ‘wide range of sites to explore, from the priory, to the lighthouse’.

Mr Boland says: ‘Few countries can be home to such a diversity of brilliant seaside breaks as the UK.

‘Whether you want world-class beaches and utter wilderness or the bright lights and bucket-and-spade atmosphere of a resort, the UK has a seaside break made for you.’

The results were generated from a survey of 3,007 Which? members conducted in January 2023.