Royal news – live: Kate makes latest public appearance on return to work and Harry in surprise US TV outing

Former prime minister Boris Johnson considered launching an “aquatic raid” on a warehouse in the Netherlands to retrieve Covid vaccine doses amid a row with Europe, according to an extract from his memoir.

Mr Johnson convened a meeting of senior military officials in March 2021 to discuss the plans, which he admitted were “nuts”, according to an extract from his Unleashed book published in the Daily Mail.

At the time, the AstraZeneca vaccine was at the heart of a cross-Channel row over exports, with the EU lagging behind the pace of the rollout in the UK.

The extract says the deputy chief of the defence staff (military strategy and operations), Lieutenant General Doug Chalmers, told the prime minister the plan was “certainly feasible”, using rigid inflatable boats to navigate Dutch canals.

But the senior officer said it would not be possible to do this undetected, with lockdowns meaning the authorities might observe the raid, meaning the UK would “have to explain why we are effectively invading a long-standing Nato ally”.

The former PM admitted: “Of course, I knew he was right, and I secretly agreed with what they all thought but did not want to say aloud: that the whole thing was nuts.”

Harry, 40, is currently in New York promoting several charitable causes on a visit not dissimilar to those undertaken by working royals.

Royal commentator Maureen Callahan told GB News America: “I think what’s happening here is that Harry is attempting to make a very soft, gradual re-entry.

“The paperback of his memoir is coming out next month, and he pulped the extra chapter of additional new information. It seems like a very small but meaningful steps to try to make his way back into the fold.”

Can the royal family and King Charles adapt to the modern age and stay relevant? Will Harry be able to rejoin The Firm? And what will the next generation of royalty be like?

These and more questions from our audience were answered in The Independent’s virtual event on the future of the royal family.

Hosted by assistant editor Victoria Harper, the panel features bestselling authors Anna Pasternak and Tessa Dunlop, plus royal historian Jonathan Spangler.

While the couple have been encouraging unregistered voters to sign up and use their voices, they have not publicly endorsed a candidate in the presidential race.

Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told OK! magazine: “I don’t know why they won’t publicly back Kamala Harris.

“I only wish they would. They are trying to use their platform for good causes and in the view of any sane person it would surely be an excellent cause to try and persuade people that Trump is a danger to the civilised world.”

Mr Middleton, 37, is promoting his new memoir about the subject, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, which was published yesterday (26 September).

He told ITV’s Lorraine: “To open up to my family was a very challenging step, so initially I went into therapy, and at the right time my family got involved and I was very fortunate, because they did have to be patient with me.

“It was challenging for them to see me suffer but they understood a lot more than I actually thought.”

The Daily Mail, which is serialising the memoir, claimed that the pair had a “manly pep talk” ahead of Harry and Meghan Markle’s departure from the royal family in 2020.

A friend told the publication: “He [said he] thought they were a great asset to the UK and it was a real shame they were leaving when they were doing such great work,” the friend said.

“It was a man-to-man conversation, they were totally alone. But Harry wasn’t for turning – he was unpersuadable by that point.

“Boris succeeded in delivering Brexit, but even he couldn’t stop Megxit.”

Praising the performance of Giselle at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London on Twitter/X, the princes wrote: “Congratulations and thank you to @ENBallet and @Sadlers_Wells for the wonderfully powerful, moving and inspiring performance of Akram Khan’s Giselle. Creativity at its best! C.”

Prince Harry yesterday made a hilarious surprise appearance on The Tonight Show that saw him swear and scream his way through a haunted maze with Jimmy Fallon.

The New York-based attraction, based on Fallon’s nightmares, featured several terrifying rooms filled with actors who brought Halloween to life for the pair a month early.

The Tonight Show’s YouTube page said: “Brace yourself for 10 spine-chilling rooms that bring Jimmy’s worst nightmares to life with sinister characters and scares around every corner. Enter if you dare!”

Speaking on the TODAY program, he said: “She’s doing ok. It’s not for me to share on her behalf, you know, how everything’s going.

“But she’s getting all the right support and focus that she needs. And like anything, it takes time to process.”

The think tank behind the investigation into Prince Harry’s US visa application has said the decision to keep his visa private is “suspicious”.

Harry’s visa application came under scrutiny following revelations about his prior drug taking in his 2023 memoir Spare, where he admitted to taking cocaine and psychedelics.

A judge later ruled that it is not in the public interest to disclose the result of the application following Donald Trump’s claim that he would treat Harry like any other citizen should it emerge that he was not honest.

Mike Howell, executive director of the think tank’s Oversight Project, told Newsweek: “The Prince Harry scandal just got a lot more suspicious. While our case is far from over as we explore appeal, I’d say that these very curious redactions point to something serious afoot.

“President Trump has already suggested that Prince Harry will be deported next year and the case for that just got a lot more compelling.

“Americans deserve an immigration system with both secure borders and also fairly applied rules for high-profile immigrants like Harry.”