According to a significant poll released last night, Prince William is advised to let Prince Harry take the initiative in mending their fractured brotherly bond.

A mere four percent of the British public thinks the responsibility lies with the Prince of Wales to initiate reconciliation when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit the UK soon, as per a survey commissioned by The Mail on Sunday.

As the Royal Family convenes at Balmoral this weekend for their customary summer retreat, the startling news of Harry and Meghan contemplating a move back to Britain after spending six years in the United States continues to shock senior aides.

This surprising development, which came to King Charles’ attention just last Sunday, has instantly brought the longstanding estrangement between William, 44, and Harry, 41, into the spotlight.

The siblings have not communicated since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022, and it is believed there has been a complete lack of contact for over two-and-a-half years.

Friends of the Waleses are said to have claimed the couple are unable to forgive a series of hugely damaging broadsides by the Sussexes after ‘Megxit’ in 2020, including a claim in Harry’s memoir Spare that William left him with visible ‘scrapes and bruises’ after an alleged fight between the pair. 

Now a poll for the MoS by Find Out Now reveals that 31 per cent of those surveyed believe Harry should ‘make the first move’ in any attempted reconciliation with William.

Some 27 per cent believe they should make amends equally together, while just four per cent believe William should make the first move. A total of 11 per cent said neither should make the first move and 28 per cent said they do not know.

Among the duke and duchess’s most damaging accusations was the claim during an  incendiary interview in 2021 with Oprah Winfrey that an unnamed royal had ‘concerns and conversations’ about how dark their then-unborn son Archie’s skin may be.

William later publicly stated that the Royal Family is ‘very much not a racist family’

The poll of 2,000 people found that 43 per cent believe the Sussexes should apologise for their comments. Just over a quarter said they should not apologise and 31 per cent said they do not know.

The results come as royal insiders claim that one of the King’s most trusted aides has made it his ‘number one task’ to repair the rift between William and Harry.

Former diplomat Theo Rycroft, who became deputy private secretary to the King in February, is said to hope that William could publicly acknowledge his brother. This, it claimed, could be as simple as appearing at the same event or in the same photograph.

‘A rapprochement between William and Harry remains a work in progress, and Theo is taking the lead,’ one source told the MoS.

Another said: ‘Under Theo’s watch William could publicly acknowledge his brother somehow. No one is expecting them to be friends but the drama has to end, for William’s sake as much as anyone’s.’

A source close to the King last night denied the claims, describing them as ‘baseless’ and ‘without foundation’. A source close to William also disputed their accuracy.

Those hoping for a reconciliation are pinning their hopes on a major black-tie event to be hosted on September 18 by The Diana Award, a charity in which both William and Harry act as patrons. 

The charity, which celebrates young people who make a difference to the lives of others, is a crucial organisation for the princes, as it has played a key role in keeping their mother’s memory alive.

Next month’s event at the OWO Hotel in central London will mark the beginning of the build-up to the 30th anniversary next summer of Princess Diana’s death.

In recent years William and Harry have taken turns to participate in the charity’s events. The MoS understands William is not currently due to attend next month’s event and it is not known if the Sussexes will be there.

One senior royal observer last night cautioned that the ability of senior courtiers to influence any possible rapprochement between the brothers is strictly limited.

The source said: ‘It is not a matter for the advisers or the royal household. This is family and they’ll try to sort it out themselves, in private. Of course, the royal household would like a smooth path, reconciliation would make that smoother. 

‘It would make their lives much easier. But they have no serious influence to make it happen. It would be seen as overreaching.

‘The King would like his sons to be on good terms. He’s living with cancer and doesn’t want his family divided. And, yes, he is talking to William about it in private.

‘But no one will be pressuring William, let alone telling him what to do. William is no fool, but he can be volatile and no one wants confrontation. Meanwhile, there is a general feeling of mistrust around Harry.’

Security officials are reportedly believed to be planning to restart their review of Harry’s claim for taxpayer-funded security. 

The Royal and VIP Executive Committee was previously examining whether the Sussexes should automatically be given armed protection each time they visited the UK.

But the couple’s decision to live at an undisclosed non-royal residence outside of London may change the committee’s consideration of security. Experts last week told the Daily Mail that round-the-clock protection for a family could cost £3million to £5million a year.

Today’s MoS-commissioned poll shows an overwhelming majority – 68 per cent – believe Harry and Meghan should pay solely for their security. 

Just two per cent said taxpayers should pay, while 12 per cent said the duke and duchess and the public should both contribute and 17 per cent did not know.

The public, however, appears split on the couple’s decision to return to the UK, with 27 per cent agreeing with the decision, 34 per cent disagreeing and 39 per cent responding ‘don’t know’. 

Additional reporting: Nicholas Pyke 

In a startling revelation, a member of New York City’s police oversight committee has come under fire for likening police officers to the Ku Klux Klan. This controversial comparison was highlighted by the NYPD detectives’ union, which is now urging city officials to overhaul the watchdog group.

Amadee Bility, an investigator with the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), drew fire for a 2020 Facebook post where she equated law enforcement officers with members of the KKK. The content came to light through a screenshot shared by the union.

Bility’s post stated, “The reason u don’t see cops shutting down KKK rallies is the same reason u don’t see hannah montana and miley cyrus sitting in the same room,” echoing a sentiment that implies a direct correlation between the two groups.

Further controversy arose from another post by Bility, which depicted a police officer kissing another man, accompanied by the caption: “Cops when Trump supporters break into the U.S. Capitol building.”

Following these revelations, Bility’s Facebook account was swiftly purged of these posts after the Detectives’ Endowment Association flagged them to the CCRB on Friday. The board is responsible for probing civilian grievances against police conduct.

A detective who was supposed to have an interview with Bility this week disovered the postings when he looked her up online, a union official said.

DEA President Scott Munro said the CCRB needs to “clean house.”

“The DEA will not allow detectives to sit across the table from a disgraceful CCRB investigator who has publicly compared the police to the KKK and pushed the disgusting narrative that cops assault the people they protect,” DEA President Scott Munro said in a statement. “Her own words make it crystal clear: she hates cops and has no business investigating them.” 

Bility, a former NYPD Explorer, a program for teens interested in police work, wont be doing any interviews with cops until the probe was complete, an agency source said.

Bility didn’t return a call seeing comment.

This isn’t the first time CCRB investigators have been called out for anti-cop social media posts.

The PBA released the names of several investigators in May after finding anti-police bias on their social media.

CCRB spokesman Dakota Gardner said the agency is investigating the newest posts.

“The CCRB takes allegations of bias on the part of its staff extremely seriously,” Gardner said. “The Agency was notified of the Detective’s concerns on Friday and agreed to postpone the interview pending an investigation.” 

Anastasia, cast in vigilance, gripped her handbag more firmly than ever while navigating her way home on a bustling bus through northern Moscow. Her wariness was palpable, echoing the uncertainty that hovered around her fellow commuters.

At 70, this pensioner has taken to making frequent cash withdrawals. Fueled by rumors that President Vladimir Putin might seize citizens’ savings to funnel resources into his ongoing military pursuits, or to stabilize a faltering economy, her actions speak volumes of widespread unease.

“I used to laugh at my babushka for hiding her roubles under a mattress,” she admitted, reflecting on her former disbelief with a hint of irony. As a retired senior civil servant, her situation is far from destitute, yet the fear is real.

“Now, I find myself doing the same. The worry I feel is deep, and there’s no denying the fear,” she confessed, embodying the concerns shared by many of her generation.

On this trip, she had decided to withdraw just shy of £1,000 in Russian roubles, progressively depleting her savings in what has become a routine act of self-preservation amid growing financial insecurities.

‘I no longer believe in this war and I’m ashamed of my country.’

She is far from alone. Her friends and many others across Russia’s 11 time zones are following suit in pulling out their money.

This week a report revealed the amount of cash sloshing around inside Russia has risen by £21.3billion this year.

The wealthy, meanwhile are spiriting their money abroad if they can, with brokerage accounts in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia among the favourite outlets, as Western banks are largely closed to them.

These mass withdrawals are causing liquidity problems for Putin’s economy and financial sector, already suffering as a result of bad debts following a Kremlin-driven lending boom to ramp up military output.

This gathering economic turmoil in Russia, combined with Putin’s failing war in Ukraine and a loss of faith in his core and much- repeated pledge to deliver financial and political stability, mean the Russian President is now facing the perfect storm.

His predicament was crystallised this week after a senior macroeconomist, Andrei Klepach, 67, bluntly warned the President in a leaked speech to a private business club that he ‘will not win’ his ‘war of attrition’ with Ukraine.

Klepach dismantled the despot’s rationale that if he keeps pressure on Ukraine, it will cave in, handing him victory.

‘We have this illusion that everything there will collapse. It has not collapsed and will not collapse,’ said Klepach, chief economist at VEB.RF, formerly known as Vnesheconombank, which finances major Putin projects and plays a central role in supporting Russia’s war-ravaged economy.

He pointed to the level of Western financial support that will prevent this. Technologically and economically, he warned, Russia is ‘losing it not only to China and the US. In some respects, we are losing it to Ukraine.’

He went further and said Putin was leading Russia into an inevitable explosive social crisis, implicitly likening the conditions to those facing President Mikhail Gorbachev – who resigned in 1991 after his political and economic reforms triggered dramatic economic decline – and, earlier, Tsar Nicholas II. 

‘No one expected the February Revolution [in 1917],’ he said, pointing out that just weeks before it began, Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin had doubted he would live to witness any revolution.

‘The situation in the Soviet Union in 1991 – we had been heading towards it slowly and consistently, and everyone understood that we were heading towards a crisis, but there was no fatal inevitability that the Soviet Union would collapse,’ he said.

Hours after the leak appeared, Klepach, for decades a highly respected insider, was fired for his sacrilegious analysis. He can only hope he will not now be thrown into a cockroach-infested cell.

Yet a year ago no one would dare voice such opinions, suggesting Putin no longer transmits anything like the fear and power that he once did. 

Exiled economic analyst Vyacheslav Shiryaev said of the Klepach analysis: ‘Putin should already be jumping up from his throne, listening carefully and being horrified.’

One dramatic sign of the Russian leader’s new vulnerability was an extraordinary U-turn this week concerning a tiny anti-war liberal party called Yabloko (meaning ‘Apple’ in Russian).

The grouping had been allowed initially to stand in September’s so-called national election – in truth a mockery of a free poll because, as usual, it will be rigged to give Putin his chosen percentage of the votes, which is likely to be around 70 per cent.

Yet Putin’s apparatchiks suddenly realised that Yabloko was gaining momentum with its anti-war stance, quadrupling its support in three weeks, and posing a danger as a focal point for dissent over the war.

So the Supreme Court was wheeled out to ban the party from the ballot paper on spurious grounds of flouting copyright laws and receiving foreign funding. Kremlin insiders made clear this election rigging was on Putin’s personal orders.

Alexei Chaadaev, 47, a political strategist and author who is a long-time evangelist for the dictator, recently warned the Kremlin that the anti-war feeling is now widespread in Russia.

‘The story involving Yabloko contains an important theme – ‘peace is better than war’,’ he posted on social media.

‘This proposition enjoys far broader support than that essentially marginal party does.

‘Even among the loyal and obedient electorate of United Russia [a party which is resoundingly pro-Putin], there are millions of men and women quietly muttering under their breath: ‘When will this finally end? It’s high time they reached an agreement.’

‘They’re butting heads like rams and spilling so much blood for no good reason.

‘We need peace, negotiations and diplomacy. Enough killing one another and razing to the ground what took decades to build, all for the sake of yet another Mala Tokmachka [a Ukrainian village Russia is unable to ‘liberate’].

‘I would cautiously venture that, if not a majority, then at least a very significant part of society thinks roughly this way.’

Chaadaev is no ordinary critic of the war. In the four years since it started, he has become a key figure in producing drones to kill Ukrainians. 

Yet even he now voices scepticism, and berates Putin’s twisted public excuse for the war – that of ‘de-Nazifying’ his enemy.

The reality is that Ukraine’s new missile and drone-reach deep into Russia, its ability to cripple oil refineries and depots, to hit key military targets and space-rocket factories hundreds of miles from the front lines and to sink shadow fleet tankers and paralyse ports has changed the thinking of key figures in Moscow, if not Putin.

This is almost certainly because the pain of the war is finally now being felt in myriad ways by millions of people across Russia.

Potato prices, for example, have soared almost 40 per cent this year. Almost all Putin’s Black Sea and Azov Sea grain exports – worth £11billion a year – have also been scuppered by attacks on ports and commercial vessels, with losses felt by farmers.

Russian Grain Union president Arkady Zlochevsky warned: ‘This is a catastrophic level. Colossal losses.’

Putin was this week forced to announce a bailout for Wildberries – aka the Russian Amazon – after dozens of its logistical hubs had been hit by exploding Ukrainian drones, causing an estimated £9billion in damages.

The online marketplace – accused by Kyiv of supplying the Russian war machine – is secretly part-owned by Putin’s closest aides, so the pain would have been felt deep inside the Kremlin.

More acutely, it was felt by suppliers who are staring bankruptcy in the face, with one saying: ’97 per cent of my goods burned. How do I pay the loans, and what do I pay my supplier with?’

Margarita Yevstigneyeva, head of the Association of Suppliers of Goods for E-Commerce Platforms, said more than 400,000 sellers had been affected.

As for Ukraine’s attacks on oil refineries, Larisa, 42, spent seven hours over two days in queues to buy petrol in Moscow.

‘I drove from the west of Moscow, where I live, to the south and found no petrol station selling petrol, just diesel at some of them,’ she said. ‘I passed by more than 20 filling stations.’ 

Queues now stretch for miles outside petrol stations and fights are breaking out on forecourts as tempers fray over queue-jumping or drivers surreptitiously try to fill cans in addition to their tanks while others wait.

Yet Putin and his cronies are unmoved and show a distinct lack of empathy. 

A telling moment came when, asked on state TV about petrol queues across Russia, where more than 70 per cent of filling stations now have disrupted supplies, Putin’s energy minister Sergei Tsivilev, 64, replied smugly: ‘I drive diesel.’

This was ‘available at all petrol stations’, he added.

This week, with his brow furrowed, 73-year-old Putin himself (reading from a prepared script written in giant print size because he refuses to wear glasses) was forced to acknowledge that the Ukrainian attacks were causing significant harm. 

This was hardly the plan when he announced in 2022 at the start of the invasion that he aimed to wrap up the war in days with the fall of Kyiv.

Putin insisted that there was no crisis, no ‘critical consequences’. But he did admit that the attacks by Ukraine’s drones ‘do, of course, cause us damage – that is obvious. We understand that, we see it.’

Many in Russia are now talking of the country’s ‘August Curse’ or ‘Black August’ – a reference to the fact that this calendar month has an uncanny habit of shaping future political developments and national ruptures.

It was in August 35 years ago that the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, returned to Moscow from the Black Sea after a three-day hardline coup against him had finally been quashed – a coup attempt from which he would never recover and which toppled him four months later.

August, too, when in 1998 Russia defaulted on domestic debt and devalued the rouble, savaging the savings of millions and instilling a loathing of capitalism and a yearning for the communism of old.

A year later in August, President Boris Yeltsin anointed Putin as Prime Minister and his succcessor. In August 2000, the Kursk submarine sank killing all 118 on board.

The litany continues with August 2008 when Putin began his first land grabs, going to war with the ex-Soviet state of Georgia. 

By August 2014 he was pushing into Ukrainian territory in Donbas, massacring hundreds of retreating Ukrainian troops at the battle of Ilovaisk.

So began the 12-year nightmare in eastern Ukraine that continues to this day.

The question now is whether this August Curse will finally bring Putin, and his incompetent stewardship of Russia, down.

‘It’s doubtful,’ said an academic in Moscow. ‘At least not soon. There are clear signs he will soon seek to mobilise more men for the war, yet not announce it as such.’

The number of men covertly leaving Russia in fear of the looming mass mobilisation has been growing. But the doors may soon be slammed shut.

In Krasnoyarsk, a major city in Siberia, residents, including women, are being summoned en masse to military recruitment offices for ‘data verification’.

An anti-Putin partisan group, ATESH, has reported ‘hidden restrictions on men of mobilisation age leaving the country’, including cumbersome airport screening which has meant male travellers missing their flights.

‘The authorities fear provoking a wave of panic and are trying to avoid any publicity,’ said the group.

The academic added: ‘Putin will double down on the war and repression after the election in September. He now admits the damage that the war is causing yet he cannot halt it.

‘He needs either this war or another war to maintain the repression and control that is essential to his grip on power and his wealth.

‘Putin has only one direction, and he will proceed with it until the ruling circle – some of whom can see the folly of his actions – stop him.’

Girls just want to have some excitement.

Taylor Swift opted for a lively night out with her close friend Dakota Johnson in Los Angeles, stepping away from her newlywed life with Travis Kelce, whom she wed less than two months ago.

The two were reportedly spotted together at the exclusive Bird Streets Club. An image shared by Deuxmoi on Saturday depicted a member of Swift’s security detail standing outside the swanky, members-only venue — even though neither celebrity was visible in the snapshot.

Their cheerful evening comes amidst news that Johnson and her musician partner, known as Role Model but born Tucker Pillsbury, have ended their relationship.

First rumored to be an item in December 2025, a source recently revealed to People that the pair parted ways “a while ago.”

Swift and Kelce officially tied the knot July 3, hosting a star-studded celebration at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

After the couple said “I do,” the venue lit up with pink digital screens around the arena that read “JUST&T MARRIED!” Swift’s longtime publicist, Tree Paine, also confirmed the news to Page Six at the time.

Johnson was among the A-list guests, stepping out ahead of the nuptials in a black halter-neck, floor-length gown featuring a thigh-high slit. She completed the look with black peep-toe stilettos adorned with bows.

The “Fifty Shades of Grey” star and her musician BFF were last spotted together in May 2025, when they grabbed dinner at the Italian restaurant Via Carota in New York City’s West Village alongside Swift’s brother, Austin, and Johnson’s brother, Jesse.

The outing came after Swift had kept a relatively low profile for months, as her friendship with Blake Lively drew renewed attention amid Lively’s legal battle with Justin Baldoni.

Swift and Johnson’s friendship made headlines in January 2024, when Johnson hosted “Saturday Night Live” with Justin Timberlake as the musical guest.

During her monologue, the “Materialists” actress dubbed Swift the “most powerful person in America” while taking a swipe at President Donald Trump.

Johnson reflected on attending the sketch comedy series’ milestone 40th anniversary special, sharing a photo featuring Sarah Palin, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, among others.

“And look who’s sitting right behind me,” she said, referring to the then-former president.

“[It’s] crazy to be standing so close to someone who would become the most powerful person in America,” Johnson added as the camera shifted to Swift, who was in the audience at the time.

A judge has rejected Karmelo Anthony’s appeal for a retrial.

In June, Anthony was convicted of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a school track event near Dallas, Texas, back in April 2025. The stabbing incident led to his 35-year prison sentence.

Last week, the 19-year-old made a case for a retrial, claiming his rights were overlooked during pretrial proceedings he couldn’t attend, and that previous Collin County Judge John Roach conducted undocumented meetings.

His defense team further contended that courtroom access restrictions denied Anthony his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial.

However, Judge Michael Chitty, who is currently overseeing the case, ruled against Anthony’s motion for a new trial on Saturday.

‘Upon reviewing the motion, the record, the evidence and argument, the briefs, and the relevant case law, the Court has determined that the motion should be denied,’ the judge’s order stated. 

‘It is therefore considered, ordered, and adjudged by the Court that the Motion for New Trial is denied.’

Chitty’s decision came after testimony concluded on Friday evening, when chaos broke out in the courtroom after new information about Anthony and Metcalf was revealed. 

The judge heard how both sides willingly entered into a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ beforehand – which could ultimately undermine the defense’s belief that rights were violated. 

As part of the deal, incredibly damaging information about both Anthony and Metcalf was left out of the trial, with the jury only hearing about ‘what happened under the tent’ referring to the track team tent where the stabbing happened.

Those details came to light in front of the judge on Friday – including that Anthony shockingly threatened to shoot up a school when he was 16, and that he had threatened to shoot and stab his girlfriend.  

‘Imma shoot the school up tmr,’ Anthony, 19, texted in 2023 when he was attending Centennial High School in Frisco, according to court testimony.

He also threatened his girlfriend, Valeria Perez, in 2024, prosecutors said.  

‘How many bullets you want coming out of your chest,’ he threatened Perez, per the testimony.

That same year, he threatened to stab her, according to lawyers for the state.

A few weeks later, he sent her a text revealing a disturbing, violent fantasy. 

‘When I stab someone, I’m gonna lick the blood off the blade,’ the text said.

Perez is still dating the killer and supported him in court. 

Prosecutors unveiled this information in a bid to disprove the defense’s argument that Anthony’s rights were violated. 

Metcalf’s history of arrests, problems at school, and racist behavior was also revealed for the first time in the explosive hearing.  

Anthony’s lawyers claimed Metcalf was allegedly caught spray-painting racist graffiti, including ‘kill all black people’ and the N-word, defense attorneys revealed.

He ultimately received 12 months of probation for the incident, according to Anthony’s lawyer, who also revealed that Austin had previously faced charges for assault causing bodily injury and had been arrested.

In the May 2018 incident, while he was still in elementary school, he allegedly shoved a girl to the ground and injured her shoulder badly enough to require hospitalization.

Anthony admitted he stabbed and killed Metcalf at a football stadium in Frisco during the track meet, but maintained he did so in self-defense.

Almost immediately after his arrest at the track meet, the case became a national flashpoint over race, politics, and privilege. 

However, a diverse jury – which included Hispanic, Asian, and Indian people – did not buy the self-defense excuse, rejecting the option to sentence Anthony to manslaughter. 

In just three hours, the jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to 35 years behind bars for the crime.

Within days of his trial ending, Anthony’s parents, Kayla Hayes and Andrew Anthony, claimed their son had not had a fair trial and promised to fight for a new one.

Just two months after his conviction, Anthony acquired a new high-powered legal team of six lawyers who have alleged that the teenager’s rights were violated during the trial.

Roach, the judge who presided over Anthony’s trial, was ordered to be removed from the case after his legal team argued that the judge enforced very strict courtroom rules and gave an interview after the trial concluded. 

After he was removed, Anthony’s supporters cheered in the courtroom hallways and outside the building. 

Roach sat down for an 18-minute interview with WFAA in Dallas after the trial was over. 

In it, he said that he ‘followed the law’ to ‘the T ‘ and admitted that the ‘trial started off bad.’ 

He also confessed that he was ‘ticked’ when AI-generated images claiming to be from inside the courtroom started to surface. No video or photographs were allowed inside the room. 

Russell Wilson, a defense attorney for Anthony, argued that the interview ‘in the well of the courtroom’ shouldn’t have taken place because Roach knew the case was on appeal.  

Anthony’s supporters have claimed that he stabbed Metcalf that day in an act of self-defense after being bullied, shoved, and provoked. 

Meanwhile, those opposing Anthony said the stabbing was an overreaction that did not need to end in death. 

Metcalf was unarmed when Anthony stabbed him in the heart that day.