The Prince and Princess of Wales are believed to have a standing invitation to spend family holidays at the magnificent seaside palace of Jordan’s King Abdullah II. This half-term, however, William and Kate have opted to stay in Britain as Prince George prepares for his first school break since starting at Eton.

The Wales family have previously enjoyed spectacular stays at the private Red Sea retreat. But with conflict continuing across the Middle East, a return to Jordan appears not to have been considered this year.

A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘In Jordan, there’s always chatter around this time of year that the Prince and Princess of Wales will come to stay. They are considered regulars here in Jordan.

‘But they can hardly come here for water sports and jet skiing when there is the threat of Houthi or Iranian missiles. It can’t be a coincidence if an autumn return to Jordan wasn’t on their radar this year.’

King Abdullah, 64, was educated in Surrey, Oxford and Sandhurst and is known for welcoming some of the world’s most prominent figures to his holiday palace. Over the past six years, the property has been expanded to accommodate roughly 15 guest families in exceptional luxury.

While guests unwind, Royal Jordanian Navy gunboats patrol the waters off the secluded beach, with elite military personnel also helping to secure the extensive compound.

William and Kate are understood to have stayed at the palace as guests of King Abdullah and Queen Rania. On at least one visit, they are thought to have been joined by their children, George, 13, Charlotte, 11, and eight-year-old Louis, along with Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton.

The vast estate includes around 15 luxury villas, plus gyms and facilities for watersports. Its scale and amenities have led some to describe it as a five-star holiday resort rather than a conventional royal residence.

According to a source who spoke to The Mail on Sunday, the palace functions as a private first-class Club Med for royalty, offering almost every luxury imaginable. Guests can scuba dive — a pastime William enjoys — as well as waterski, ride jet skis and fish before joining lavish barbecues hosted by the King.

The setting is said to be relaxed and informal. Visiting royals can travel around the huge grounds in personal golf buggies and enjoy a level of freedom rarely available during their public engagements. One source said: ‘I bet William and Kate are incredibly sad not to be going this year.’

The surrounding attractions include a yacht club and King Abdullah’s car museum, where the collection features vintage Aston Martins, Ferraris, McLarens and motorcycles. William is also said to have ridden some of the monarch’s prized bikes.

A source said: ‘It gives the King great pleasure to be able to offer the best hospitality to interesting people he wants to get to know or to be able offer a nice treat for families like the Waleses – who he already knows well and is fond of – to give them some much-needed family time.’

The British and Jordanian royal families have maintained close ties for decades. King Abdullah II’s father, King Hussein, became monarch in 1952 — the same year Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne — and King Charles has made regular visits to Jordan. William is also understood to be friends with Abdullah’s son, Crown Prince Hussein, who trained at Sandhurst like the Prince of Wales. The two men are even said to have watched an England football match together.

Kate, meanwhile, has a particularly strong personal connection to Jordan.

She lived there for almost three years as a child after her father, Michael Middleton, was posted to Amman during his career with British Airways. Kate attended nursery school in the Jordanian capital and has retained a lasting affection for the country.

During an official visit to Jordan in 2018, William was shown a photograph of Kate visiting the ancient ruins of Jerash as a young girl alongside her father and sister, Pippa. The Prince then posed at the same location, joking that his wife would be disappointed to have missed the visit.

It may therefore be unsurprising that Michael and Carole have joined the Waleses at the resort in the past. They are understood to have access to discounted travel through BA, although they are believed to have travelled in standard class rather than business or first class.

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But while the journey to Jordan might begin on a commercial flight, the experience becomes rather more extraordinary once they land in Amman. Royal visitors can be whisked aboard one of King Abdullah’s luxurious military helicopters for the journey to the Red Sea resort.

King Abdullah, a keen pilot, sometimes takes the controls himself. Crown Prince Hussein is also, like his friend William, a trained helicopter pilot.

Originally a smaller seaside residence, the royal retreat has expanded considerably, transforming into an extraordinary holiday resort. The luxurious guest villas are modestly called ‘chalets’, though they are more like miniature palaces.

King Abdullah is so enthusiastic about scuba diving that guests are encouraged to join him on almost daily expeditions to enjoy the spectacular underwater scenery. Catherine is said to be particularly fond of waterskiing and jet-skiing.

Guests can enjoy excursions into the extraordinary desert landscape nearby, where guests can spend a night or two away from the coast.

The trips, by helicopter or four-wheel-drive vehicles, give visitors the chance to experience Jordan’s spectacular scenery.

In the evenings, King Abdullah is said to enjoy hosting outdoor barbecues, personally taking charge of the grill in a tradition reminiscent of the late Duke of Edinburgh, who was famously happiest cooking for his family outdoors. The watershed 1969 documentary Royal Family shows Prince Philip cooking on a barbecue at Balmoral Castle.

Despite the extraordinary luxury, the mood is said to be remarkably relaxed. Guests can travel around the sprawling estate in their own golf buggies, dropping in on each other and enjoying the sort of informal family life rarely possible for royals elsewhere.

King Abdullah has also used the retreat to entertain Hollywood stars, business leaders and other influential figures. According to the source, visitors have included Hollywood actors Keanu Reeves, Jason Momoa, Timothee Chalamet and Oscar Isaac, as well as television presenter Richard Hammond. The cast of the Dune and Star Wars films are said to have enjoyed the King’s hospitality in between breaks in filming in the desert.

The Waleses’ fondness for Jordan was highlighted in their 2021 Christmas card, which featured William and Kate with George, Charlotte and Louis during a holiday in the country.

The photograph showed the family dressed casually in summer clothes against a rocky desert backdrop.

William and Kate returned to Jordan in June 2023 for the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein to Rajwa Al Saif. They joined royals from around the world for the lavish celebrations in Amman.

The location of the palace has become an increasing concern as the security situation across the region has deteriorated. The source believes the growing threat posed by missiles and drones in the wider Middle East will have made the family’s holiday arrangements there too risky to consider this year.

The Princess recently spoke of her excitement at spending October half-term with George, Charlotte and Louis.

Kate has repeatedly emphasised the importance of family life and has made clear that raising her three children is her priority.

William and Kate are understood to arrange their official engagements around the children’s school holidays wherever possible, ensuring they can spend as much time together as their royal duties allow.

The couple have previously enjoyed holidays on the exclusive Caribbean island of Mustique, part of St Vincent and the Grenadines, which has been a favourite haunt of the Middletons for years.

William and Kate took their children to the island in 2019, when Prince George celebrated his sixth birthday. They went again last year, during the February half-term.

Kensington Palace declined to comment last night.

With only three days remaining before the 2026 midterm elections, a bitter Democratic dispute has broken out in Michigan between progressive Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and former primary rival Rep. Haley Stevens.

The rift began Wednesday when Stevens’s fiancé, Jason Turkish, said he planned to vote for Republican Mike Rogers, El-Sayed’s opponent in the Senate race.

Several hours later, Stevens appeared on CNN and confirmed that she would vote for El-Sayed. At the same time, however, she called on his campaign to “shut out the hate and call it out.”

The two sides appeared to reconcile Thursday, when they arranged a Sunday campaign appearance at a Detroit church alongside South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn. The influential Democrat played a significant role in Joe Biden’s 2020 primary victory.

But the truce quickly unraveled. In a social media statement Friday, Stevens criticized El-Sayed and demanded that he denounce an advertisement tying U.S. support for Israel to higher grocery prices.

El-Sayed’s campaign has since asked Stevens not to attend the church gathering, MS NOW reported Saturday.

Asked by reporters whether he wanted Stevens beside him at the event, El-Sayed avoided a direct answer and said she “wants to talk about other things.”

When a reporter bluntly asked whether Stevens was “trying to rat f***” his campaign, El-Sayed laughed and replied: “That is not a question for me.”

Rogers said he would welcome Stevens “to join us at an event or any of our campaign events,” according to MS NOW.

Clyburn adviser Antjuan Seawright also said Stevens’s invitation to attend the church gathering “still stands,” the outlet reported.

El-Sayed’s decision to distance himself from Stevens now appears likely to extend beyond Sunday’s scheduled event.

The El-Sayed campaign has asked Stevens to avoid all future campaign appearances before next week’s election, Politico reported.

According to the report, a source said Stevens should stay away so she would not “distract from the central issues of the campaign.”

On Thursday, when reporters asked about the planned church appearance with Stevens, El-Sayed said the campaign was “always trying to unify the party.”

He explained that the joint event had not been organized sooner because both candidates had demanding schedules.

The progressive Senate candidate also said that, amid the rising cost of living, “nobody cares” about internal party tensions.

The one-minute spot at the center of the spat was run by the leftist commentator Cenk Uygur’s Rebellion PAC. Uygur is controversial streamer Hasan Piker’s uncle.

El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel, previously campaigned with Piker, drawing concern from some in Michigan’s Jewish community.

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The ad features moments during conversations in a grocery store, including one where a woman tells a man she can’t afford eggs because they had to use their money ‘killing Palestinians.’

El-Sayed’s campaign has noted that the ad was not made or endorsed by the campaign and said it ‘has always been focused on addressing the most critical challenges Michiganders are facing.’

El-Sayed himself told reporters on Saturday that he did ‘not agree with the contents of that ad.’ 

In response, Stevens said she was glad to see El-Sayed say he did not agree ‘with the content of the vile… ad which claimed Israel and Jews were to blame for the high costs of groceries.’ 

She did not refer to El-Sayed by name and only called him ‘our senate nominee,’ according to the statement reported by Semafor’s Nicholas Wu.

‘Whenever anyone tries to set us against each other, we have an obligation to stand up and fight back,’ Stevens added. ‘This is what our constituents deserve from those of us in elected leadership.’ 

Stevens had forcefully pushed back on the ad on Friday and suggested El-Sayed should do more to reject it.

She is a staunch supporter of Israel who represents a district with a significant Jewish community in Detroit’s suburbs.

‘Abdul promises to get money out of politics,’ Stevens wrote Friday on X. ‘He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford.’

El-Sayed and Stevens last appeared together on August 6, two days after the primary. 

Stevens, who lost the primary by just under 1 percentage point, pledged to support El-Sayed and said she would do ‘whatever he wants me to do’ on the campaign trail. 

Michigan hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1994. Donald Trump won the state in 2016 and 2024. 

Republicans face political challenges of their own, particularly voter dissatisfaction with Trump, the Iran war and high costs.

Rogers has remained closely aligned with the president on most issues, appearing alongside him at a Michigan rally last Sunday where he credited Trump with bringing manufacturing jobs back to the state.

Trump has repeatedly attacked El-Sayed’s Muslim faith, calling him a ‘jihadist’ and saying that he was ‘on the side of terrorists.’

He previously said: ‘If you’re black, or if you’re Jewish, and you vote for Abdul, you’re not smart.’

Both candidates are trying to win over black voters, particularly in Detroit’s Wayne County, where Stevens defeated El-Sayed in the Democratic primary.

El-Sayed’s church event with Clyburn is part of that effort.

Meanwhile, Rogers has visited a reading remediation program at a Detroit high school and discussed housing costs with residents in Pontiac, north of the city.

Early voting in Michigan started on October 24.

The Daily Mail has reached out to El-Sayed and Stevens for comment. 

Heidi Klum left fans stunned with the reveal of her jaw-dropping 2026 Halloween costume.

The 53-year-old German supermodel is famous for her elaborate transformations, but she raised the bar once again on Saturday when she arrived at her iconic Halloween party dressed as a gruesome severed hand.

The macabre creation featured long red claws and bloodied veins spilling from the torn wrist, while Klum’s face appeared to be lodged inside a gaping, grotesque wound.

She was accompanied by five members of her entourage, all dressed in bright yellow hazmat suits.

Klum later unveiled the look on Instagram, captioning the post: “TALK TO THE HAND ✋ #HeidiHalloween 2026 HERE WE GO.”

Before the party, which she has hosted annually since 2000, the star had teased her Halloween transformation across social media.

The supermodel kept her 12.7 million followers engaged with behind-the-scenes footage, including fake-blood-covered props and clips of her makeup team preparing the special-effects look.

On the red carpet, one of her entourage members provided an amusing hydration break by using a syringe to squirt liquid into Klum’s wide, bloodied mouth.

For years, Klum has built a reputation for the spectacular Halloween costumes she unveils at her star-studded New York City celebration.

Last year, she transformed into Medusa from Clash of the Titans for the annual event.

Her previous Halloween creations have included E.T., a peacock, an alien and Princess Fiona from Shrek.

Still, her most iconic costume may be the one she wore in 2022.

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That year, Klum appeared as a worm and famously wriggled across the floor.

The transformation was so complete that it was almost impossible to tell the supermodel was hidden beneath the costume’s thick layers.

The costume was so realistic that it instantly went viral, lighting up the internet. 

To make the costume come to life, she worked with Mike Marino, owner of Prosthetic Renaissance, a special effects company that has made tons of realistic-looking Halloween costumes over the years.

Her husband, Tom Kaulitz, completed the other half of her costume as a fisherman.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter at the time, Klum admitted that she felt ‘claustrophobic’ while wearing the elaborate costume.

‘I was so claustrophobic in that costume,’ Klum shared.

‘It is one thing to add prosthetics to your body — but to be stuck inside the worm body and not really be able to use my arms or feet was not very comfortable,’ she said.

Last weekend, a group of us sat together comparing photographs. Not the usual snapshots of a friend’s newest grandchild or a latest Uniqlo purchase, but images of a Safe Hero Flash Hammer — a gadget no bigger than a penknife.

The claim is that, if you are trapped inside a car after a crash and cannot open the doors, the small tool can be used to smash through reinforced windows, even if the vehicle is underwater.

All five of us ordered one, despite the vanishingly small chance that any of us will ever need it. One especially cautious friend bought four.

Among my friends, doomscrolling through what might be called anxiety porn appears to have replaced property porn as a favourite armchair pastime.

And the Government’s new Be Ready campaign, which encourages households to keep three days’ worth of water and supplies in case of an emergency, has given the habit an extra boost.

We once spent hours searching Rightmove for homes we could never afford and browsing Country Life while fantasising about imaginary country estates. Now that time is devoted to Googling emergency supplies and survival gadgets for the supposedly imminent Armageddon.

Personally, I have done absolutely nothing to prepare.

I cannot understand the rush to buy wind-up radios when replacing a battery is perfectly simple. As for baked beans, I am already well stocked with a larder full of rather more luxurious Bold Bean products.

We also have enough dinner candles to last for several years if the electricity fails. And, being somewhere on the hypochondriacal spectrum, I can rely on a medicine cabinet that is already generously supplied.

As far as I can tell, emergency-preparedness campaigns have existed for years in countries including France, Finland, Sweden and Poland. Ours has appeared only now, perhaps to give the new administration the appearance of doing something practical.

The one step I may take is to keep some cash at home. I shop too much to risk being unable to buy anything if bank cards suddenly stopped working. The greater danger, however, will be remembering where I put the money.

It’s scary how much Halloween’s changed

On the train back from West Sussex on Wednesday evening, I encountered groups of girls dressed in Pretty Woman-style sex-worker costumes, complete with micro-miniskirts, fishnets, chokers and corsets.

They were plainly heading to Halloween parties, where the dress code has shifted in recent years from wizard hats and witches’ broomsticks to costumes that are far more sexually provocative.

These days, Halloween streets are packed not only with small children going door to door for sweets but also with women heading to parties in outfits that can make the scene resemble a red-light district.

And it is not just very young women embracing the brothel-style look.

The Mail’s Diary page recently pictured luxury homeware designer Alice Naylor-Leyland wearing a black leather bustier with matching horns. The Countess of Durham, meanwhile, dressed as a blood-spattered St Trinian’s schoolgirl for a large Halloween celebration.

Whatever became of the straightforward ghost costume made from an old white sheet with two holes cut into it?

Like father, like son in the dating game

Some guys have all the luck. Gorgeous Alexa Chung has confirmed she is engaged to actor Tom Sturridge, who previously had a long relationship with Sienna Miller, with whom he has a daughter, Marlowe. 

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But perhaps it’s not surprising: his dad, director Charles Sturridge – responsible for the 1980s TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited – also has form in the glamorous relationship department. 

Before marrying Tom’s mother, actress Phoebe Nicholls (no slouch when it comes to style), he cut a swathe through London’s desirable girls including the most beautiful of all, Julie Christie.

Builders paper over the cracks… literally

A few weeks ago I wrote about the cracks that have infiltrated the house after the baking hot summer. 

Now, thankfully, the builders have arrived to do something about it. 

Excavating some of the damage, they have discovered that at some point the outside plasterwork was filled with newspapers rather than anything more substantial to clog up the cracks.

I have no idea whether this was common practice, but I was keen to find out how long ago it had been done. 

The date on the newspaper used, the Daily Express, revealed the rubbish repairs were done in 2005 – just a year before the owners sold this house to me. 

Any new buyers can be reassured that 21 years on a better job is being done.

So sad Jennifer does not feel good enough

Jennifer Lawrence, 36, has given an interview to US magazine The Cut, saying that after the birth of her second child she doesn’t think her body is up to scratch and wants to be a ‘sexy mom’ when she drops her kids at school.

It struck me as a curious reason to have a boob job. She is already stunningly good-looking and a first-rate actress, so the idea she felt she didn’t look amazing on the school run was sad if not baffling.

I’ve no problem with her having her boobs done – her body, her temple and all that – but it’s a pity that a woman with all the blessings she has still doesn’t feel good enough.

And all the more so when the people she says she wants to be holding her own in comparison with will be other women – fellow school mums or quite possibly Manhattan’s squadron of Filipino nannies.

Free to roam where a Dragon once roared

The Times Literary Supplement notes that in autumn 1803 the first steam-powered carriage, known as Trevithick’s Dragon (after its inventor Richard Trevithick) roared down an empty Oxford Street. 

The shops were closed and horse-drawn carriages kept away for the occasion. 

Now, 223 years on, the London thoroughfare is newly pedestrianised and cars and buses banished. What goes around comes around.