Russian hackers targeting the Royal Family have led to a major taxpayer-funded cyber security overhaul for Buckingham Palace.
The upgrade comes after the King’s household admitted that its “ageing” computer systems need replacing to protect the monarchy from security threats.
The Palace’s official website was previously knocked offline by a cyber attack from a pro-Russian hacking group, while a recent NHS data breach exposed confidential files believed to be linked to patients at royal residences including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham and Clarence House.
How energy bills may rise in January – what it means for your money
The Iran war has driven gas prices in the UK and Europe to their highest level since the start of the Ukraine war, prompting concern that a further price rise for consumers is locked in for the new year.
Forecasters are predicting that the energy price cap could rise in January to £1,970 – a rise of about £250 on the limit in place from October.
Everything you need to know
- The global supply of natural gas has been pegged back by the virtual elimination of Qatar, one of the world’s biggest exporters, from the market by the war in the Persian Gulf.
- Consequently, wholesale prices have shot up as European buyers compete with Asia for the reduced number of Liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes.
- British consumers are unusually exposed to these fluctuations because gas costs are used as the benchmark for energy bills. The UK is still heavily reliant on gas for heating and electricity generation.
Is increased government help for bill payers coming?
Andy Burnham has made tangible help with the cost of living one of the keystones of his premiership. But the chaos on global energy markets is reducing his ability to come to consumers’ aid.
Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has made it known that she is seeking new financial support for households in October’s budget to try to soften the blow of a January price hike. Whether the Treasury will be able to find the funds to do so remains to be seen.
Charlie Kirk murder suspect faces death penalty
A US judge has ruled that a 23-year-old Utah man charged with the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk can face the death penalty if convicted at trial.
Everything you need to know
- Kirk, 31, had built a reputation as a rising star of the American right with his debating events advocating conservative positions, held at campuses across the US.
- The activist and father of two was shot by a rooftop sniper on 10 September, 2025, suffering a fatal neck wound.
- Prosecutors claim they have unassailable evidence that Tyler Robinson is the killer, including DNA allegedly tying him to the murder weapon and confessions he is claimed to have made to loved ones.
How defence lawyers sought to have death penalty taken off the table
Robinson is facing a charge of , a capital offence in Utah which can carry the death penalty. Prosecutors argue that factors including allegedly firing into a crowd containing children warrant a capital trial.
But defence lawyers have attempted to sow doubt about the prosecution case, saying no bullets struck anyone other than Kirk and raising questions about the credentials of testifying experts. Robinson pleaded not guilty.
Four charged with murder after baby fatally stabbed
Two men and two women have been charged with murder after a baby girl was found stabbed to death at a house in Sheffield.
What you need to know
- Police were called to the home in the Wincobank area of Sheffield on Sunday morning after reports of concern for the safety of newborn girl.
- After a search of the property, officers found the body of the infant. A post-mortem examination found the baby had died as a result of stab wounds.
- Andrea Skopova, 20, Peter Horvath, 19, Peter Horvath, 38, and Nina Horvathova, 37, were each charged with three offences, including murder, on Tuesday. They are due to appear in court.
Teenager accused of related offence
The Crown Prosecution Service said a 15-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had also been charged with an allegation of perverting the course of justice in connection with the incident.
South Yorkshire Police said it was dealing with an “intricate investigation”. Commenting on the charges, Detective Chief Inspector Tom Woodward said: “This is a significant step in our investigation into the tragic circumstances that resulted in the death of this baby girl.”
How the triple lock could be replaced
The state pension triple lock, which pegs payments to the highest of three economic measures, “has to stop” and should be replaced by a link to average earnings, a leading economist has warned.
What you need to know
- First introduced in 2015, the triple lock increases the state pension annually by whichever is the highest of inflation, wage increases or 2.5 per cent and will cost £15.5bn per annum by 2030.
- Paul Johnson, the former head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank, warns that the policy will “take up the whole economy” if left unreformed.
- Johnson is suggesting the state pension be set as a fraction of average full-time earnings, with 33 per cent considered to be “about right”.
How would an average earnings link work
The new state pension currently sits at about 30 per cent of median full-time earnings (£39,039). A target figure for the pension as a fraction of wages – say 33 per cent – could become the benchmark for all future payments.
The system, known as a “smoothed earnings link”, would allow the pension to go up in line with inflation when it rises faster than earnings. But in other years it would remain pegged to wages, saving £650m in 2029-30.
Iran attacks US bases in the Middle East
The Iranian regime launched attacks on US military assets in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq overnight fuelling concerns about a wider resumption of hostilities.
Everything you need to know
Iranian counter-strikes
A US Marines training camp in Jordan was targeted. No deaths or injuries were reported.
Tehran claimed it had struck US warehouses in Iraqi Kurdistan. In Kuwait, the military said it had responded to Iranian missile attacks.
US resumes attacks
The Iranian assault follows American strikes in the Strait of Hormuz after a calm in hostilities.
Alleged attack on wedding
Tehran said it was responding to US strikes on its territory on Tuesday. The Iranian Red Crescent said five people, including a child, had been killed when shrapnel from an American missile hit a wedding celebration.
3 min read
Pentagon denies targeting civilians
The latest exchange of fire between the US and Iran represents a distinct escalation in a conflict which had gone into a lull for several weeks. American strikes early on Monday have led to a series of attacks.
The US military said it was aware of reports that five people were killed and more than 50 injured in a missile strike in Sirik, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian sources said the victims were attending a wedding celebration. But the Pentagon said it “never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC”.
Trump’s military is at breaking point – he’ll pay for it at the ballot box
The attack by US drones on Iran’s Larak Island reveals that Donald Trump’s mission control, like Houston and Apollo 13, has a major problem.
The test that can spot nine in 10 bladder cancers
An at-home urine test being trialled by the NHS can detect 92 per cent of bladder cancer cases, potentially reducing the need for patients to face more urgent and invasive procedures.
A study of 1,000 patients led by the University of Birmingham found a in the simple test meant there was a more than 99 per cent chance that a patient did not have bladder cancer.
Everything you need to know
- Around 11,000 cases of bladder cancer are diagnosed in the UK each year. It is more common in men and 60 per cent of cases are in those aged 75 and over.
- The new test looks for genetic material – caused by more than 450 DNA mutations – shed into the urine by bladder cancer.
- A wider trial will establish whether the test is sufficient to rule out further procedures for negative results – and can help identify patients at greater risk of disease.
More convenience for patients
Researchers hope the test, developed with funding from Cancer Research UK, could reduce the number of patients needing cystoscopies – an invasive procedure which involves inserting a small camera into the bladder via the urethra.
Some 300,000 cystoscopies are carried out each year but there are lengthy waiting lists in some areas. By potentially ruling out cancer in tens of thousands of cases, it is hoped the new test could help doctors prioritise those in urgent need.
It comes as cyber hackers linked to Russia are increasingly targeting UK institutions, amid mounting tensions between Moscow and Nato.
Diplomatic insiders have warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s escalation of hybrid warfare against Nato countries has reached “unprecedented levels”.
The UK is working closely with allies to counter any grey zone activity after an emboldened Russia targeted Leipzig airport last month.
The extraordinary digital revamp of Palace systems has been built into the Royal Family’s new £99.9m a year taxpayer-funded settlement. A portion of the money will foot the cost of replacing “ageing legacy systems to strengthen cyber security”.
The disclosure, revealed by The i Paper, is contained in the Royal Trustees’ 2026 review, which was laid before Parliament on Tuesday as part of the new Sovereign Grant arrangements.
The Sovereign Grant is the annual funding to support the monarch’s official duties and the work of the Royal Household including staffing, official travel and the maintenance of occupied royal palaces.
The Trustees’ review covers the Royal Household’s expected spending from 2027-28 to 2031-32 and includes the new cybersecurity measures alongside maintaining the royal palaces and installing energy-efficient heating.
It does not say what the ageing systems are, how old they are, how many need replacing or how much the work will cost. Nor, does it say whether any of the old systems have ever been successfully breached.
In October 2023, the Royal Family’s official website, royal.uk, was brought down for around 90 minutes in a denial-of-service attack. The pro-Russian hacking group KillNet claimed responsibility, although this was never independently verified.
At the time, a Royal Household source stressed that it was not a hack in the sense of gaining access to the website’s systems or content.
The incident nevertheless demonstrated that the monarchy’s public-facing digital infrastructure could be deliberately disrupted by actors linked to hostile states.
And it was not the first time Killnet claimed to have targeted a Palace website. In November 2022, the group said it had targeted the Prince of Wales’s website as part of a wider campaign against Western institutions and organisations supporting Ukraine.
In a message posted to Telegram, and first reported by Computer Weekly, Killnet members wrote that the royal website was not working. “Perhaps this is due to the supply of high-precision missiles to Ukraine,” the group said.
The latest Palace spending plans now show that the Royal Household is looking beyond simply defending its public website.
It is planning to replace underlying legacy systems as part of a wider effort to strengthen its cyber security.
That effort was already being expanded before the new funding settlement was announced.
In 2025, the Royal Household recruited an Information Security Manager at Buckingham Palace on £50,000-£55,000, responsible for protecting its data, systems and network, assessing vulnerabilities and strengthening security controls.
The role was required to work closely with a separate Cyber Security team. A permanent Cyber Security Manager job was advertised in February 2024 on £75,000, tasked with developing the Household’s risk strategy and resilience against attacks.
An Information Security Advisor is also involved in vulnerability assessments and investigations into suspected breaches.
The Sovereign Grant is based on a percentage of the profits of the Crown Estate, a collection of land and property in the UK that belongs to the monarch, which is paid to the Treasury.
For the 10 years to 2027, the grant has received a temporary uplift to help fund the major refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.
With this work nearing completion, the overall Sovereign Grant will reduce from £137.9 million.
However, there has been a significant increase in the core funding to £99.9 million, up from £72.1 million in 2025-26 and £51.8 million in 2024-25.
This is in part due to the King “significantly” increasing the number of engagements he is carrying out compared to those carried out in the final years of his late mother’s reign.
The percentage of the Crown Estate’s net profits that go towards the Sovereign Grant will be around 20.5 per cent, rather than 12 per cent.
On the increase of the core funding, Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said the assessment had looked at the needs of the Royal Household to make sure “it is being funded adequately for the work, for the public duties that His Royal Highness the King and the royal family carry out.
“And it is worth pointing out, of course, that those activities have increased significantly in recent years.”