Violating sovereignty

THE entry of two Spanish Customs Surveillance Service officers onto Gibraltar’s Levante beach while attempting to abort a cache of smuggled tobacco on Friday, February 3, has been described by the

Government of Gibraltar as a “very serious breach” of its sovereignty and jurisdiction.

During the intervention by the two Spanish officers in the early hours of Thursday morning, they were in­

No longer historic drama

HELENA BONHAM CARTER, who played Princess Margaret in the third and fourth seasons of the ‘The Crown’, said it’s time to bring the show to an end as it’s no longer a historic drama.

Variety magazine quoted Bonham Carter on Wednesday, February 1 as having told a news source that the fifth season of the show brought it out of the past. The fifth season covers events in the 90s, which she said: “I should be careful here too, but I don’t think they should carry on, actually.”

Saying she was proud of her role in the series, it was no longer a period drama. She said: “When ‘The Crown’ started it was a historic drama, and now it’s crashed into the present. But that’s up to them.”

This is not the first time she has been at odds with the producers. In 2021 she said the show should be accompanied by a warning that it is “a historical fiction.” jured to varying degrees after being hit with stones by a group of people allegedly linked to tobacco smuggling.

The show has received a negative reaction from many within the Royal family, supporting Bonham Carter’s view that they have “a moral responsibility” to make it clear the storyline is fiction.

This intervention “would constitute a very serious breach of the law,” if “it were confirmed that the Spanish officers fired their weapons in Gibraltar,” said the government. It was also a “reckless and dangerous” action in an area, they stressed, “with a high density of civilian population, given the proximity of a residential development.”

In this context, the Gibraltar and UK governments considered that the events “will require careful assessment as to the nature and level of the diplomatic response.”

They explained that they “will contact Spanish officials to seek clarification on this violation of Gibraltar's sovereignty before making a final decision on the action to be taken.”