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ECOWAS troops deployed after failed coup attempt – DW – 12/07/2025
ECOWAS troops from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Sierra Leone will be deployed to Benin, where President Patrice Talon stressed in a TV address that the situation was “under control” after a failed coup.
ECOWAS, West Africa’s regional security force, has deployed standby troops to Benin in the wake of a failed government overthrow at the hands of military actors.
Authorities say soldiers from ECOWAS will “support the Government and the Republican Army of Benin to preserve constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin.”
Key points
- Soldiers appeared on TV on Sunday saying Talon has been ousted
- However, the government and president later deemed the coup unsuccessful
- 14 arrests were made and standby troops from neighboring countries were deployed
Talon says situation ‘totally under control’ in address to nation
President Patrice Talon spoke of the situation in a nationally televised address broadcast Sunday.
“I would like to assure you that the situation is completely under control and therefore invite you to calmly go about your activities starting this very evening,” said Talon on state broadcaster Benin TV.
“Security and public order,” he added, “will be maintained throughout the national territory.” Talon said the “treachery” of rogue soldiers attempting to oust him, “will not go unpunished.”
Benin’s armed forces foil coup attempt
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Benin government arrests 14 in failed coup attempt
The government of Benin said on Sunday that 14 people have been arrested in connection with the attempted military coup.
“A small group of soldiers launched a mutiny with the goal of destabilizing the state and its institutions,” said Interior Minister Alassane Seidou in a statement.
“In response to this situation, the armed forces of Benin and their leadership, true to their oath, retained control of the situation and foiled the manoeuvre.”
Soldiers in Benin declare a coup on national television
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What do we know about the attempted coup in Benin?
Earlier on Sunday, soldiers from a group calling itself the Military Committee for Refoundation (Comité militaire pour la refondation), or CMR, appeared on state television and announced that President Patrice Talon had been “removed from office as president of the republic.”
The soldiers said all state institutions had also been dissolved and that Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri had been appointed president of the military committee.
“The army solemnly commits to give the Beninese people the hope of a truly new era, where fraternity, justice and work prevail,” said a statement read by one of the soldiers before the TV signal was cut.
The French Embassy said on social media that “gunfire was reported at Camp Guezo” near the president’s official residence in Cotonou, Benin’s largest city and economic capital, just south of the official capital of Porto Novo.
Government says coup attempt unsuccessful
However, government spokespeople quickly insisted that the apparent coup attempt was unsuccessful.
“Everything is fine,” Wilfried Houngbedji, a spokesman for the Benin government told the Associated Press earlier on Sunday.
Benin insists President Patrice Talon, seen here in 2022, is in control of the West African nationImage: Yanick Folly/AFP
Another source told the French AFP news agency that President Talon was safe, saying:
“This is a small group of people who only control the television. The regular army is regaining control. The city [of Cotonou] and the country are completely secure. It’s just a matter of time before everything returns to normal. The clean-up is progressing well.”
A military source also said that the situation was “under control” and that the coup plotters had not taken either Talon’s residence or the presidential offices.
Residents of Benin, such as these motorbike taxi riders, were going about their business as usual on Sunday Image: AFP
Indeed, while AFP reported that state television buildings, some international institutions and a five-star hotel had been blocked off by soldiers, no military presence was reported at the airport or in the rest of the city, and residents were reportedly going about their regular business.
African organizations condemn coup attempt
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which Benin is a member, called the attempted coup “unconstitutional” and a “subversion of the will of the Beninese people”.
The African Union said it “unequivocally condemns” the actions of the soldiers and urged them to return to their barracks.
What is the general situation in Benin?
Following independence from France in 1960, Benin witnessed multiple coups but entered a period of political stability under the two-decade rule of Marxist-Leninist President Mathieu Kérékou.
President Talon, a 67-year-old former businessman dubbed the “cotton king of Cotonou” has overseen solid economic growth in the West African nation in his ten years in office, which is due to come to an end in April 2026, when elections are scheduled.
However, like several countries in the region, Benin has also experienced a surge in jihadist violence.
Last month, a military coup in Guinea-Bissau removed former President Umaro Embalo after a contested election, while Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea have also seen military uprisings.
Coup attempt means ‘prevailing uncertainty’ — Security analyst tells DW
Security analyst Beverly Ochieng spoke to DW about the group behind the attempt at seizing power.
On the question of why the group didn’t simply wait for the electoral process to take place next year, Ochieng said:
“By suspending institutions, it means that essentially you are withholding that election from taking place and delegitimizing the process and even just creating more public mistrust in a process which has led to some contention with opposition members.”
Ochieng explained that the faction “was seeking to reset that, which is what we’ve seen across the region where militaries try to intervene where there’s heightened political tensions. They act as arbiters, but sometimes they only end up complicating the institutionalism and the politics.”
On the question of what the attempt at power meant for Benin in the coming days, Ochieng said it meant “prevailing uncertainty.”
“In the coming days we’re likely to see additional people being either arrested in connection with this coup attempt; people who may have either backed the so-called coup leader.”
Edited by: Rana Taha, Roshni Majumdar
Joshua Michals, 26, has been found guilty of murdering Zhe Wang on March 20 last year – this is a breaking story
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Paramount has launched a $108.4bn hostile bid for Warner Bros, challenging Netflix, which had reached a $72bn takeover deal with the company.
Paramount said on Monday that it was going straight to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) shareholders with a $30 per share in cash offer for the entirety of the company, including its Global Networks segment, asking them to reject the deal with Netflix.
On Friday Netflix struck a deal to buy WBD, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max
The agreement means Warner Bros Discovery’s library of film and TV successes including Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones will come under the same roof as Stranger Things and Squid Game.
The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt.
But Paramount says its deal will pay $30 cash per share, representing $18 billion more in cash than its rivals are offering.
In a statement, Paramount said it was making a “strategically and financially compelling offer to WBD shareholders” and a “superior alternative to the Netflix transaction”.
File pic: iStock
David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount, said: “WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company.
“Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion.
“We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process.
“We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares.”
Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to WBD in the course of 12 weeks, but that they were never “meaningfully” engaged with.
It’s not the first difficulty the proposed Netflix deal has run into, with Donald Trump raising the spectre of government intervention on Sunday.
The US president said the combined market share of the resulting company “could be a problem” and that he would be involved in the decision about whether to approve the deal.
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EU leader Costa and the German government have hit back at a US security strategy harshly critical of Europe.
European Council President Antonio Costa and the German government have lambasted a new US national security strategy that paints Europe as a troubled, declining power that may one day lose its usefulness as an ally to Washington.
The remarks on Monday from the European Union’s leading economy and one of its top officials delivered a stinging rebuke to the National Security Strategy released on Friday by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
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The 33-page document contains scathing criticism of the continent, claiming it is facing the “prospect of civilisational erasure” due to migration, scorning it for “censorship of free speech” and suppression of anti-immigration movements, and suggesting that the US may withdraw the security umbrella it has long held over it.
The stoush over the strategy, playing out as Washington ramps up pressure on Ukraine to agree to a plan to end the war with Russia, reflects what EU leader Costa said was a “changed” relationship between the US and Europe.
“We need to focus on building a Europe that must understand that the relationships between allies and the post-World War II alliances have changed,” Costa said at the Jacques Delors Institute, a think tank in Paris.
In response to the strategy document’s comments on free speech, Costa warned, “There will never be free speech if the freedom of information of citizens is sacrificed for the aims of the tech oligarchs in the United States.”
Costa strongly criticised allegations that free speech is being censored in Europe and said only European citizens can decide which parties should govern them.
“What we cannot accept is this threat of interference in Europe’s political life. The United States cannot replace European citizens in deciding which are the right parties and the wrong parties,” Costa said.
“The United States cannot replace Europe in its vision of freedom of speech,” he noted, adding, “Our history has taught us that there is no freedom of speech without freedom of information.”
‘Ideology, not strategy’
In Berlin, Sebastian Hille, a deputy spokesperson for the German government, said some of the criticisms in the document were “ideology rather than strategy”.
“Political freedoms, including the right to freedom of expression, are among the fundamental values of the EU,” he said.
He said Berlin also disagreed with the document’s failure to classify Russia, which in February 2022 launched a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, as a threat.
“We stand by NATO’s joint analysis, according to which Russia is a danger and a threat to trans-Atlantic security,” he added.
Divisions over Russia
The US strategy document makes clear that Washington wants to improve its relationship with Moscow, saying that it has a “core interest” in ending the conflict with Ukraine to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia”, while hitting out at European officials’ “unrealistic expectations” for a solution to the war.
An initial US plan for ending the war, which would have allowed Russia to hold on to large territories in eastern Ukraine, sparked criticism from European leaders amid concerns that Washington is trying to force Kyiv to accept unfavourable terms.
The plan has since been altered, first with input from Ukraine alongside its European allies and then in meetings between Ukrainian and US officials. The full details of the proposal as it stands have not been disclosed.
By contrast, Moscow has welcomed Trump’s strategy document.
Costa said that given the strategy document’s position on Ukraine, “we can understand why Moscow shares [its] vision.”
“The objective in this strategy is not a fair and durable peace. It’s only [about] the end of hostilities, and the stability of relations with Russia,” he said.
“Everyone wants stable relations with Russia,” Costa said, but “we can’t have stable relations with Russia when Russia remains a threat to our security”.
In a resolution issued on November 20, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called on Iran to “extend full and prompt cooperation” to the agency, which is seeking clarity on the status of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles and safeguarded nuclear facilities.
Since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, Tehran has not granted IAEA inspectors access to the facilities that were attacked by a US strike in June.
And while this dispute continues, Moscow is expanding its nuclear cooperation with Tehran.
“Our cooperation has reached an unprecedented level,” Russia’s ambassador to Tehran, Alexei Dedov, said in November.
According to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Dedov emphasized that Moscow supports Tehran on its nuclear program.
Big promises, little nuclear progress
At the end of September, Russia and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of small-scale nuclear power plants.
Two days later, Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom finalized a $25 billion (€21.4 billion) deal with Tehran to build four nuclear power plants in Iran.
“Russia is the most important international partner in Iran’s nuclear program,” said David Jalilvand, who leads the Berlin-based policy consulting firm Orient Matters.
“As far as the further expansion of Iran’s nuclear program is concerned, Moscow has so far promised much and delivered little,” Jalilvand told DW.
Iran currently has only one operating nuclear power plant, built by Russia in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr. The construction of a second reactor in Bushehr was announced in 2016, but has not yet been implemented.
Jalilvand considers it unlikely that the new memorandum of understanding will be realized anytime soon.
“Russia has little interest in strengthening Iran’s strategic position in the Middle East, partly because of its relations with Israel, the Gulf states, and Turkey,” he said.
Russia-Iran alliance under fire
During the recent 12-day Israel-Iran war, Tehran received little support from Moscow.
In January, Russia and Iran signed a strategic partnership treaty, which aimed to bolster collaboration across various sectors — including military, nuclear energy, advanced technology and financial cooperation to combat international sanctions.
The deal built on the 20-year strategic agreement initially signed in 2001, which has been periodically renewed and serves as the foundation for collaboration in the energy, defense, and military sectors.
Tehran has supplied drones and weapons for Russia’s war in Ukraine, becoming one of Moscow’s most important supporters at the expense of its relations with Europe.
In return, Iran ordered several Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets, among other things, to modernize its air force.
However, these aircraft are still in production. And the recent war with Israel clearly exposed the weaknesses of Iran’s air defense.
“The strategic agreement with Russia has proven to be a farce,” criticized Mohammad Sadr, a member of Iran’s powerful Expediency Discernment Council.
“Russia is not trustworthy; to believe that it would stand by us or take on the US is absurd.”
Iran and Russia look to forge stronger ties against West
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The image of Russia in Iranian society is correspondingly negative.
“People know that Russia abandons Iran at crucial moments,” a university professor in Tehran who requested anonymity, told DW.
“Many are convinced that the government clings to Moscow only to maintain power, not in the interest of the people.”
Iran conservatives push Russia ties
Despite the lessons learned from the 12-day war, conservative forces in Iran are calling for a further deepening of cooperation with Moscow.
“Russia’s influence in Iran’s centers of power is undeniable,” said Afshar Soleimani, a former Iranian ambassador in Azerbaijan.
“Conservative forces support Russia, the delivery of Iranian drones to Moscow, and ongoing tensions with the US,” Soleimani told DW.
“This shows how strong their influence is. As long as this political movement remains in power, little will change — and the population will bear the consequences.”
Kamran Ghazanfari, a conservative member of the Iranian parliament’s internal affairs committee, even claimed that Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and prime minister who is currently deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, has hinted indirectly that Russia might be willing to supply Iran with nuclear weapons.
Nuclear mediation or power politics?
Jalilvand considers such a prospect extremely unlikely.
“Russia has no interest in expanding the circle of nuclear powers in the already unstable Middle East,” the expert said.
It is conceivable that Moscow could supply technologies that Tehran could theoretically also use for a military program, however, direct support in the construction of a nuclear bomb is considered out of the question.
Russia is primarily using the “Iran card” strategically as part of its negotiating position with the United States.
Tehran claims to have temporarily halted uranium enrichment, but whether Moscow will be able to persuade Iran to reduce its uranium stockpile remains unclear.
“Russia has repeatedly positioned itself as a mediator in the past,” explained Middle East expert Jalilvand.
“This is unlikely to be motivated by an interest in resolving the nuclear conflict. Rather, in light of the war in Ukraine, Moscow is attempting to position itself as a supposedly constructive partner to the US, thereby [further] driving a wedge between Washington and Europe.”
Danyal Babayani contributed reporting
This article was originally published in German
IAEA asks Iran for whereabouts of nuclear material
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President Donald Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has yet to read the updated peace plan to end the war with Russia amid several rounds of talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Miami.
“I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago,” Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center on Sunday. “His people love it, but he hasn’t.”
“Russia, I guess, would rather have the whole country when you think of it, but Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy is fine with it,” Trump added.
Zelenskyy said Saturday that he held a “long and substantive phone call” with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and the trio covered many points, including how to end Russia’s war and how to ensure Moscow will not invade again.
PUTIN CALLS TRUMP’S PEACE PLAN A ‘STARTING POINT’ AS HE WARNS UKRAINE TO PULL BACK OR FACE ‘FORCE’
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner attend talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin in Moscow on Dec. 2, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
The Ukrainian leader said he was waiting for members of his negotiating team to brief him in person on the latest round of talks.
Rustem Umerov, the head of the Ukrainian delegation and secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Monday that he and Ukraine’s military chief of general staff, General Andriy Hnatov, would brief Zelenskyy on the latest developments, including the takeaways from Witkoff and Kushner’s five-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin arrived in New Delhi last week for a state visit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and gave an interview to the India Today news channel, where he said the negotiations with the Americans were long but productive.
Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi pose for a photo during their talks at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Dec. 5, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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“Sometimes we said, yes, we can discuss this, but with that one we cannot agree,” said Putin, according to a transcript of the conversation released by the Kremlin.
The Russian leader stuck to his maximalist demands in the interview, arguing his war will only end when his country takes Ukraine’s eastern Donbas or Ukrainian troops withdraw.
Servicemen carry the coffin of 22-year-old volunteer soldier Yukhym Agafontsev during a farewell ceremony in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Dec. 2, 2025. (Dan Bashakov/AP)
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Zelenskyy is set to meet with European leaders in London Monday to discuss the U.S.-led peace plan. His arrival comes amid a new wave of Russian drone and missile barrages that have targeted Ukraine’s civilian and energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy said in the last week alone, Russia launched more than 1,600 drones, roughly 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and nearly 70 missiles of various types against Ukraine.
Ashley Carnahan is a writer at Fox News Digital.
WORLD NEWS
Hostile takeover launched over Netflix-Warner deal with new $108B Paramount bid after Sarandos woos Trump at White House
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Amid the intense and bitter bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery and as Paramount Skydance felt it had the inside edge due to its owners’ friendly relationship with Donald Trump, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos privately met with the president to make his company’s case, according to multiple reports.
Meanwhile, on Monday morning, the scorned Paramount leadership launched a hostile takeover bid, offering a significantly higher cash price for Warner.
“The Paramount offer for the entirety of WBD provides shareholders $18 billion more in cash than the Netflix consideration,” the company said in a statement. “WBD’s Board of Directors recommendation of the Netflix transaction over Paramount’s offer is based on an illusory prospective valuation of Global Networks that is unsupported by the business fundamentals and encumbered by high levels of financial leverage assigned to the entity.”
Paramount, led by chairman David Ellison, pointed out that it was taking its offer public, spelling out that this was a hostile bid to force the Warner Bros. board’s hand.
“We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process,” the company asserted. “We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares.”
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Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos privately met with Donald Trump last month to discuss his company’s pending merger with Warner Bros. (Getty)
According to the offer, Paramount is bidding $30 per share, all of it in cash. Netflix’s offer, meanwhile, is $27.75 per share and a mix of cash and stock. Shareholders will also get a stake in the linear TV spinoff company that will split from Warner Bros. Discovery next year.
Because it is a tender offer, Netflix will have to convince Warner Bros. Discovery stockholders to accept this deal rather than the Netflix deal approved by the WBD board. To make his case, Ellison has launched a website outlining the Paramount deal and arguing that it is better for Hollywood and the media landscape.
During the White House confab in mid-November, which reportedly lasted for two hours, Sarandos argued that Netflix wasn’t an “all-powerful monopoly” and had even suffered subscription losses in recent years, adding that merging with WBD would make the company about the size of YouTube.
Bloomberg also reported that the president told Sarandos that Warner Bros. should go to the highest bidder, leaving the impression that Netflix wouldn’t face immediate pushback from the White House. The acquisition will combine the streaming pioneer with Warner’s film and television studios, including HBO and HBO Max, and give it access to WBD’s popular franchises, such as Harry Potter and Game of Thrones.
Paramount chief David Ellison, meanwhile, had suggested throughout the sale process that he had the easiest regulatory path to seal the deal because of his and his father Larry Ellison’s ties to the president. The elder Ellison, who backed his son’s purchase of Paramount and would be heavily involved in the Warner merger, is the founder of Oracle and a close Trump ally.
Sarandos seemingly came out of the meeting feeling that he’d “received some sort of blessing by Trump,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. At the same time, based on Paramount’s presumption that it could likely underbid for Warner due to the Ellisons’ “Trump card,” Sarandos saw the opening for Netflix’s winning offer.
In the end, Netflix shocked the media and entertainment landscape when it agreed to buy Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion, most of it in cash. The agreement, which won’t close until after Discovery Global separates from WBD in late 2026, will see Netflix paying $27.75 per share to Warner stockholders.
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Paramlount chairman David Ellison has now launched a hostile takeover bid of (AFP/Getty)
The deal also includes a massive $5.8 billion breakup fee if government regulators do not approve the deal, above the $5 billion that Ellison had offered in Paramount’s latest proposal. Meanwhile, there are still a number of hurdles for Netflix to clear before the streaming giant can merge with one of Hollywood’s oldest and largest studios.
The deal, for instance, is contingent on WBD spinning off its declining cable television properties, which had been in the works before Warner CEO David Zaslaz put a “for sale” sign on the company. The standalone company Discovery Global, which will not be under the Netflix umbrella, will include cable news network CNN, TNT Sports, TBS and Discovery, along with streaming and digital properties Bleacher Report and Discovery+. The spinoff is scheduled for the third quarter of 2026.
Additionally, the merger is facing vocal opposition from Hollywood’s powerful labor unions, including the Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East. “The world’s largest streaming company swallowing one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent,” the WGA said in a statement. “This merger must be blocked.”
On top of that, Paramount has now implemented “Plan B” and is going directly to Warner Bros. shareholders in an effort to launch a hostile takeover.
“We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood,” Ellison wrote on Monday. “It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theater industry. We believe they will benefit from the enhanced competition, higher content spend and theatrical release output, and a greater number of movies in theaters as a result of our proposed transaction. We look forward to working to expeditiously deliver this opportunity so that all stakeholders can begin to capitalize on the benefits of the combined company.”
Paramount’s executives have already been in DC lobbying against Netflix, and Ellison hinted at the strategy in a blistering letter to the Warner Bros. board last week, which was sent just before the Netflix deal was announced.
“It has become increasingly clear, through media reporting and otherwise, that WBD appears to have abandoned the semblance and reality of a fair transaction process, thereby abdicating its duties to stockholders, and embarked on a myopic process with a predetermined outcome that favors a single bidder,” the letter to the board stated, adding that the bidding process had become “tilted and unfair.”
Finally, though Sarandos may have left his meeting with Trump with renewed confidence, the unpredictable Trump could still step in and try to kill the deal. Speaking to reporters ahead of Sunday’s Kennedy Center Honors, the president signaled that he could still intervene in the sale of Warner Bros. to Netflix.
Though he praised Netflix as a “great company” and Sarandos as a “fantastic man,” all while confirming that he’d recently met with the Netflix chief, the president said that the combined size of the two companies “could be a problem” and he might have to step in.
“I have a lot of respect for him, but it’s a lot of market share, so we’ll have to see what happens,” Trump said, adding: “They have a very big market share and when they have Warner Bros, you know, that share goes up a lot, so, I don’t know. I’ll be involved in that decision, too. But they have a very big market share.”
NEED TO KNOW
- Kate Middleton invited guests from around the U.K. to her “Together at Christmas” carol service
- The Princess of Wales included some people from one of her newest causes, Ty Hafan in South Wales
- It was the fifth year that the Princess of Wales held the carol service
Kate Middleton’s fifth carol service was a “really special” moment for uniting everyone from those the royals have worked with this year, to rewarding charitable community work.
A guest among the 1,600-strong congregation tells PEOPLE that seeing Princess Kate, 43, and her husband, Prince William, and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, walk in and take their seats amid the grandeur of Westminster Abbey on Dec. 5, was “monumental.”
Emily Taylor, who had been invited along with her husband, James, to help represent kids’ hospice Tŷ Hafan in South Wales, watched from a few pews back as the Prince and Princess of Wales, both 43, arrived and took their seats.
“It was one of those moments when you’re trying to take everything in. To actually see the Prince and the Princess and their children walking in together in these grand surroundings. It felt so monumental. I was just trying to take it all in,” Emily tells PEOPLE.
“You see them, and they are a parent and their children. You just realize they are just humans, a mum and a dad with their children,” she adds.
Princess Kate arriving at the Together at Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey, London on Dec. 5, 2025.
Jordan Pettitt – Pool/Getty
Emily, whose daughter Violet had a rare genetic disorder called TBCK Syndrome and died at 11 months old in August 2023, joined a small group from Tŷ Hafan children’s hospice in Wales, including fellow parents Candice Jones and Anton Griffiths. The two couples had met Princess Kate in January when she visited the hospice and was announced as the new royal patron.
“I got the impression [that] they cared about the community and the people who were there. They have got two boys and a little girl. Me and Candice both said it was bittersweet for us. We have two boys, and we lost our little girl,” Emily adds. “There is that connection with them. To even have the invite and then to be in the presence of them as a family was really special.”
The poignancy continued throughout the performances and special renditions and readings, she says – including Love Actually actor Chiwetel Ejiofor’s rendition of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” or T’was The Night Before Christmas. “I was thinking to myself, how has my life ended up here? The reason I was there was because of my daughter and how sad that is that happened but how grateful I was to be there,” Emily says. “So there were lots of different emotions.”
Princess Kate meeting (from left) Candice Jones and Anton Griffiths, Emily and James Taylor at Tŷ Hafan in Jan. 2025.
Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace
Also at the event was Eugene Levy, who had William as a guest on an October episode of his Apple TV series The Reluctant Traveler, and Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham. Kate, William and their staff had invited them, and many others whom they met and worked with over the last 12 months, to recognize the humanitarian and selfless work carried out in the communities around the U.K. “They cared about the community and the people who were there,” Emily says.
“It was lovely to be able to sit there and see all the different people, all the charities and organizations, and you could make all the connections why that person has been invited,” she adds. “All those people who have brought kindness — all these people from all the different backgrounds and reasons for being there. It was just really special to have everyone come together.”
Since Princess Kate became a patron of the hospice on the South Wales coast near Cardiff, she has had an awareness-raising impact, Emily says. “She shines such a spotlight on Tŷ Hafan. Back before I needed them, I was a family in South Wales. I had children. But I didn’t understand. To me, children didn’t die, so you didn’t need a children’s hospice.”
Princess Kate with, from left, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis at Westminster Abbey, London on Dec. 5, 2025.
Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace
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“Children with life limiting conditions just wasn’t my world. Her being the patron has given that recognition that Tŷ Hafan needed.”
She adds, “People still ask me about meeting her back in January and talk about that day. It all feels so fresh. To have that with Candice and Anton as well, who we have been with from the start since our girls were poorly. I’m just really grateful that Tŷ Hafan has got that, and we were able to tell her about Tŷ Hafan, as I can’t ever repay what they did for Violet and for us, so it was nice to have the chance in some small way tell her exactly what they have done.”
PEOPLE’s updated Christmas at the Palace edition is now available!
People Magazine, Christmas at the Palace.
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Princess Kate penned a special letter for guests, reminding them of how simple acts of kindness can have an enormous positive impact.
“This carol service offers a moment of collective togetherness, a chance to celebrate the spirit of community and service, and to honour the visible and invisible bonds that unite us all,” the royal said. “The time, care and compassion you give, often quietly and unspoken, and without any expectation or recognition, make an extraordinary difference to the lives of others.”
WORLD NEWS
BREAKING: Depraved nurse jailed after raping vulnerable care home colleague and fleeing UK
Naijil Paul has been sentenced to almost 8 years in jail after the former care home manager was extradited to the UK from India following his sickening crimes
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Syria jubilantly marks a year since Assad’s fall with parades – and leader makes new pledge | World News
Syrians are celebrating the first anniversary of the overthrow of Bashar al Assad with military parades – and a fresh promise to rebuild the country.
The former Syrian leader was toppled when rebels, commanded by Syria’s new president, Ahmed al Sharaa, seized Damascus in a lightning offensive last December.
Mr Assad fled for Russia, bringing an abrupt end to his 24 years of rule.
Official celebrations are taking place on Monday across the country, and the central Umayyad Square in Damascus has been packed with jubilant crowds.
Damascus was a scene of jubilation on Monday. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Mr Sharaa, a Former al Qaeda commander, has been marking the occasion with dawn prayers at the Umayyad Mosque in the capital, according to the Syrian state news agency, SANA.
Ahmed al Sharaa made a fresh pledge to rebuild Syria. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Dressed in military fatigues similar to those he wore during the victorious rebel campaign, Mr Sharaa promised to rebuild Syria.
“From north to south and from east to west, God willing, we will rebuild a strong Syria with a structure befitting its present and past,” he said, according to SANA.
The Syrian army holds a parade in the nation’s capital. Pic: AP
A paraglider flies over the crowds in Damascus. Pic: AP
The country is struggling to heal a year after the Assad dynasty’s repressive 50-year reign came to an end.
Pic: AP
The fall of Mr Assad came after 14 years of civil war which analysts said had left an estimated half a million people dead, millions more displaced, and the country battered and divided.
Pic: AP
In late November 2024, rebel groups launched an offensive on the city of Aleppo.
Pic: AP
They were surprised when the Syrian army collapsed with little resistance, first in Aleppo, then the key cities of Hama and Homs, leaving the road to Damascus open.
Mr Assad was whisked away by Russian forces, and remains in exile in Moscow.
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Sectarian violence in Syria explained
Crippling Western sanctions have largely been lifted, and Mr Sharaa has promised to replace Mr Assad’s brutal police state with an inclusive and just order.
But hundreds of people have been killed in bouts of sectarian violence, causing new displacements and increasing mistrust among minorities towards Mr Sharaa’s government.
NewsFeed
As Syrians mark one year since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, people across Damascus say they’re celebrating a long-awaited sense of freedom, safety, and national renewal after decades of oppression and years of war.
Published On 8 Dec 2025
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