the international in —— the international olympic committee. as it stands the opening ceremony is due to take place here in switzerland on thursday evening with competition beginning on friday. the athlete here range in ages from m to 18 years athlete here range in ages from 1a to 18 years old and for the first time ata to 18 years old and for the first time at a winter games there will be an equal number of female and male athletes competing. 900 of each. many of those will be hoping to use again to compete in a future senior winter olympics. i will be here to bring you all the latest from lausanne 2020. you can go to the bbc website for more details. let's go

back to rebecca in the studio with developing royal news. the duke and duchess of sussex have issued a statement in which they have announced that they intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent. they have also said they now plan to divide their time between the uk and north america. i think it is worth bringing to give that statement in full. it is entitled "a personal message from the duke and duchess of sussex." after message from the duke and duchess of sussex. " after many message from the duke and duchess of sussex." after many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. we intend to step back as senior members of the royal

family and work to become financially independent while continuing to fully support her majesty the queen. it is with your encouragement particularly over the last few years that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. as i said, they have said that they intend to balance their time between the united kingdom and north america. while, they say, continuing to honour their duty to the queen and commonwealth. they say the geographical balance will enable them to raise their son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing ourfamily into which he was born, while also providing our family with a space to focus on the next chapter, including, they say, the launch of oui’ including, they say, the launch of our new charitable entity. the statement concludes, "we look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due

course as we continue to collaborate with her majesty the queen, the prince of wales, the duke of cambridge and all relevant parties. please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support." please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support. " with please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support." with us now isa your continued support." with us now is a former press secretary on the telephone. what do you make of this statement? i am quite surprised, actually. i am also a bit... it says they are going to step back and become independent but continue to support the queen. continuing to support the queen. continuing to support the queen. continuing to support the queen, there is a commitment to the commonwealth as president and vice president of the queens commonwealth trust. so how they are going to do that is financially independent i really don't know. it is also a question of

fairamount of don't know. it is also a question of fair amount of expense because if they are going to be based in america they will be back and forth between there and the united kingdom. it is a bit muddled at the moment and i think we need to wait for more clarification which is going to come in due course. what do you think has prompted this? probably the sort of massive press onslaught during the course of the time that archie was born and subsequently when they went away to be the end of the south of france. i think megan is feeling fairly bruised. iam think megan is feeling fairly bruised. i am sorry this decision has been taken and it almost looks like it has been taken by both of them. harry, probably, his heart ruling his head. it is a bit of a let down because he was born into this family. he did incredibly well as an independent member of the family and to step back is quite a

major move within royal circles. family and to step back is quite a major move within royal circleslj was going to say, is there any precedent for this? there is no precedent. the only precedent, and it is completely different, is if you go back to the application... there is no way the government were going to allow him to marry twice while continuing to be king. that is the only other president but there has been nothing like this since then. do you interpret this statement is if they were planning to become part—time fails and how un—i thought that well?|j to become part—time fails and how un-i thought that well? i don't know part—time royals work because if they are going to be required in the united kingdom it means they are going to be doing a lot of flying, a big carbon footprint because they

are not exactly going to run across the atlantic. there is going to be a lot of flying around which is going to raise eyebrows. how they are going to be financially independent... harry is not a poor man but to settle yourself into two different continents to raise a family, to continue work, how is their work and security going to be funded because they are still going to have to have security. he was going to pay for this? is it going to be the metropolitan police providing it? if so, will cover security cost? there are a lot of logistics to work out before this becomes a fact and come to fruition. presumably they haven't taken this step lightly and the suggests that they continue to collaborate with they continue to collaborate with the majesty the queen, the prince of wales, the duke of cambridge. presumably, this step was taken

after having consulted the senior members of the royal family? they would have consulted, they would have talked to the queen about it and the prince of wales and come to this decision. it is not terribly clear exactly when it is going to happen, how it is going to happen and how they are going to work out the logistics behind the whole thing. i think that is going to come in time. until that happens i think we should not be speculating further. i am going to invite you to speculate on one other element of the statement, if you don't mind. they talk about launching their new charitable entity. and they have a lot of projects which are very close to their hearts, don't they? they do have a lot of projects close to their hearts and there has been a lot of talk about people in america, that megan has been associated with

ina single that megan has been associated with in a single life, with the charity. how this is going to work, again, they have to work out the logistics. there is a lot to be worked out and it is not going to happen overnight. it is all very well stepping back, but how to step back, when are they going to step back and how are they going to step back and how are they going to step back and how are they going to set up? why was all this money is spent on this home in winter when they are not going to be living in it much, they will be living in it much, they will be living elsewhere? there are a lot of questions to be asked and a lot of a nswe rs questions to be asked and a lot of a nswers to questions to be asked and a lot of answers to come from them. questions to be asked and a lot of answers to come from themlj questions to be asked and a lot of answers to come from them. i would be interested in your insight as a former buckingham palace press officer. if they had come to you and asked you to make this statement on their behalf, what kind of advice would you have given them or what kind of conversations might have taken place? that is a very difficult one. firstly, i would taken place? that is a very

difficult one. firstly, iwould have asked, are you absolutely sure, have you thought this through, how is it going to work? what back—up do you want? what back—up is required? what staff argue going to employ? are you going to have staff continue to work at buckingham palace while you are living in a different country? there are so many questions and i don't think they have got the answers to those at the moment. would you just stay on that guy? ijust those at the moment. would you just stay on that guy? i just want to refresh people's memories on what the statement contains or indeed read it to people who are just tuning in here on the bbc. it is a personal message that has been issued from the duke and duchess in which they say," after many months of reflection and internal discussions we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. we intend

to step back as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent while continuing to fully support her majesty the queen. it is with your encouragement, the statement continues, particularly over the last few years that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. we now plan to make this adjustment. we now plan to balance our time between the united kingdom and north america, continuing to honour our duty to the queen, the commonwealth and our packaging is. this geographic balance, the statement says, will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing ourfamily into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity. we look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course as we continue to collaborate with her

majesty the queen, the prince of wales, the duke of cambridge and all releva nt wales, the duke of cambridge and all relevant parties. until then, wales, the duke of cambridge and all relevant parties. untilthen, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support." dickie arbiter, he is still with us. this statement comes off the back of the duke and duchess of sussex having had a six—week break, which yesterday they said they have returned to the uk feeling energised. what do you make of the timing of this announcement? it is almost as if it is preordained. they have been away for six weeks, they have obviously discussed this. they have came back refreshed and to test the waters, what sort of reaction would be from the media. it was a very spontaneous reaction from people waiting outside, the photographers, the television crews. they probably felt that their ground is good at that

moment so perhaps now is a bright time to make this announcement. they've obviously thought about it. they've obviously thought about it. they have obviously discussed it and discussed it with family members while they were away. probably not in person, but certainly at the very least over the telephone. it is a momentous decision. a very difficult decision they had made. very difficult one for the queen to accept probably, as well as the prince of wales and prince william. but that is what harry and megan wa nt but that is what harry and megan want and that is what they are going to get. dickie arbiter, we are so grateful for your time. to get. dickie arbiter, we are so gratefulfor your time. thank to get. dickie arbiter, we are so grateful for your time. thank you for joining grateful for your time. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. just to remind you of that, the duke and duchess of sussex have said in a statement that they intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and they will work to become financially independent. much more on that coming up. now let's take a pause and have the weather forecast.

after a quieter day the rain has returned to the south and west through the day. it is edging northwards and through the evening and night it will have bounced across northern ireland in southern scotland. with it some strong winds, and some snow as it comes into the cold air over the hills of northern england and southern scotland. the combination of the rain in the wind making for some atrocious conditions on the boat and then the snow. it will be an icy start in the north with fog possibly but at least some brighter weather. a band of rain, sleet and snow taken its time to clear. we have got more rain to come back into southern and western areas. heavy rain and stronger winds once again. relatively mild across southern areas as a result of all the cloud, which will bring more rain through the night before clearing away and then a cold night follows as we head into friday morning. the warnings are on the

website.

you're watching beyond 100 days. prince harry says he and meghan intend to step back as senior members of the royal family. in a surprise announcement, the pair said their long—term goal is to become "financially independent! the news comes as the dow with the us and iran on the brink of war, both sides stepped back. president trump says america has "big, powerful, as long as i'm president of the united states, iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. in the war of disinformation, iranian state television says the attack on us bases killed 80

americans, the white