voice—over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. washington dc is the heart of the free world. let's go now to capitol hill. i'm katty kay, and in more than 20 years spent here in the news business, i've grown accustomed to thinking of this as the centre of power. decisions that reverberate around the globe are made here by politicians who proudly champion democracy: the rule of the people, by the people. we are here to assess the real meaning of the results

in hundreds of races. but it's not the only way, or necessarily the best. a recent poll shows that of the 15 most successful democracies, 9 are monarchies. the founding fathers rejected a king, but many europeans feel a royal family is an asset. i am leaving washington on a royal mission, as the uk has a new king, charles iii. i want to find out how other royal families, many of them king charles�* relations, manage to stay relevant in the 21st century. i will be mixing in royal circles... how was it? c'est bien. ..and visiting palaces. you can't walk past that line, but... ok, then you will shoot me? yeah — no! talking to insiders. that is more my style. do i look like a princess? i can curtsy and talk at the same i can curtsy and talk

at the same time. and consulting princes and princesses about life with a crown... your highness, tell me how you would like me to address you? your highness or princess orjust martha, i don't mind. ..and life without a crown. i grew up in exile, i couldn't go in my country. are there lessons for good king charles in the modern game of thrones? i have done 4,000 miles east to answer the question of how ancient monarchies which don't like to change can stay relevant or even popular in a modern world. the first challenge is visibility. do you let the public and the press in, or like the british royals, stay grand and aloof? there are 11 monarchies in continental europe. this ancient system of government has survived

thrived and stayed relevant. and those families that didn't, well, they've gone by the wayside. we have started ourjourney in denmark on the hunt for european royals, because this is the country that has the oldest monarchy of all those monarchies. the family dates right back to the viking era. the danes are a contradiction. they don't mind a bit of old—fashioned brass band and boot polish. but they also have expensive lattes and high—speed broadband. at amalienborg palace, the guard still turns out twice a day to protect the king and queen. this is a spectacle no tourist should miss. the royal family themselves have rather got over pomp and ceremony. since her student days,

the queen has preferred a bicycle to a limo. crown prince frederik rides out so often he might as well deliver parcels. theirs is one of the group of like—minded royal households called the "bicycle monarchies." the king has already stated he wants greater public access to buckingham palace, so he might add a new feature to the royal website. there they are. the danish royal family has this rather wonderful website which has news of their movements, the crown prince couple off to india, i see. but if you flick over to the danish version of the website you can also apply for an audience with the queen. no press and no selfies allowed, but you do get to sit down with her and talk about your issues. unfortunately, it's only

for danes, so my royal frock is staying in the cupboard today. but it's a gesture to openness, isn't it? a warm coat is all you need for an audience with journalist tine goetske. good to meet you! welcome to copenhagen. thank you, ijust came in this morning. thank you for doing this. it is great to meet you. i am so glad by, there are so many bicycles. for two decades, tine reported on the palace. the danish media has played a part in the royal openness campaign for good and the bad. there are always stories, but it's always weighed against this week's story, against 1000 years of history. i think that definite impression on the danish presses, you don't deal with them as you deal with the politicians, and there is also a feeling that this is a family that has been put in this situation, they don't want to be in this situation, and they do a job,

it's a profession, to be a royalfamily. i always think of them as being the model royal family, but recently they seem to have gone through the difficulties. what has happened? yes, the queen's grandchildren from her younger son, they had to give up their titles at the beginning of this year. it was probably not handled in the same way that they would normally do, because normally when they have to make difficult decisions, they do it very elegantly. this is something they would probably agree was not handled very elegantly. in 2020 the press was outspoken when queen margrethe announced that she was cutting four of her eight grandchildren off the royal payroll, and taking away their titles. their princely father only learned about it from a courtier. that hurt. i think it is done because they feel that they have to stay sort of on terms with the general,

with people in denmark. and when we feel that we have to make an effort with our household money, so should they. the very unusual thing in the story was that the prince spoke out about the feelings that he had at that time, and that really rocked the boat, because that was the first time ever that the people involved, the members of the royal family, would speak out about things they didn't agree with. but there was also, in denmark, for the first time ever, an incident where the queen, during this debacle, she was walking into an event and one of the reporters from one of the main broadcasters yelled a question at her, and she answered back. it was very unexpected, first of all for reporters to sort of break out of the decorum and talk to her, but also for her to actually reply. this has certainly made the press more aware that

you can ask tough questions and they will respond to it. the royal family also know that it is a modern media world. in a way, what the danish monarchy has done is make themselves almost normal. sort of a paradox, but it is also the dilemma of many modern royal families, that you need to maintain a certain distance and you need to be elevated, to a certain extent, but at the same time, if you are too distant, you separate yourself from the people that you are really representing. danes generally approve of slimming down there monarchy and removing titles. it was the abrupt way it was done that caused a crisis, and that is where the queen's woman of the people reputation came in handy. king charles might want to think on that. the house of windsor has been rocked by infighting

and scandal, and the british press has revelled in it, and given them a very hard time about it. this family here in denmark has also had scandals, and its share of infighting recently. but they have got a press that is more respectful, and the queen has done something that is kind of brilliant in managing the media. she has allowed herself to be vulnerable in public, and open, and has talked about how sad it has made her, and somehow that has taken the sting out of the story. it is all about emotional intelligence, a very scandinavian street. a very scandinavian trait. i think i want to live here. iam heading north towards the arctic circle to find out if emotional intelligence is common to scandinavian royals. is it perhaps the key to their popularity? the danish royal family stays popular by being at one with the people, by being accessible and normal. from everything i have read

about the norwegian royal family, their popularity stems from their tolerance. they are incredibly liberal. and the most remarkable thing about it is that this is all driven, it seems, by the king, who is 86 years old, and gives speeches in favour of gay rights and refugees and racial tolerance, and just seems so of the 21st century. and i am really interested to see if that is what makes them such successful monarchs. here is the royal palace, and what is missing, where is the gate and the wall and the opposing barricades? you can just walk straight up to the front door. at what point do they stop me?

the tourists can just come up and say hello and chat to you? yes, it is a bit different from the guards in england. they are more robotic, than we are, we are more like humans. but we are allowed to talk and we are allowed to take pictures. that's great. you're a bit like the royal family, you're accessible and friendly? kind of. we don't want people to be scared of us. it's — often they do, because we have weapons, so it helps, talking to them and taking pictures and smiling. it seems that the whole palace is very accessible. you can walk up to the front door, and chat to you. you can't walk past that line. ok, then you will shoot me? yeah — no, i will not, of course not! excuse me! speaks norwegian. and the royal family is generally popular? yes, they are. is that because of the king in particular, do you think? people like him? ijust think they are very social and

appreciate norway and the people living here. i guess that is the only thing. they are not above us, they live among us, i guess. so it's ok for him to have opinions? yeah, of course. i think we in norway, we admire the freedom of speech, so if he can't have it, why can we have it? i love her. i sort of want herjob. norwegians read a lot of newspapers, and they have a broad spectrum of media available. they lead the world in online news subscriptions. papers and magazines are widely read, and the quality of journalism is high. stories from the palace are usually more factual than sensational,

but occasionally the laid—back king and his relations appeal to a taste for royal soap opera. even here, the tabloid press revels in royal drama. perhaps we all do. if royals were really boring, would we miss the gossip? i have come to the offices of se og hor, �*see and hear,�* a magazine whose favourite royal is rarely off the front page. princess martha louise, she is the sister of the crown prince, and she is engaged to an american shaman, and they are on the cover of so many of these magazines. they are very good for tabloids here. princess martha louise, some 20 years ago, was stripped of her title, her royal highness, when she went into business. but there were always press allegations that she was still using her name on her lineage to promote her own financial

interests, which were pretty unorthodox. caroline vargyle is a senior editor who sees and hears it all. princess marta has been very critical of the press recently. yeah. do you think that's justified? she always does things that she knows will have a lot of press. she had this angel school, it was called, in norway, it was not the official name, but she talks with angels, she talks with... she talks with angels? yeah. laughs. um, yeah. it's very, uh, alternative. and that was fine, people were not...? no, it was a lot of controversy then as well. there has been a lot of controversy with princess martha louise, and she's not so happy for the press coverage. having a new boyfriend, and he has this controversial business, we think it's public interest

because we think he uses the royal palace and the princess�* title, during this period of optimiser, i think he called it, it'sjust a medallion, it says that he is american and in america that is how we are. so the king said, it is a cultural conflict. they also write that the family are stronger together after discussions. i think the king is a diplomat, and everyone can say what they mean, and maybe they agree to disagree, but they love each other. it's a good family relationship. much of the unwelcome press interest is sparked by the princess martha louise's business. she's a clairvoyant so she'll have foreseen the headlines. here she is in the brown dress,

dancing her way to work. no audio translation available the princess's followers regularly gather to hear her wisdom and benefit from her special gifts. she is the king's oldest child but norway's secession laws means she will never be queen. today she is more of a spiritual leader. can you curtsy and talk at the same time? i can curtsy and talk at the same time. back down to earth, time for my first royal audience. can you try the other foot maybe? your highness, i would like to know that i am addressing you correctly, so tell me how you would like me to address you? it depends. laughs it depends on...?

your highness or princess orjust martha, i don't mind. staff prepare carefully for our interview because it is an exclusive. we're going to put you over here. her highness is currently not talking to the norwegian media who have been critical of the spiritual business. i have grown up being very spiritual without knowing what that was. i thought everybody was. i was always seeing things. like, before, when i was little, i would see things in you, if you were sad or if you were happy. or i would get a pain if you had a pain in your shoulder, i would get a pain in my shoulder. and then i understood that is a talent and i can help other people so that is when the whole ball started rolling and i was, like, maybe i should do something to earn money and then that's ok. so we figured out that if i gave up my her royal highness title and started working and paid taxes and lost my money from the state than i could earn my own money

and do my official duties as well. you know, everything you do that is a first is very much going out of the box that you are put in. there was lots of scrutiny from the press and that has continued. things got worse in 2022 with a frenzy of media interest in the princess's new spiritualist beau. the couple have threatened to move to california... sound familiar? what was a different last year when you stepped back from those royal duties? obviously there have been comparisons with prince harry and meghan? my fiance shaman durek, and the norwegian people and everybody has decided that it is best for me to step down because of his views about things but what i think has been amazing through this whole cycle has been the conversations we have all had through it all. from a young age i remember my mum and dad, the king and queen saying, that we have to stick together, we have to talk things through even if it is hard,

we have to put all the cards on the table because we are family and we have to work things through all the turmoil because there has been so many turmoils with me, going, taking a different path than being a traditional royal. it has been a lot of criticism through the years. especially with me being a spiritual and in norway that is taboo. if you were suddenly to send king charles wishes from his reign from the queen who was so loved... i remember my grandfather, king 0lav, he was such a loved king. my father feared going into that role after him because how could he fill his

shoes and i think that that is the whole point, you do not feel his shoes. so king charles would be a different monarch from queen elizabeth? absolutely, you cannot copy somebody else. king charles�*s family divisions have been painful. the norwegians seem to have answered the vexing issue of what to do with the royal spare, even a controversial spare, simply by relying on love and family bonds, and it has got them through the turmoil relatively unscathed. i have come 700 miles south, from norway to belgium, which became a constitutional monarchy in 1830. that means the belgian monarch rules with the consent of the government, agreeing not to dabble in domestic politics. it is the same in britain butjust last year, charles reportedly criticised government policy on the deportation of migrants, he has always spoken about ecology, but after he became king

he was asked by the government not to attend a climate conference. there is one clear and present issue that king charles will have to comment on at some point, and that is the legacy of britain's imperial past. this is brussels, in belgium, where the royal family is trying to come to terms with its own colonial past. the black lives matter protests that swept the world following the murder of george floyd were particularly effective in belgium. the country's record of extreme brutality in the congo under king leopold ii was under scrutiny. the current king of belgium, philippe, has recently issued a letter of regret for his ancestors�*s actions but it is only regret. his aunt, princess maria esmeralda, she has taken it a step further and has really dedicated herself to making amends.

her highness frequently broadcasts on belgium's historical record during her family's era of empire. we have to face the past, especially when we see that racism is really structural in our societies and that comes directly from slavery, from colonialism, so we have to face that. this is the royal museum of central africa, a venue that is itself controversial. the original was built as a monument to belgium glory. it is now a focus for reconciliation. this professor is my guide. 0n the walls were written all the names of the so—called belgium pioneers who sacrificed their lives — i put brackets, of course — making the colony leopold ii stronger free state and afterwards the belgium congo without any mention of the african victims.

do we know how many congolese died? during four decades, it amounted to have half a million or maybe some million but population decline does not mean, of course, murdering all these people, it means also corporal punishments were given all—round, so there was an extremely hard and inhumane labour regime and a repressive regime that was forced upon the congolese population. this is the legacy that princess esmeralda wrestles with. in belgium, i can tell you, that nobody was learning about the colonial past. there was a lot of lies, a lot of myths and that has to change. the present king, king philippe, has changed. he wrote a letter to president tshisekedi, of the democratic republic of congo, that he profoundly regrets what happened

in the colonial period. when king philippe changed the position of belgium, was he speaking for himself as the king and the inheritor of belgium's colonial past or was he speaking for the country? if we say king philippe has a new attitude towards our colonial past, we must not forget that the king in belgium, as a constitutional monarch, has always have to be approved by the government. so philippe went and made a regret but not apology, but you have princess esmeralda who has been much more outspoken? princess esmeralda is not really part of the core

royal family, so to say, she earns her living as a journalist and a writer. she is more on the radical side than the attitude adopted by king philippe by in 2020. and belgium society is happy for her to be outspoken like that? the traditional opinion is still sticking to the message that belgium did really great things in the congo and another fringe of the belgium public opinion which is in fact growing... so you can be royal and political so long as you are not really part of the main royal family? yes, that would be the right analysis, yes. king charles has already expressed his personal sorrow at the suffering caused by the slave trade. the commonwealth that sprang from the british empire consists of 56 countries. he is king of 15 of them.

how he handles the uk's historical wrongs will be one of his first big tests. hello there. for the rest of this week, the weather's looking pretty quiet. that's because we've got high pressure dominating the scene. so a lot of dry weather around with some sunshine, too. a few showers around mainly to the north of the uk. and after a bit of a cool start to this week, temperatures will begin to climb slightly by the end of the week and into next weekend. now, the early part of tuesday looks largely dry. clearskies, quite a chilly start to the day. we'll see thicker clouds,

more of a breeze, some rainjust getting into the north and west of scotland. temperatures recovering here, nine degrees in stornoway, but a chilly start to tuesday for many areas. now, high pressure sitting almost on top of the uk. we have this weak weather front bringing more clouds and showers to scotland. and you'll notice that blue tinge on the air mass chart indicating there's still some fairly cool air around for tuesday. so, it's a chilly start. dry, bright, lots of sunshine around. showers from the word go across northwest scotland. these become more widespread across scotland into the afternoon. some showers for northern ireland, a few for northern and eastern england. probably the dry, sunniest weather will be across wales, midlands down into the southwest and here we could make 16 or 17 degrees. but again, for most, it's the low—to—mid teens. that is below par for the time of year. through tuesday night, many of those showers fade away. most places once again will be dry to start a wednesday variable cloud, but widespread clear skies certainly in the north and the west. and again, temperatures taking a bit of a tumble and single digits for most. high pressure, almost slap bang on top of the uk for wednesday. lighter winds. this feature, though, will start to bring more cloud, breeze, outbreaks of rain to the northwest of scotland, but that is about it. plenty of sunshine around,

could just see a few isolated showers across the midlands and eastern england. but many places will stay dry and the temperatures creeping up a little bit. we could be up to 18, maybe 19 degrees in the warmest spots. 0therwise, again, for most it's the mid—teens, particularly towards the north. as we move through thursday, friday, high pressure still holds on. a few weather fronts flirt with the north of the uk and you'll notice we start to import some slightly warmer air from the west, the orange and yellow colours taking over. so apart from a few showers across the north of the uk, thanks to those weather fronts, you can see — because of high pressure — it's mostly dry and it'll be feeling warmer with temperatures hitting the low 20s.

live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. the fbi is slammed for its handling of allegations of collusion between donald trump's 2016 campaign, and russia. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky makes a surprise trip to the uk, as he prepares for upcoming battles with russia. and, investigations underway into a fire that's killed six people at a hostel in new zealand. hello, i'm sumi somaksanda.

lets start here in washington, with a report released today that has sharply criticised the fbi's investigation