Britain was hit by travel chaos on Thursday as much of the country was covered by a thick blanket of snow at the height of the morning rush-hour. There were delays on railways and roads, while airports across Britain were forced to close as snow and ice made it too dangerous for flights to take off and land.

Prince Charles won the latest round in a legal battle with a newspaper on Thursday over the unauthorised publication of his private journals, in which he called Chinese diplomats ”appalling old waxworks”. Two senior Court of Appeal judges upheld an earlier ruling that Queen Elizabeth’s eldest son and heir to the throne had a right to keep his diaries secret.