Pierce Brosnan & Helen Mirren get close at the MobLand premiere. [Socialite Life]
A tell-all interview from Alan Cumming. [Buzzfeed]
Ellen Pompeo is working with stylist Jason Bolden. [LaineyGossip]
I was not prepared for Mr. Jay?s scrolldown fug. [Go Fug Yourself]
Review of Death of a Unicorn. [Pajiba]
I love when celebrities put healthcare providers on blast. [OMG Blog]
Elisabeth Moss confirms the birth of her first child. [Just Jared]
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley wore Francesco Murano (I hate this). [RCFA]
A rave review of Mid-Century Modern. [Seriously OMG]
Reflections on I Know What You Did Last Summer. [Hollywood Life]

When QEII was still alive, there was basically a regular feature in the British tabloids, where they claimed that every single thing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did or said was a ?slap in the face to the Queen.? That expression happened with such frequency, I often joked that every step Meghan took in California was like a slap in the face to the Queen?s corgis. Now that QEII is long gone, these people are fighting for their lives trying to make Meghan and Harry?s California existence all about the left-behind Windsors. The thing is, when everything Meghan has done for seven-plus years is a five-alarm fire, people simply get bored with the outrage machine. This is just an American woman? building a brand and cooking on a lifestyle show. And recommending clothes & beauty products on a ShopMy page. Well, Meghan?s ShopMy page is going to bring down the monarchy, obviously. It?s a slap in the face to every shoulder pad out there. But never fear, sources promise that when Prince William is king, things will be a lot different!

Jaws dropped and eyebrows hit the ceiling in England this week when Meghan Markle (Sussex) debuted her ShopMy page, clearly marking it ?Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,? and noting, ?A handpicked and curated collection of the things I love ? I hope you enjoy them! *Please note, some products may contain commissionable links*?

The site, selling Markle?s recommendations on clothing, makeup and something called a ?wedding edit,? is a clear move to monetize her title ? despite her vow to never to return to England, a country she dislikes, and to her husband?s family, people she loathes.

?You do not monetize the monarchy,? a royal insider told me. ?It?s just tacky and classless. She could have used her name, Meghan Markle, or even Meghan Sussex, but to promote the page as Meghan, Duchess of Sussex? It?s hideous.?

?Now, to be fair, King Charles sells his products ? jams, jellies and honey, sound familiar? ? but they proceeds all go to charity. I sincerely doubt Meghan?s proceeds from her As Ever line or ShopMy page is going to Archewell as opposed to her bank account.?

Markle?s rep didn?t return my email asking if the As Ever or ShopMy proceeds were going to charity or her personal account.

Regardless, another royal friend told me: ?(Meghan) is really pushing the family to the limit. She wants them to cave to her. They won?t but it?s very tense. Meghan never got over the fact that she had to bow and curtsey to Catherine (Kate Middleton) when she was in England. Meghan didn?t understand hierarchy or rank. And she loathed Catherine ? and loathed having to curtsey to her. (Meghan) thought she was going to be the boss and ? it didn?t work out that way.?

Is Meghan pushing the family too far?

?I doubt King Charles would rescind (Meghan and Harry?s) titles ? that would be slamming the door firmly shut ? but William would. Things will change sooner rather than later. When William is king, there will be firm boundaries. Mark my word.?

[From NewsNation]

Again? ?Duchess of Sussex? is her married name. They?re doing all of this over her married name. And clearly, based on the weeks of screaming tantrums just a short time ago, they would have also been incandescent with rage if she used ?Meghan Sussex.? Anyway, it?s pretty rich for ?insiders? to cry about Meghan ?monetizing the monarchy? when the whole-ass king has been taking bribes for honors for decades, not to mention all of the royal-branded kitsch they sell everywhere over there. ?Things will change sooner rather than later. When William is king, there will be firm boundaries. Mark my word.? My guess? This whole ?Meghan?s ShopMy controversy? this week has been coming from Kensington Palace, and William in particular. When William is king, he?s going to stomp his feet and throw pillows and demand that his sister-in-law take down her ShopMy page! Do you see how childish that sounds, Peg?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Archewell.

Don?t forget, on top of everything else, that Donald Trump wants Canada to be the United States? 51st state, and that he also wants ?custody? of Greenland. I?ve seen people suggest that ?how could Trump voters even know that he would be so aggressive towards Canada and Greenland?? Trump voters do not give a sh-t. They are angry and dumb and they think Trump and his merry band of sociopaths look ?strong? when they threaten our allies. Well, funny story. Trump was sending Usha Vance and his national security advisor Mike Waltz to Greenland today for what can only be described as a soft-launch for America?s invasion of Greenland. Waltz was the one who added a journalist to the war group-chat though, so it looks like he?s been benched. Now JD Vance is going to Greenland with his wife. The advance team in Greenland apparently went door-to-door to ask Greenlanders if they wanted a visit from Usha, and they all said ?f?k no.?

American officials went door to door in Greenland?s capital looking for residents who would welcome a visit from Usha Vance during her upcoming trip?and every single one of them said no, according to a Danish TV report. The second lady and her husband, Vice President JD Vance, are headed to Greenland on Friday to visit Pituffik Space Base, but they will follow a pared-back itinerary after Usha Vance?s original plans to meet with locals and attend a world-famous dogsled race were met with widespread condemnation.

With President Donald Trump increasingly calling for Greenland to come under U.S. control, officials couldn?t find anybody in Nuuk who was interested in Vance?s visit, despite a week of canvassing, according to Danish reporter Jesper Steinmetz.

?The Americans? charm offensive has failed,? he said during a TV2 broadcast, as reported by The Hill. ?They have finally understood what the Greenlanders here in town have been trying to tell them for a little over a week: We don?t want visitors right now.?

A White House official told The Hill the report was ?categorically false.?

?The Second Lady is proud to visit the Pituffik Space Base with her husband to learn more about arctic security and the great work of the Space Base,? the official said.

Originally, Usha Vance had planned to travel with National Securtiy Adviser Mike Schultz and one of her sons to ?visit historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage, and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland?s national dogsled race,? the White House announced Sunday. The news was met with condemnation from officials in Greenland and Denmark?the former being an autonomous region of the latter?but on Tuesday, her husband said he would be joining her. ?There was so much excitement around Usha?s visit to Greenland this Friday, that I decided that I didn?t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I?m going to join her,? JD Vance said Tuesday in a video posted to X.

[From The Daily Beast]

The thing about this cult is that they?re really dumb, and they think everyone else is equally dumb. Greenlanders obviously understood that they were going to be used as props in this asinine and hostile little play and said absolutely not. I can only imagine the diplomatic catastrophe which will unfold once Eyeliner Vance and his wife prance into the country today and open with ?so y?all wanna get invaded???

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Last year, the Hollywood Reporter swore up and down that they had sources within Archewell, and those sources claimed that the Duchess of Sussex was still ?bullying staffers.? What happened next was interesting ? instead of just letting the bizarre trade-paper attack fester with zero pushback, Meghan and her team organized an Us Weekly exclusive in which several current and former Archewell employees spoke candidly about what Meghan is like as a boss, and basically they said that she?s great, she cares about everyone and she doesn?t treat people badly. It was a well-done pushback on a dumb story which originated in the UK. My only minor quibble was that it ended up in Us Weekly. But it looks like Us Weekly is interested in getting in the ?defending Meghan? business. Their cover story this week is ?The Meghan Debate? and once again, they used named sources to dissect why people love Meghan or love to hate Meghan. Some of Meghan?s allies and friends are quoted in this piece, but Us Weekly also gave space to some of Meghan?s biggest detractors.

The discourse around Meghan?s businesses: ?Meghan is embarking on a number of business ventures as an entrepreneur and working mom. The constant scrutiny is motivated by clickbait and systems that make sport out of attacking women,? Meredith Maines, CCO for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, tells Us of the discourse around Meghan. ?I hope that readers pause and ask why publications are so interested in clicks at the expense of a founder, a woman, a mom, who is creating and building. As Meghan deploys her brand, show and podcast, we?re looking forward to partnering with outlets that want to understand the business story and the power of brand building by a founder.?

A positive impact: Emily Sorrells has known Meghan since the early days of The Tig, becoming friends through social media. ?The projects Meghan has been working on recently reflect a side of her I have known for years,? she told Us. ?She has always felt a responsibility to use her platform to make a positive impact. In her role as the founder of The Tig, she spoke openly and vulnerably about her own life and allowed others to do the same. In the process, she created a community and connected with us all on everything from travel and food to mental health and community service.?

Meghan lacks follow-through: But one PR expert has clocked that while Meghan is great at the launch, she?s not so hot at the actual execution. She seems to tire of her projects quickly, particularly if they?re not lapped up as eagerly as she might have hoped. ?Meghan has always been great at launching new ventures, but her problem is sustaining them,? Evan Nierman, Founder and CEO of global PR firm Red Banyan, tells Us. ?When a project is meant to be a reinvention but ends up reinforcing the same old criticisms, it?s a major misstep.?

Meghan wasn?t malleable: [Meghan?s] independence felt like a breath of fresh air at first, and like the fun, red-haired prince who had always been seen as more rebellious than his brother, William, had finally met his match. But perhaps the fact that Meghan was a modern, independent woman also meant she ultimately wasn?t malleable enough to be a ?good? royal. Christopher Andersen, author of bestselling books Brothers and Wives and The King, agrees, telling Us: ?If Meghan could have learned to stick it out in the U.K. as a full-time royal ? if only for Harry?s sake ? I think she?d rank today not far below Kate as one of the world?s most admired women.?

Meghan has never complained about her privilege: Publicist Jane Owen also believes Meghan might struggle to come back from how ungrateful many people perceive her to be. ?She made the mistake that has always gone down badly with the general public: she complained about her massive privilege,? Owen tells Us. ?Yes, being rich and famous is a burden, but the people struggling to buy eggs don?t want to hear about it? She also needs to acknowledge that she now sits in a place of privilege and wealth that is far beyond the target audience she?s hoping to reach.?

Comments from Essence editor-in-chief Danielle Cadet: ?From a Black person?s perspective, which is really the only one I can speak from, there is a disconnect from her because she doesn?t necessarily identify or participate in Blackness in a way beyond her feeling a typical appearance would mean that she?d be welcomed,? Cadet says. She adds, ?From the perspective of Black people, it?s hard to decide whether or not we want to defend her in any way, because it?s like, do you even really identify with us?? Still, Cadet believes that if Meghan was actually white, nobody would have such an issue with her success ? and her constant quest for more. ?You can?t swing a dead cat without hitting an unrelatable white woman, and none of us have that much of an issue with it,? she says. ?It?s interesting to me that there?s a refusal to acknowledge the role that race plays in our opinion of Meghan.?

Meghan?s not a diva: Contrary to reports that Meghan can be a diva, insiders from her Netflix show say that, while she?s a woman who knows what she wants, she?s nice about it, and working with her is actually pretty breezy. ?Meghan and Harry are always lovely while filming,? said one insider. ?Meghan is known to have a strong-willed personality and has a clear vision for what she wants. She?s not afraid to voice her opinion, and it was known very early on that she would be running the project and making final decisions. Her and Harry have a lot of creative control, and that was the agreement.?

[From Us Weekly]

While there are absolutely quotes in here which I found horrible and unfair, I think the idea behind it was to have a proactive debate about ?why is everyone obsessed with Meghan, and why has she become this hugely divisive cultural figure?? Something which was left largely unsaid was the fact that a powerful national media has spent seven-plus years ramming the Windsors? agenda down everyone?s throats re: Meghan, and that affects every single thing we hear about Meghan and how people react to her too.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, cover courtesy of Us Weekly.

For several years, Sofia Coppola tried to convince AppleTV to finance one of her dream projects: a miniseries adaptation of Edith Wharton?s The Custom of the Country. Considering how AppleTV blows through money on so many projects no one watches, it was always so bizarre to me that they wouldn?t finance that adaptation from an Oscar-winner. All of which to say, I?ve never read the book and I was actually looking forward to familiarizing myself with the story via Coppola?s adaptation. Well, Graydon Carter is familiar with the Edith Wharton novel, and he referenced it in his Interview Magazine Q&A. Obviously, they asked him about the Duchess of Sussex again as he shills his memoir, and this is what he said:

Interview: THE MURDOCHS
Carter: ?Iris.?

MEGHAN MARKLE
?The Undine Spragg of Montecito.?

PAGE SIX
?Glorious to read; often terrifying to be in.?

TIKTOK
?I have a 16-year-old, and I can see why it?s completely addictive.?

[From Interview]

Undine Spragg is the heroine/antiheroine of The Custom of the Country. In Page Six?s coverage of Carter?s latest attack on Meghan, they claim that Carter ?bulldozes Meghan in five words.? Of course, they also got the name of the book wrong and misspelled Edith Wharton?s name, but hey. Would you like to hear what Sofia Coppola thinks of Undine Spragg? From a piece Coppola wrote for LitHub when she was adapting the book for a now-canceled Apple series:

Until I read The Custom of the Country, I had never met a literary character quite like Undine Spragg, nor encountered such an in-depth portrait of a classic antiheroine. Yet, we?ve all met women like her. We all know women who have transformed and reinvented themselves. Undine follows the trends carefully, without having anything unique to add, and unabashedly markets herself at the center of the world of high society that she longs to belong to.

I?ve always loved Edith Wharton?s writing, but The Custom of the Country is my favorite, and I think her funniest and most sly. As I?ve worked on adapting it into a screenplay, I?ve found it interesting to hear some men say that Undine is so unlikable, while my women friends love her and are fascinated by her and what she?ll do next. We?ve all seen her before, the way she walks into the room, her focus on men, and her ease with their gaze. We admire and are annoyed by her. While I?ve often worked on stories with more sympathetic characters, it?s been so fun to dive into Undine?s world and pursuits.

Published in 1913, originally in serial form for Scribner?s Magazine, each book of The Custom of the Country ends with anticipation for what and who?s next on Undine?s social-climbing quest. Wharton paints the picture of the ultimate nouveau-riche climber. We watch her like a car crash while at the same time we root for her. She does things we would never dream of doing, and it?s such a delight to follow along. Mixed with empathy and disdain, Wharton manages to keep us captivated, and makes us look at ourselves along the way.

[From LitHub]

While Undine sounds like a delight, her story does not sound much like the Duchess of Sussex. It?s funny that Coppola writes that men encounter the character with disdain, and maybe Carter?s comments are a larger reflection of how men perceive women and characters who succeed by their wits, intelligence, charm, beauty and vivacity. There?s this consistent false narrative that Meghan somehow ?ensnared? Harry or that she threw herself into his path or social-climbed in his direction. In reality, Harry saw her on a friend?s video and did everything he could to throw himself IN HER PATH. He was the one chasing her!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

I?ve mentioned this before in recent months, but it looked like King Charles had turned a corner health-wise. His color was improved, he seemed perkier and more alert, he seemed to have more energy overall. The palace still maintained that he was being treated for cancer on a weekly basis, but there are no longer the weekly Rolls Royce photo-ops to and from the hospital. I honestly thought Charles was doing much better this year. Well, he was hospitalized today. They already released him though?

The King was admitted to hospital on Thursday after experiencing adverse side effects connected to his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace has announced. The monarch was discharged following ?a short period of observation? but was forced to cancel a series of engagements due to take place in Birmingham on Friday.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: ?Following scheduled and ongoing medical treatment for cancer this morning, The King experienced temporary side effects that required a short period of observation in hospital. His Majesty?s afternoon engagements were therefore postponed. His Majesty has now returned to Clarence House and as a precautionary measure, acting on medical advice, tomorrow?s diary programme will also be rescheduled. His Majesty would like to send his apologies to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result.?

The palace sought to play down the severity of the episode, with sources indicating that the King?s ongoing recovery path continues in a positive direction. Since returning to public-facing duties last Easter, he has ploughed on with a full programme of events, including state visits to Australia and Samoa last October.

The King was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer last February, following treatment for an enlarged prostate and has undergone weekly treatment ever since.

[From The Telegraph]

The ?nothing to see here, don?t panic, all is well? statement reminds me a lot of when he initially went into the hospital to deal with his enlarged prostate. We all know how that escalated. It also feels like? when it?s a 76-year-old man with cancer, a king with access to the best private health care in the world, it feels pretty notable that they took the extraordinary step of taking him to the hospital and canceling his schedule for a few days. Well, I?m glad they released him right away and I hope it wasn?t anything too serious.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Marvel announced the cast for Avengers: Doomsday. Chris Hemsworth, RDJ, Sebastian Stan, Paul Rudd, Simu Liu & more! [Hollywood Life]
Eliza Coupe fires back after people expressed concerns about her appearance. She?s always been slender, but her styling here is awful. [Socialite Life]
It?s so weird that The Handmaid?s Tale began filming during the Obama administration and they?re just ending the series now?? [JustJared]
Yes, Ben Affleck loves to talk. He loves a long-form interview. [LaineyGossip]
Donald Trump plans to freeze grants for birth control & cancer screenings. [Jezebel]
Analysis of The Pitt, everyone?s new favorite show. [Pajiba]
Universal experiences for women. [Buzzfeed]
A funny traffic report. [Seriously OMG]
This color is beautiful on Selena Gomez. [RCFA]
Michael Fassbender has a story about gloves. [OMG Blog]

I?ve figured out one of the other reasons why I?ve gotten such a sense of deja vu with this Sentebale catastrophe. Sophie Chandauka issued a bizarre public statement on Tuesday, saying in part that hers was ?the story of a woman who dared to blow the whistle about issues of poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir.? The British media have latched onto the accusations and made them entirely about Prince Harry. There?s no evidence, no actual story. The Charity Commission in the UK is apparently investigating her claims, and who knows how long that will take. Does the lack of specificity remind you of anything? It?s the ?Meghan is a bully who made Kate cry? story all over again ? no concrete story or claim of anything specific that Meghan did or said, just ?she?s a bully, I swear!? They?re just going to keep saying ?Prince Harry in charity racism row? for months, if not years. Anyway, Becky English at the Daily Mail had an update, because of course she did.

Prince Harry has been left reeling after the charity he co-founded issued a stinging rebuke following news that he had decided to stand down from the organisation. Sentebale, which was formed in 2006 in memory of Harry?s late mother to help Aids orphans in southern Africa, yesterday issued a statement suggesting ?people in the field? were more important than its trustees.

The charity posted a message on social media that many will interpret as a ?P45? to the prince. It read: ?While Trustees are key for governance and regulation, and Patrons ? especially Founders ? are an honour to have, it?s the people in the field who are advancing the work, no matter what.?

The charity also reiterated its commitment to supporting young people in the region without the support of its royal patron, who sensationally stepped back from his role in protest at the ?untenable? actions of the chair of its board, Zimbabwean-born lawyer Sophie Chandauka. Sources say after the board of trustees formally requested Ms Chandauka?s resignation she declined and then, when they tried to force the move through with a vote, she filed a legal challenge at the High Court to the prevent their meeting.

While there is no formal record of proceedings at the Royal Courts of Justice, it is claimed that the court did not grant an injunction and, as the charity board meeting was ultimately cancelled, the judge decided that no further hearing or court appearance was necessary. It is not clear where this leaves Ms Chandauka?s legal challenge. It is also understood that Prince Harry is not personally the subject of any legal action in this matter.

Ms Chandauka also said she had filed a report to the Charity Commission. And while she did not mention Harry by name, she made no secret of where she feels the blame lies as a ?proud African?. In a highly-charged statement she said: ?There are people in this world who behave as though they are above the law and mistreat people, and then play the victim card and use the very press they disdain to harm people who have the courage to challenge their conduct.?

There was a deafening public silence to the highly-damaging claims by Harry, who co-founded Sentebale with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, younger brother of the country?s king. But a source who has known the prince since the charity?s inception told the Mail: ?There?s no way of sugar-coating the damage of this, regardless of who?s in the right. He?ll be reeling.?

Chandauka insisted that she would not step down from her role. One source close to the prince told the Mail that it was a ?hugely sensitive? situation and urged people to see ?the facts play out?.

?The charity commission will investigate. That process needs to happen,? they said.

[From The Daily Mail]

?There?s no way of sugar-coating the damage of this, regardless of who?s in the right? ? I mean, Harry?s side actually has come out with the reasons why Chandauka was asked to resign in the first place: she beefed with and lost a major sponsor of the Sentebale Polo Cup and she spent $600K on outside consultants without informing the board. She?s clearly been mismanaging the money and the fact that they couldn?t play the Sentebale Polo Cup (a fundraiser for the charity) is a really big deal. I think once the facts do come out and Chandauka is dealt with, it will be somewhat easy for Harry and Seesio to come back into Sentebale and try to repair the damage.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Last month, the Telegraph published an unintentionally hilarious interview with historian David Starkey. Starkey ended up talking sh-t about Prince William (?hopeless? Nature intended him to be the manager of a second-division football team and he?s be rather stretched at that?) and the monarchy (?fading into irrelevance?). I was surprised that the Telegraph even published the interview. Well, they?re at it again. Piers Morgan?s wife Celia Walden interviewed A.C. Grayling, a British philosopher, professor and author. His new book is Discriminations: Making Peace in the Culture Wars. He spoke about how the right-wing uses ?woke? as a pejorative, but woke is a good thing and societies should be anti-discrimination and more. He spent part of the interview discussing the Duchess of Sussex and how Meghan is the epicenter of the ?woke wars? within the UK.

When it comes to ?campaigns of cancellation?, there is no better current example than Meghan Markle, says A.C. Grayling. ?The attempt to cancel Meghan Markle was and is huge. I mean, there are so many different media outlets and groups in society that are really dumping on her.?

There?s something very amusing about her name in his mouth. After all, this is Prof A.C. Grayling, philosopher and bestselling author of Philosophy and Life: Exploring the Great Questions of How to Live. For the past hour, we have been ricocheting from the origins of Christianity and the Roman emperor Theodosius to Holocaust denial. Then, out of nowhere, up pops the royal Kardashian, her name carefully enunciated.

?Now, I?m completely neutral on her score, since I really don?t know all the details,? the 75-year-old goes on when I ask what he thinks the reasons behind this cancellation campaign may be. Because as someone who has ?dumped on her? more than once, I?m thinking some of them may be valid. ?It?s not impossible to exclude the racial thing,? he says. ?The idea that people don?t want a woman of colour in the Royal family, while others didn?t like the way she behaved.? Indeed. ?People are very possessive over the Royal family. There?s a standard of purity which has to be met, because it preserves the heart of things. Then, if it?s penetrated by someone deemed to be a little bit too woke??

??Listen,? he resumes, ?I don?t know what it is about her personally that seems so abrasive and barbative to people. I cited her as an example of a massive cancelling endeavour on the part of the anti-wokeists to make a point.? Which is? ?That if that amount of attention were directed at something truly awful like white supremacists? Then there would at least be a bit of a balance, wouldn?t there??

[From The Telegraph]

?People are very possessive over the Royal family. There?s a standard of purity which has to be met, because it preserves the heart of things. Then, if it?s penetrated by someone deemed to be a little bit too woke?? Standard of purity? Penetrated? A little bit too woke? Obviously, the right-wing still uses ?woke? and ?DEI? as not-subtle dog-whistles to mean Black. When people cry about Meghan being ?too woke? for the Windsors, they mean Black, that she?s too Black for the Windsors. When someone says that the Windsors? purity must not be penetrated by woke, they mean the Windsors must stay white, with no mixed-race princes or princesses in the line of succession. But what Grayling says about ?the attempt to cancel Meghan Markle was and is huge? is absolutely correct.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Please excuse my attempts to keep up with all of the reporting on this unfolding Sentebale scandal. Sentebale cofounders Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso joined their board of trustees in resigning en masse, in protest of chairwoman Sophie Chandauka. Chandauka refused to resign from her position and she?s trying to sue her way into staying at the charity. Harry?s side went to People Magazine yesterday to describe what led to the board?s request for Chandauka?s resignation: she blew $600K on outside consultants (without telling the board) and she lost a major sponsor for Sentebale?s annual polo match. Chandauka?s statements this week have definitely been royalist/deranger dog-whistles, so much so that this situation has felt like another high-level, Windsor-led operation to harm Harry in any way possible. The British media?s coverage of the situation has emphasized that to me, from Becky English?s ?this never would have happened if Harry was a working royal? BS, to the Mail dusting off Richard Kay to write some sleazy commentary about Harry and racism. An excerpt from Kay?s latest:

The Sentebale mess exposed virtue-signaling Harry! But even more extraordinary than the disarray over his actions ? and the shedding of what was among the very last vestiges of his former royal life ? was the eruption of an unsavoury war of words which may expose a deeper hypocrisy that the virtue-signalling Harry will find even more unpalatable. In her excoriating statement, the charity?s board chairman, Zimbabwe-born lawyer Dr Sophie Chandauka, whom the trustees wanted to stand down, did not mince her words. She blasted ?weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny and misogynoir?. This last assertion, discrimination against black women, the most damaging of all.

For a prince who with his wife triggered a crisis in the House of Windsor, overshadowing the last days of both Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth with their claims of ?bullying behaviour? behind palace walls and of the existence of a ?royal racist? speculating about the colour of the skin of their then unborn first child, Archie, her remarks are a terrible irony. For Harry, who has spoken of his ?awakening? to race issues and his appreciation of unconscious racial bias that he has learned through his wife, such criticism is nothing short of catastrophic.

And in the absence of a smoking gun about what may be behind this extraordinary state of affairs at the charity, the accusations ? along with Dr Chandauka?s claim that the prince was ?playing the victim card? by quitting as patron ? is as bad as it gets. Even in faraway Montecito the impact of her mockery will be impossible to escape. In one devastating passage she took a swipe ? without naming names ? at those ?in this world who behave as though they are above the law and mistreat people?. Who but Harry could she have had in mind as she said of such people that they ?play the victim card and use the very Press they disdain to harm people who have the courage to challenge their conduct??

How richly piquant that ?playing the victim card?, all too familiar to anyone who has read Spare or watched the Netflix Harry & Meghan series, should now be applied to the prince.

Now, with his abrupt resignation, Harry is at a crossroads. It is certainly a desperately sad moment for the prince. Sentebale together with the Invictus Games (an international sporting event for wounded service personnel and veterans) were his two pet projects, the last remaining links with his pre-Meghan life and part of what he self-righteously labelled his ?life of service?. And in his devotion to both he accumulated considerable public affection for the prince he used to be. But without Sentebale ? and in his statement he did allow for a possible future return to the charity one day ? his diary is looking ominously empty.

By contrast, his wife?s in-tray seems to be positively overflowing. From her With Love, Meghan Netflix show (a second series is scheduled for later in the year), to her new podcast in which she is in discussion with female entrepreneurs, and an online shopping venture featuring her wardrobe staples, the Duchess of Sussex has never been busier. It is hard to escape the view of Harry?s old circle in Britain, who believe that Meghan would prefer her husband to be channelling his efforts towards newer interests in the US. This may be uncharitable because apart from his work as ?chief impact officer? of mental health coaching company Better Up, there?s not much on his agenda.

[From The Daily Mail]

It?s almost as if Chandauka chose her words specifically to incite this kind of response from the British media and the Windsors. Oh, a Black woman is accusing Harry of misogynoir, oh, she?s accusing him of playing the victim card, how the worm turns, Harry! They?ve been trying for years to find some way to delegitimize Harry and Meghan and the very real racism Meghan faced. This is like Christmas for Kay, English and the deranger community.

Also: the whole thing about ?Harry has nothing on his plate? is so utterly bizarre ? he was in New York last year for like a dozen different events (including meetings at the UN). He and Meghan are both booked and busy. It?s the heir to the throne who has so much free time, he spends hours on football forums.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.