I saw a TikTok describing Rose Hanbury and Queen Camilla as “the Side-Chick Avengers” and I haven’t been able to get that out of my head. Rose, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, has suddenly re-emerged after rumors of her affair with Prince William went massively mainstream several months ago. Keep in mind, while Rose is aristocratic and well-connected, for the past five-plus years, we’ve barely seen her. She’s turned up maybe once or twice a year at royal events or public events. Except for the whole “she might be banging an angry egg” thing, Rose has always been pretty good about minding her business and not seeking the spotlight. So it’s crazy that we saw her twice in one week – once on May 12 at the Badminton Horse Trials and once on May 15th at the service for the Order of the British Empire. Both of those appearances included Queen Camilla as well, and at the Badminton Horse Trials, there were even photos of Rose and Camilla greeting each other and laughing. Fascinating. Also fascinating? Richard Eden’s latest Daily Mail column, “How Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, is blossoming in the court of Queen Camilla.”

While the Princess of Wales is missing from public life as she undergoes treatment for cancer, one of her friends is taking an increasingly prominent role at court. The Marchioness of Cholmondeley, who lives next door to Prince William and Catherine’s Norfolk retreat, Anmer Hall, is said to have become close to Queen Camilla.

Last weekend, the marchioness, former model Rose Hanbury, 40, was pictured curtsying to the Queen at Badminton House in Gloucestershire, where they attended the horse trials.

Badminton is owned by the Duke of Beaufort, rock musician ‘Bunter’, who’s a close friend of Rose’s father, Tim Hanbury.

Just a few days later, one of Rose’s twin sons, Lord Oliver, held the royal robes at St Paul’s Cathedral, where he was page of honour to the King and Queen at a service of dedication for the Order of the British Empire.

Rose’s husband, David, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, who turns 64 next month, is a Lord-in-Waiting to the King.

While Catherine was absent, Rose gave a subtle nod to her style by wearing the same black, drop-brim hat by royal favourite Lock & Co that the princess has worn in the past.

[From The Daily Mail]

Everyone knows. It’s not like a Mail columnist just decided to note that this Norfolk marchioness seems to be out in public these days. No one is saying it outright, but the fact that they’re saying anything is proof that there’s a much larger story. A story involving a missing princess, a side-chick queen, a rural rival mistress and an off-kilter heir. It’s interesting that Eden is even taking the first tentative steps towards saying something or drawing attention to Rose’s sudden closeness to Camilla.

Incidentally, for months now, I have not believed that Rose is being soft-launched as the new Princess of Wales. Like, I don’t think she wants that life and I suspect she and Huevo are not doing the forbidden dance at this point. But all of this is so incredibly curious and poorly managed.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty.

Last December, suspiciously well-placed “sources” spent weeks gossiping about the Duke of Westminster’s upcoming wedding. Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, will marry Olivia Henson on June 7 at Chester Cathedral, after which there will be an enormous reception at Hugh’s country pile, Eaton Hall, a 11,000-acre estate. When the save-the-dates went out last December, Prince William seemingly saw his opening to make Hugh’s wedding all about Prince Harry and how Hugh didn’t invite the Sussexes to the wedding. “Sources” were crowing that Hugh is incredibly loyal to the Windsors and Hugh would never put Prince William in a difficult position of having to behave like an adult at another person’s wedding. It was all very tacky and obvious from William’s side. Days later, Page Six got an interesting tip that Hugh actually did invite the Sussexes to his wedding but Harry declined the invite and Harry and Hugh spoke about it. Which I believe. Well, predictably, Roya Nikkhah at the Times of London has another big scoop about how the Duke of Westminster’s wedding is all about Prince William.

The Prince of Wales will be an usher at the society wedding of the year when his close friend Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, gets married next month. Grosvenor, 33, one of Britain’s richest men and a godfather to Prince George, will marry Olivia Henson, 31, at Chester Cathedral on June 7, with Prince William among the groom’s party. The Princess of Wales, who is receiving cancer treatment, is not expected to attend.

To avoid royal tensions overshadowing the day, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not attend. Their absence from the wedding, at which there will be 400 guests, will be notable as Grosvenor is so close to Harry that he is also a godfather to the Sussexes’ son Prince Archie, five.

Grosvenor, known as “Hughie” to his friends, and Henson, who were introduced by mutual friends in 2021, have insisted on a “strictly no-gifts policy” for their guests. With Grosvenor’s inherited fortune estimated at more than £10 billion, the couple have everything that money can buy.

He has a property portfolio of 140,000 acres in Oxfordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Scotland as well as 300 acres in Mayfair and Belgravia, inherited from his father, the late Duke, who died suddenly at the age of 64 from a heart attack in 2016.

After the wedding service at Chester Cathedral, guests will enjoy a lavish reception at nearby Eaton Hall, the Grosvenors’ 11,000-acre family estate, where the couple will live. The following day they will host a second, smaller reception at Eaton Hall for close family and friends. Details of both receptions are being kept under wraps.

It is understood the King, who is Grosvenor’s godfather, will not attend the wedding. Charles is still undergoing cancer treatment and will be travelling to France the day before the ceremony with the Queen and Prince William for events commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

[From The Times]

The two new pieces of information are that King Charles will not attend his godson’s wedding and that William will be an usher. Did Hugh just ask William or something? This has the feel of William calling up Roya two minutes after Hugh asked. Honestly, I find it weirder that Charles is skipping. I get that Charles will have just gotten back from the D-Day trip to Normandy, but it’s his godson’s wedding. His godson, whose father passed away unexpectedly eight years ago, after which Hugh became one of the richest and most powerful men in the UK. Like, it’s genuinely strange that Charles won’t even bother. (Note: The Mail has a story about why Charles will likely skip, which I will cover separately.)

Also: the mentions of the Sussexes are meant as a distraction from the fact that Kate will not attend. That’s the bigger story than “Harry isn’t flying in for Hugh’s wedding.” It’s that Kate will still be in the wind in June. I’ve posed this question a few times: when will the international media start pressing the palace on Kate again? It feels like Kate will not attend any of the big events in June (Hugh’s wedding, Trooping, D-Day, etc). What happens if no one has heard from her by the time Wimbledon rolls around in July?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Over the weekend, the Times of London reported that Prince William will attend Hugh Grosvenor’s June 7 wedding and that William will be an usher. The Grosvenors are well-connected to the monarchy – Hugh is friendly with both Prince William and Harry, Hugh is King Charles’s godson, and Hugh is godfather to both Prince Archie and Prince George. The Windsors and the Grovesnors invite each other to weddings, funerals, memorials, christenings, etc. Well, the Times also reported that William is basically the only Windsor attending Hugh’s wedding. Considering Hugh, the Duke of Westminster, is basically the only person richer and more powerful than the Windsors, it feels notable. King Charles will likely skip his godson’s wedding, as will the Princess of Wales and Queen Camilla. So what’s the backstory? According to the Mail, it’s all because of a “snub” in 2004.

Prince William is set to be an usher at his friend the Duke of Westminster’s wedding but King Charles won’t attend amid rumours of tension over a past Queen Camilla ‘snub’. Prince Harry is also expected to miss the event over worries his attendance may cause family awkwardness which could overshadow his friend Hugh Grosvenor, and his bride-to-be, Olivia Henson’s big day on June 7.

The King and Queen will miss the ‘society wedding of the year’, over claims they have not forgotten about what happened at the 2004 wedding of Hugh’s sister. They turned down their invitations at the time to Lady Tamara Grosvenor and Edward van Cutsem’s wedding, which was held at the same venue as the duke’s upcoming wedding: Chester Cathedral.

Camilla Parker Bowles, as she was then, had been told that she would not be allowed to sit with Prince Charles and would instead be seated several rows back and be made to arrive separately. This was because of royal protocol since Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip attended the ceremony, along with Princes William and Harry.

Tensions were heightened by reports that Emilie van Cutsem, the groom’s mother, and Camilla had fallen out after each is alleged to have criticised the behaviour of the other’s children. Charles ultimately excused himself from the event with just days to go, saying he had to visit Warminster barracks to meet the families of soldiers serving in Iraq. Camilla was described as ‘otherwise engaged’. According to royal author Sarah Bradford, Camilla was so infuriated that she told Charles the status quo was no longer acceptable. Their own engagement was announced three months later.

The King, who is Grosvenor’s godfather, is still undergoing cancer treatment and will be travelling to France the day before the ceremony next month with the Queen and Prince William to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Another aspect of the upcoming wedding that has been the talk of the town for months is why Prince Harry may have turned down an invitation from his old friend. Now friends of the Royal Family think they have solved the mystery, claiming that Prince Harry refused to attend when he discovered his brother William had been given a prominent role.

[From The Daily Mail]

Re: Harry’s non-attendance… back in December, after Prince William’s office made a big f–king deal about how Hugh snubbed Harry for a wedding invitation, sources told Page Six that Hugh actually did invite the Sussexes but they declined, and Harry and Hugh spoke about it. It’s not about William being an usher. William needs to stop centering himself in stories about the Duke of Westminster’s wedding, it’s tacky as f–k.

As for the infamous story of the 2004 wedding… lol. I remember Tina Brown backing up that story in her reporting too, saying that Camilla basically forced Charles to propose after that because she was so sick of being treated like a dirty little secret, the side chick who was not really welcome at these exclusive events. Reportedly, Charles was still hesitant but he did propose and Camilla got what she wanted. Now, is Camilla still mad about the 2004 wedding? Probably. But I don’t believe that Charles would miss his godson’s wedding just because Camilla is still furious. It sounds like Charles has other reasons (probably including his trip to Normandy one day before the wedding) and Camilla is telling people that Charles will skip Hugh’s wedding out of loyalty to her. Camilla really is a piece of work.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

In April, Billie Eilish gave an interview to Billboard about her new album and her attempts to change the music industry and make the industry more environmental and less wasteful. One of the big headlines from Billie’s interview was that she said that too many artists are being wasteful with how many variants they do. In music parlance, “variants” are multiple versions of the same album, offered in vinyl, CD or digital. Many big artists are “gaming the system” for record sales and charting by offering twenty different variants of their albums with “new songs” or remixes or what have you. While Billie didn’t name names in the Billboard piece – because multiple artists are guilty of it – many people did think of Taylor Swift immediately. The variant issue is Taylor’s whole deal these days, it’s her modus operandi for dominating the charts and sales. She gets her Swifty army to buy the same album like twenty different times, all to get “new songs” or whatever.

Skip ahead to last week. Billie Eilish released her new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. On the very same day, Taylor decided to drop new variants of The Tortured Poets Department, an album which had only been out for less than a month. Coincidence or conspiracy?

Earlier this year, Billie Eilish was forced to hit back after she was accused of shading Taylor Swift in comments about “wasteful” artists during an interview with Billboard. Speaking to the publication for a sustainability-centered interview, Billie criticized how normalized it has become for artists to sell multiple variants of the same album. At this point, it’s important to point out that Billie herself sells multiple vinyl variants of her albums, but they all have the exact same tracklist so that fans aren’t forced to buy every version in order to hear all of her songs. She also uses 100% recycled vinyl and scraps for each variant.

“We live in this day and age where, for some reason, it’s very important to some artists to make all sorts of different vinyl and packaging… which ups the sales and ups the numbers and gets them more money,” she explained in the interview. “I can’t even express how wasteful it is. It is right in front of our faces, and people are just getting away with it left and right,” Billie went on. “I find it really frustrating as somebody who really goes out of my way to be sustainable and do the best that I can and try to involve everybody in my team in being sustainable — and then it’s some of the biggest artists in the world making fucking 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”

Taylor Swift did not publicly acknowledge any of the discourse at the time, but people believe they have now spotted some seriously shady activity from the star. On Thursday, it was announced that Taylor will release three new digital versions of her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, on Friday, May 17. Each version includes a first draft phone memo of one of three of Taylor’s songs; either “The Black Dog,” “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” or “Cassandra.” To hear all of the original drafts, fans must purchase all three of the newly available variants at $5.99 each.

And it didn’t take long for people to notice that the three new variants were dropping on the same day as Billie’s third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft — thus putting the two in competition in the music charts.

[From Buzzfeed]

I’m including some tweets below, cited in Buzzfeed’s coverage, which seem to be gaining traction. Like, I don’t pay attention to Taylor’s eleventy billion variant drops because I’m not a Swiftie and I really don’t give a sh-t. Taylor is going to bleed her fans dry if it’s the last thing she does and her fans play her games willingly. The answer is convincing her fans to stop playing her stupid cash-grabbing games. And yes, Taylor absolutely did this on purpose, dropping these digital variants on the same day as Billie’s album drop. Petty petty petty. While I do think Billie was referencing Taylor in the Billboard interview, Billie was also generalizing in the hope that more artists would rethink their wasteful, system-gaming, fan-scamming variant strategy. I hope Billie says some sh-t about Taylor’s private planes next. This could end up being a pretty good beef.

billie’s statement about artists releasing 40 vinyl packages to get people to buy more really got into her… doing this on her album release day is so nasty https://t.co/T9Q0oj4hA9

— pop culture gal (@allurequinn) May 16, 2024

the same day as billie’s release……. and yall swear that taylor is a girl’s girl. https://t.co/kW9tAbKY5b

— rudy (@rudyIopez) May 16, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Do you guys remember when Prince William won the “sexiest bald man” survey? It happened in 2021 AND 2023. Two separate “surveys” rigged to declare an incandescent dumbass the sexiest bald man. In the same world where Jason Statham, LL Cool J, Stanley Tucci and Boris Kodjoe exist. I don’t think so. Well, there’s another survey, this one for the “sexiest man in the UK.” The poll was conducted by IllicitEncounters, a dating site for married cheaters in the UK. Well, you would think this would be William’s wheelhouse, right?? He only made it to #3. Two places down from the #1 sexiest British man, Jeremy Clarkson. GROSS.

Jeremy Clarkson has secured the title of the UK’s sexiest man for the second consecutive year. The 64-year-old presenter surpassed notable contenders such as Prince William, Idris Elba, and Cillian Murphy in the annual poll conducted by IllicitEncounters, that brands itself “the best online dating site for married people”. The Clarkson’s Farm star achieved an impressive score of nine out of 10 points in the survey.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man actor Tom Holland secured the second spot in the UK’s sexiest man list, which coincides with his return to the West End. The 27-year-old Hollywood star, who is in a relationship with actress Zendaya, earned an impressive eight points in the poll while Prince William completed the top three.

The annual Sexiest Man poll from the married dating site is voted by 2,000 of its female members.

Other notable entries include England manager Gareth Southgate who secured fourth place, while I’m A Celebrity winner Sam Thompson, 31, claimed eighth place and Russ Cook, 27, known as “the Hardest Geezer”, landed in ninth. Irish actor Cillian Murphy, 47, secured fifth place, joining regulars Idris Elba and Dermot O’Leary in the top 10.

[From The Evening Standard]

Like… even if they’re not my taste, how are British guys like Robert Pattinson, Dev Patel, Henry Cavill, David Beckham, Regé-Jean Page, Tom Hardy, Daniel Craig, Nicholas Hoult… not top ten? Jeremy Clarkson at #1?? HUEVO AT #3?? It’s insanity. The one good thing about it is that everyone on the internet was clowning on William’s lack of sexiness. That man has the sexual charisma of a puddle of warm vomit. (Also: Cillian Murphy isn’t British.)

Are British people ok https://t.co/rdH6AMgX0f

— Amber Sparks (@ambernoelle) May 17, 2024

https://t.co/kwgd6BNfR9 pic.twitter.com/qDCApkafNw

— Aidan (@aidanthereup) May 17, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Trigger warning: DV, SA

Last November, Cassie Ventura filed a federal lawsuit against Sean Combs/Puffy/Diddy for his years of physical and emotional abuse. He was regularly drugging her, assaulting her, raping her and trafficking her to other men. Combs immediately came out and suggested that Cassie was lying about everything. In less than 24 hours, he settled with her, lest the dominos begin the fall. Well, the dominos started to fall anyway. More lawsuits with other victims followed, and it started to get to the point where the federal authorities could no longer sit on the sidelines and hope that the civil courts would handle it. In March, the FBI raided Combs’ homes in LA and Florida and there’s reporting that the feds are building their case based on what they found.

What Cassie did was incredibly brave, and I remember the coverage of her 35-page federal lawsuit. Cassie had enough evidence to scare the sh-t out of Combs, evidence which he never wanted to come out. Speaking of, CNN got their hands of 2016 hotel surveillance footage which shows Combs physically assaulting Cassie as she attempts to leave him.

A 2016 surveillance video obtained exclusively by CNN shows Sean “Diddy” Combs grab, shove, drag and kick his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura during an altercation that matches allegations in a now-settled federal lawsuit filed by Ventura in November.

The footage, compiled from multiple camera angles dated March 5, 2016, appears to show the rapper, producer and business mogul during an incident that, according to Ventura’s complaint, occurred at the now-closed InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles. CNN verified the location based on publicly available photos of the former hotel’s interior.

In the video, Ventura exits a hotel room and walks to a bank of elevators. Combs, holding a towel around his waist, runs down a hall after Ventura. He grabs her by the back of the neck and throws her to the floor. Still holding his towel closed with one hand, he then turns to kick her, the video shows.

As Ventura is on the ground, Combs retrieves a purse and suitcase from the floor near the elevators. He turns around and kicks Ventura again as she lies motionless on the floor. About four seconds transpire between the two kicks, according to the video. He then briefly drags Ventura by her sweatshirt toward a room before walking away.

Ventura is then seen slowly standing up. She gathers items from the floor and moves to pick up a phone on the hallway wall near the elevators. Combs, still in a towel and socks, returns. A mirror directly across from the security camera shows Combs appearing to shove Ventura.

Seconds later, he sits down on a chair, grabs an object off a table and forcefully throws it toward Ventura. Combs is seen walking away, then turns toward Ventura once again when an elevator door opens and someone appears to exit.

Ventura, who reached an undisclosed settlement with Combs, declined to comment on the video obtained by CNN. Ventura’s attorney, Douglas H. Wigdor, said: “The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs. Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”

[From CNN]

I believed Cassie before the video and I hate the fact that too many people only believe her now that the video has been released. I also hate that people are finding photos of Combs with other celebrities and trying to say “everyone knew.” While there was knowledge, especially in recent years, of Combs’ violence and predatory behavior towards women, a lot of people are underestimating how society ignores violence against women. Apparently, this 2016 incident – with the hotel footage – was one of the big reasons why Combs settled with Cassie so quickly too.

Here’s the video. Trigger warning.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Jennifer Lopez was photographed out and about a few times on Friday, May 17. She was seen entering and exiting a Burbank dance studio, where she’s presumably prepping her tour. Later in the day, she was photographed going over to a school function for one of Ben’s kids. She had her arms full of sunflowers. Ben came over to talk to her and they did not hug or kiss in greeting. After the play, they walked out together and seemed like they were deep in conversation. All of those Ben-and-Jen photos are super-exclusive, but I’ll include some tweets at the end of the post. The important thing is that they were photographed together for the first time in 47 days. The important thing is that Jennifer still shows up to events for her stepkids. But it does look like all of the reports of significant marriage problems are true. Even People Magazine reported this:

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are living separately while both are in Los Angeles, according to multiple sources.

The couple were seen together in public on Thursday, May 16 for the first time since March 30, but a source close to Lopez, 54, tells PEOPLE that Affleck, 51, has not been staying at the couple’s Los Angeles home. He is instead staying at one of their other properties while filming his movie The Accountant 2.

Reps for Affleck or Lopez did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

Lopez was spending time in New York in recent months to film her movie Kiss of the Spider Woman, promote the Netflix film Atlas and serve as a co-chair for the 2024 Met Gala, which she took part in without Affleck by her side. He recently attended the May 5 live Roast of Tom Brady solo between filming.

[From People]

Yeah, whatever is happening, Benny Medina is letting this story come out. Maybe this is even the story J.Lo wants out there, since Benny doesn’t even seem to be doing any damage control. That’s important, because I think the default for a lot of people will be to solely blame J.Lo, when really, her behavior seems to indicate that she’s pissed off at Ben, like HE did something and she told him to move out. Speaking of, Us Weekly’s sources also noted that Ben “moved out” of the home he shared with J.Lo “several weeks ago.” Meanwhile, Page Six’s sources say that both Ben and Jen have been house-hunting separately in recent weeks.

So… yeah, my vibe is that they’re having significant problems but I’m hesitant to say it’s ALL Jennifer or ALL Ben. They’re two massively dysfunctional people, which is sort of why I’ve always loved them together – their dysfunctions fit together pretty well and I thought they really did love each other. We’ll see though – Jennifer has a big premiere on Monday night. Will Ben come out for her?

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were photographed for the first time together in over a month as Jen made it to a show for Ben’s children, where Jennifer Garner was also in attendance.

More details: https://t.co/j0avmLOvwq pic.twitter.com/aVMaESa91O

— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) May 17, 2024

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in Los Angeles https://t.co/yKNLY6LrWH

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) May 17, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.

It’s hard to believe that Emma Stone is now a two-time Best Actress Oscar winner. And yet, it’s not that hard to believe. Emma is widely considered to be one of the best actresses of her generation, and the fact that she’s leaned into making (and producing) weird, arty, offbeat films adds to her allure. Speaking of, Emma was in Cannes to promote Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness. She’ll probably get another Oscar nom out of it, all things considered. Emma delivered at the Cannes premiere, wearing a rich-looking Louis Vuitton (she’s a brand ambassador). I honestly love the dress, which surprises me. I think this is a very good look overall for Emma, but I wish she would have “dressed it up” a little bit more. Bigger earrings or half an arm full of bracelets.

Emma’s costars were there as well – Hunter Schafer wore Armani Privé and Margaret Qualley wore Chanel. I love Hunter’s dress, it’s structural in a cool way.

Lily Gladstone sort of needed some structure – this Balenciaga was too much of a sack dress! She looks amazing in that saffron color though.

Look at Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wearing yet another completely bonkers Falguni Shane Peacock gown. I love this absolutely silly energy.

Demi Moore wore Armani Privé – really blah, right?

Eva Green – who is on the Cannes jury this year – wore Iris van Herpen. No, this is too much??

Uma Thurman wore Burberry to a different Cannes premiere (Oh, Canada). Satin is so difficult and the sheath dress could have fit a bit better.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Daisy Ridley wore Prada to the premiere of Young Woman and the Sea. I actually like the dress a lot, but the whole look is way too matronly for her. [RCFA]
Rihanna & ASAP Rocky stepped out again in NYC. [Just Jared]
Kelly Osbourne & her mother talk about Ozempic. [OMG Blog]
Oh no I might have to try the new McFlurry flavor. [Seriously OMG]
Anya Taylor Joy at the Furiosa photocall in Cannes. [Socialite Life]
Nooooo Chris Pine shaved his beard!! [LaineyGossip]
Something is really broken in Aaron Rodgers’ brain. [Pajiba]
I love this floral on Mindy Kaling. [Go Fug Yourself]
It feels like every 90 Day Fiance star is doing crime. [Starcasm]
Fun facts about misogynist Harrison Butker. [Hollywood Life]
I stand with this guy too – it’s ridiculous to be asked to do a 90-minute Excel task in a job interview. He was right to question it. [Buzzfeed]

The Murdoch-owned British outlets have been trying new things for their royal coverage. The Sun has a YouTube “talk show” with a steady stream of royalists banging on about… the Sussexes. Meanwhile, the Times of London has a “Times Radio” show with Roya Nikkhah and Kate Mansey to sort of organize the royal gossip of the week. I totally understand if you guys don’t want to watch the whole thing (I skimmed it) but here’s the full video:

A few interesting parts, in no particular order. Kate Mansey trying to make Harry’s statement about not meeting his father sound whiny, only to admit just seconds later that Harry put Buckingham Palace “on the back foot.” Mansey also admits (around the 5:30 mark) that the king came out of the “no meeting” debacle looking pretty “shoddy” for not meeting with Harry AND ignoring the Invictus service. There’s also a discussion – a somewhat shady conversation – about Charles’s “convening power” as a king, yet he cannot convene his relationships with his sons.

Around the 14-minute mark they talk about how Prince William and Kate have all of these homes, and how there was pushback on their move to Windsor in 2022, when Kate got her little separation home, Adelaide Cottage. It’s interesting. They know more than they’re saying about the Waleses’ housing situation.

The most interesting part starts around the 24-minute mark where they talk about Charles and his sons and what’s in store for the years to come. Mansey points out something we noted last week, which was that the focus was all about Charles-and-Harry and whether they would meet and how Charles was mad about Harry’s statement, etc. There was no Kensington Palace briefing spree about how much William hates his brother or “William REFUSES to meet Harry.” Mansey says, “Now the rift is so deep, so widely accepted, that’s not even a story, no one assumes that William and Harry will ever meet.” Which is true. Then Nikkhah brings up the idea that William’s coronation will probably happen soonish and: “If, god forbid, we were to have another coronation in the next few years, would Harry be there? I don’t think William would invite him. And I don’t think Harry would come. That’s an extraordinary thing, isn’t it?” I… actually agree with Roya Nikkhah?

It’s worth remembering this Royalist story from last November, in which sources close to William claimed that the next time William will speak to Harry is “at their father’s funeral.” I think about that story too much. I think it’s true – William would “allow” Harry to come back for Charles’s funeral and that’s it. That would be the end of the brothers’ relationship. Just how Camilla wanted it.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.