Before I get into this week’s Us Weekly cover story, let’s talk about how the Times of London sort of buried this interesting and exclusive information in a story about a cancer charity. The point of this Times piece was to point out that, following the Princess of Wales’s Friday video in which she revealed her cancer diagnosis, a British cancer charity got a lot of emails and support. Then, within the article, the Times noted:

Both the prince and princess are understood to be extremely grateful and enormously touched by the support from the public. Royal sources added that Prince William was “extremely proud” of the courage and strength that his wife had shown, not just in the past week but throughout her ill health.

William was not present during the filming of Kate’s clip, as it is understood that the princess wanted to record it on her own. However, insiders said that she believed her recovery has been enormously helped by the daily support of her husband.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “The prince will continue to balance supporting his wife and family and maintaining his official duties as he has done since the start of the year.”

[From The Times]

Well, according to TikTok, it’s doubtful Kate was even present during the making of the video, so there. But for argument’s sake, let’s say Kate really did sit somewhere and film this. It wasn’t just that William didn’t sit with her in the video, holding her hand as she told the world what had been happening to her over the past three months. It’s that William wasn’t even present in the background, to give her a hug after her emotional speech. He was in the wind during one of the most emotional and stressful moments of his wife’s life. That’s really weird and bad. As for the Us Weekly cover story, here are the basics:

Kate’s message finally put months of speculation to bed. Though Kensington Palace had announced she wouldn’t return to her royal duties until after Easter, the rumor mill went into overdrive during her public absence. Conspiracy theories — and talk that Kate and William, 41, were having marital issues — ran rampant and only amplified when Kate released a digitally altered photo on March 10, U.K. Mother’s Day. (She later apologized for experimenting with photo editing.)

All the while, the couple was privately reeling. “Kate was shocked when they found the cancer and in shock for a while after,” says the source, adding that the princess and William “were not ready for the diagnosis.” The couple has been trying to process the news in their own time. “The day the family found out was the day William canceled going to the memorial of his godfather King Constantine of Greece,” shares a second source. (On February 27, William pulled out of the service at the last minute due to a “personal matter.”)

Kate is leaning on William more than ever. “William is trying to be there for Kate and helping in every way he can,” says the first source. “He’s been doing schoolwork with the kids and spending time with them in the afternoons and evenings.” While the couple have employed Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo as their nanny since 2014, Kate and William are involved in every aspect of the kids’ lives. According to the source, the children are coping as well as can be expected. “They know their mother is sick and is trying to get better,” says the source.

It hasn’t been easy for the future king. The source says William feels “helpless and scared” and has been asking other members of the family to fill in for him so he can be present at home. It can be a tough ask as the royals are stretched thin lately: In early February, Buckingham Palace announced that William’s father, King Charles III, 75, was receiving treatment for cancer following a planned procedure for an enlarged prostate; Charles’ wife, Queen Camilla, 76, has also been picking up the slack for her ailing husband.

[From Us Weekly]

I might have bought the whole “William feels helpless and scared” theory if not for the fact that Kensington Palace dropped the video on Friday and has spent a good four days briefing about how much William hates his brother. The fact that the Sussexes simply made a public statement of support for Kate sent William on some kind of hate-spiral where he’s seemingly making everything about Harry. Also: remember when King Charles first announced his cancer diagnosis and Harry immediately flew to London to see his dad? Something very similar happened with William: he could not STFU about how much he hates Harry, how he never wants to see Harry, how Harry better not try to talk to him. Maybe William’s stress response to a family member’s cancer diagnosis is to “seethe about Harry.” Because it doesn’t seem like William’s response is to actually support his family members. At all.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Kensington Palace. Cover courtesy of Us Weekly.

One week ago exactly, Kensington Palace staffers were briefing the Mirror, the Times and the Mail about their big plans for the Princess of Wales to make her first public appearance at church on Easter Sunday. At the time, the conversations around the “missing” princess were growing dire, to the point where KP was under significant pressure to provide proof of life. Now we know that one week ago, Kate filmed her cancer-announcement video, which effectively ended all speculation about when and where we would see her next. KP then announced that of course Kate would not show up on Easter Sunday, and it will probably be a while before she has any kind of public schedule.

So in Kate’s absence, King Charles and Buckingham Palace are now doing the most to turn this high holy day into a story about a king’s resurrection. In recent days, there’s has been a wealth of briefings from BP about Charles’s plans to be seen out and about more often in the late spring and early summer. Starting with an Easter Sunday appearance:

Buckingham Palace has confirmed that the King will attend the traditional Easter Matins church service on Sunday. Charles, 75, accompanied by the Queen, will lead members of the Royal family at the traditional service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

The King has stepped back from public duties on medical advice as he undergoes cancer treatment, in order to avoid the risks associated with large crowds. The royal turnout on Easter Sunday will therefore be considerably smaller than usual, in order to minimise his contact with others, an outing dubbed “Easter Lite”.

The palace said: “Their Majesties The King and Queen, accompanied by other members of the Royal family, will attend the Easter Matins Service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on Easter Sunday.”

The outing will be the King’s most significant appearance since he was diagnosed with cancer early last month. Since then, he has been determined to maintain a public profile, reassuring the nation that his hand remains on the tiller and that he continues with his state duties. As such, he has also recorded an audio message that will be played at the Royal Maundy Thursday service at Worcester Cathedral this week, when he will be represented by the Queen. Camilla, 76, will distribute Maundy money on behalf of her husband, taking on the ancient custom for the first time. The King is unable to attend due to the large numbers that will be at the service.

On Easter Sunday, by comparison, there will be a vastly reduced congregation with only a handful of royals in attendance. Kensington Palace has confirmed that the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children will not be there.

[From The Telegraph]

Yeah, this is fine and uncontroversial? The Windsors do Easter in Windsor, so it’s very easy for them to control the guest-list, the optics and the photographers’ set-up. Charles will be able to either walk to church or be chauffeured, and he’ll wave to photographers some distance away, and that’s it. There will probably only be about a dozen royals in attendance. I wonder if all the “royal cousins” are being told not to bother. Last year’s royal-Easter featured a lot of royal cousins and their kids. I bet that won’t be the case this year.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I’m not going to cover all of the hate-pieces about the Duchess of Sussex’s lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, but there are a lot and they are not limited British outlets. The other day, I read this ghastly and nasty piece in Air Mail written by Hilary Rose, a byline I know from the Times of London. The British royalists are trying to make a name for themselves in America by pouring scorn on the Sussexes. That being said, the bulk of the hate is absolutely being published in the UK, specifically in the Daily Mail. The Mail has run a half-dozen columns solely devoted to speculating and hating on ARO, a brand which has not even been officially launched. We still haven’t seen one bottle of jam or one casserole dish and these people are already trying to make it sound like a flop. Well, in case you needed it spelled out, what these people are really worried about is that ARO is going to be a success and they can’t take credit for it or claim that the Sussexes are broke. Please allow that unhinged old fart Tom Bower to basically make that point in his new Mail column:

A time bomb for the Windsors: “We’ve been told that Meghan’s syrupy new lifestyle brand ‘will reflect everything she loves – family cooking, entertaining and home decor’. But the bizarrely named American Riviera Orchard is better described as a timebomb for the Royal Family. Despite the homely talk of cutlery, recipes and upmarket jam, this has the appearance of blatant cashing in – an initiative by the former actress to secure a financial safety net for when the Sussexes’ earnings from Netflix and Spotify evaporate. Makeup, lavender sachets, yoga mats and even dog shampoo are also on the menu from Montecito as MailOnline revealed last night.

Meghan has been plotting this all along!! The direction of travel has been obvious ever since Meghan and Harry tied the knot at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 2018. Back then, there was enormous public backing for the glamorous, unstuffy American who promised to add a bit modernity and spontaneity to the British monarchy. There was nothing off-the-cuff about the invitation list, though. Few were fooled as they watched the guests arrive at the chapel. Most were Hollywood agents, directors and celebrities – some of whom Meghan hardly knew. All were invited to witness her victory on joining the firm. This was the first step in establishing Meghan Inc., a dream she has been loath to relinquish – and which the Royal Family should rightly fear. ‘Everything Meghan does is carefully curated and forensically planned,’ comments Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne, her former commercial agent.

Fergie was better than Meghan: True, Meghan is not the first royal to tread this path. There was ridicule when Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, used her title to make money from ventures including slimming tips, posh teas and a £50 juicer. But Fergie did not traduce the British monarchy via interviews and books. Nor was she attempting to establish a rival royal family across the water.

The timing of Meghan’s ARO: When Kate, whom Meghan has maligned, is suffering serious health issues, the timing of the American Riviera Orchard announcement seemed particularly tasteless even before the Princess of Wales’s shock cancer diagnosis. It also appears that the project has been rushed. Meghan has not yet appointed a chief executive to manage the business, as the Mail revealed yesterday. In her haste to get it launched, did she forget the basic foundations of a successful operation – talented staff?

Meghan is a problem for the firm: The King and Prince William now face a serious problem – and a woman whose personal drive and hungry ambition seem to know no bounds. ‘She wanted to rule the world,’ says Nelthorpe-Cowne of their time working together, words King Charles should remember. Until now, he has been too accommodating. It is unfortunate that the King agreed to give royal titles to the Sussex children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Now, after the launch of Meghan’s lifestyle brand, he probably regrets it.

[From The Daily Mail]

If an American woman with a lifestyle brand is a mortal threat to the monarchy, that says more about the monarchy than the American woman. It reminds me of what Marina Hyde wrote in the Guardian in 2021, which is that the Sussexes’ critics need to move on because they’ve “been outmanoeuvred by an emotional wellness podcaster. It’s like being out-strategised by kale.” Imagine this self-own: Meghan selling cookware is the biggest threat to the monarchy!! Again, Meghan’s lifestyle brand is not the death knell of the monarchy. The reason why the Windsors and their loyal reporters are so mad is because Meghan and Harry are just… going about their business in America. They’re not begging to come back, they’re building a life and an empire for themselves. That was the real death knell for the monarchy – pushing out two charismatic and popular royals out of shortsighted spite.

Photos courtesy of Instar.

Clive Irving is a royal historian and commentator who often publishes columns in the Daily Beast. Irving is not like Tom Sykes, who often seems very eager to parrot whatever unhinged things Prince William’s “friends” tell him, the angrier the better. Irving is more of an old-guard royalist like Peter Hunt – someone who keeps an eye on the overall health of the institution and someone who takes a longer view. Currently, Clive Irving’s long view of the monarchy is that Prince William and Prince Harry need to reconcile for the good of the institution, especially with King Charles and the Princess of Wales both facing down cancer. Some highlights from this Daily Beast piece:

The challenges of Prince William: No previous Prince of Wales has faced a challenge like the one that Prince William now does. The future of the House of Windsor may well depend on how well he handles it. It’s a double whammy for him: His wife and his father simultaneously stricken with cancers of unknown type and severity; an intimate family emergency and a grave constitutional one, too, since his father is the king.

A possible fraternal reconciliation: If it is true, as ITV News’ royal editor, Chris Ship reported late Friday, that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reached out privately to Kate Middleton and William—after sending a public message wishing Kate “health and healing” following her cancer diagnosis—then perhaps Kate’s devastating news may yet help forge a fraternal reconciliation that, as well as harmonizing family relations, could positively bolster the monarchy as its most fragile modern moment.

Nothing is certain these days: The communications disarray of the last few weeks, as William determined that they should keep their true family agonies secret until the kids were on school holidays and could be spared a paparazzi storm, is now understandable—but let’s be clear, that was just the overture to what now confronts William as the point man of a crisis that will bring new stresses every day. There are serious issues that cannot be avoided.

William will need to fill in for his father: For example, nobody can yet know the outcome of King Charles’ treatment, especially since he chose (as is his right) not to disclose what type of cancer it is and, therefore, how taxing the treatment is—he certainly looks resilient and healthy in public and we must hope that this is a reliable guide to his actual condition. But his schedule is being cut back as far ahead as the early summer. This means William will have to fill at least some of those gaps while he supports his wife through her chemotherapy.

Tension with the way the media works now: There is now a palpable tension between the very understandable desire of the royal family for the king and Kate to enjoy privacy on the terms they have themselves set and the incessant build-up of pressure and speculation in the palpitating celebrity media universe for the smallest scrap of information or grainy glimpse of an elusive royal.

William needs his brother: William is going to need all the help he can get. This might, therefore, be a good moment to end the often petty and fundamentally pitiful breach between the brothers and their wives. A reconciliation of the Sussexes and the Waleses would be a truly historic healing moment and a refreshing sign, at last, of maturity and, not the least, of a required durability in the House of Windsor.

Charles is not a changemaker, but William & Harry could be? In contrast, William and Harry are the future, not the past. Few people have been as scarred as they are by the obscene intrusions of the hack packs. The brothers chose different paths in dealing with this menace. Harry’s full-frontal attack on hackers has been vindicated in the courts. William’s composure, reflecting his own sense of duty over personal anger, speaks volumes in its own way. Now they could together be the new face of a resolute monarchy, not the splintered force from the old bickering family of the past.

[From The Daily Beast]

This reminds me so much of Robert Lacey’s similar musings years ago, that William and Harry *must* reconcile for the good of the monarchy. Both Lacey and Irving fail to properly explain why that is and why it’s such an imperative, especially given that the most significant “spares” in royal history are the ones who actually had to step into the top job. Both Irving and Lacey can’t quite bring themselves to say the thing, The Thing Which Apparently Can Never Be Said – that William is reluctant, inadequate and incapable, that he needs Harry and Harry never needed him, and that William looks like a racist a–hole for how he treated his brother and sister-in-law.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN, Backgrid, Cover Images.

Department of Homeland Security agents did full raids of Sean Combs’ Miami and LA homes on Monday. The raids were coordinated, and local law enforcement agents were also on the scene. Sean Combs is in it, this isn’t going to be something he can shrug off. For now, it doesn’t look like he’s being arrested or detained, but I’m sure DHS is monitoring his movements in case he does try to flee. So how did we get here? It probably all started with Cassie’s lawsuit last year – Combs was so scared of what Cassie might reveal, he settled the lawsuit within 24 hours. That raised a lot of red flags about Combs’ alleged involvement in everything from drug trafficking to human trafficking to serial sexual abuse to financial fraud. Well, Combs is lawyered up and his lawyer is doing full briefings to CNN?

An attorney for Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is the target of a federal investigation, has spoken out about the searches that took place at two of the musician’s homes on Monday. Aaron Dyer, Diddy’s attorney, said in a statement to CNN on Tuesday: “Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences. There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated.”

Authorities searched Combs’ homes on Monday because he is a target of a federal investigation carried out by a Department of Homeland Security team that handles human trafficking crimes, according to a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. The probe is being led by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York and carried out by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) Transnational Organized Crime Division, the official told CNN. HSI is responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, including human trafficking, terrorism, narcotics smuggling and other organized criminal activity.

The investigation stems from many of the same sexual assault allegations put forth in several civil lawsuits against Combs, according to a second law enforcement source familiar with Monday’s searches. Combs has previously denied those allegations. Heavily armed teams of HSI agents searched Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and the Miami area Monday – some riding in armored vehicles, in part because authorities believed Combs employs armed private security at each of his residences, the first source said. A law enforcement source earlier told CNN that Monday’s searches were related to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation.

Dyer said Combs was “never detained” during the searches “but spoke to and cooperated with authorities.”

“Despite media speculation, neither Mr. Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested nor has their ability to travel been restricted in any way,” Dyer’s statement said. “This unprecedented ambush – paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence – leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits….There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”

Combs and his twin teenage daughters were preparing to leave Miami for a planned spring break trip on Monday when the searches happened, a source close to Diddy and with direct knowledge of the situation told CNN. The source would not reveal Combs’ vacation destination or current whereabouts. Those close to Diddy believe the scale of the federal operation at his Los Angeles and Miami-area homes was “overzealous,” that source said. The source echoed some of the criticism of law enforcement’s actions outlined in Dyer’s statement.

Diddy’s inner circle believes the media was tipped off about search of his Los Angeles home because a news helicopter was hovering above his residence before law enforcement breached his property, the source said.

[From CNN]

It’s interesting that there’s a focus on whether law enforcement tipped off the media. It could be that DHS really tipped off the media, but it’s far more likely that someone processing the search warrants or coordinating the raids just let something slip. As in, this was a tip from one person looking for a quick payday as opposed to one part of a DHS campaign against Combs. As for the rest of it… Sean Combs made a big song and dance about Cassie’s lawsuit and folded within a day. This feels like a pattern: the first instinct is “bluster” and then he shuts up and does whatever he can to weasel out of everything. DHS isn’t just going to go away though.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

The Princess of Wales’s situation covers this week’s People Magazine, unsurprisingly. Before now, I’ve actually wondered why People hasn’t done additional cover stories, especially after the Mother’s Day photo fiasco. Maybe they didn’t want to pile on, or maybe they didn’t want to take a position where they would have to admit that the Windsors were behaving like clowns. But this is well within People Mag’s wheelhouse – a sympathetic white princess, a private cancer battle, and not much exclusive information. Some seasoned professionals took hold of Kensington Palace’s messaging last week and they’re not running around like headless chickens anymore.

After weeks of speculation online regarding her health and whereabouts, Kate Middleton revealed in a personal video message on Friday that she was undergoing treatment for cancer. Now, the Princess of Wales is focused on making a full recovery with her family to support her.

“She has the inner strength, the support of her husband and her extraordinary family, so she can focus on what’s important, which is her getting back to strength,” Ailsa Anderson, a former spokeswoman for the late Queen Elizabeth, tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week’s cover story.

In her self-written speech announcing her cancer news, Princess Kate, 42, said having Prince William, 41, by her side “is a great source of comfort and reassurance.” Meanwhile, their three children — Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5 — were a key part in the timing of her message. The family of five will spend the next weeks together privately while the children are on a school break, missing the tradition of attending Easter church service at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle with members of the royal family this weekend.

Once Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis return to the classroom, Prince William is expected to resume public duties. “The Prince will continue to balance supporting his wife and family and maintaining his official duties as he has done since the start of the year,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Princess Kate will largely remain out of the public eye during her treatment, although she may join in events when she feels able. “The Princess will return to official duties when she is cleared to do so by her medical team. She is in good spirits and is focused on making a full recovery,” a palace spokesperson said on Friday.

Those closest to Kate say they have every hope that when she is ready, the Princess of Wales will return stronger than ever.

“[The royal family] is vulnerable at the moment, and there will be an even greater appreciation that they are human beings with frailties like the rest of us,” says a former palace aide. “They are so dedicated to their roles. I think you will find when Kate makes a full recovery, she will come back even more passionate.”

[From People]

“I think you will find when Kate makes a full recovery, she will come back even more passionate.” Okay, let’s talk about that! Because just 72 hours before Kate’s video was released last Friday, Kensington Palace aides were still briefing their favorite reporters about the big plan to stage Kate’s resurrection for Easter Sunday, and how she would be getting back to work in April. I still question why all of that was being said, given what we know now. The next “big thing” on the schedule will be Trooping the Colour in June, and it will be interesting to see the conversations around that. Kate’s video announcement bought KP a lot of time and I’m sure they’ll use it. As they should – Kate should be given time and space to recover.

Photos courtesy of Instar, cover courtesy of People.

By now we’ve all seen the picture of what Martha Stewart ate for dinner last week. Yes my friends, it’s time for us to discuss… The Chobster! dun Dun DUN! Technically a rather innocuous sounding chicken stuffed with lobster, the photo Martha snapped to Instagram more resembled a chicken humping a lobster, who affectionately curled its tail around the chicken in return. Martha didn’t prepare this abomination feast herself; she was dining (or as she put it in her caption, “ding,” I kid you not) at a newly opened NYC French brasserie called Maison Barnes, presumably donning a $500 bikini as underwear in the fine eatery. This inter-species dish alone cost half that bikini! Slate staff writer Luke Winkie (my new favorite name) contacted Maison Barnes executive chef Romain Paumier to talk about this divisive delicacy:

Shock and jaw: What is going on here? Is it Mastering the Art of French Cooking according to David Lynch? Was it harvested from the eighth dimension? Is it going to attach to my head and suck my brains out? Are these what the unseen aliens in 3 Body Problem look like? Beyond the provocative intention of the plating — just look at that poor lobster’s exoskeleton mounted around the chicken, like it’s undergone a satanic rite — I find myself baffled by the concept behind the flavor profile. Breast meat and lobster is simply not a combination you’re going to find on many menus in America.

Dinner as a show: “This dish is a classic, but it’s usually made with crayfish,” said Paumier, who, it should be said, is well-reviewed and most certainly knows what he’s talking about. “It was created in the 19th century, and it has disappeared with modern cuisine. This is my attempt to bring back those ideas, and also to make it into a bit of a show.”

The preparation: On the Maison Barnes menu, the dish is called Poularde Homardine, which literally translates to “lobster chicken.” The restaurant serves it table side, usually for two to three people, and it goes for $250, according to the menu. Contrary to what you might assume from the plating, the recipe does not call for a chef to roast a whole lobster inside a poultry carcass. Yes, Paumier does use every part of the crustacean in the preparation of the dish, but the crimson-scalded chunks surrounding the chicken are mostly there for decoration. In fact, the only piece of the lobster that is cooked with the bird is its head, which is flambéed with cognac and is removed from the chicken while it’s carved. The method gives the poultry a sweet infusion of lobster flavor, accentuated even further when the head’s juices are squeezed into a sauce made from a base of lobster bisque, chicken jus, and crème fraîche — which truly is about as French as it gets. As for the lobster tail? Well, that’s just poached in aromatics, glazed with butter, and served alongside the chicken. Simple as that.

It’s the French surf and turf! Paumier himself refers to the dish as France’s very own take on surf and turf — the much more American idea of serving a butter-bathed lobster tail with a bone-in ribeye. He also was not surprised at all — and, in fact, was encouraged — by the people who filled Stewart’s Instagram comments with cries of shock and horror. (The top one reads, “Girl, respectfully what the f–k.”) “Some people are going to be amazed, and some people are going to be shocked. They’re going to say, ‘Why are you combining the chicken with the lobster?’ That’s what I expected, especially from American people, because this is not their culture,” said Paumier. “It’s what we want. Food is an art. If you do something that is ordinary, people are going to forget about it.”

[From Slate]

Just hearing “chicken and lobster” as a combo doesn’t sound offensive. After all, we Americans have turducken — chicken stuffed into duck stuffed into turkey — made prominent by Louisiana chef Paul Prudhomme (may he rest in paprika). And apparently there’s a British version called gooducken — chicken stuffed into duck stuffed into goose. Obviously, these ‘ducken dishes confine the combos to varieties of birds. But so what? If a shellfish and poultry want to make sweet gastronomical music together, who are we to judge?! That’s why I think it truly comes down to the visual presentation that makes the coupling seem jarring. I mean, I know it’s not good to play photo assumption, but my goodness there’s a lot going on in Martha’s shot! I’m turned off and turned on all at once. At $250 a pop, though, I’m unlikely to get a taste of the creature from the French lagoon any time soon. Crazy to think that lobster used to be peasant food, a fact I desperately hope Martha Stewart is aware of.

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Peter Phillips gave an exclusive interview to Sky News Australia, all to “represent the International Foundation for Arts and Culture.” Meaning… I think this was done for charity, perhaps, rather than Peter “serving his paymasters” with some tacky foreign sponsorship. That’s how the British media writes about the Sussexes, so they should write about Peter the same way, correct? Especially given that Peter will take any kind of paycheck, even if it’s shilling “royal-branded” milk in China. Anyway, Peter ended up going on the record about all of the medical dramas within the royal family:

On King Charles’s frustration: “I think ultimately he’s hugely frustrated. He’s frustrated that he can’t get on and do everything that he wants to be able to do. But he is very pragmatic, he understands that there’s a period of time that he really needs to focus on himself. But at the same time he is always pushing his staff and everybody – his doctors and nurses – to be able to say ‘actually can I do this, can I do that?’ I think the overriding message would be that he’s obviously very keen to get back to a form of normality and is probably frustrated that recovery is taking a little longer than probably he would want it to.”

On the Princess of Wales: Peter described the “outpouring of support” for King Charles and Princess Kate amid their health news in recent months as “hugely heartening” and praised Princess Kate as “remarkable in herself.” “Without any question, she is. Her and William make a fantastic team together. Their kids are great, and they have the balance of public life and trying to be parents to three young children, which is always difficult. I think they’ve got it pretty right, because you know, as history as taught us, and anyone knows, you want to be there for your children when they are of a certain age. You want to be able to drop them off at school, and pick them up from school, and watch their matches, be part of their school lives. I think that balance of doing the family life and also the public life, I think that they’ve pretty much got that bang on.”

On his mother, Princess Anne: “I think in the past she has not always been the media’s favourite so to speak. But she’s never really let that bother her. She just keeps her head down the whole time and keeps working away and leaves others to worry about column inches.”

His mother & father’s work ethic: “Both of them are incredibly hard-working and both in their 70s they’re still working a lot harder than either of them probably expected. But then as my mother always says – from that perspective, they had pretty good role models from my grandparents who were still working in their 90s. So everyone has a huge amount to live up to and ultimately they all live by example.”

[From The Telegraph & People]

Just going from memory, Anne (his mother) has never been the media’s “favorite,” but she’s always been well-liked and respected. Like, no one attacks Anne, no one smears her, no one harasses her. At this point, Anne is pretty much untouchable and bulletproof – the “steady hand” behind the throne. As for what he says about Charles… yeah, I believe that. Charles likes to keep busy and before cancer, he could knock out 500-plus events a year. I believe he wants to do more, but I also believe that the chemotherapy has kicked his ass. As for what Peter says about the Waleses… the fakakta school run, oh my god. Will and Kate always leave the impression that they think they’re the only parents balancing a school schedule with a “work” schedule.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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Frankie Muniz is now 38 years old, which I find kinda wild. I’ve always thought he was like 10 years younger than me, not two. Gah, now I’m having a moment! Anyway, Frankie’s got a pretty large nest egg and never has to work again, but he’s currently living it up as a NASCAR driver. He’s also appeared in a couple of celebrity-based reality TV shows. Frankie is probably one of the rare lucky child star success stories. He’s not been without drama, but he is now happily married with a three-year-old son, Mauz. While doing press for the Australian version of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here, he shared that he would never let Mauz go into showbiz.

Frankie Muniz, once one of the most popular child stars, does not want his own kid following in his footsteps. Speaking before he entered the jungle set of Australia’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here reality show, the star of FOX’s hit early aughts sitcom Malcolm in the Middle explained why isn’t keen on the idea of his son Mauz, 3, pursuing acting.

“I would never let my kid go into the business,” the 38-year-old told Australian outlet PEDESTRIAN.TV in a video released March 24. “And not that I had a negative experience, because to be honest, my experience was 100 percent positive. But I know so many people, friends that were close to me, that had such insanely negative experiences.”

The former child star, who shares his son with wife Paige, continued, “And I just think it’s an ugly world in general. I never cared about rejection, but there’s a ton of rejection.”

Muniz, who still works as an actor and is also a NASCAR driver, made his comments days after Investigation Discovery released its docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which detailed alleged inappropriate behavior on the sets of several Nickelodeon shows in the ’90s and aughts. It features interviews with a few former child and teen actors who appeared on the programs.

Muniz is not one of them. The actor has, however, worked on Nickelodeon shows in the past—he voiced a character on the animated series The Fairly OddParents, and hosted the 2000 Kids’ Choice Awards and two episodes of All That.

[From ET Online]

It’s really refreshing to hear that Frankie had such a positive experience. I’d like to think that any set that Bryan Cranston is a major part of is going to be professional. But it also sounds like Frankie knows that he’s one of the lucky ones. He’s seen a lot in his life and knows that just because his experience as a child star was good, most kids did not have it the same as he did. That said, is anyone watching the Quiet on Set documentary series? I know that what was going on with those Nickelodeon sets has been talked about for years, but my goodness, what they went through was awful. I don’t blame Frankie for wanting to protect his son.

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