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Kathy Griffin is a divisive figure. Her 2017 photo with a decapitated Trump was not particularly funny and it was definitely ill-conceived. At the same time, I think the backlash was of the variety and vehemence that gets applied to women exponentially more than to men. Kathy has definitely felt the consequences from that photoshoot seven years ago and was banned from many major talk shows. Jimmy Kimmel has always welcomed Kathy on his show though. Kathy was on Kimmel last week and spoke about attending a party hosted by Paris Hilton — that she was legitimately invited to by Paris herself — and Kathy painting the (pink) picture of the scene had me in stitches. She also randomly shared that every time Sharon Stone cancels on her, she adds Sharon to a large group text. Jimmy ate it up:

Here’s hoping Sharon Stone is familiar with the concept of muting.

On Tuesday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Kathy Griffin shared her petty tactic for getting even with friends who have wronged her in relatively small ways — and the stunt is so deliciously petty that even Kimmel said he wanted to steal it.

“My new favorite hobby is that every time Sharon Stone blows me off for a dinner date, I add her to a random text chain,” the comedian revealed, causing Kimmel to crack up. “And Jimmy, she, like, wants to kill me.”

“How many times has this happened?” Kimmel asked.

“Around four,” Griffin responded. “And they’re like 17-person text chains.”

“And it’ll say, ‘Sharon Stone has been added to the conversation?’” Kimmel asked.

“And it’s her real number,” Griffin added. “It’s not her office number.”

“I like that,” Kimmel said giggling. “I’m going to use that, I like that idea.”

[From HuffPost]

I’m Team Kathy on this one! I mean, Sharon Stone had to have had an inkling of the risks she was taking on by giving her direct number to Kathy Griffin. To assume Kathy wouldn’t do something like this, well, I think that would be Sharon’s error in judgment and not Kathy’s. Also, that really is a top notch way to irk someone. Or at the very least, I can attest that it bugged the crap out of me over Thanksgiving when a family member sent a “Happy Holiday” text to everyone in their family, not realizing (or just not caring) that not everyone in that chain was family to each other. Days later I was still getting pinged with responses from unknown numbers. Ok, I know I sound very Grinchy with this story, but I still stand by my stance!

Kathy was officially on Jimmy’s show to show Princess Kate how to cosplay a Christmas present promote her latest stand up tour, including an upcoming stop in her hometown Chicago on New Year’s Eve — her first NYE gig since CNN fired her:

“I’m calling it ‘My Life on the PTSD-List’ because I really do have freakin’ PTSD,” Griffin explained to Kimmel Tuesday night. “I mean, the Trump thing, and then I got lung cancer, and I have a vocal cord implant, and I’m going through a divorce, and I was addicted to prescription pills and now I’m 4 ½ years sober,” Griffin said.

Griffin said she’s thrilled her life is finally turning around thanks to her new tour.

“And I want to tell you something — this is really corny,” Griffin said to Kimmel. “Every single live show, and I’ve done about 50 shows so far, I always make a point to say, ‘And the one late night host who never ditched me was Jimmy Kimmel.’”

“And not only would I not ditch you, I look forward to us spending time in prison together in January,” Kimmel joked, referencing his own long-running feud with Trump.

I miss the days when Jimmy was joking about Trump’s potential jail time, sigh…

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King Charles has sat for many portraits over the years, but my favorite is still “the bloody king” portrait by Jonathan Yeo. Yeo started the portrait when Charles was Prince of Wales, but it was unveiled this year to widespread raves. It’s just unique and even republicans thought it slapped. Unfortunately, Yeo’s portrait cannot be Charles’s official portrait, the portrait on display in government buildings and churches. So Charles offered Church of England churches a different, less bloody portrait to put on display. Hilarious news: most of the churches declined the offer of a free portrait.

Most Church of England churches declined to apply for a free portrait of the King, figures show. Public institutions across the UK were offered a photograph of the King wearing the Royal Navy uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet to celebrate the start of his reign. While the offer was taken up by all 23 HM Coastguard centres, 25 per cent of Church of England (CofE) churches obliged.

Only 4,031 of the 15,815 churches – of which the King is the Supreme Governor – ordered the portrait, which was taken by the photographer Hugo Burnand at Windsor Castle last year. His Majesty the King’s Portrait Scheme was a voluntary programme offering a free framed portrait of the King to any eligible public institution that requested one. It was started by the previous government following his Coronation in May 2023 and ended up costing £2.7 million.

The scheme ran from November to August this year and more than 20,500 portraits were provided, with varying degrees of acceptance from different public bodies. Lord lieutenancies followed the Coastguard with the highest rate of acceptance, as 75 of the 99 agreed to home one. Then came government departments, arm’s-length bodies and local authorities, cadet forces and coroners’ courts. A third, or 8,384 of almost 30,000 schools took up the offer. However, there was less enthusiasm from hospitals with 3 per cent ordering the photo. Of 275 universities and higher education institutions, 35 said yes.

After varying take-up of the scheme, its deadline was extended repeatedly. Final figures from the Cabinet Office show a total of 20,565 orders were received. This equated to a “total take-up across the UK from all eligible public authorities, including Government departments, arm’s-length bodies and local authorities and all other institutions” of 31 per cent. This was notably low from public authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which had acceptance rates of 13.7, 13.8 and 10.5 per cent, respectively. The total cost, which included delivery, was £2,710,705. The portraits cost a price of £131.81 on average.

[From The Telegraph]

“Ended up costing £2.7 million” – but who paid? Here in America, government offices switch out presidential portraits, and I would assume it’s a minor line item in the budget, paid by taxpayers. Charles is the head of state, so obviously churches and military installations and schools shouldn’t pay out of pocket to display a portrait of the head of state. But is it paid for the government or by Buckingham Palace? Hm. Anyway, it’s funny that so many churches refused the offer. Why would hospitals display the king’s portrait? Why would coroners’ offices display the portrait? It’s like the coronation all over again – Charles thought everyone would fall all over themselves to celebrate him, and no one went to those stupid watch parties and the whole thing could have been an email (or at least a much more subdued ceremony).

Photos courtesy of Buckingham Palace, Cover Images, Avalon Red.

I’ll defend Mindy Kaling on just about anything. Anything except for her boundary-defying mess with BJ Novak, her ex-boyfriend and “best friend” who is also godfather to her three children. From the way Mindy talks about him and their relationship, he’s always around her and the kids and he’s likely the only man who has ever been around the kids for any length of time. I’ll always defend Mindy’s choice to be a single mom on her terms and to quietly give birth to Kit, Spencer and Anne (Anne is only 9 months old!). Mindy has alluded to the idea that she wanted to do motherhood this way and she has the means to do so, so that’s great. But lord, I do hope that when the kids are all grown up, we finally get some kind of clarity on what BJ Novak’s role in all of this really was. Speaking of, apparently Novak dresses up like Santa every year for the kids.

Mindy Kaling is striving to keep the Christmas magic alive for her kids, even if one of them might be getting a little suspicious about B.J. Novak’s annual jolly disguise. While promoting season 3 of her show The Sex Lives of College Girls on Good Morning America Wednesday, Dec. 4, Kaling reflected on how her longtime friend and former The Office costar “dresses up as Santa” every year for her three children: daughter Katherine “Kit” Swati, who turns 7 this month, son Spencer Avu, 4, and daughter Anne, 9 months.

“We create this whole thing where we’re making hot chocolate in the house, the doorbell rings and it’s him dressed as Santa,” Kaling, 45, said of Novak, 45. “And he’s like, ‘Oh, the sleigh broke down, I need to come in and take a rest while we refuel!’ Then the kids get to meet Santa and he asks them if they’ve been good or bad,” she continued. “Then he leaves, and they’re so excited. But the 7-year-old, it’s going to be interesting this year because I feel like she might not buy it. The 4-year-old, we’re not sure.”

“They know him very well, especially. And he’s a good actor, but … ” Kaling added. And “so far,” the Mindy Project alum said, she and Novak have “pulled it off” for the siblings — but now, “This is going to be the year where we hope the oldest one will be chill for the younger two.”

Of Novak’s technique, Kaling said, “He wears the pillow under the suit and [says] ‘Ho, ho, ho, hello little children.’ It’s a very funny character.”

Kaling’s tradition of having Novak play Santa for her kids goes back to 2020, when she was unable to take Kit and Spencer to see Santa Claus at their local outdoor mall during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Never Have I Ever co-creator said at the time that she and Novak planned for him to be “asleep on the sofa” with a bag of toys as if he “needed to take a rest.”

“It’s so complicated why Santa was there, why he’s taking a nap,” Kaling continued. “But we’re gonna do that. We’re like, ‘Will she know it’s [B.J.] on some level?’ We don’t know. Just so you know, it’s like, we’re Hindu and B.J. is Jewish, so this is really … like, cultural appropriation on our part.”

[From People]

“It’s so complicated why Santa was there, why he’s taking a nap…” Now imagine how confused the kids are that their godfather sticks around their mom long enough to scare off any potential suitors but not long enough to actually be a partner to mom. I’ve been complaining about this for years, because that’s how long Mindy and BJ have been doing this dysfunctional sh-t!! And now three kids are involved too. I mean, AT BEST, this is yet another “cute story” about how Mindy’s heterosexual male best friend/toxic ex goes out of his way to hang out with her kids and play Santa for them. But red flags abound.

Some photos of Mindy in New York this week:

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

My theory is that MAGAland is actually disappointed with how half of the country responded to the election. They thought Democrats would do their own insurrection, or failing that, they believed they would be drinking lib tears. Our attitude of “fine, whatever, the leopards will eat your ugly faces too” isn’t satisfying to them. I don’t even feel particularly afraid, even though I know it’s going to be a total f–king sh-tshow. Now, I cannot wait for leopards to eat Elon Musk’s face. Everyone knows that Musk and Donald Trump will have a spectacular falling out at some point, and I will laugh my ass off if it happens during the transition. Speaking of, new FEC filings reveal that Musk spent a quarter of a billion dollars just to get his orange daddy the presidency.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, spent over a quarter of a billion dollars in the final months of this year’s election to help Donald J. Trump win the presidency, federal filings revealed on Thursday. The sum is a fraction of Mr. Musk’s wealth. But it is nonetheless a staggering amount from a single donor, who poured the cash into allied groups and is now playing a role in helping shape the next administration.

One of Mr. Musk’s most brazen moves — which emerged only on Thursday — was spending $20 million to prop up a super PAC that was named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late liberal Supreme Court justice, but that sought to help Mr. Trump by softening his anti-abortion positions.

Mr. Musk put the lion’s share of the money he donated toward his main super PAC, America PAC, cutting three checks for $25 million each in the final weeks of the race, according to the new filings with the Federal Election Commission. Mr. Musk also spent $40.5 million on legally controversial checks to voters in swing states who signed a petition in support of the Constitution.

Over the course of the race, he gave America PAC a staggering $239 million in both cash and in-kind contributions.

[From The NY Times]

The Times’ framing here is predictably stupid: “to prop up a super PAC that was named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late liberal Supreme Court justice, but that sought to help Mr. Trump by softening his anti-abortion positions.” The RBG PAC was blatantly lying to low-information voters about Trump’s positions on abortion and reproductive rights. As for the money Musk spent… he’s up to his hairplugs in criminality. Musk did the math that if he spent $250 million to get an orange fascist elected, Musk could “run” Trump and mold him into the white nationalist leader he wants.

Also: Musk was on the Hill this week and he told reporters that he thinks the government should abandon the $7500 tax credit for electric vehicles. He said: “I think we should get rid of all credits. Take away the subsidies. It will only help Tesla. Also, remove subsidies from all industries!” He has a childlike understanding of government AND he spent a quarter-billion to get a fascist reality star into the White House. As it turns out, no sci-fi writer could have come up with this idiotic reality.

When the Musk-Trump alliance goes down, “YMCA” will be playing.

Why does this feel actually like an incredibly fascinating 19 seconds into Trump’s psyche pic.twitter.com/DolgTenQFW

— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) November 29, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Instagram.

David Beckham has severed his ties to Prince Harry. We know this because the British tabloids have been screaming it for several years now. Beckham was once quite friendly with both Prince Harry and William, but now the storyline is that David is so much of a royalist, he decided to cut his ties with Harry, all to keep his associations with King Charles and Prince William. I don’t think that’s how any of it really happened – I think the royal courts briefed against Beckham, explicitly and publicly telling him to sever ties with Harry or else Becks would be persona non grata in royal circles. Beckham has been obsessed with a knighthood for years, so he made his choice. The past two years have seen David embraced by the Windsors like never before. He just attended his first state banquet this week. He met privately with Charles at Highgrove. He bizarrely did a full on “royal event” with William a few months ago. And they still haven’t given him a knighthood, hilariously. But hey, at least the dusty royalist media has begun embiggening Beckham constantly. According to the Mail, David could be the one to fill the “Prince Harry-shaped hole in the monarchy.”

When David Beckham confidently strode into his first-ever state banquet alongside his wife Victoria on Tuesday night, he seemed as though he belonged there. The ex-footballer, 49, looked the part in his formal white tie as he mingled with King Charles, Queen Camilla and the Prince of Wales at the glittering event held for the Emir of Qatar and his wife. But the three-course dinner is just the latest example of the former England captain, who has long been tipped for a knighthood, growing closer to the Royal Family.

He held a meeting with the King where they discussed their passion for beekeeping in May, became an ambassador to educational charity The King’s Foundation in June and helped Prince William raise funds for the London Air Ambulance in October.

However his deepening relationship with The Firm comes after his spectacular falling out with Prince Harry and Meghan over rumours of a ‘leaking’ spat dating back to 2018. And with Harry becoming estranged from his family and abandoning Britain for California in 2020, some royal watchers have suggested there is now a ‘Harry-sized hole’ waiting to be filled. They believe Beckham could be just the fit, pointing out he knows how to handle a press conference (and if needed a media backlash), looks good in a suit, and Victoria could bring the star power of the Spice Girls to any occasion. From their plush home in the Cotswolds they could be on the M40 and at the Palace in little more than 90 minutes – a tad closer than Harry and Meghan across the Atlantic.

Perhaps the biggest example of things moving in the direction of ‘Prince Beckham’ was seen in May when King Charles held a private meeting with him – but snubbed his son Harry by saying he was too busy with ‘various other priorities’.

[From The Daily Mail]

First off, this framing is hilariously bonkers. Five years later, and there’s still a gaping hole in the monarchy, one which Mike Tindall, Duchess Sophie, the York princesses, Lady Louise Windsor and the heir to the throne cannot fill, but maybe they can somehow make David Beckham a prince and that will take care of everything. Secondly, there’s clearly a concern that if they give David what he wants most of all – a knighthood – he will stop sucking up to them and showing up whenever he’s called. He’s so obviously supplicating himself, begging them for a knighthood or some kind of special honor and they love withholding it from him. I would too – David is embarrassing himself!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Buckingham Palace.

Here are some photos of Queen Camilla on Thursday, at a reception to celebrate 50 years of Women’s Aid. This is such a small thing, but I enjoy the fact that Camilla isn’t afraid of animal prints. She has several animal-print dresses and blouses and I like that she has no qualms about wearing them. QEII would never, she probably thought animal prints were tacky and gauche. Camilla’s like: tacky is my brand, give me the sheer leopard-print blouse!

The lighting at this event was doing her no favors, but obviously, Camilla has been sick for the past month, and she said this week that she was actually diagnosed with pneumonia. I still sort of believe that she initially had Covid and it turned into pneumonia – I believe that because of how squirrelly the courtiers have been for weeks about Camilla’s health and their refusal to actually identify what was wrong. This week, Camilla’s “friends” huffed to the Daily Beast that Camilla finds the job of queen consort “exhausting” and that expecting her to travel internationally is “too much to ask.” It will be really interesting to see if this changes Charles’s briefings about his plans to conduct several tours next year.

Meanwhile, Camilla’s son is making news this week. Tom Parker Bowles gave a speech at the Santa Rita Cigar Smoker of The Year Dinner and Awards in London. Piers Morgan won an award, because of course. Anyway, Tom told the attendees: “We are here at Boisdale celebrating not just the joys of cigars and wine, but the basic fundamental pleasure – of being together and making merry in the most civilized and open-minded surroundings. That’s surely something to be happy about. As for the ‘me, me, me’ moaners, the whiners, the bleaters, and the empty virtue-signalers and the eternally bloody offended – f— off!” I love how the whole extended Windsor-Parker-Bowles clan all claim to hate whiners and moaners, and yet they’re all constantly whining and moaning about their own problems and issues. Sympathy for me but not for thee.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside of a Manhattan Hilton on Wednesday morning. The fatal shooting is being investigated as a targeted killing, as in the shooter was waiting specifically for Thompson. The NYPD is, as of this writing, still on a manhunt for the shooter and they’re offering $10K for any information. Because the media can’t do a deep dive into the still-unknown shooter, they’re doing a deep dive on Brian Thompson. As it turns out, the guy has marriage problems, drinking problems and insider trader problems. See, this actually muddies the shooter’s motive.

The slain UnitedHealthcare CEO had a criminal record for drunk driving and was secretly separated from his wife for years before he was shot dead in Manhattan on Wednesday, according to public records. Minnesota court filings show that in 2017 Brian Thompson was arrested and convicted on charges of fourth-degree driving while impaired, for which he received probation.

In addition to legal troubles, the executive, who was gunned down in what NYPD has labeled a “premeditated, pre-planned, targeted attack,” also seems to have faced recent marital issues. Based on property records, voter registration forms, and reports from neighbors, Brian and Paulette Thompson had lived in different homes less than a mile apart in Maple Grove, Minnesota, for the past several years, The Wall Street Journal reported. In 2018, Thompson bought a five-bedroom second house for around $1 million, while his wife’s residence remained in another house nearby, also worth about $1 million, based on Zillow listings and public records.

Paulette Thompson told MSNBC her husband had received threats related to his company’s “lack of coverage” and said in a statement to a local Fox affiliate in Minnesota that his killing had left her and their two sons “shattered.” About 12 hours after his killing, someone made a bomb threat at his Minnesota home, but authorities did not find any evidence of explosives, TMZ reported. UnitedHealthcare and the Hennepin County District Court did not immediately respond to a Daily Beast inquiry about Thompson’s DUI.

[From The Daily Beast]

2017… seven years ago, he was arrested and convicted of a DUI in Minnesota. Three years after that (2020-ish), he and his wife separated. Definitely seems like there are multiple avenues of investigation, that’s all I’ll say. As for the insider trading, Thompson and two other UHC executives were facing a class-action lawsuit for dumping millions of dollars in stock (in 2023) while UHC was facing a DoJ investigation for antitrust violations. Instead of informing UHC shareholders of the antitrust investigation, Thompson and the other executives dumped $120 million worth of their UnitedHealth shares. Damn, another potential motive.

Photos courtesy of UnitedHealthcare.

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Tyler Perry was honored by the Paley Center on Wednesday for his body of work in film, television and the stage. He’s at the stage of his career where he’s regularly picking up awards and tributes for his career and his work outside of entertainment. All of that is very well and good and I’m not minimizing any part of his groundbreaking career. But to me, he’ll always be the guy who decided to save the Sussexes’ lives when he really had no reason to. He wrote Meghan a letter when she married Harry, and she ended up reaching out to him in 2020, when the Sussexes escaped the UK but they were being hunted and targeted. Tyler protected them, gave them a home, gave them security and gave them time to work out their next steps.

All of that was the start of a very real friendship, and now they’re family. Tyler isn’t just godfather to Princess Lili, he’s a godfather-like figure to both Meghan and Harry. He is also the rare person with some kind of cultural gravitas, explaining what actually happened and what he saw: the Sussexes were being abused by the Windsors and by powerful institutions. Go back and read what he said about them. Well, there were no hard feelings when Harry had to miss Tyler’s Paley Honors. Meghan was there, and she was seated by Tyler at the event, and he also spoke about them on the red carpet:

Tyler Perry is taking a bow for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. After all, the filmmaker couldn’t help but gush over the Duchess and Duke of Sussex’s royally sweet marriage.

“They love each other,” Tyler told E! News at the Paley Honors Fall Gala, where he was honored with the prestigious Paley Honors award. “They have a beautiful family and I just want the best for them.”

Of his personal dynamic with Harry and Meghan—the latter of whom attended the Gala in support of Tyler—he added, “It’s a real, pure and beautiful friendship. I love them.”

[From E! News]

I’ve often wondered, in the past five years, if Harry and Meghan get this kind of consistent support from many powerful Americans (Oprah, Beyonce) but it’s just not as public as it is with Tyler. Anyway, Tyler is a mensch.

Tyler Perry on The Paley Honors red carpet talking about his friendship with Prince Harry & Meghan. pic.twitter.com/iyq1b2fzJz

— R.S. Locke / Royal Suitor (@royal_suitor) December 5, 2024

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images and Backgrid.

Once again, for the fifth year or something, Prince Harry and Prince William did separate events for the Diana Award, the sole patronage in which both brothers have stayed involved. At the last Diana Award ceremony, William appeared in person and Harry appeared virtually, hours after William left. Harry also did a solo event with the Diana Award in September, when he was in New York. This week, William handed out letters to the recipients and didn’t go to the ceremony, while Harry sent in a prerecorded video. This has apparently set off the Daily Beast’s Royalist, Tom Sykes. While his new column snipes at Harry, Sykes and his sources save the most aggrieved criticisms for (gulp) William. As in, William is supposed to be the next king, and he’s behaving like a sullen child, stomping his feet and refusing to even speak to Harry. Some highlights from Sykes’ new column:

The brothers refusing to appear together at the Diana Award: Their inability to appear even in the same virtual space (the awards were held online Thursday), marked a “sad indictment of both brothers obstinacy,” that is harming both of their reputations, friends of the family and former staffers told The Daily Beast.

Harry will not apologize: Harry is said to have dropped his own demands for an apology from the royals for the poor and discriminatory way he alleges his wife was treated by the royals when they lived in the U.K as working royals, and The Daily Beast has been told he would like to make a fresh start with his family, including his brother. However, Harry has made it clear he will not apologize for or withdraw remarks made in his films, book or interviews which shed unprecedented light on intimate family secrets—and William will not countenance a rapprochement unless he does.

Hard Peg: William’s stance has hardened, sources have told the Daily Beast, since one friend first told The Daily Beast that William “f***ing hates” his brother. This came after Kate Middleton was “accidentally” named as one of the so-called “royal racists” who Meghan Markle alleged raised “concerns” over the likely skin color of any of Meghan and Harry’s children, before they were born…Friends of William’s have previously told the Daily Beast that many in William and Kate’s circle believe that by telling Oprah Winfrey on TV that somebody or some people had made racially insensitive comments, Harry and Meghan set in train a series of events that would inevitably ultimately lead to Kate being identified.

A former staffer who worked with both brothers says: “It’s extraordinary how what was essentially a family argument has got completely out of proportion and is now causing immense damage not just to Harry’s reputation, but also to the king, who looks weak for not being able to crack his sons’ heads together, and the future king, William, who looks petty and ridiculous. Whether or not it is the case, it looks very much like William refused to attend the awards after hearing Harry was making a video appearance. Is this how he is going to rule the country?”

An old school friend of William and Harry says: “The Windsors are known for being obstinate, and this is a sad indictment of both brothers’ obstinacy. It’s in honor of their mother, for goodness sake.”

William’s influence: The Daily Beast has previously reported that William is getting, if anything, more hostile to the concept of a reconciliation with Harry. Furthermore, The Daily Beast has been told he is using his influence to prevent any reconciliation between Harry and King Charles.

[From The Daily Beast]

First of all, I think it’s interesting that this “both sides need to work it out” tantrum is coming out regarding the Diana Award stuff, all while courtiers, friends and “royal sources” stay silent as the grave about all of Harry’s very newsworthy comments at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit. It’s almost like they’re consciously ignoring everything Harry said on the record at a prestigious summit which also featured people like Bill Clinton, Jeff Bezos and Serena Williams. They think if they ignore it, they can just continue with the stale storylines they already have in motion, aka William And Harry Need To Bury The Hatchet.

As for that hatchet-burying agenda… the fundamental problem is the one which is rarely said out loud. William will “never forgive” Harry… for moving, for being successful, for marrying his dream girl, for not begging to come back, broke and divorced. That is why William is mad. William thinks he’s owed the upper hand as the heir. He thinks he should be able to bark orders at Harry. William’s brain has been broken for years because none of this Sussex situation has gone the way he planned, or the way he was promised it would go. And yes, William does look stupid, petty, ridiculous, childish, wrathful and violently punitive. Which is why so many people are still pleased that Harry got his wife and children the hell out of there.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

The Princess of Wales’s Together at Christmas event happens tonight. We’ll have coverage of it on Sunday, it’s not breaking news or anything. I actually think everyone needs to stop with the “first time Kate has done such-and-such since chemotherapy” framing. She’s been out and about enough since June, we need to stop infantilizing Kate incessantly. She’s a month away from her 43rd birthday, you know? As for the Christmas caroling event, in years past, Kate has done one or two photoshoots ahead of the event, sometimes even making a video in which she says words about Christmas. This year, she did not do any of that. Instead, Kensington Palace commissioned a British artist to create an illustration for the program:

The Princess of Wales’s carol concert will feature a bespoke illustration by Charlie Mackesy, honouring those who have helped others through tough times by “being by their side when they need it most”.

Mackesy, who is known for his sentimental drawings about love and bravery, has been commissioned by Kensington Palace for the cover of the carol concert’s Order of Service. The image, which will be shared with the congregation of Westminster Abbey during the event on Friday, shows a group of people walking to the service in the snow with their arms around each other.

The theme of the Princess’s carol concert this year is love, kindness and empathy in times of difficulty. Kensington Palace said it would be a moment to reflect upon the “importance of love and empathy, and how much we need each other, especially in the most difficult times of our lives”.

Mackesy, who is best known for his illustrations and 2019 book about ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’, said: “Love, empathy and kindness are important messages for us all. As the theme of The Princess of Wales’ carol service this year, it was very special to have been asked to create the illustration for the Order of Service. I hope it reminds us of the beauty of being there for each other at Christmas.”

[From The Telegraph]

I’m including the program image below, Kensington Palace posted it on their social media pages. I actually find it cool that KP commissioned something special, but it does beg the question of why Kate couldn’t/wouldn’t do her normal little pre-event photo-op where she’s decorating the trees or talking on camera about this or that. As I was looking at the message – “How did I help? You were by my side, which was everything” – I was reminded of how Prince William threw his sick wife under the bus for the Mother’s Day frankenphoto.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, program image courtesy of Charles Mackesy for Kensington Palace.