Kirsten Dunst covers the latest issue of Marie Claire, and this is a great interview. She’s promoting Civil War, her first role since The Power of the Dog, for which she received her first Oscar nomination. She didn’t work for two years after that. Apparently, she was offered some scripts in that two-year period, but they were all “sad mom roles.” Typecasting, ageism and sexism has come to Kirsten’s career now, at the age of 41. Kirsten chatted about all of that and more with Marie Claire, and there’s some really nice stuff about her husband Jesse Plemons and their two sons, James and Ennis. Some highlights:

Life as a mom: “I’m, like, a Volvo soccer mom right now. Selfishly, I was just like, I want to go shopping.”

Not working for two years: “I haven’t worked in two years…every role I was being offered was the sad mom… To be honest, that’s been hard for me…because I need to feed myself. The hardest thing is being a mom and…not feeling like, I have nothing for myself. That’s every mother—not just me. There’s definitely less good roles for women my age. That’s why I did Civil War.”

Working with writer/director Alex Garland: “When I read the script, I thought, I’ve never done anything like this. I just love that he’s someone who pushes boundaries.”

She was really affected by the film shoot: She “had PTSD for a good two weeks after. I remember coming home and eating lunch and I felt really empty.” It seemed to Garland that she “let herself live inside the film, and feel the reality of the moments.”

Garland wrote the script before January 6. It’s not clear which factions are “good” or “bad,” and that’s precisely the point. Landing this April in a hotly divided election year, “I think it’s a cautionary tale,” Dunst says, “a fable of what happens when people don’t communicate with each other and stop seeing each other as human beings.”

What if Donald Trump is reelected. “He can’t win. I honestly feel like…we just need a fresh start. We need a woman,” Dunst says, although speaking generally and not as an endorsement of any particular candidate. “All the countries that are led by women do so much better.”

Working with her husband again on ‘Civil War’. “Because we fell in love on a set, we fell in love creatively first. I think we’ll always come back to that, in a very not-involving-our-real-life way. And also, listen, we don’t talk to each other on set. I left him alone, he left me alone. I love working with him. What’s nice is that we trust each other so much. He sent me a scene last night of this miniseries he’s working on to get my opinion. If I’m having a hard time deciding on something, I’ll have him read it. I trust his opinion more than anyone, and he cares about me more than anyone.” Crucially, “we hate the same things.”

On the Oscars: Dunst agrees that Greta Gerwig should have been nominated for directing Barbie, but she isn’t swept up in the overall horse race. If anything, she lowers her voice again, “There are too many award shows.”

Maybe she doesn’t want to win an Oscar: “I think it’s good to be an underdog. If you [win] Academy Awards, sometimes it’s not always good for your career.” It seems characteristically, morbidly Hollywood that Oscars are given all-consuming weight for a season, but the shine quickly fades. For example, Dunst shrugs, “I don’t know who won last year.” For what she really wants to do—make interesting film with European directors—quality acting matters more than Oscars anyway.

She’s worked with a lot of female directors: “I saw the power in women very young. I think that’s helped with…not needing male attention in my career.” A younger Dunst told her manager, “I feel like I get hired because I’m someone that they might want to sleep with,” even if only in theory. “I think that’s probably why I migrated to so many female directors at a younger age, because I didn’t want to feel that way.” She grapples with different concerns for her career now. In her early 40s, “no one cares” about her looks, Dunst laughs.

Would she ever do another superhero movie? “Yes,because you get paid a lot of money, and I have two children, and I support my mother.”

[From Marie Claire]

There was something which reminded me of my evolving opinion of Chloe Sevigny – both Chloe and Kirsten were It Girls in the 1990s and early ‘00s, both were cool girls who worked with offbeat indie directors and both prioritized the art rather than the paycheck. And now both of them would love to book big studio films or a lucrative TV show because, frankly, they need the money. It’s just a reminder that these are really “working actresses” too, not necessarily rich movie stars. The one thing I won’t defend is that Kirsten doesn’t know who won Oscars last year… um, it’s your industry, and it was a historic year because Michelle Yeoh won, hello???

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Covers courtesy of Marie Claire.

Happy Easter! We will be off this weekend unless something big breaks, but we’ll be back on Monday! Have a nice holiday weekend!

Louis Gossett Jr. has passed away at 87. RIP [Just Jared]
Christina Ricci talks about going through really “broke” periods as an adult. She once spoke about how she had to sell all of her Chanel jewelry during her divorce from her abusive ex. [OMG Blog]
Henry Cavill saved Alex Pettyfer from drowning! [Socialite Life]
The Kinds of Kindness trailer looks interesting! [LaineyGossip]
Edie Falco’s kids have zero interest in The Sopranos. [Pajiba]
Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s awards season fashion in review. [Go Fug Yourself]
This is not a great look on Lucy Boynton. [RCFA]
Hoda Kotb tried eating sea moss. [Seriously OMG]
90 Day: The Last Resort rumors & casting. [Starcasm]
Federal agents found firearms in Sean Combs’ home. And? [Hollywood Life]
Cecily Strong did not get a very romantic proposal. [Buzzfeed]

Sharon Stone covers the latest issue of InStyle, mostly to promote herself and let everyone know that she’d like to keep working. She looks great, honestly, and I wouldn’t mind seeing her in more movies and TV shows. Certainly, there should be a place for a 65-year-old Sharon Stone. Her InStyle profile leans heavily into the mythos of Sharon Stone, with vivid descriptions of just how famous she was in the 1990s following Basic Instinct. What sort of goes unsaid is how much fun she had during that time, how much she loved being famous. In retrospect for Stone, she makes it sound like a huge drag, but she really did love it back then. Some highlights from InStyle:

The LAPD came to her house & put her in lockdown during the OJ Simpson/white Bronco chase: “He’s dangerous,” Stone remembers an officer telling her. “And we don’t know how dangerous, and we don’t know what this is.” You—a non-famous person—would perhaps wonder what could compel officers to draw a connection between a manhunt and an unrelated celebrity. Stone didn’t question it. Her life had spun so wildly out of her own control. They said she needed to go. She went. At the hotel, one officer stood near reception and another kept watch at Stone’s door “while O.J. was driving up and down the f–king freeway,” Stone says. Returning to her old place was out of the question. “[The police] were like, ‘Find a secure house behind a gate.’” So she did. It was an unrenovated shell, and the lone home on the market she could afford.

It’s expensive to be famous: “It’s very expensive to be famous,” Stone tells me now. The house she closed on from the nondescript hotel, the staff she hired to keep her safe, the publicists, the makeup artists, the managers—it added up. “You go out to dinner, and there’s 15 people at the table, and who gets the check? You get the $3,000 dinner check every single time.”

She always kept her eye on the money: “I was living in a house that didn’t have floors,” Stone says. People wanted her to be grateful. She wanted to be smart. When critics ravaged her, “it was like, ‘Oh, welcome to fame. I’m pulling the pin on the grenade. Run, motherf–ker.’’”

What fame looks like now: “At least now [people] understand that Jennifer Lawrence can’t just skip onto an airplane. Nicole Kidman can’t jump onto Delta. Sharon Stone can’t do it either, whether or not she’s doing a lot of movies. [People] think, ‘What have you been in?’ And it’s like, Dude, they know me in the Amazon rainforest. It’s tampons, Q-tips, and Sharon Stone.”

She survived the tsunami of fame: “I think that I lived is more than many of my predecessors did, and that really pissed off a lot of people,” she says now. She means that insta-icons have not always fared so well (not just the likes of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, but Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland), and the public and the media have never been particularly sympathetic to their struggles. “We’re supposed to go crazy or we’re supposed to be drug addicts, but surprise, motherf–kers.”

Moving on after her divorce: “I made an altar, and I sat at that altar, and I worked with many people to teach me forgiveness. You can’t bite into the seed of bitterness. Once you bite it, you can’t spit it out anymore. I found limits. There’s a limit to me. For so long, everybody wanted me to be all things to all people because I was the limitless Sharon Stone. F–k that bullsh-t.”

The end of Roe v. Wade: “Not to have bodily autonomy is just primitive. It’s caveman time, and I just find it laughable. It’s a lot of chest pounding over things that don’t belong to people pounding their chests.”

She pitched a Barbie movie, years ago: The pitch did not go over well. This was “back in the white hot days, back when Jesus lived. They took us out of the studio like we were on fire.” She was thrilled to see Gerwig and Robbie—whom she lovingly calls her “movie daughter” — triumph where she had been thwarted. “It makes me want to cry, actually,” Stone says, “because I think of all the times I sat at my kitchen table, thinking, This is f–king torture. I was banging my head against this supposedly glass ceiling, but it felt like it was made of f–king concrete.”

[From InStyle]

While I haven’t been around as long as Stone, I remember the fights she and Julia Roberts had about getting paid seven figures per movie, then eight figures. Demi Moore was in that mix too, fighting to get paid what she felt she was worth. It was a huge deal in the ‘90s, that actresses were standing on business and fighting the studios for bigger paychecks. This was also a time before every actress had a lucrative side gig – like, Sharon wasn’t feathering her nest with brand ambassadorships and beauty contracts during the ‘90s either. Anyway, I always enjoy when women talk about money because I do wonder who gets paid what. For all of the freebies given to celebrities, it’s worth remembering that they really do have to pay for their teams (and security).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of InStyle.

Some of you claim that Sydney Sweeney is a charisma vacuum, but I kind of like her? She gives good interviews, she plays the game, she’s cute and sexy and she’s worked hard for everything she has. She’s not a nepo-baby, she’s a hustler (positive). Sydney is currently promoting the horror film Immaculate, where she plays a young nun who joins an Italian convent and sh-t gets wacky and probably sacreligious too. Sydney is the executive producer on Immaculate, just as she produced Anyone But You, the surprise sleeper rom-com hit. Shifting into producing while still just taking regular old acting gigs is such a smart play for her. She recently chatted with Variety about all of this and more:

Producing & acting in ‘Immaculate’: “There’s videos and pictures of me standing in video village, helping set up other shots, holding the script and switching some things around, all drenched in blood. I felt like a kid at a playground — endless imagination, and I felt so in control. Mike [Mohan], I’ve worked with him three times, and it’s just a dream, because he values my opinion and lets me take such charge.”

Doing a film about pregnancy/parthenogenesis in a moment when reproductive rights are being curtailed: “So the script has been around for 10 years — I auditioned for it when I was 16. And it was a very different draft. I called the writer, Andrew Lobel, and got the clean, original draft, then reworked it to fit who I am today, keeping a lot of the same themes and storylines. And one of the biggest ones that carried over was something innately in the project that, sadly, is still a topic of discussion today. What’s so cool is that there are so many different themes and points of conversation for people to draw their own conclusions or assumptions. That’s what I love — when a film doesn’t try to drive one message into an audience’s mind and tell them, This is what you need to believe. I love when a film has a variation of ideas and concepts and allows people to conclude their own opinion.”

She always want to do a straight horror film: “Being in the horror genre is fun, because in that genre, there’s no limitations or boundaries. I always find it so funny when people pick apart a horror film’s rules, or its storytelling. I’m like, It’s a horror film. You’re just having fun. It’s not a movie for the Oscars; you know that going into it. We want to create something good, but it’s fun having characters that can go to such extreme, absurd places, and people don’t question it.”

It’s important to her that her films get theatrical releases: “I love the entire experience of going to a theater. I love getting your popcorn and your candy, having your group of friends. And I also like that you have to put away your phone. You have to actually live in the moment and live in that world. We are all subjected to watching stuff on our computers or our TV, and we can do multiple things at the same time without really immersing ourselves into this world, letting the outside world shut off. That’s what I love about storytelling is being able to create a new world. Being able to bring people into a theater is to let them shut off the outside world for 90 minutes. It’s fun. It’s exciting. Get off the couch.

The box office success of Anyone But You: “I get chills just talking about it. We are all so beyond grateful and ecstatic that it has been loved to the degree that it has been loved. Seeing people shut off the outside world and feel all the emotions we wanted them to feel while we were making it, then leave the theater singing and dancing and wanting to fall in love — that is what the movie theatergoing experience is supposed to ignite inside you.

Whether a man with her CV would get more recognition: “There’s way more actresses in the pool in this industry than there are actors, so you have a higher rate of competition. But as a male, it’s much easier to do one movie that does really well, and then you can get offered any film that you want. And me, I’m still getting “Can she act?” accusations. Go watch “Reality,” “White Lotus,” “Euphoria,” “Sharp Objects,” “Handmaid’s Tale” — but, OK, I’ll keep trying to prove myself, and hope that one day I can get cast with an amazing director and have a film that people recognize.

Being an actress-for-hire on Madame Web: “I want to be as involved in the process for any project moving forward that I possibly can. I love being in the room to be able to problem-solve, and come up with ideas. It’s so important to have multiple people at the table instead of just one — everybody who can be collaborative and truly help build a project. It takes everybody. On “Madame Web,” it was so hard not being able to be as involved as I love being. And I felt very free with “Anyone But You” and “Immaculate” being able to have that.

[From Variety]

I like that she’s putting her work front and center – Variety tried to get her to talk about her body and how (basically) her boobs are going viral every week, and she just kind of shimmied out of the conversation, saying that people don’t see her as real and that she’s still doesn’t know how to feel about it. But again, it’s about the work for her, and it’s so cool that this young woman (she’s only 26) is already executive producing hit movies and she’s so involved with the business side. She’s also right about her CV – a man would be handed a superhero franchise with half of her CV.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Since I can barely keep track of all of Prince Harry’s lawsuits and court appearances, it would make sense if he was due back in the UK in the next few months on legal business. While he settled with the Mirror in February, he still has pending cases against News UK (the Murdochs) and the Mail (ANL), in addition to his appeal on his royal protection issue. Plus, Harry will likely go to the UK in May for that ten-year-anniversary event for Invictus. I bring this up because that royal biographer Tom Quinn is trying to make it sound like Harry will be heading back to the UK soon, but solely to see his father.

Prince Harry has revealed his plans to return to the UK and one royal expert believes it could happen sooner than fans think. The Duke of Sussex made a brief return to London last month after his father King Charles was diagnosed with cancer. Harry then gave a rare interview during which he announced he will be returning to the UK again, but he didn’t provide any exact dates.

Royal author Tom Quinn suggested Harry’s return could be “fairly soon”. Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, Tom said Harry will want to show the world “he is a caring member of the Royal Family.”

“The fact that he lost his High Court challenge will definitely make him think twice about coming back to the UK, but on the other hand, he feels under enormous pressure to show the world that he is a caring member of the Royal Family and the only way he can show he cares is to visit his father, even if that is difficult because Meghan won’t want to come and he is still completely unable to make things up with his brother,” Tom said.

He added: “The key thing is that it will look terrible if Harry doesn’t visit his father again – and fairly soon – because Harry and Meghan have made being caring and sharing a central part of their mission, their brand. How will it look if Harry cares about injured soldiers but doesn’t seem to care much about his stricken father?”

[From The Mirror]

Yeah, the fact that Harry immediately rushed to England when he was informed about his father’s cancer diagnosis did show that he cared. He cared more than his brother, who at that time had still not seen Charles in person (and waited a few more weeks to see Charles). Harry adores his dogsh-t father and absolutely wants to visit his dad, but I suspect Harry won’t make another dedicated trip to see Charles anytime soon. Maybe I’m wrong, Harry surprises me sometimes. My guess is that Harry will probably wait until he has other business, like a court appearance or something. As the royal-protection case showed everyone, the Windsors do the most to put the Sussexes in danger constantly, and I doubt Harry will step foot in the UK again without his father ensuring that he has police protection, and Charles probably plays fast and loose with all of that.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

For years, there’s been talk of the York princesses being drafted into full-time royal work. That’s what Prince Andrew wanted for Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, for his two daughters to become “working royals.” King Charles always had other ideas, even when QEII was still alive. Charles always fought it. Now that he’s king, the Yorks are not being brought into any working-royal fold, although they’re still invited to family events and occasionally state events. Eugenie and Beatrice also have small charity portfolios and they both have full-time jobs. One might even say they’re part-time royals, half-in the institution. Well, now that Charles and the Princess of Wales have significant health issues and Prince William is solely obsessed with the school run, you would think that someone would suggest that Bea and Eugenie would step in for some of the lower-profile royal work? You would be wrong. From the Daily Beast’s Royalist:

Friends of Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have said they are “very upset” but “not surprised” to have not been asked to carry out any royal engagements, while the threadbare royal family grapples with a double health crisis that has seen King Charles, Prince William, and Kate Middleton all step back from royal duties.

A friend of the young women told The Daily Beast: “It seems mean that the girls aren’t being used at all, when they have made it clear they want to be of service, especially when Prince Andrew has been accepted back into the fold. They have done nothing wrong, and they shouldn’t be visited with the sins of their father. They are very upset to have been ignored by the king as they feel they have a lot to offer, but, ultimately not surprised. They are sanguine about it.”

Another source, a friend of the wider family, told The Daily Beast: “Charles is very fond of the York girls but everyone, including them, accepts there is no place for them to be full time working royals. And as the late Queen Elizabeth made clear, being a part-time working royal isn’t an option.”

A former courtier, asked if the unavailability of Charles, William and Kate for public duties—leaving the monarchy with its official representatives being Queen Camilla (76), Princess Anne (73), Prince Edward (60) and wife Sophie (59)—pointed to the folly of cutting out the two younger royals (Beatrice is 35 and Eugenie is 33), said: “With hindsight you can make the argument that they should have been kept on, but a dramatic change of course now would not be helpful for anyone. The York girls have built successful lives as private individuals.”

Evidence of the king’s ongoing affection for his nieces can be found in the fact that since her 2020 marriage to Edoardo “Edo” Mapelli Mozzi in 2020, Princess Beatrice and her family have lived in a four-bed apartment in St James’ Palace, with two-year-old daughter Sienna and Edoardo’s older child from a previous relationship, Wolfie. They are understood to pay market rent. Eugenie, the younger sister, lives at a luxury golf and ocean club in Portugal, but spends time at her sister’s St James’ apartment when in the U.K.

Some believe, however, that if Charles and Kate were to be permanently sidelined, forced into greatly reduced roles for the longer term by ongoing health challenges, a Prince William regency would look desperately short-handed…This royal staffing time bomb is coming anyway, as the Waleses are unlikely to want their children becoming full time working royals until at least their mid-twenties. Their eldest child, Prince George, is only 10 right now. Some observers suspect that’s why the regular suggestions by associates of the Yorks that the daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson could be invited back into the family—even on that oft ruled-out part-time basis— continue to be floated.

[From The Daily Beast]

“Part-time royals are not allowed” is an argument they created solely for Prince Harry and Meghan and it’s biting them in the ass. It’s fun to watch too – despite the revisionist history that QEII was somehow vehemently opposed to part-time royals, she was actually fine with it for everybody else. Many of her “working royal” cousins had other jobs and they also represented the crown from time to time and were still “allowed” on the fakakta balcony. Prince Michael of Kent had a whole-ass Russian-consultation business (operated out of the palace) and he was a working royal for decades. The Duchess of Kent worked privately as a music teacher while she was also a working royal. There’s absolutely no reason why Eugenie and Beatrice couldn’t step in for some store openings and general ribbon-cuttings. Well, no reason other than Charles, Camilla and William’s jealousy, short-sightedness and pettiness.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

Good lord, In Touch Weekly has decided to go full-throttle with the royal tea lately. In Touch has done some good/interesting pieces about Prince William and Rose Hanbury in recent weeks, and now In Touch is tackling the dual health crises crippling the British monarchy. In Touch’s sources say, flat-out, that King Charles’s doctors are only giving him two years. Their sources are also saying that Charles knows William isn’t ready to take over. Take this with a huge grain of salt, but YIKES.

After announcing that King Charles was battling cancer, the palace insisted that he “remains wholly positive about his treatment.” But it’s far worse than anyone knows, an insider tells In Touch exclusively: “He has pancreatic cancer and has a maximum of two years to live.”

While reeling from the tragic news just over a year into their reign, Charles, 75, and Queen Camilla, 76, “are also worried about Prince William, who is next in line to the throne, because he’s currently facing a public relations disaster,” says the source.

“Charles knows the pressures of being the monarch,” the source adds. “And he just isn’t sure William is ready to take his place. It seems premature, and there could be consequences.”

Amid Princess Kate Middleton’s health crisis – she announced on March 22 that she had been diagnosed with cancer – old rumors of an affair between William, 41, and Rose Hanbury resurfaced. While Rose, 40, insisted that the rumors are “completely false,” Charles is still worried that his eldest son will repeat the same mistake he made himself when he cheated on the prince’s mother, Princess Diana. “It’s a very awkward situation,” the source admits.

William has also reportedly turned to alcohol to deal with the stress, “with as many as four drinks a night,” claims the source. Although the royal was nicknamed “One-Pint Willy” by his cousin-in-law Mike Tindall, the insider says he has a habit of having a few drinks when he’s letting loose with friends.

A 2021 report claimed that William would have beers after work and “several glasses of wine with dinner,” leading him to “wake up crabby,” which his father was not pleased about. “Charles has counseled him that there can be no more carefree outings to the pub anymore,” the source adds.

William’s temper is also a cause for concern in the king’s eyes. In his tell-all, Spare, Prince Harry recalled a fight he had with his older brother, writing, “William grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me.” A second source tells In Touch, “Word is, the altercation Harry mentioned in Spare wasn’t the first to occur. There was a growing rivalry between William and Harry ever since they were little and sometimes things got heated between them.”

Royals author Tom Quinn has also alleged that the “hotheaded” future king has directed his anger at Kate as well, to the point that they’ve had “terrible rows where they throw things at each other.

While Charles “is willing to try any treatment to extend his life by a few years, at least,” William remains frustrated by the rampant rumors about him as he waits to take the throne, the source says. “William does a very good job putting on a smile and calm face in public, but it does bother him. The feeling is that the current climate surrounding the monarchy has already cast a long shadow on his future as king.”

[From In Touch via Yahoo]

In many ways, this is just a more tabloidy version of what Tina Brown wrote in the New York Times this week: that Charles’s reign will be short, that no one thinks William is ready, that William is “frozen” with anxiety about the future. In any case, we don’t know what kind of cancer Charles has nor the kind of cancer Kate has. There are lots of rumors about both, and only one of them has been providing a constant stream of proof-of-life. Charles will do everything he can to ensure a long reign but he can’t ensure that he will beat cancer. Also: I totally believe that William has been drowning himself in booze for a while (and establishment figures have noticed) and I also believe that the assault Harry described was not the first or the last.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

The energy around Prince William and his wife is still decidedly weird and growing weirder by the day. One week ago, Kensington Palace released Princess Kate’s big announcement video, where she spoke about having cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. She seemed emotional and strained, and many noted that it was strange that her husband wasn’t sitting beside her, holding her hand or simply being present for this very difficult thing. Then, days later, the Times of London buried some exclusive information about William’s whereabouts when Kate (allegedly) filmed the video in Windsor on March 20th – he was not around, anywhere. He wasn’t even supporting Kate behind the scenes during the filming. The Times reported it as: “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.” So… People Magazine is now running a similar story as an exclusive. Some highlights:

Prince William is a pillar of strength for Kate: “He is a very reliable, strong person. She doesn’t feel isolated in this because of William, who is right beside her,” a longtime family friend exclusively tells PEOPLE. “This is about supporting her and her feeling supported. It is a joint effort. She doesn’t feel isolated at all. The nuclear family that they have created so well is an immense support not only to him but to Catherine too.”

Kate chose to film the video alone: While Princess Kate deliberately chose to film the personal video message about her health news alone, Prince William has been there for her every step of the way. “It is a particular time in their lives, and I know their priority will be to look after each other,” the family friend explains. “His priority is on his family, and the other questions can wait.”

Why William didn’t join her in the video: Princess Kate appeared solo, prompting some to wonder why her husband, 41, didn’t join her. “It is a message from the princess about her health, and she wanted to personally deliver the message on her own,” a palace source tells PEOPLE. The insider says Princess Kate made clear her husband has been “supporting her throughout.”

William is proud of Kate: “William is extremely proud of his wife for the courage and strength she has shown not just this week but since her surgery in January, ” the source says. “Now more than ever, he’s focused on ensuring his wife has the privacy she needs to fully recover and that his children are shielded from the understandable interest in the news that has been shared.”

Time off during the kids’ school break: “The children are at the center of their world,” a close friend says of the couple in this week’s PEOPLE cover story.

[From People Magazine]

This is all authorized stuff from Kensington Palace, I can tell because of the circular nature of the arguments. What don’t you understand? Kate filmed it alone because she feels supported by William and that’s why he didn’t support her by showing up to the filming, because she feels supported. Like, I would have gone along with it if they said that Kate didn’t want William sitting beside her while she spoke to the camera. It was HER news, she was the one who went missing for three months, people were worried about her. There was probably also a completely reasonable belief that if William sat beside her, he would have looked coercive or… worse. But to not even be there, behind the scenes, to give her a hug after she finished filming? That says a lot and none of it good. Of course, plenty of people sort of doubt that Kate was even there for “filming,” but that’s a completely different story.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

Here are more photos of Queen Camilla going solo in Worcester on Maundy Thursday. She’s the first consort to stand in for the monarch at Maundy services, and as I said yesterday, Camilla was practically glowing. She loves being the last royal standing. She loves doing events solo. You guys need to lean into this: Camilla won. And it’s hilarious, in a way. By acknowledging that Camilla won, you’re acknowledging that the dumbass Windsors got played, and that the monarchy is now being defined by Queen Side Chick. Camilla played the game better than all of them, and she’s still playing the game. Thus, Becky English at the Mail did another sycophantic piece about how everything’s coming up Camilla!

The transformation of Queen Camilla from understudy to centre-stage star will, no doubt, continue to be discussed by historians many decades from now. When she married the King almost 19 years ago, royal aides were at pains to stress that the then Duchess of Cornwall very much saw herself as an adjunct. Her role, they said, was to support her husband in the pursuit of his increasingly heavy royal duties, while building up a small portfolio of patronages she was keen to support.

No one in her orbit – let alone the lady herself – dreamed that she would one day be crowned at her husband’s side (with the blessing and approval of Queen Elizabeth, no less), let alone stand in for His Majesty at events such as the annual royal Maundy service in Worcester. While King Charles diligently continues to undertake daily state business behind the scenes despite his ongoing cancer treatment, Queen Camilla now finds herself, to all intents and purposes, his front of house. Once considered to be one of the most hated women in Britain, many have been won over by her warmth, humour, strong sense of duty and, frankly, classic British ‘let’s just keep this bloody show on the road-ism’.

One royal retainer, who has witnessed many of the family’s twists and turns over the years, told me recently that they are genuinely glad to see Camilla’s diligence and sense of duty recognised at long last. ‘She’s been an absolute trooper, really she has,’ they said. ‘She’s worried about her husband, everyone is. His Majesty is doing amazingly well but it’s tough to see someone you love go through an experience like this. And yet she just gets up and goes out there, doing exactly what’s asked of her with a smile on her face.’

Like many people caring for a loved one with a serious illness, Camilla is torn between being by her husband’s side and doing what’s expected of her. But she knows the King (she respectfully never publicly refers to him as anything but the King or His Majesty, even to those she knows well) hates being fussed over and still has a prodigious work ethic.

‘She’s spending as much of her time as she can with her husband but also believes that one of the best ways she can support him is by going out in public to represent him,’ one aide remarks. Another member of their circle says: ‘She’s absolutely out there leading from the front.’

Of course, Buckingham Palace isn’t blinkered. Senior courtiers know full well that there will always be a vocal – and not necessarily small – group of people who will never accept Camilla on the throne (despite more than 2,000 genuinely excited people coming out to see her in Shrewsbury on a very wet, working Wednesday this week). But they also believe there is no point in wasting energy trying to convert the naysayers, and should let the Queen’s actions speak louder than their outdated murmurs of disapproval.

[From The Daily Mail]

“Senior courtiers know full well that there will always be a vocal – and not necessarily small – group of people who will never accept Camilla on the throne.” On the contrary, the monarchy’s biggest critics love the fact that Camilla got everything she wanted – Camilla’s game of thrones has left the monarchy weakened and historically unpopular. Camilla’s success in the royal arena showcases the absurdity of the arena itself. Long live Camilla, may she continue to be the monarchy’s downfall.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Buckingham Palace released a new photo of King Charles for Maundy Thursday, which we discussed yesterday. People were really surprised that this was an authorized palace photo and that little palace elves didn’t go to work on this image to make Charles look a bit healthier. You know why that is, though? Buckingham Palace doesn’t want to get caught manipulating photos like Kensington Palace. BP knew this photo would cause concern but they released it anyway, in the spirit of “oh well, at least we’re not lying unlike some people we could mention.” The Times noted that Charles looked “more gaunt” than usual and there were some concerned comments online. Some outlets (including us!) even published the side-by-side comparison between this pic and Charles’s desk photo from the day after his mother died, in September 2022. Same desk, different staging. Buckingham Palace is also doing the most to talk up Charles’s progress:

King Charles is “positive” about his cancer treatment. The King’s team is said to be thinking about a summer schedule for the monarch, 75, amid “amplified confidence” in light of the sophisticated treatment he is receiving, a royal source tells PEOPLE.

The King is “progressing well” in his treatment, a source close to the royal household says. The royal source adds, “He is positive, the doctors are optimistic.”

The source adds that King Charles has not been “operationally constrained” so far and Buckingham Palace is planning for “a summer diary.” However, his team won’t commit to any engagements and will rely on “medical advice nearer the time.”

The King’s outings and engagements have been restricted to small numbers of people since the palace revealed his diagnosis on Feb. 5, However, towards the summer when the risk of airborne illnesses eases, more engagements could happen outside – such as Trooping the Colour, the annual public celebration of the monarch’s birthday which will take place on June 15.

“There could be a slow increase of numbers of people they are able to meet indoors,” the source adds. A second source shared that King Charles’ team is “planning as usual.”

“One thing that has been wholly undiminished is his appetite for work,” the royal source added.

[From People]

BP has been heavily pushing the “Charles is still in charge” line for weeks, but it’s gotten even louder ever since Kate’s cancer-announcement video. My theory is still that Buckingham Palace seems to have finally taken over the messaging for KP, and/or they’ve cleaned up William’s mess behind the scenes. Whatever has happened, no one expects to see William for weeks and no one expects to see Kate for months. It’s now the Charles and Camilla Show, come hell or high water. I’m also curious about this “sophisticated treatment” Charles is receiving. I hope it’s medically sound, because Charles is a well-known lover of alternative medicine. Sausage-fingers crossed that Charles’s sophisticated treatment isn’t just berries, vitamin C and tree bark.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.