I don’t really have an opinion about the news/gossip/analysis site Puck. I wound up on their mailing list at some point, probably because of their coverage of Angelina Jolie and Vanna White (I sh-t you not), and I’m constantly rolling my eyes at their wannabe-Vanity Fair style of making a meal out of some truly milquetoast gossip. Speaking of, Puck is reporting something exclusive-ish, in that I haven’t seen this anywhere else. According to Puck’s Lauren Sherman, the Duchess of Sussex hired a new Montecito-based stylist named Jamie Mizrahi. Here’s a big chunk from this completely overwrought Puck piece:

Did you know that Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex or whatever these days, is working with Jamie Mizrahi, expert celebrity friend-turned-expert celebrity stylist? For now, everyone is keeping mum, and perhaps they’ll never speak of it. Mizrahi was en route to Paris when I messaged her about Markle. She didn’t reply. (Good girl.) The Markle camp didn’t respond to my queries. But I believe the new partnership—presumably forged in Montecito, where they each have homes—marks a turning point for both parties when it comes to their respective myth-making.

Markle is actually not much of a subject of fascination for me, perhaps because I have P.T.S.D. from my mother’s Princess Diana obsession. But I am, of course, interested in the way she presents herself. For the past few years, people connected to her have claimed she doesn’t work with a stylist. And it was believable, given all the wrinkled clothing and slightly off tailoring. In the early days of her Prince Harry era, she relied on friend Jessica Mulroney, whom she met in Canada while working on Suits. At some point, though, they split. Markle called upon U.K.-based Maria Means Cote, an ex-Prada P.R., for a while, but they stopped working together as early as 2021.

In her California life, Markle doesn’t necessarily need a stylist. The dress code in Montecito—a sort of Nancy Meyers movie where Oprah’s house isn’t even the biggest on the block—requires more pull-on linen pants than fitted Roland Mouret shift dresses. (We’re not in Westminster anymore, Dorothy.) Markle makes just a few public appearances a year, and more importantly, her persona is predicated on the idea that she is in control. So it doesn’t matter all that much that her clothes don’t always fit perfectly as long as she’s the one who chooses them. Even her Givenchy wedding gown, designed by the Brit Clare Waight Keller, with whom she was recently seen having lunch, wasn’t quite right. (Not only is Givenchy a French brand, but once again, there were tailoring issues.) This is all part of her charm. And Markle fans don’t seem to mind: When she first started dating Prince Harry, items she wore sold out almost instantly. Not many celebrities have that sort of pull. You have to be both aspirational and accessible at once, like Taylor Swift.

But if Markle is entertaining a Hollywood relaunch—orchestrated, probably, by the talent agency WME—she may need more support. After all, the fashion industry wants little to do with her. Dior even released a statement last year noting that they had not signed her as a spokesperson. The fact that they even bothered to extinguish a swirling rumor suggests that they were desperate to have it quashed.

Enter Mizrahi (née Schneider), who grew up near the Short Hills Mall and moved to California after she started dating Nico Mizrahi, a hedge-funder from Los Angeles. (She married him in 2016. By all accounts, they are kind people.) Mizrahi has been working in fashion since she graduated from college, but until a few years ago was known more as a socialite and friend-of-celebrities than a hardcore professional….Then she started styling Adele, and things changed. She got a Louis Vuitton contract. Is she good? The other day, an acquaintance of Mizrahi’s started texting me images of looks she had crafted that bore a shocking resemblance to those another rising star had arranged just a few weeks prior; most notably, Mizrahi put client Jurnee Smollett in a black Proenza Schouler gown that Danielle Goldberg client Ayo Edebiri had worn in cream just three weeks earlier. This person texting me had no idea about Markle, they were just appalled by the perceived copycatry. Perhaps it was a coincidence.

Anyway, originality matters less in this business than effectiveness. Today, Mizrahi works with the likes of Riley Keough, Jeremy Allen White, and most importantly, Jennifer Lawrence. She’s been integral to Lawrence’s rebrand over the past year, which also included hiring a new publicist and releasing a raunchy comedy. I don’t like how Mizrahi dresses Lawrence: There is a prim fussiness to her current wardrobe that feels antithetical to her personality. (She seems like a fun person, and the clothes aren’t.) But most people don’t agree with me. Lawrence has never attracted attention for her fashion choices before; now she does, so it’s working on some level, even if it doesn’t have a long-term impact on how people perceive her.

Can Mizrahi do for Markle what she has done for Lawrence? Markle’s ladylike, jewel-toned taste is closely aligned with Mizrahi’s, so perhaps they could make an even more powerful combination. Regardless, Markle needs to make money, and sharpening her look could be the first step in something bigger: Not only should she be gunning for endorsements, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was keen to develop her own fashion line. (Markle’s old friend Misha Nonoo, currently the chief brand officer of Spanx, would be a good resource in that department.) And Mizrahi might be the best first step, whatever the actual end goal.

[From Puck]

I haven’t seen this much bitching about Meghan’s tailoring since 2018! While I do think Meghan had some tailoring issues back in the early days of duchessing, her return to California has brought out her baseline aesthetic – looser, comfortable, palazzo pants and sad beiges, lots of bare shoulders and California creams. It’s not about tailoring, it’s about cozy-yet-clean. And given that Meghan’s fans have always loved/defended/bought whatever she wears, why would she need to hire some fancy stylist to remake her look? Be logical! Comparing Meghan and Taylor Swift too… the audacity!! Taylor’s street style and red carpet style is completely tragic given her money and access. Meghan just looks like a wealthy and attractive California mom who likes beige. Anyway, I kind of hope Meghan has hired a professional stylist, but who knows. More than that, I hope she stops leaving all of that money on the table and she becomes a brand ambassador for one of the labels.

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Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid, Getty.

Back in 2022, there was a rather scandalous royal blind item on Deuxmoi, a blind which many people believed was about Prince William and his recreational activities. After that blind, I would occasionally refer to him as “Peg” or “Peggington.” The whole thing trended on Twitter for a while and every now and then, the hashtags born in 2022 are still used. It should not be underestimated just how viral that story became, to the point where Irish flight company Ryanair decided to make a joke on social media.

Will never forget…#PrinceOfPegging https://t.co/lpM68n4T0z pic.twitter.com/mPd6cIAnnH

— Sarah B (@SarahB_N) March 3, 2024

It was an amazing time, honestly. Ryanair later deleted the tweet and no one ever explained why. Until now! A guy who works for Ryanair’s social media gave an interview and he explained what went down behind-the-scenes. Apparently, Kensington Palace actually called Ryanair to complain and threaten the Irish company. The palace wanted an apology! At the end of the day, Ryanair just deleted the tweet, which was seen as good enough by KP.

The Palace got Ryanair to delete that tweet about William. pic.twitter.com/gCnwOZiY7L

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) March 3, 2024

So there you go. Kensington Palace was well aware of the Peggington rumors, the hashtags and everything on social media in 2022. Kensington Palace went out of its way to threaten a private Irish company into taking down a (funny) joke tweet. But the same Kensington Palace claimed their hands were tied when it came to the media and Derangers’ harassment of and threats against the Duchess of Sussex. Once again, we keep seeing how the palaces *can* shut down stories and issue legal threats when they want to. They just didn’t want to protect the Sussexes, ever.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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The one bio/about-me line Iris Apfel included on her Instagram reads “More is more & less is a bore.” With a signature style that always impressed, Iris Apfel truly embodied the joy of that ethos. She studied art and art history in school, started her career copywriting for a fashion magazine, built a successful textile and fabric reproduction business with her husband, and broke into modeling in her late nineties. She taught us that color can raise the dead, statement eyeglasses never go out of style, and that being thoroughly and unabashedly yourself is the only way to live, at any age. One day after celebrating her 102-and-a-half birthday (and noting that she was only 26 in half birthdays, owing to it being Leap Day), Iris Apfel took a final, feather boa-ed bow on this planet. Let’s raise a glass in multiple-bracelet-clad arms to a one of a kind spirit

If only every life could be as lavishly lived as Iris Apfel’s. The celebrated interior designer, entrepreneur and late-in-life fashion model died in Palm Beach on Friday, her representatives confirmed. She was 102 years old.

Born Iris Barrel in 1921, she was brought up in Queens, New York. The daughter of a successful small business owner, she studied art and art history before working as a copywriter for Women’s Wear Daily.

With her husband Carl, Apfel started a textile and fabric reproduction business in 1950. Her firm managed White House restoration projects for nine presidents, ranging from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton.

Known for her charisma and work ethic, Apfel’s distinctive style — the bushels of bracelets, the piles of necklaces, plus signature saucer-sized, heavy-framed glasses — helped propel her into late-in-life fashion celebrity, or a “geriatric starlet,” as she often referred to herself.

Apfel’s star only brightened as she aged. At 90, she was teaching at the University of Texas at Austin. At age 94, she was the subject of a well-reviewed documentary by Albert Maysles (Iris.) At age 97, she became a professional fashion model, represented by a top agency, IMG. She modeled for Vogue Italia, Kate Spade and M.A.C, and at the time of her passing, was the oldest person to have had a Barbie doll made by Mattel in her image.

A society grand dame who was not above selling scarves and jewelry on the Home Shopping Network, Apfel received a 2005 retrospective at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rara Avis (Rare Bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel was a first for the museum in showcasing clothes and accessories created by a living non-fashion designer.

Her autobiography, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, was published in 2018.

In a 2015 NPR story, Apfel told correspondent Ina Jaffee that she took pride in having inspired people over the years. She remembered meeting one woman who exclaimed that Apfel had changed her life.

“She said I learned that if I don’t have to dress like everybody else, I do not have to think like everybody else,” the designer recalled with glee. “And I thought, boy, if I could do that for a few people, I accomplished something.”

Her agent Lori Sale called the designer a “visionary.”

“She saw the world through a unique lens — one adorned with giant, distinctive spectacles that sat atop her nose. Through those lenses, she saw the world as a kaleidoscope of color, a canvas of patterns and prints. Her artistic eye transformed the mundane into the extraordinary and her ability to blend the unconventional with the elegant was nothing short of magical,” she said in a statement.

“She became a beacon for so many people,” jewelry designer Alexis Bittar said in a statement shared by Sale. “Through living her life on her own terms it messaged to women that they don’t need to hide in the shadows as they age, they actually can continue to glow and get better at what they do and look like.”

[From NPR]

If you don’t have to dress like everybody else, you don’t have to think like everybody else. What a radical idea. I honestly can’t think of a higher honor or legacy than to have helped people come to that realization. While I knew of Iris’s deserving status as a fashion icon, I was impressed to learn about her fabric company with her husband, Old World Weavers, and their work on White House restorations. She is so cool! What a life well-lived. Iris, thank you for your inspiration — and I say that as someone who’s always donned vintage eyeglasses, believed patterns can and should be mixed, and enjoyed wearing so many rings at once it’s aired on the side of pirate. Rest in Pucci, dear soul.

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Photos credit: Caroline Torem-Craig / Avalon, Wenn / Avalon, Zeppelin Photo / Avalon, Darla Khazei/PacificCoastNews / Avalon and via Instagram

It’s slightly funny, in a macabre way, that whenever Prince Andrew pops his head up and declares that he’s ready for a comeback, all of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims come out and say or do something to remind people that Prince Andrew is a human trafficker and a vil degenerate. Just last week, Andrew made a big, splashy appearance at King Constantine’s memorial service and we were told, yet again, that Andrew is “back” and he believes that people want to see him again. Enter Meatball Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida. For many years, Jeffrey Epstein used Palm Beach as a hunting ground for teenage girls, and Epstein’s criminal activities in Florida were what set off the FBI investigation. The investigation led to Epstein being given a sweetheart deal – an 18-month sentence for abusing, raping and trafficking countless girls and women. It was believed at the time that Epstein’s well-connected allies had pulled strings to ensure that Epstein walked away with little more than a slap on the wrist. Prince Andrew was one of those allies, and Meatball Ron is going to release some of those records.

A Jeffrey Epstein victim believes the paedophile’s pal Prince Andrew will face a day of reckoning with the release of bombshell court papers. Full details of claims that Andrew lobbied US authorities to accept Epstein’s plea deal in an underage prostitution case will be made public. The allegations about Andrew’s past friendship with the billionaire sex offender may dash all hopes he harbours of a return to royal life.

On Tuesday, a grinning Duke of York, 64, grabbed the limelight by leading the Royals into church to ­celebrate the life of the late King Constantine of Greece. On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill allowing the release of grand jury testimony relating to the 2006 probe into Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.

The law will grant rare access to the testimony that ultimately led to one charge against Epstein, much to the fury of police and victims. The paedophile had faced up to 15 years in jail. Instead prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to soliciting a minor for prostitution, despite the FBI finding more than 40 victims.

He was sentenced in 2008 to just 18 months and, after less than a year, he was freed to serve the rest of his time in his Palm Beach mansion in Florida. Months later, Andrew visited the sex offender, staying with him at his Manhattan home.

Mr DeSantis, accompanied by two of Epstein’s victims, Haley Robson and Jena-Lisa Cordovez, signed the bill, HB 117, in Palm Beach. The former US presidential hopeful said: “There were a lot of questions about what happened where you had a sweetheart deal… This is long overdue, but again, we feel that we can’t just turn a blind eye.” Last night, a third woman abused by Epstein said: “For years, Andrew has evaded speaking to the FBI, instead giving his own ludicrous version of events to the BBC. Finally we will have a day of reckoning the Prince has long avoided. What more must it take for him to realise his friendship with Jeffrey will never go away? Speak up, man.”

Previously released legal papers accused Andrew of helping secure Epstein’s plea deal by lobbying the US Government. In legal documents, two of Epstein’s victims said the Duke was linked to pressuring officials to cut his sentence. The documents read: “(They are) seeking documents regarding Epstein’s lobbying efforts to persuade the government to give him a favourable plea arrangement, including efforts on his behalf by Prince Andrew. They have alleged these materials are needed to prove their allegations that, after Epstein signed the non-prosecution agreement, his ­performance was delayed while he used his significant social and ­political connections to lobby the justice department to obtain a more favourable plea deal.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

While this coverage is very centered on Andrew and he absolutely deserves that, it’s important to remember that every single part of Epstein’s plea deal was a complete sh-tshow. The investigation was compromised, the prosecution was compromised and the plea deal was the result of a lot of machinations behind the scenes involving other power players beyond Andrew. Releasing the full grand jury testimony will be enlightening about Andrew, but it will be enlightening about other people in Epstein’s orbit as well. Which is why Meatball Ron is doing this – DeSantis believes that the records will reveal something about prominent Democrats, like Epstein didn’t use his friend Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago as a hunting ground.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

Dogs love to be good people who do good jobs at their work, and those who dedicate themselves to being therapy pups are among our finest citizens. Added to these noble ranks is Jennifer Garner’s eight-year-old golden retriever Birdie. Birdie and her person just appeared on We Rate Dogs where she spoke with host Matt Nelson (as relayed by Garner) about her therapy work, her children’s literacy advocacy, and things she’d like to try before her birthday in May:

“She wants to read some new books for kids. And speaking of kids, Birdie is a therapy dog,” shared Garner. “And she just got a promotion to work at Children’s Hospital L.A.”

“So she’s excited. She wants to have her first time at Children’s Hospital L.A. before she turns nine,” the Party Down star continued. “She’s a very good dog, a very good girl.”

Garner shared a few more of Birdie’s plans, including some reasonable goals and a few daring activities.

“Birdie would like to sit at a Parisian bistro. While she’s there, she wants to swim in the Olympics. She loves to swim,” offered the Alias alum. “Oh, she wants to eat an entire string of cheese. The whole thing.”

“Birdie wants to skydive. Everybody should once and she thought before she turns nine is a good time,” added Garner.

“Oh right, she wants to go on a date with Major Biden,” Garner shared. “She has a big crush.”

“Oh and she wants to stop biting her nails,” continued the 13 Going on 30 star. “It’s hard, but it’s good to have a goal.”

“Birdie has a beautiful coloratura voice. So she’s a soprano and so she wants to sign with the Metropolitan Opera,” added the actress.

Garner welcomed Birdie into her life after her eldest daughter, Violet Anne, 18, waited until her tenth birthday to get her very own dog. Garner shares Violet, Seraphina Rose, 15, and Samuel, 12, with ex-husband Ben Affleck.

“My eldest was two and decided she needed her own dog, and she talked about it all the time,” Garner recalled for Nelson. “And I said, ‘When you’re 10, that’s the age that one might get their own dog.’ And I thought she’d forget because she was just two, but now we have Birdie.”

“She did not forget,” joked Nelson. “She did not,” replied Garner.

The actress also spoke about her series with Birdie, titled “Books with Birdie,” where she reads children’s books to the golden retriever.

“Birdie is a huge early literature, just kind of a literacy advocate,” Garner cheekily explained. “So it only makes sense that she would have this series ‘Books with Birdie.’”

“She just really likes to promote children’s literacy, right?,” Garner asked her dog. “It’s super important to you, just part of your mission of who you are.”

[From People]

When I was a freshman in college my dorm hosted an event the week before final exams: puppy petting. Working dogs of all shapes and sizes punched in the clock for a grueling hour of being adored by over-caffeinated students. It was bliss. But the one pup who really stole my heart was a retriever who was simply exhausted from his many engagements (he had just been visiting with seniors at a nursing home). So instead of gamboling right into the thick of things, this good boy was clinging to his mama, burying his nose in her lap. Finally his mama said “What are you doing? You’re here to mingle!” Too precious.

Getting back to this story, these really were Birdie’s words. She lifted her snout up to her person and Jennifer dutifully bent to receive her comments each time. Second, we need this Birdie – Major Biden date to happen, stat! It’s a matter of national importance! And I kid you not, the minute Jen said the name “Major Biden” Birdie started thumping her tail. She knows what she wants, and what she wants is a sexy specimen of German shepherd, presidential, I’ll guard my parents from shady secret service agents, good boy energy. The hunk sets her tongue wagging. Literally. True, Major is younger than Birdie (three or 21 years, depending on which species you’re counting by), but canines can be cougars too. My one word of caution: long-distance relationships can be ruff rough. Just know going into this that it will take extra effort. And we don’t want anything getting in the way of Birdie’s very important work as a therapy dog at Children’s Hospital LA. That being said, your move, Major Biden.

Photos credit: Adam Schultz / Avalon and screenshots from YouTube and Instagram

Queen Camilla was pretty busy last week. She was the most senior royal and de facto hostess for King Constantine’s memorial service in Windsor last Tuesday. She hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday. On Thursday, she was once again at Buckingham Palace, this time hosting a semi-private meeting with Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine. Sure, “working three days in a week” is not some huge deal for most people, but Camilla is basically the only royal who has been consistently doing events since mid-January. Everyone else (except Anne) has been MIA, on vacation or mysteriously disappearing for weeks at a time. All of which to say, Camilla’s orthopedic wedges have been worked down to the nub and she’s taking the next week off. No one will see her until Commonwealth Day (March 11).

The Queen will take a break from official duties after leading the monarchy in public since the King’s cancer diagnosis was revealed on February 5. Camilla, 76, has no engagements in her diary this week, and it is understood that she will spend a few days of private downtime with the King and her own family. She will resume engagements on March 11, when she will represent Charles and lead the royal family for the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.

Camilla has undertaken 13 official engagements since Charles’s cancer diagnosis was announced last month, ploughing on with her own diary and attending events solo where she was due to have been with her husband.

A royal source said: “Although she was not expecting to find herself in the position of leading the family, the Queen is absolutely prepared to do whatever needs to be done for the institution. She has been buoyed by the public’s reaction. She has found reserves of energy that even she didn’t think she had, and the estimation of her by those inside the palace has soared as she has put her shoulder to the wheel.”

Another source close to the Queen said: “Her Majesty is robust, positive and determined to keep going while the King is off public duties. The King is proud and pleased to see the show is being kept on the road by the Queen and the wider family.”

During the Queen’s short break this week, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will all undertake public engagements. The Princess of Wales, who has not been seen in public since Christmas Day, is continuing to recover at home in Windsor after abdominal surgery in January, and is expected to resume public duties after Easter.

[From The Times]

You might assume, given the quotes provided to the Times, that Camilla is going to spend the next week sitting in her coziest recliner at Ray Mill with a Stanley Cup full of gin. You would be wrong! After spending a few days at Ray Mill, Camilla is jetting off “overseas” today, according to the Daily Mail. She’s “jetting off on a private flight” and no one is saying where? Given the quotes given to the Times – “Her Majesty is robust, positive and determined to keep going” – you should assume the opposite, meaning Camilla is exhausted AND most of the people in the palace are unhappy that she’s jetting off.

I keep thinking about how Sophie and Edward quietly went on a ski holiday with friends, traveling by private jet and enjoying themselves in St. Moritz, the playground for the rich. Sophie and Ed skipped Constantine’s memorial service too, and honestly, the Edinburghs haven’t really been pulling their weight this year at all. Maybe Camilla was like “well, I deserve to have a week off too!”

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Thomas Kingston passed away a week ago, on Sunday, February 25. His death was not announced until Tuesday, the 27th, just hours after King Constantine’s memorial service in Windsor, a service which was attended by Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Kingston’s parents-in-law. Kingston’s now-widow, Lady Gabriella, did not attend the memorial service, nor has she been seen in public since about a week before Kingston’s passing. On Friday, the inquest into Thomas Kington’s death officially began. The police and the coroner came out and said, flat out, that he died of a “catastrophic wound” to the head, with a gun closeby. The Telegraph was the first British outlet to say that it was suicide.

Thomas Kingston, the husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor, died from a gunshot wound to the head, a coroner has revealed. Mr Kingston, 45, took his own life at his parents’ home in a Cotswold village on Sunday.

Katy Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, said the financier, the son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, had lunch with his parents before his father, Martin Kingston, took the dogs out for a walk. As she opened an inquest into Mr Kingston’s death, Ms Skerett said: “On his return Mr Kingston was not in the house.”

His mother went to look for him before his father forced entry into an outbuilding. Ms Skerrett said Mr Kingston was found dead “with a catastrophic head injury. A gun was present at the scene.”

Mr Kingston was a committed Christian who once worked as a hostage negotiator in Iraq. Known as Tom, he read economic history at the University of Bristol before joining the diplomatic missions unit at the Foreign Office. He was seconded to Baghdad as project manager for the International Centre for Reconciliation, based at Coventry Cathedral, in 2003. The following year, he cheated death in a suicide bombing in the Iraqi capital that killed 22 people.

Mr Kingston returned to the UK to work for Schroders, the global asset management firm, as an equity analyst before becoming the managing director of Voltan Capital Management and later a director of Devonport Capital, which provides short-term loans to businesses operating in the developing world. His father, Martin, was a hugely successful barrister, specialising in planning law. Also a devout Chrisitan, he was elected to the General Synod in 2016. His mother, Jill, is a trustee of a Chrsitian healing centre and runs the Nadezhda Charitable Trust, which supports projects in Zimbabwe.

[From The Telegraph]

Before this past week, I’ll admit that I didn’t know much about Kingston’s background and, considering his romantic life, I always assumed he was just some random posh bloke with a good education but few real-world experiences. Hearing all of these stories about his time in Iraq, it makes me realize that he had been in some really dire situations and was probably quite haunted by them. This whole situation is so sad and confusing. His parents must be devastated, and poor Ella as well. We hope that they have friends and family around them at this difficult time.

Incidentally, the Daily Mail’s Richard Kay and Sam Greenhill also did a somewhat strange eulogy in which they seemingly used this man’s suicide as a way to bash Prince Harry, writing in part: “[Gabriella and Thomas] did not live extravagant lives or find themselves the target of the paparazzi. In many ways their unfussy approach — home is a modest flat in fashionable Notting Hill which they had recently put on the market pending a move somewhere larger — would serve as a valuable life lesson for some of Ella’s royal cousins.” Ah, yes, how dare Ella’s royal cousin move away from his toxic, abusive family for his own mental health when he could have lived a modest, unfussy life in England… like Thomas Kingston.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Last Friday (March 1st) was St. David’s Day. Prince William, the Prince of Wales, went to Wales to mark the day in honor of the patron saint of Wales. One of the weirdest things about William’s Friday events is that he actually had several smaller events, all in a row, but he started his day in a Wrexham pub, taking shots and pulling pints with an American actor, Rob McElhenney. Like, shouldn’t that come at the end of the day? I guess William wanted to have a buzz for his next events, including a trip to an elementary school. Anyway, here’s more about just how liquor-soaked William’s first event was:

The Prince of Wales has celebrated St David’s Day by pulling a “terrible” pint in the pub made famous by Welcome to Wrexham, the television series. The programme charts the fortunes of Wrexham Football Club under its new Hollywood owners, the actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Visiting the Turf pub, William and McElhenney chatted behind the bar while the prince tried his hand at being the barman.

Pulling a pint of lager which was mostly froth, William described his efforts as “horrendous”, adding: “That might settle in a couple of hours, talk among yourselves. It’s still got a horrible head on it, that’s why I don’t work behind the bar.”

The landlord joked that William was “terrible”, but felt he could “soon knock him into shape”.

McElhenney referred to his role in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a TV show, and said: “I play a bartender but I’m not actually a bartender.” He then poured a shot of whisky and said: “This is much easier.”

William also told McElhenney that he ‘loves’ cider. After he poured a poor pint, he downed a shot instead and joked ‘That’s a better idea. I like the stronger stuff’.

Ryan Reynolds was in New York and could not be present while he edits the next Deadpool film, but MailOnline understands he hopes to meet William later this year. McElhenney told William that Reynolds had wanted to be there today, but the Prince [said]: ‘Because Ryan’s not here you can tell him I think Hugh Jackman is funnier.’

[From The Daily Mail & The Times]

“Because Ryan’s not here you can tell him I think Hugh Jackman is funnier.” William thinks he’s being so witty but whenever he tries to make these kinds of friendly-banter jokes, he comes across as arrogant, mean, ungrateful, spiteful and stupid. Probably because he is all of those things. When I tweeted out the bar story on Friday, it became one of my most-viewed tweets (ever) – people were really outraged that William would rather booze it up with American actors than attend his godfather’s memorial service. Plus, the optics of William staggering around at yet another daytime event while his wife has been missing for over two months is still a really poor choice from Kensington Palace. Last week would not have gone so badly for William if he had simply attended his godfather’s memorial service. But now it just looks like William is too much of a lightweight, that he’s so unserious that he can only do events like “be a dumbass at the BAFTAs” and “get drunk with an actor in Wales.”

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Natalie Portman is one of the actors on the cover of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue. I enjoyed Natalie in May December, and I enjoyed the film overall. I wish Charles Melton had gotten some big nominations but I wasn’t surprised that Natalie and Julianne Moore were largely snubbed. Still, Natalie and Charles both ended up on the VF cover, which meant that they both got stand-alone profiles in the magazine. Natalie chatted with VF about the film, about how she’s not really a Method actress, but she also said some interesting stuff about the bifurcation of her identity. VF asks about her marriage too – last year, the French tabloids caught Benjamin Millepied engaged in an affair with a young Frenchwoman, and reportedly Natalie and Benjamin are sort of separated and maybe even getting a divorce (no one has filed anything though). Some highlights from VF:

Dealing with the public interest in her life: “I got very protective of it very early on. I chose a different name when I started, which was kind of an interesting way that I separated identities. I would get upset if someone at school called me Natalie Portman. I was like, if you know me, you know me as Natalie Hershlag at school. It was kind of an extreme bifurcation of identity that I’ve tried to integrate a little bit more as an adult. I felt like it was not accepting that both were part of me, that there wasn’t a “real” me and a “pretend” me, and that they didn’t necessarily have different names… As I started having kids and a family, I started realizing that maybe it was not helpful to be like, there’s two of me. I have many interactions during my day as a public person. To exclude that from my experience is not real.

On people writing about her marriage: “It’s terrible, and I have no desire to contribute to it.

Living in Paris & LA: “I find them very complementary cities. I love having both in my life. I lead a very non-Hollywood life in LA. I live on the east side. I have some friends who are in the entertainment industry, but many friends who are not, and we don’t do industry things when we hang out. We’re not going to Hollywood parties, we’re having dinners at home in the backyard. I actually found that living there made my experience of LA much less “Hollywood.” When I would visit, it would only be for work, and I’d be staying somewhere in Beverly Hills, and I’d be having industry meetings and going to industry parties. Living there made my experience much more rounded and appreciative of all the city has to offer, from nature to the arts, food to music, and of course, the people. And Paris, of course, is just a dream. I’m so lucky to get to live here and have an enormously stimulating city life with incredible friends.

Watching Hollywood change: “The striking thing has been the decline of film as a primary form of entertainment. It feels much more niche now. If you ask someone my kids’ age about movie stars, they don’t know anyone compared to YouTube stars, or whatever. There’s a liberation to it, in having your art not be a popular art. You can really explore what’s interesting to you. It becomes much more about passion than about commerce. And interesting, too, to beware of it becoming something elitist. I think all of these art forms, when they become less popularized, you have to start being like, okay, who are we making this for anymore? And then amazing, too, because there’s also been this democratization of creativity, where gatekeepers have been demoted and everyone can make things and incredible talents come up. And the accessibility is incredible. If you lived in a small town, you might not have been able to access great art cinema when I was growing up. Now it feels like if you’ve got an internet connection, you can get access to anything. It’s pretty wild that you also feel like at the same time, more people than ever might see your weird art film because of his extraordinary access. So it’s this two-sided coin.

She loves word games: “I do a lot of word games. I really like all the New York Times crossword and Connections and Wordle and Spelling Bee. Actually, Julianne [Moore] is also a word-game obsessive. And she gets Queen Bee almost every day. I mean, I thought I was already impressed by what a good actress she was, but that will really top it for me.

[From Vanity Fair]

I like what she says here about the democratization of art and how people have greater access to a wider variety of all kinds of films and television shows, and that people can “come up” in different ways. That’s all true. But… there are still gatekeepers and films are not “niche” entertainment. But I get what she’s saying. Gen Z experiences TV, films and “content” so differently than the generations before them. I like what she says about living in LA – she’s not an LA-basher and I do think that’s because she actually lives there and she’s not just flying in for work.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of Vanity Fair.

Less than a month ago, “royal expert” Tom Bower said the quiet part out loud: that the future of the monarchy depends on “obliterating the Sussexes.” Prince Harry and Meghan cannot be allowed to live, work and thrive outside the institution because they will expose the uselessness of the whole exercise. Bower has targeted Meghan for years, using vile, dehumanizing language, but here’s something new. This week, Bower appeared on TalkTV and he claimed that he actually knows what’s going on with the Princess of Wales and that it’s pretty serious. While he hasn’t turned on the Waleses, we’re going to see more of this in the coming days, weeks and months:

On Kate’s surgery & recovery: “We’re not being told what the surgery was. As I understand it, it was very serious. I won’t reveal what I’ve been told it was, but she is seriously ill. It is not fatal. She will recover, but it’s a long healing process and that’s why she’s disappeared from view.”

It’s not a PR problem, it’s an illness problem: “It’s far worse than news management… we have a crisis for the monarchy at the moment. The king is ill, probably more serious than we realize, the Princess of Wales, who is the future of the monarchy… is seriously ill too. We have the constant problem of Harry and Meghan, the reappearance of Andrew is catastrophic, it’s a very bad time for the monarchy and a bad time for Britain…it’s not so much the news management, it’s literally the facts. The facts are that the royal family at the moment is besieged by bad health and unfortunately by scandal too.”

The timeline for Kate & Charles’s recovery: “I think it’s months rather than weeks. I think Kate’s recovery will be much longer than they originally anticipated, and I think the king is rightly taking his cancer treatment very seriously.”

[Transcribed from TalkTV video]

While Bower talks out of his ass a lot of the time and he’s truly one of the most vile people I’ve ever seen, he often gives a glimpse into the general mindset of the royalist media. Between Bower’s statements and the Daily Mail’s columnists freaking out all week, it definitely seems like there’s a lot of panic going around the royal establishment and their media handlers. All of this to say, I actually think Bower has got it right in this narrow instance, that Kate’s condition is much more serious than the palace has led people to believe, and that she’s not going to pop up on Easter Sunday with a fresh wiglet and a BBL. We probably won’t see her until Trooping the Colour in June, if that.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.