In March Pierce Brosnan resolved that little misunderstanding he had with Yellowstone National Park. You remember, the “recollections may vary” moment where he originally pleaded Not Guilty to trespassing on a protected thermal spring area, despite photographic evidence to the contrary, so then he finally apologized, pleaded Guilty, and paid a fine? Well for this month’s installment of Shenanigans Going Down at Yellowstone National Park, I present to you Clarence Yoder and McKenna Bass of Idaho Falls, Idaho. While on an inebriated perusal of the park where Bass was behind the wheel of their car, Yoder exited the vehicle to interact with the wildlife. And by “interact with,” I mean he kicked one bison and further harassed a whole herd before he was stopped by his own injuries and the rangers stepping in. I call this episode, FAFO: Cattle Edition.

An Idaho man has been arrested on an alcohol-related crime and other related charges after he was accused of kicking a bison at Yellowstone National Park.

The man, 40-year-old Clarence Yoder of Idaho Falls, approached a bison within 25 yards on April 21 and was injured after he “harassed a herd of bison” and kicked an animal in the leg, according to a statement from the park.

The incident occurred on the West Entrance Road near the Seven Mile Bridge, 7 miles east of Yellowstone’s West Entrance. Rangers found Yoder and the vehicle’s driver, McKenna Bass, 37, also of Idaho Falls, near the West Entrance and stopped them in the town of West Yellowstone, Montana.

Yoder was hurt in the bison encounter, the park said, and was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, where he was evaluated, treated and released before being taken to the Gallatin County Detention Center.

He was arrested and is charged with being under the influence of alcohol to a degree that may endanger oneself, disorderly conduct as to create or maintain a hazardous condition, approaching wildlife and disturbing wildlife, the park said in a statement.

Bass was also arrested and charged with driving under the influence, interference for failure to yield to emergency light activation, and disturbing wildlife.

Yoder and Bass appeared in court April 22 and pleaded not guilty. According to Yellowstone, each violation can result in fines of up to $5,000 and six months in jail.

The incident remains under investigation, Yellowstone said.

The incident was the first report of a visitor injured by bison this year, Yellowstone said. The last reported incident was July 17, 2023 the only incident reported last year. Three incidents that caused injuries were reported in 2022.

[From USA Today]

I’m with the bison! For beef’s sake, we’ve decimated the species to practically nothing; leave them alone on their designated grounds! Yellowstone in particular is the only place in the US where bison have continuously lived since prehistoric times. You don’t assault and harass someone in their own home! Yes, I watched all four hours of the Ken Burns documentary, and my heart wept for how we’ve treated the shaggy, humpbacked beasts. I’m generally not a vindictive person, but I hope Yoder & Bass each get the full fines and sentences. They were a danger to themselves, the animals, and other humans they could’ve encountered. As a side note, is it me or do the names of these miscreants fit well with their roles in this story? Something about the cadence of McKenna Bass & Clarence Yoder is reminding me of Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow. Only instead of robbing banks, this duo were robbing bison of some peace and quiet! Good grief, between this and puppy/goat-killer Governor Kristi Noem, it really has been an abysmal week in animal news.

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This isn’t the man in the story:

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Header image credit Ralph on Pexels. Other images via Instagram/Tourons of Yellowstone

A few days ago, Kim Kardashian made a dramatic hair change. She went back to “icy blonde” and cut her hair/took out her extensions. The new hair color does nothing for her, but the point is that something happened recently which made Kim decide to give herself a big makeover. We’ve just learned what that something is – she and Odell Beckham Jr. apparently “fizzled out.” Kim did a “breakup blonde” makeover. I barely remembered that Kim and Odell were together, and they mostly avoided being photographed together. They were seen on Oscar night, after the Vanity Fair Oscar party. Kim also attended his blowout birthday party last fall. So they were dating (or whatever) for about seven months.

Kim Kardashian and Odell Beckham Jr. are going their separate ways.

“It’s over and just fizzled out,” a source tells PEOPLE of the pair, who were first linked in September 2023.

The split comes after the SKIMS founder, 43, and the Baltimore Ravens wide receiver, 31, were spotted exiting the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party together in March. At the time, a source told PEOPLE that they were “hanging out pretty much all night once he got there.”

“There wasn’t a ton of PDA like some of the other couples, but there was a lot of touching, and they were right near each other the entire time,” the insider added. “They were careful about not being too all over each other, but there was lots of chemistry, and they left together.”

[From People]

TMZ got the breakup confirmation at the same time as People Mag – thank you, Kris Jenner. TMZ’s sources say that Kim and Odell have just phased into a friendship and there’s no bad blood (ha). They still respect each other, no one’s bad-mouthing anyone. Which sounds fine – Odell was seen out with another woman a few weeks ago, so maybe that was it. Or maybe they were never super-exclusive in the first place. Kim making sure that everyone knows she’s single ahead of the Met Gala is so funny. Is she going to try to find a new boyfriend there?

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Emily Blunt wore an orange Armani dress to the LA premiere of The Fall Guy. I’m not trying to be mean, but she really doesn’t look like herself. [RCFA]
Lupita Nyong’o is in Berlin! [Go Fug Yourself]
Luke Evans is good at Instagram. [Socialite Life]
Even in paparazzi photos, Anya Taylor Joy looks like she’s going a magazine photoshoot. Also: we rarely see her in such casual clothes! [LaineyGossip]
The Anxious Generation – how social media screwed up a generation. [Pajiba]
Vanessa Williams has new music. [OMG Blog]
Matthew Lillard is kind of an underrated actor. [Seriously OMG]
They stole my idea for a potato-themed lifestyle brand!!! [Starcasm]
Why was Justin Bieber sad? [Hollywood Life]
Spring recipes for the month of May. [Buzzfeed]

Is Britney Spears genuinely in danger of “going broke”? It sounds like she’s overspending, for sure, but I don’t know about “going broke.” [Socialite Life]
The first trailer for Mufasa: The Lion King. [LaineyGossip]
Kim Kardashian shared a throwback pic with Karlie Kloss. [Hollywood Life]
Of all the pasta options, I almost never choose ravioli. This is one of the reasons why – I feel like I’m getting more food with other dishes. [Jezebel]
Cillian Murphy sort of dissed Red Eye, one of his best films?? [Pajiba]
Industry secrets kept from customers. [Buzzfeed]
Martin Freeman talks about the problematic “age gap” in his new film and he sort of makes it worse by bringing up the Holocaust. [JustJared]
Creepy AI pics of Ronald McDonald. [OMG Blog]
John Mellencamp’s toilet selfie. [Seriously OMG]
Jennifer Connelly wore Louis Vuitton to the Dark Matter premiere. [RCFA]

Everyone knew it was coming and here it is: “sources” close to Prince William and Kate insisting that they’ll never, ever speak to Prince Harry or see Harry during his visit next week, for the Invictus service. I’m surprised this exclusive didn’t come out an hour after Harry’s schedule was confirmed. Ol’ Huevo is slipping! It honestly took Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast most of the day on Monday to finally speak to his favorite unnamed friends-of-Bill. Probably the same friends who repeatedly declared that William “f–king hates” Harry and Meghan. Probably the same friends who said that the next time William speaks to his brother, it will be at their father’s funeral. Let’s see if there’s anything new in here:

Prince William and Kate Middleton will not meet Prince Harry when he returns to the U.K. next week as they don’t want to create unnecessary stress while she recovers from cancer, friends of the couple have told The Daily Beast.

“Both sides understand each other’s position clearly now,” said one friend of the couple. “William and Catherine felt completely betrayed by Harry’s memoir (Spare). They don’t speak to Harry and Meghan, and they are certainly not about to start when Catherine is at her most vulnerable.”

Harry’s camp have let it be known that he reached out privately to the princess after her cancer diagnosis; however, it is not known whether he is seeking a meeting this time. His spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.

Another friend, who used to be friends with both the brothers but has not had contact with Harry since he left the U.K., brushed off suggestions that Harry’s good wishes heralded a breakthrough in relations. “[Harry is] just another person who sold his story to the papers. A ‘get well soon’ message is neither here nor there. But the whole situation doesn’t use up a huge amount of their mental energy any more. William and Kate have accepted it and moved on. Cancer puts things in perspective. William respects his father’s wish to reconcile with his son, but his focus now is on protecting his family from stressful situations.”

Official sources at the palace did not respond to requests for comment from The Daily Beast about whether family members would meet with Harry. However, they are likely to have known about Harry’s impending trip for at least a fortnight as it was recently disclosed that Harry is required to give 28 days notice of trips to the U.K. so his security can be planned. He lost a recent case against the government in which he sought automatic police protection on British soil which would have given him more flexibility on travel plans.

[From The Daily Beast]

That part about the Windsors knowing about Harry’s trip for a fortnight is interesting – I saw some Sussex Squad people accusing the palace of leaking information about Harry’s visit, but from what I saw, the palace kept it quiet (presuming that they knew). Invictus confirmed Harry’s visit to the UK, not Buckingham Palace. So far, I haven’t seen much briefing from BP either, just the normal sh-t about “Harry should apologize to Camilla!!” Once again, Camilla and Charles are playing the brothers against each other, only I get the impression that Harry really doesn’t give a sh-t either way. Harry is just going about his business, trying to do what he feels is right. Meanwhile, William is raging yet again about “[Harry is] just another person who sold his story to the papers. A ‘get well soon’ message is neither here nor there” – William gives away his story to the papers as part of the invisible contract. William has no moral authority here.

Anyway, Harry’s visits are always interesting to watch as William gets off his ass and tries (and fails) to compete with his younger brother. When he fails, William then goes on a briefing spree about how much he f–king hates Harry. That’s been William’s go-to play for several years now, and that’s what will happen next week. Suddenly William will have urgent busywork on the 8th and when Harry still gets all of the headlines, William will call up the Times and the Mail and brief a bunch of sh-t about Harry’s visit.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

It basically took the Mail’s resident royalist crackpots a full 24 hours to react to the amazing news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will visit Nigeria, at Nigeria’s request and invitation. It was honestly brilliant to announce the Nigerian trip the same day as confirming Harry’s trip to London. It took all of the wind out of the royalists’ sails – they were going to scream and cry for a full week about how Harry is unwelcome, how his brother and father will “snub” him, etc. Now it turns out that a commonwealth country had independently invited the Sussexes to visit, and suddenly you would think that Britain still “owns” the Sussexes and controls their schedule. This time it’s Phil Dampier who says the quiet part out loud: that the Sussexes have a rival royal court. Worse yet, the royal court of Montecito is beating the socks off the Windsors’ royal court.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been accused of wanting their own ‘rival royal roadshow’ as they embark on their first non-official royal tour of Nigeria, with royal experts claiming the couple are trying to ‘have their cake and eat it’.

Royal biographer Tom Bower told MailOnline: ‘Playing the “Royal Card” has become Meghan’s and Harry’s income lifeline. Once again, the ‘privacy-seeking’ couple are exploiting the family they have outrageously denounced to pump up their publicity. Undoubtedly, the trip will be financed by the Nigerian government. Their motives, as members of the Commonwealth, remain obscure.’

Meanwhile royal author Phil Dampier suggested there was an irony to the visit, as Harry and Meghan have previously been critical of the Commonwealth, with the Duchess admitting she ‘did not know’ about it until after she joined the firm.

Royal author Phil Dampier said: ‘It’s ironic that the late Queen wanted Harry and Meghan to very much be her ambassadors throughout the Commonwealth and spread goodwill among its fifty or so nations, but they didn’t want to do it as royals. Now they are happy to pick and choose invitations they receive from these countries. They did so in Jamaica and now plan to travel to Nigeria, a country his mother Diana toured with the King in the early 1990s. They are in effect trying to set up a rival court, their own royal roadshow, and I think people can see through it. They heavily criticised the monarchy and the Commonwealth in their Netflix shows and Harry’s book Spare, yet they are happy to be invited simply because of their royal connections.’

Mr Dampier said that unofficial visits conducted by the pair could ‘blunder into a diplomatic incident’ if they couple ‘say or do the wrong thing’.

He added: ‘It’s all trying to have your cake and eat it, do commercial deals where it suits, but do some quasi-official duties to make out you are still important on the world stage. Some will say they have every right to do this but it smacks of the half in and half out position the late Queen tried to avoid.’

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams added: ‘The Sussexes’ behaviour during their visit will be watched with care, as the comments about the Commonwealth in their documentary Harry and Meghan, for Netflix, were far from flattering. If there is to be any healing of the rift in the royal family, they must avoid any comment or action that might be construed as being detrimental to the monarchy and to its pivotal links with the Commonwealth.’

[From The Daily Mail]

The fact that these salty men are saying outright that everything the Sussexes do and say has enormous political implications back in Britain… it’s beautiful. That’s how they justify watching everything Harry and Meghan do as well – it has political implications, it’s about the Commonwealth, it’s about the monarchy! Again, the Sussexes offered to be half-in, and the monarchy could have had a big say in their schedules and where they traveled. The palace rejected their half-in offer. After which, the palace has tried to use whatever political clout they have to convince other governments to “snub” the Sussexes, to little avail.

Isn’t it the Daily Mail and the British media trying to bandwagon on everything the Sussexes do and calling it “royal”? The Sussexes didn’t arrange the Nigerian trip through the palace or the British Foreign Office. They didn’t call it a royal tour. The Nigerian government said: we invited them because of Invictus. “Their motives, as members of the Commonwealth, remain obscure.” Is Bower threatening the country of Nigeria?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Over the weekend, we talked about South Dakota Governor Kirsti Noem and how she’s a dog killer. Noem has released a memoir/MAGA screed, and in the book, she reveals a truly repugnant story about shooting her 14-month-old puppy Cricket and leaving Cricket’s body in a gravel pit. On the same day that she shot and killed Cricket, she shot and killed a family goat and left the goat’s body in the same gravel pit.

Well, people were outraged. The book excerpts came out late last week, and Democrats, dog-lovers and animal-rights people have been registering their disgust online. Noem was far from popular before all of this dog-murder, but this a special kind of backlash designated for psychos who kill happy puppies just because they don’t value life. Well, Noem saw the backlash and she wrote this sh-t on Twitter:

I can understand why some people are upset about a 20 year old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch, in my upcoming book — No Going Back. The book is filled with many honest stories of my life, good and bad days, challenges, painful decisions, and lessons learned.

What I learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota through COVID, is people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges. My hope is anyone reading this book will have an understanding that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life.

The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did.

Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle. Even if it’s hard and painful. I followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor.

As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy. But often the easy way isn’t the right way.

[From Noem’s Twitter]

“Don’t shy away from tough challenges” – you killed an innocent dog which you had not bothered to properly train. You took an untrained dog out hunting and Cricket did what came naturally. Instead of taking precautions to ensure that your untrained PUPPY behaved in unfamiliar situations, you lost your temper and snuffed out an innocent animal’s life out of your own malignant need for cruelty and violence. “Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them” – a puppy nips and bites, especially an untrained puppy thrown into weird situations like “being taken out for a bird shoot with zero training.”

Also: none of this was a binary choice, either kill a puppy or keep an untrained dog around. She could have rehomed Cricket, she could have taken Cricket to a shelter, she could have chosen many different options other than “shoot a dog in cold blood and leave the body in a gravel pit.”

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Surprise surprise, Prince William stepped out today for some events in northern England. I wonder when these events were thrown together? When Prince Harry confirmed that he would attend the May 8th Invictus service? Or when Buckingham Palace published a new portrait of King Charles, with the announcement that he would return to work? Probably both. Notice that no one is billing William’s events as stealing his father’s thunder on Charles’s first public event in a month… and yet Harry’s Invictus service announcement was declared an irritation and ‘pulling focus.”

Prince William is stepping out for two of his favorite causes. On the day that his father King Charles resumed public-facing duties for the first time since he revealed his cancer diagnosis in February, the Prince of Wales, 41, headed to the north-east of England for events highlighting the climate crisis and tackling mental health.

William, who is working solo while his wife Kate Middleton is undergoing treatment for cancer, began the morning with a visit to celebrate the work of Low Carbon Materials, a finalist for his environmental Earthshot Prize. The company based in Seaham, County Durham makes cutting-edge, carbon-negative products. While visiting, William heard their reflections on how being nominated for the Prize has boosted their company, which was set up by three Material Science PhD students with the vision of becoming a world leader in low-carbon and environmentally friendly construction materials.

The second visit for the prince (who celebrated his thirteenth wedding anniversary with Princess Kate on April 29) was to open James’ Place Newcastle, in the city of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. The charity provides a crucial lifeline for men experiencing suicidal thoughts and is the latest of several centers run by the charity that William has opened. The issue of men’s suicide also forms part of William’s wider mental health campaigning, and is something he’s taken a leading role in helping to raise awareness of.

[From People]

I know it’s People Magazine, but I think everyone should avoid calling “the issue of men’s suicide” one of William’s “favorite causes.” He’s not giddy or happy or jazzed to talk about men’s mental health or suicide. That being said, I do find it interesting that he’s been doing more mental-health stuff lately though. He’s trying to re-launch himself as some kind of compassionate thought leader on mental health, rather than a violent, rage-filled jackass who desperately needs therapy.

Anyway, the photos from Low Carbon Materials are funny because the photographer, Oli Scarff, positioned himself so that William’s bald-ass head lined up perfectly with the LCM logo, to make it look like lines were shooting out of Huevo. It looks like Huevo is buffering. (I don’t know if this actually has a name, but the best version of this type of photography is Roger Federer and the Rolex crown.)

Photos courtesy of Oli Scarff/Avalon.

Queen Elizabeth II was not a big fan of the then-Duchess of Cambridge. I’m not saying QEII had beef with Kate, but QEII did have some subtle ways of showing that Kate was far from her favorite married-in. QEII waited six and a half years to give Kate the Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II, which is usually something given to royal wives after three or four years. QEII also waited until April 2019 to give Kate the Royal Victorian Order, and it felt like Kate was given GCRVO specifically because Kate was (at the time) weathering a lot of rumors about her husband’s alleged affair with their Norfolk neighbor, Rose Hanbury. Five years later, and Kate is once again in the middle of another sh-tstorm, likely of her husband’s making. So King Charles has dusted off a new shiny medal to give her for sticking with an unmoisturized Huevo.

Kate Middleton and Prince William are taking on new royal appointments. On April 23, which happens to be the sixth birthday of the Prince and Princess of Wales’ son Prince Louis, King Charles announced several new appointments, including for members of the royal family.

The King, 75, appointed his daughter-in-law Princess Kate, 42, as the Royal Companion of the Order of the Companions of Honour. In a history-making twist, she is the first Royal Companion named to this order. The Order of the Companions of Honour was founded by King George V in 1917 to recognize outstanding achievements in the arts, sciences, medicine and public service. Members are limited to 65 at a time (although people from outside Commonwealth countries can be counted as additional honorary members) and currently include David Attenborough, Elton John, Anna Wintour, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Prince William, 41, was appointed by his father to be Great Master of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. The role had been vacant since 2022 after King Charles, who held the role from 1974 to 2022, acceded to the throne.

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath was established by King George I in 1725 but is believed to originally date back as far as the eighth century. It is awarded to members of the military or civil service for exemplary service.

Queen Camilla also received a new appointment from her husband as the Grand Master and First or Principal Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. The Order of the British Empire was established by King George V in 1917 to honor a broader cross-section of society, both military and civilian. It comprises five classes, the two most senior of which makes the recipient a knight or dame.

The title of Grand Master has twice before been held by the monarch’s spouse with Prince Philip (1953 to 2021) and Queen Mary (1936 to 1953). King Edward VIII, who was known as the Duke of Windsor following his abdication, held the role from 1917 to 1936 as the Prince of Wales.

Keeping with the tradition of appointing new Companions to the Order of the Garter on April 23, the feast day of England’s patron saint St. George, King Charles named four members. This included a member of the royal family: the Duchess of Gloucester. The Duchess, 77, is the wife of the late Queen Elizabeth’s cousin the Duke of Gloucester and a full-time working member of the royal family. Her appointment marks the first time a non-blood royal who wasn’t a spouse of the monarch or heir received the Order of Garter honor. The other three new Order of the Garter members include Air Chief Marshal Lord Peach, the Right Honourable Lord Kakkar and Lord Lloyd-Webber.

[From People]

It’s insane to me that the Duchess of Gloucester is getting the Order of the Garter honor and she’s the first married-in royal to get it. Like… I’m sure it’s about seniority, but damn, you know both Sophie and Kate would love to get the Garter robes or even the Order of the Thistle robes (I love the Thistle robes, they’re emerald green velvet and I would wear that cape everywhere). Kate will probably be pleased with the Royal Companion of the Order of the Companions of Honour, although it does feel like a “lesser” honor, something given to placate Kate. Will she accept the honor in person?? LOL. I don’t think that’s how it works – it’s just some fancy doodad which will appear with her sash and her few other medals for state dinners and state occasions. As for William’s new position… again, he should have been taking over ALL of Charles’s former positions right from the start. It’s shocking how long it’s taking to hand off everything.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

More than a week ago, Samantha Cohen gave a couple of interviews to the Sydney Morning Herald. Cohen was a long-time aide to Queen Elizabeth II, then right as Cohen was about to leave Buckingham Palace to move into the private sector, QEII asked Cohen to stay on and work for a six-month transition period as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s private secretary. Cohen ended up staying with the Sussexes for about a year and a half. She left the Sussexes just a few months before THEY left for Canada and eventually Sussexited out of the UK. In Cohen’s April interviews, she basically left the impression that she was interviewed as part of the “bullying investigation” into Meghan’s conduct, and that the Sussexes had high staff turnover. I also got the impression that she didn’t enjoy her time working with the Sussexes but she wasn’t part of the palace-driven campaign to destroy them.

Given everything we’ve seen over the years, no one has ever provided one single piece of evidence or even an anecdotal, unverifiable story of Meghan “bullying” anyone. It’s always just vibes, racist innuendo and “she made me feel bullied” claims. No one has ever explained exactly what Meghan allegedly did or said which had posh white women sobbing hysterically or on the verge of nervous breakdowns. “She wanted a specific kind of flower at her wedding!” That’s not bullying. “She looked at me in a meeting!” Also not bullying. “She sent a 5am text to Jason Knauf while she was traveling internationally!” No mas!! Well, trust Tom Bower to try to make a meal out of Cohen’s interviews. He wrote a new screed in the Mail about how, five years after the fakakta bullying claims were created, Cohen’s interviews could breathe new life into the smear campaign:

The Duchess of Sussex’s senior royal official, Samantha Cohen, has finally broken cover on the explosive bullying claims that first rocked Kensington Palace in 2021 and still reverberate today. Ms Cohen, a loyal and longstanding former palace aide, has confirmed to an Australian newspaper that she was, indeed, among those interviewed by the Palace in the wake of complaints about the duchess’s alleged aggressive behaviour.

A small step forward, you might think, but a significant one when it comes to an episode which officials have so far swept under the carpet. Samantha Cohen is not just any courtier, after all. An intelligent, charming Australian, she had been working with the late Queen for 20 years when she was asked to undertake a challenging new assignment. In 2017, Ms Cohen agreed to help the newly engaged Meghan acclimatise to the Royal Family and life in Kensington Palace.

Her task was to persuade an ambitious, career-minded and outspoken Californian actress to embrace the Royal Family’s immutable hierarchy and rigid protocols. Perhaps it was a tall order. Certainly, I believe that Ms Cohen was soon exasperated, within six months or so, and that Meghan either disagreed with, or failed to understand, the non-negotiable elements of royalty. I also believe that members of Samantha Cohen’s team viewed this as an irresponsible self-indulgence. Both sides would blame a clash of cultures.

Could a 36-year-old with a profile adopt the British propensity for understatement? Could she ditch Hollywood’s hyperbole in favour of the Palace’s low-key, repetitive ‘no comment’? It seems not.

She doesn’t go quite so far in her conversation with the Herald Sun, but Ms Cohen does say that she stayed in her role three times as long as she had planned – because officials struggled to find a replacement for her. And that, intriguingly, when a new private secretary was eventually found, that person quit during Harry and Meghan’s tour of Africa in 2019. The Sun Herald quotes Ms Cohen as saying: ‘I was only supposed to stay for six months but stayed for 18 – we couldn’t find a replacement for me and when we did, we took them on tour to Africa with Harry and Meghan to show them the ropes but they left as well while in Africa.’

Ms Cohen also appeared to confirm that she was one of a number of courtiers who had been interviewed following a bullying complaint raised by Harry and Meghan’s communications secretary, Jason Knauf, in 2018 – and first revealed by The Times in 2020.

As I record in my book, Revenge, William told Harry that Meghan’s behaviour was unacceptable and that Ms Cohen and others had become suspicious that Meghan had never intended to give up her career and become a loyal member of the family. Did Meghan want to return to America, William wondered? As their conversation became heated, William mentioned staff complaints about being bullied by Meghan. Harry was outraged – but the accusations, whether justified or not, were a matter of fact. So was a certain level of staff turnover.

[From The Daily Mail]

“So was a certain level of staff turnover.” So if we’re using “staff turnover” as evidence of the bad behavior of royals, surely that rationale should be extended to Prince William and Kate? Their senior staff come and go rapidly, and part of the reason why Kensington Palace has been such a clownshow this year is because Kate didn’t have a private secretary for more than eighteen months, and William’s private secretary left because he didn’t want to answer to as-yet-undiscovered Kensington Palace CEO. All of the major KP staffers from 2018-2019 left in the coming years after the Sussexes exited the country. The king basically assigned a Tory handler and an ex-military guy to staff Huevo and Buttons mid-crisis this year because William is too stupid and inept to keep senior staff. The past four years have been evidence enough that Kensington Palace’s staffers are incompetent fools, and that was before Simon Case tried to run “the Meghan Special” on government staffers in Downing Street. You reap what you sow, and William and Kate have been reaping for years.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.