It’s still shocking to me that two months into the Windsors’ dual health crises, Prince William is still playing fast and loose with his schedule and refusing to stand in for his father at important events. For the last two decades of her life, Queen Elizabeth II regularly handed off tours, trips, funerals, weddings, speeches, church services and anniversary events to her heir. Then-Prince Charles traveled constantly and he was endlessly stepping in for his mother. There was never any discussion about “well, Prince Philip can fill in for QEII at this state funeral or Commonwealth speech.” No – that’s the job for an heir. During her final Easter holiday in 2022, QEII even gave the Royal Maundy service to Charles and Camilla – that’s where the monarch (or heir, that year) passes out special “Maundy money” to peasants. Well, now that King Charles is too ill to attend the Maundy service, the palace is sending Queen Camilla in her husband’s place. Not Charles’s heir – the king’s wife.

Queen Camilla has a date with royal history on her calendar in the coming weeks. On Monday, Worcester Cathedral announced that the Queen, 76, will distribute the Royal Maundy gifts on behalf of King Charles at the Royal Maundy Service on March 28.

While Queen Camilla has participated in the Royal Maundy Service with her husband before, she will become the first consort to lead the ancient tradition, the Daily Mail reported. King Charles, 75, has postponed public-facing duties while receiving cancer treatment, and the outlet described his anticipated absence at the Maundy service as “the most significant royal event” he will miss to date.

The Worcester Cathedral team shared a festive message about Queen Camilla’s upcoming visit after the news was announced.

“We are SO excited to announce that we will be welcoming Her Majesty The Queen to the Cathedral on Maundy Thursday (28 March) as we host the Royal Maundy service,” officials wrote on X on Monday, posting a photo of the ancient church and the coins that will be awarded.

[From People]

Again, this is the kind of thing which should be assigned to the heir! I guess the problem is twofold: the heir is a lazy, violent drunk AND the heir loathes religion and anything having to do with churches, so William had a plethora of excuses for why he refused to do this. Dust off the orthopedic wedges and your finest church tarp, Camilla is breaking new ground as the first consort to do this very special thing. People might start asking if there’s a point to the special blood club if any old married-in consort can take over like this. Don’t forget, Camilla is also leading the royal contingent on Commonwealth Day next week, and William is now “confirmed” to appear at Westminster Abbey as well. Let’s see if he cancels.

Photos courtesy of Instar, Cover Images.

Before Sir Michael Gambon’s passing last year, the only time I ever wrote about him in a gossipy way was back in 2009, when I came across a story about how his established mistress had just given birth to their second child together. Gambon had been married to his British-aristocrat wife, Lady Anne Gambon, since 1962, and they have a son, Fergus Gambon. He had also established a second family with his mistress Philippa Hart and they had two sons, Tom and Will. Lady Anne lives in the Gambon country estate, while Philippa and their two teenage sons live in London. Well, Sir Michael passed away last September, and his will has just become public. He left everything to his wife and eldest son, and nothing much to his mistress and their sons.

Sir Michael Gambon has handed over his £1.5million estate to his wife – leaving nothing to the long-term girlfriend with whom he had two teenage sons. The Dumbledore actor famously shared his time between Lady Anne Gambon and set designer Phillipa Hart 25 years his junior. After his death last September aged 82, his will has been published today, showing almost the entire fortune has passed to Lady Anne.

She is listed as an executor along with her son, Fergus, 60, by the star who appeared in six Harry Potter movies as Hogwarts headteacher Prof Albus Dumbledore. Provision was made for the £1,465,882 fortune to pass to Fergus if his mother had died before her husband.

Meanwhile Ms Hart, who lived openly with Sir Michael in a West London townhouse, does not receive her penny in the will which was drawn up and signed in 2016. She had two children with the actor – Tom, 17, and 15-year-old William, who each received just £10,000 and a trophy, according to the three-page document. They are both given a silver heart Variety Club of Great Britain stage actor award – the eldest getting the one awarded to his dad in 1987, while the youngest gets the trophy presented in 2000.

Ms Hart declined to tell the Daily Mail if she was aware she had been left out of the will. Speaking from her £1.5million Victorian terraced four-bed, she said: ‘It’s none of my business. I really don’t want to talk about this.’

Fergus also declined to comment when approached at their £5million Grade II listed family mansion in Meopham, Kent. He said of his mother: ‘She won’t want to speak to you.’

Sir Michael died in September last year aged 82 following a bout of pneumonia, with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside.

[From The Daily Mail]

This is just a reminder that the only thing that separates the trailer park and the upper-crust is money. Money buys the thin veneer of “respectability.” But even they can’t hide their completely trashy behavior. To start a whole other family and then leave your mistress and your “other” children next to nothing? £10,000 and a trophy, while the wife and eldest son get everything? The absolute shenanigans of this. It also makes me wonder WTF is in all of those secret royal wills. I’d still like to know how Prince Philip got such a large estate and what kind of money he bequeathed to his special friend and companion Penny.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Bradley Cooper has been dating Gigi Hadid since the SAG-AFTRA strike last year. They haven’t really been hiding at all – I mean, the point of a stunt couple is to be seen and talked about, so there have been candid “street” photos of them out and about in New York this whole time. At the end of February, suddenly there was an influx of new candid photos too, which I’m including in this post. They were out together on consecutive days, in broad daylight, going out to lunch and stopping by each other’s places and hailing cabs and more. The point is that they’re together and they’re a real couple and this was never part of an Oscar campaign nor was it some stunt-queenery from either of them! And now our reward: Bradley will “hard launch” his relationship with Gigi at the Oscars.

Bradley Cooper is preparing to “hard launch” his relationship with Gigi Hadid at the Oscars, Page Six is told. Cooper — who’s nominated on Sunday for “Maestro” — is expected to attend the Vanity Fair party with his supermodel girlfriend, friends say.

The couple has kept a relatively low profile since they started dating in October. But things are heating up. One source who knows Hadid told us, “It’s definitely getting more serious, they are totally into each other.”

Other sources said that Hadid, 28, will join Cooper, 49, at the lavish Oscars after-parties, as another insider said, “I don’t know if they will walk the Vanity Fair carpet together, but they will join up inside.”

And don’t expect to see Hadid on the red carpet at Hollywood’s biggest night because Cooper always brings his beloved mom, Gloria Campano. Hadid has met Campano, however, as she joined Campano and Cooper after the Golden Globes in January for dinner at trendy eatery Giorgio Baldi in LA. And Campano has been spotted wearing a pair of sneakers from Hadid’s Guest in Residence range.

Although the star’s 6-year-old daughter Lea De Seine – who has a cameo in “Maestro” playing Bernstein’s young daughter – made her public debut at the film’s LA premiere in December, she won’t be attending the Oscars.

[From Page Six]

I’m not surprised that Lea isn’t going to the Oscars, she’s pretty young for all of that. I’m not surprised that Mama Gloria is his Oscar date again, and I can’t wait to see what she’s wearing. Will Gloria demand to go to the VF Oscar party? Imagine those visuals – Gloria on one side, Gigi on the other. Ah, well. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Bradley and Gigi do a “hard launch” at the VF party, actually – but just know that they’ve been soft-launching their coupledom for months and months already. How many launches does one stunt relationship need?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.

Prince William actually did two days of “work” late last week – last Thursday, he visited a synagogue in London, and on Friday (St. David’s Day), he did shots with Rob McElhenney in Wrexham and then staggered off to visit an elementary school. He “had” to do those appearances last week to quell the unrest after he pulled out an appearance at his godfather’s memorial service at the last minute. William has not done a stitch of work since St. David’s Day, last Friday. No appearances, no phone calls, no investitures, nothing. Even Kate had to roll out of bed to do the fakakta school run on Monday, apparently. On Tuesday, Sky News reported that William was “off” again this week:

Prince William is set to take almost two weeks off from royal duties again with the royal diary showing zero engagements for William until the middle of March. William, 41, made just one engagement last week after pulling out of two major events at the last minute over what Kensington Palace called a “personal matter”.

The last-minute scratching of engagements sparked a media frenzy and renewed concerns about his wife Princess Catherine’s health. Since the Princess underwent abdominal surgery at the London clinic in January, coincidentally the same hospital where King Charles underwent the prostate surgery that showed he had cancer, the palace has provided little update on Kate’s condition.

[From Sky News]

There was clapback from Kensington Palace immediately, with Richard Palmer and other reporters insisting that William is supposed to do something “later this week.” Meaning, I suppose, William will be seen on Thursday or Friday. If he waits until Friday, he really did take another “week off” because, again, he hasn’t been seen since March 1. I’ve been looking through the royal reporters’ tweets to see if William is scheduled to do anything today or what he has planned for “later this week,” and they’re not saying. It’s all very interesting, especially with Camilla jetting off on holiday and Kate make a sudden appearance on Monday. WTF is actually going on at Kensington Palace?

The Prince of Wales will be out on public duty later this week, despite reports that he has taken another week off, a royal source says.

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) March 5, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

I genuinely love all of the conspiracies this week about the Ministry of Defense suddenly “confirming” that the Princess of Wales would lead a Trooping the Colour event in June. The MoD tweeted that out on Tuesday because they were trying to sell advance tickets to a “troop inspection” as part of the whole Trooping weekend in June. After the MoD tweeted it out, Kensington Palace freaked out and threw a tantrum about how THEY have not confirmed Kate’s appearance anywhere, thank you very much. KP was so mad, they made the Ministry of Defense delete all of their claims that Kate would be ready to make public appearances in June.

The army has removed a claim that the Princess of Wales will lead the Trooping the Colour event in June after she has returned to royal duties following abdominal surgery. The Ministry of Defence announced earlier on its website that Kate would lead the major royal event, which will take place on Saturday, June 8. The announcement was made because of Kate’s role as Colonel of the Irish Guards, which is the regiment trooping its colour this year.

But Kensington Palace did not confirm that the princess would be taking part, and the army did not ask royal officials for approval before publishing the notice.

Kate is continuing with her recovery after she had abdominal surgery at the start of the year, and is not expected to return to full royal duties until after Easter.

Later on Tuesday the army updated the event description to remove references to Kate.

[From LBC]

Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair underlined the point in her Vanity Fair coverage, that aides at KP “have not confirmed her attendance, pointing out that that information can only be confirmed by the palace.” Sources “close to Kate” also told Nicholl that Kate “is not being hurried into any official engagement and there is no pressure for her to return to work until she is fully fit. Much of the princess’s work with her Shaping Us campaign has continued while she is recuperating, and it is hoped that any canceled appearances will be rescheduled when she is well enough to return.” There’s so much hilarious stuff happening all at once – Shaping Us is just busywork designed around Kate’s laziness, so of course it’s “continuing” in Kate’s absence, because there’s no there there. It’s like a hamster on a wheel. Secondly, KP sources have been trying to dampen expectations about Kate AND William all week, like they’re both going to spend 2024 doing next to nothing.

Photos courtesy of Instar.

Gary Goldsmith’s time on Celebrity Big Brother is not going well. The Princess of Wales’s uncle is in there with noted Sussex-hater Sharon Osbourne, who basically looks like a reanimated corpse. They’ve been sitting around, bitching about Prince Harry and Meghan, but then Sharon is now trying to get dodgy Uncle Gary evicted from the house. How the worm turns, eh? But really, Gary has already fulfilled his obligations by talking endlessly about the Sussexes and how Kate is a saint, an angel who never puts a foot wrong.

Gary Goldsmith, who is the brother of the Princess of Wales’s mother Carole Middleton, also said he believed there was a “rewrite of history saying how unhappy” the Duke of Sussex was, as the businessman opened up to fellow housemates on this year’s rebooted Celebrity Big Brother. Speaking to Sharon Osbourne on the reality show on Tuesday, the 58-year-old said of Harry: “I think it’s really sad. At some point, I think he’s going to come back and be part of the gang – he might need to. I think we’re a very forgiving nation, I think everyone would give him a chance.”

He said: “I have a feeling that Harry was really, really loved. When they were a threesome – so Kate, William and Harry – they looked really comfortable together. Then suddenly there’s an extra dynamic that comes in, puts a stick in the spokes, and creates so much drama that I don’t genuinely think was there – and rewrote the history and saying how unhappy he was. And I just don’t think that’s fair. You can’t throw your family under the bus, write books about it, and then expect to be invited around for Christmas.”

Mr Goldsmith also spoke of Kate and his admiration for how she prioritises her family. He said: “It’s difficult to get hold of Kate at the best of times, and she’s got children – and I love the fact she puts her family first.”

Speaking on social media, Goldsmith said conspiracy theorists ‘should leave [Kate] alone right now because there’s a reason why they’re not talking about it. They are giving her a little bit of space. I just think it’s fundamentally wrong and if it was happening to anybody else they would think to give them some space. But because Kate’s Kate, she does such an amazing job, there’s always interest in her. She’s the number one royal for a reason and I just beg people to give her some space. I do think that they’re changing the dynamic and they are family centric. They’ve got duty and it’s a privilege to have the roles that they do have, but it’s family first. You’ve got to look after yourself. You put your own oxygen mask on before you look after others. Kate, get well, love you and when you’re ready we’ll see you again. That’s what we do to anyone else, why not her?’

[From The Independent & The Daily Mail]

From what I saw online from British CBB-watchers, Gary’s comments went down like a lead balloon, especially his comments about Harry and Meghan. He’s complaining about the Sussexes selling out the royals… while he’s on a tacky reality show, selling out his royal in-laws. He’s a convicted domestic abuser who is targeting an American woman and calling her a “stick in the spokes.” And he’s continuing with the narrative that Harry should have just never married so he could be a third-wheel to William and Kate’s toxic marriage forever. Sure. Meanwhile, friends of Bill & Cathy ran to the Daily Beast to complain about Gary and everything else:

The [new photo of Kate on Monday] was immediately seized on by some critics, who argued that it was orchestrated by the palace, in a vivid example of the impossibility of answering all online critics. Sources have told The Daily Beast the appearance was not staged for the cameras.

A friend of William and Kate’s told The Daily Beast: “Gary’s a private citizen, and he can do what he likes, but he must have known that doing Big Brother right now would fuel the feeding frenzy. It’s inconsiderate to say the least. Kate and William have had every excuse to dump Gary but they never have. But if he says something embarrassing, or gives away any personal information, that will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

Another friend of the family said: “He couldn’t have picked a worse time. It’s blatant cashing in and it is thoughtless. But since the queen died, it has been pretty much open season.” Asked if this meant they thought the late queen would have actively used her influence to prevent someone tangentially involved with the family like Goldsmith appearing on a reality show, the friend said: “I just don’t think he would have dared had she been alive. Now anyone seems to be able to do whatever they want without repercussions.”

However, a friend of Carole’s told The Daily Beast: “Gary is a lot of things but he isn’t stupid. There is no way he will say anything to risk his relationship with the family. Mike Tindall did I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and that was fine, and I am sure this will be too.”

[From The Daily Beast]

It’s true that since QEII died, all of the minor royals and royal-adjacents and Kate’s tacky family have all been cashing in, however they can. It blew up in the Middletons’ faces last year when Party Pieces collapsed and with it, the Middleton house of cards. That’s the larger story, one which has been curiously ignored by the British media. Between Party Pieces’ collapse and Gary’s CBB appearance, it looks like the Middleton-Goldsmith clan is in dire financial straits, and it looks like they’ve lied about their money for decades. Phrases like “blackmail risk” and “would do anything for an easy paycheck” are ricocheting around my head.

Screencaps courtesy of Celebrity Big Brother’s YouTube video & Instagram.

Queen Camilla is still on vacation and will be through the weekend. Her next scheduled appearance is on Commonwealth Day, March 11, where she will “lead the family” at a service at Westminster Abbey in her husband’s absence. Prince William is scheduled to appear alongside his stepmother but we’ll see if that really happens. Camilla’s holiday this week didn’t exactly land the way she hoped – she thought people would be like “of course she needs time off, she’s been carrying the Windsors on her back!” Instead, people were like “thirteen events in one month isn’t really working your fingers to the bone, Cammy Cakes.” There are also rumors of a larger rift between Camilla and Prince William, but who even knows at this point. So, it’s time for Camilla’s allies to try to refocus the narrative: Camilla is “shattered” and overworked, but she would never complain about it.

Shattered: “She is absolutely shattered and exhausted by the turmoil of the past two months,” a friend of Camilla’s told The Daily Beast. “She is 76 years old, and her husband has just been diagnosed with cancer. Anyone would find that a lot to deal with, without the media scrutiny that comes with her position as well.”

She would never complain about anything! Another friend of the family told The Daily Beast: “Camilla has basically had to do everything in recent months, and it is no secret that it has been tiring. She has been under extraordinary pressure at a time in her life when most people are well into their retirement. You would never hear her moan about it because she knows it goes with the territory, but everyone is just very glad she is taking some time for herself, especially as this could go on for several more months.”

She works so hard, you guys: Asked how Camilla felt about taking on so much more work than she had likely anticipated—Camilla has undertaken 13 official engagements since the king’s cancer diagnosis was announced on February 5, and has been the public face of the monarchy since then—one of her friends said: “It wasn’t what she anticipated but, as anyone who knows her will tell you, she is not a complainer. She is proud to support her husband. We are all just very happy that she has actually gone ahead and taken this week off.”

No one knows where she is: Asked if they knew where Camilla had gone, the friend would only say her destination was overseas and extremely private. The Daily Beast has not been able to confirm her destination. The palace did not respond to a request for comment. There is little doubt however that her absence has left the royal family, which was already notably short-staffed before, looking even more threadbare.

William still refuses to do much: While there are increasing calls in mainstream and social media for William to return to a fuller schedule of engagements, especially after he cancelled a high-profile appearance at a memorial service for his godfather, the last king of Greece, last week, The Daily Beast has been told that William is determined to stick to his guns and maintain a light schedule until his wife is fully recovered, likely around Easter. The couple are not expected to travel abroad much this year, if at all.

Camilla’s holiday was a mistake?? A former palace staffer told The Daily Beast: “I totally get Camilla taking time off, she needs it, but my personal view is that it will probably turn out to be a mistake for her to have got on a plane. The reason the queen never went abroad for holidays is that their staff just can’t protect their privacy overseas in the same way they can at the royal estates. With everything going on, it’s not the perfect time to be chilling by a pool. If she had stayed in the U.K. they wouldn’t have even had to announce anything.”

[From The Daily Beast]

See, I think if Camilla had announced a week off with the time spent at Ray Mill or Highgrove, people would have been more accepting of that – a staycation, if you will, where Camilla would be seen as “on call” in case of emergency, and physically close to her ill husband. Jetting off on an overseas holiday while her husband has cancer and while the working-royal ranks are so threadbare… that’s a huge problem. I love how these sources are like “Camilla never complains” whilst complaining on her behalf. Please: Charles, Camilla, Kate, William, Sophie, Edward – they all complain and explain constantly.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Gwyneth Paltrow “operates like a colonizer.” So true. [LaineyGossip]
Austin Butler improvised his kiss with Stellan Skarsgard. [Socialite Life]
Caitlin Clark keeps shattering NCAA records. [Jezebel]
Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan attended an Indian billionaire’s wedding. [Hollywood Life]
Rihanna performed at that same billionaire’s wedding. [OMG Blog]
A Dune reader explains things to Dune watchers. [Pajiba]
American airports are definitely falling way behind. [Buzzfeed]
Kumail Nanjiani joins the cast of Only Murders in the Building. [JustJared]
Sinbad gave us a health update. [Seriously OMG]
I kind of love Cate Blanchett’s Fendi suit. [RCFA]

In the past week, I’ve gotten the feeling that the royalists would much rather talk about how much they hate Prince Andrew, as opposed to the weirdness around Prince William skipping his godfather’s memorial service and then Camilla jetting off on holiday this week. They’re telegraphing the fact that they really, really do not want to talk about the situations with Camilla and William, situations which I thought were somewhat separate. But according to the Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column – “Eyebrows are raised at Queen Camilla’s decision to take a week off amid shortage of royals” – the Peg & Cam situations are linked.

Royal eyebrows tilt skyward at Queen Camilla’s decision to take a week off in the midst of the Family Firm’s worst labour shortage in history.

With both the King and the Princess of Wales hors de combat, there simply aren’t enough of the first team to cover the plethora of engagements requiring a royal presence.

Mischief makers hint at a falling-out between Camilla and William stemming from his no-show at King Constantine’s memorial at Windsor, and claim she decided on a holiday.

Alarmingly, the sudden dearth of working royals has given discredited Andrew hope of some sort of rehabilitation by helping William and Princess Anne fill the gaps. But one courtier whispers of an Andrew comeback: ‘He has two chances. None and none at all.’

[From The Daily Mail]

“Mischief makers hint at a falling-out between Camilla and William stemming from his no-show at King Constantine’s memorial at Windsor, and claim she decided on a holiday.” This is the first I’m hearing of that mischievous theory. I would actually believe that William and Camilla have been at “war” to some degree for months now, especially as Camilla’s actions and photo-ops exposed William’s lies and obfuscation around Kate and everything else. It’s like Camilla has been trying to expose him, and maybe Constantine’s memorial service last week was the final straw for both of them? I could absolutely believe that Camilla saw every other Windsor taking time off and going on vacation and she decided she deserved a holiday too. I also believe that Camilla’s holiday is unpopular within Buckingham Palace – the “tell” there was Camilla plainly briefing to the Times that she works so hard and completely deserves some spa treatments.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I’ve said this a few times – and I even said it in this week’s Gossip with Celebitchy podcast – but the timeline for the Princess of Wales’s return to public life is not actually going to be “around Easter.” The palace began pushing back that timeline almost immediately, especially since Kate and William usually disappear for a month around Easter anyway, because of their kids’ school holiday. The ultimate goal was and is to have Kate out, doing events, by June. That’s the real timeline – they want her to attend Trooping the Colour in June, and if she’s not out and about by then, some sh-t will really go down. Speaking of, the Ministry of Defense announced that Kate would absolutely attend Trooping, and now Kensington Palace is pushing back on that. Well well.

The Princess of Wales’s attendance at Trooping the Colour has been announced by the Ministry of Defence before getting the green light from Kensington Palace, prompting confusion about her involvement. The Army’s website announced that the Princess, as Colonel of the Irish Guards, would review soldiers on parade on June 8. However, the palace was not consulted ahead of the announcement and has not yet confirmed her attendance.

While plans are in place for the Princess to attend, sources said the palace would make the official announcement as and when a final decision is made.

The MoD said the King, who is undergoing cancer treatment, would also be back in action for his official birthday parade the following Saturday, June 15. Tickets have gone on sale for both events.

The announcement is the first to be announced for the Princess since she stepped back from official duties to convalesce following abdominal surgery on Jan 16. Buckingham Palace sources said that planning for the King’s future engagements continued, with allowance to be made for his changed circumstances, if necessary, nearer the time. The Army’s website, which is selling tickets for £15, said the Trooping the Colour attended by the Princess would be the same as the parade traditionally inspected by the monarch.

[From The Telegraph]

We should keep a list going on all of the upcoming events which William and Kate refuse to confirm – no one will say if William will attend the service for Commonwealth Day next week, no one will say if William will do the D-Day anniversary events, no one will confirm the Waleses’ appearances at Trooping, no one will confirm any appearance for St. Patrick’s Day (Kate is the new patron of the Irish Guards, she took over from William last year). And on and on. KP is making it clear: don’t assume you’re going to see William OR Kate until the autumn, and maybe not even then.

Oh, look who just confirmed for Commonwealth Day! I wonder if William will end up canceling at the last minute.

NEW
The Queen accompanied by The Prince of Wales, The Duke and Duchess of
Edinburgh, The Princess Royal, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and The Duke of Kent will
attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration @wabbey on Monday

— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) March 5, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.