Olivia Rodrigo has been riding some big highs lately — like selling 1.4 million tickets for her GUTS World Tour, releasing her concert film of that tour (out on Netflix now), and of course, meeting the King of Australian king penguins, Pesto the giant baby penguin (we’ll still love you once you fledge, baby boy!!!). But there still have been some low moments, too, even if Olivia has picked herself back up and taken things in stride. Sometimes literally, like when she fell through a hole on stage mid-performance at a show in Melbourne, that fans helpfully caught on camera from multiple angles. I still can’t believe how quickly she popped out of that hole and kept going; I wouldn’t have been that nimble even when I was her age. And now Olivia has shared another less-than-stellar incident. She was just on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote the GUTS film, where she told a very unsavory story about being interrogated for a half hour by federal agents at the Canadian border:

Speaking about her tour to Jimmy, Olivia began: “I got in trouble with the law for the first time in my life.”

“We’re going from Canada to Portland or something, we’re at border control, I give them my passport, like: ‘OK, whatever,’ then they knock on the door and they’re like: ‘We need Olivia,’” the star explained.

“I’m like: ‘I just played a few shows, maybe their daughter wants an autograph,’” she continued. “I come out, it’s 3 a.m. and I’m delirious, and they take me to a room, and it’s an interrogation room and there’s a big cop with a gun and he’s like: ‘Have you ever been arrested?’”

“I’m like: ‘No! I haven’t been arrested!’” Olivia recalled. “He’s like, ‘Are you sure?’ and I’m gaslighting myself, like: ‘Oh my god, maybe I was arrested and I didn’t know it!’”

“He’s like: ‘You know, you can go to jail for lying to a federal officer, this is really bad,’” Olivia went on. “I’m freaking out, like: ‘I’m not going to get into America!’ I’m so scared, I’m, like, having a panic attack.”

She then concluded: “After 30 minutes of interrogation, he looks at me and goes: ‘What’s your name?’ [I said] ‘Olivia Rodrigo: R O D R I G O,’ and he’s like: ‘Oh, there’s a girl who looks just like you that’s the same age that’s been arrested multiple times and her name’s Olivia Rodriguez.’”

Visibly still in disbelief over the whole ordeal, Olivia admitted to the host: “Jimmy, I was pissed! I’m like: ‘You didn’t look at the name on the thing and you’re interrogating me for 30 minutes?!’ but phew, crisis averted.”

The segment ended with both Olivia and Jimmy wondering who the real Olivia Rodriguez is as they warned her to keep a low profile.

[From BuzzFeed]

Ugh. To borrow the parlance of Olivia’s generation: this story gives me “the ick.” She did say it was three in the morning, which means the officers were tired too. But reading and confirming a person’s frickin’ name has to be the very basic of first steps. It barely even adds up, because Olivia had already handed them her passport! Who flagged her name, anyway, and was it from reading the passport or from hearing an agent say her name? I want a full-scale investigation into this!! I’m glad Olivia called him out after the cop copped to getting the wrong name! Again, double checking the name with the alleged criminal you’re looking to bring in, really is the absolute lowest of expectations for law enforcement. At least Olivia was able to make good late night TV fodder out of this. She was so funny describing how easily she started second-guessing herself, “Wait, have I been arrested?”

Later on in the interview, she also shared a sweet follow up to that whole falling-in-a-hole-on-stage episode. After she finished the concert, Olivia went to the hospital to make sure she didn’t have a concussion. The nurse who tended to her was Filipino and had the same name as her late grandfather, so Olivia thought it was him giving her a nod from beyond that she’s ok. Aw, that story gives me “the feels.”

Photos credit: Miles Leavitt/Netflix, Emilio Madrid/Getty Images for Netflix

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Score another win for consumers under the Biden/Harris administration. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission and the Dept. of Justice took on a cause that’s near and dear to many of our hearts: the broken ice cream machines at McDonald’s. McDonald’s ice cream machines are so notorious for breaking that there’s an entire website called McBroken that’s dedicated to tracking broken machines in real time. The issue was McDonald’s policy of making restaurants wait for one of their own “authorized” technicians to fix the machines instead of letting franchise owners fix the machines themselves or hire a third party to fix them. The typical wait time for an authorized Mickey D’s tech is 90 days. That’s a long-ass time to not be able to sell a McFlurry and owners estimated that they were losing thousands per month.

In March, the government ruled in favor of franchise owners having the right to use a device called Kytch, which was created by two innovators as a code-reader to help troubleshoot ice cream machine issues. But, there was still one more hurdle. The machines are made by a company called Taylor, which owns the copyright. Under a 1998 law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, only Taylor’s repair people are allowed to fix the machines. Enter the U.S. Copyright Office. Last week, they issued a set of exemptions that now allows restaurants like McDonald’s to repair their own equipment.

A broken ice cream machine is a familiar inconvenience to McDonald’s customers. Franchise owners have complained about difficulties fixing the machines, McDonald’s itself has poked fun at how often the machines are seemingly broken, and there is even a dedicated independent site for customers to see when and where they might be denied a McFlurry.

Those worries may soon be a thing of the past, after the U.S. Copyright Office issued a new set of exemptions last week that allows restaurants to repair equipment used in “retail-level commercial food preparation,” which includes those soft-serve ice cream machines used to make McFlurrys.

Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group, and e-commerce website iFixit petitioned the U.S. Copyright Office for the exemption, which went into effect Monday.

“There’s nothing vanilla about this victory; an exemption for retail-level commercial food preparation equipment will spark a flurry of third-party repair activity and enable businesses to better serve their customers,” said Meredith Rose, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge.

Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it illegal for third parties to bypass digital locks on any copyrighted material, including software used in commercial devices like those McDonald’s ice cream machines, even for repairs.

What that has meant for McFlurry fans until Monday is that every time an ice cream machine in a McDonald’s location breaks or has any kind of technical problem, it can only be repaired by the manufacturer and copyright holder.

Since 1956, McDonald’s has partnered with the Taylor Company, an Illinois-based manufacturer, for its ice cream machines, leaving only the Taylor Company with the “right to repair” them. According to iFixit, which looked inside a McDonald’s ice cream machine last year, the devices contain “lots of easily replaceable parts.”

Rose called the new exemption “an overdue shake-up of the commercial food prep industry.”

[From USA Today]

This is great news! I am absolutely all for creators maintaining the right to their own work, but within reason. If you’re going to be greedy or use it to create a monopoly and stifle competition then you’ve lost me. McDonald’s and Taylor screwed themselves over by making easily-breakable machines and constantly dragging their feet on fixing them. The system wasn’t working for business owners, and they were losing out on a lot of money. It also wasn’t working for customers who really just wanted some soft-serve vanilla ice cream blended with tiny M&Ms after a hard day’s work. I’m glad the FTC/DOJ/USCO stepped in to solve the problem. So, to conclude, the next time someone in your life asks, “What did Joe Biden and Kamala Harris actually do?” You can tell them that they fixed the McDonalds ice cream machines, lol.

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Happy Halloween! Hope everyone has a fun & safe holiday!

Megan Thee Stallion slayed in purple at her documentary premiere. [JustJared]
The winners of Jezebel’s annual scary-story contest. [Jezebel]
The rehabilitation of Johnny Depp continues, with a lot of help from Hollywood and Depp’s A-list friends. Disgusting. [Pajiba]
I cannot wait to see Anora. [LaineyGossip]
Aubrey Plaza claps back at Tony Hinchcliffe. [OMG Blog]
There was a molasses flood in Boston in the 20th century? [Buzzfeed]
Should the Menendez brothers be given clemency? [Socialite Life]
What are the best horror movies of all time? [Hollywood Life]
Connie Nielsen wore Stella McCartney to the Gladiator II premiere. [RCFA]
Never forget that Paddington Bear is Peruvian. [Seriously OMG]

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I remember last year, when Prince William launched Homewards, his big “homelessness project,” and suddenly, it felt like the knives were out for him. This wasn’t just royalists sniping at William for something arrogant and tone-deaf (although that was part of it and it was funny). Actual activists and experts in the field of homelessness criticized him as a dilettante who was centering himself in a complicated and highly political issue. He really thought he could create a “program” – which is just his foundation donating money to shelters – and everyone would fall all over themselves to call him the savior of homeless people. Perhaps Huevo’s documentary is a mulligan – one year later, we have been given another opportunity to praise him and tell him he’s the keenest and most credibly homeless savior ever. Except that Prince William: We Can End Homelessness has only revealed yet again that William is really bad at this.

Prince William has opened up about “feeling guilty” in a new documentary amid the royal privilege row. The Prince of Wales has released a new documentary regarding homelessness, a year after launching his Homewards campaign. Many fans and commentators have criticised the 42-year-old over his privilege, and whether or not he is the correct person to tackle homelessness.

Prince William spoke about this in the new documentary, and explained that he often feels “guilty” that he is not doing enough.

He said: “I’ve spent enough time learning and listening to what people have been through that I feel almost guilty every time I leave, that I’m not doing more to help, and I feel compelled to act, because I don’t want to just talk about it. I don’t want to just listen, I actually want to see someone smile, because their life has been made better. So therefore, building a project is the only way I can see at the moment to try and alleviate and help people who are in a much less fortunate or in a very difficult situation.”

The voiceover in the documentary could later be heard saying: “The Prince of Wales has already faced accusations surrounding his own privilege. There has been some criticism of the prince’s plans because of the multiple homes he owns. Some believe the prince is coming uncomfortably close to meddling in matters of policy.”

William insisted he has “no other agenda” than “desperately trying to help” people in need through his drive to tackle homelessness. He described how he views his royal role as attempting to influence and help where he can.

In the documentary, an interviewer probed: “There will be some people who might question whether you’re the right person to lead this project and its efforts to end homelessness. How would you respond to that?”

William replied: “I think everyone having a right to a safe and stable home benefits us all. I come with no other agenda than desperately trying to help people who are in need. And I see that as part of my role, is that, why else would I be here if I’m not using this role properly to influence and help people where I can?”

William has several homes, including Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, as well as his Anmer Hall mansion in Norfolk and Apartment 1A in Kensington Palace in London.

[From GB News]

The voiceover is doing dirty work, OMG. How did Kensington Palace approve of that? Was William like, “no, leave it in, we should acknowledge my privilege and get it out of the way!” That only works if your work can actually back up your privilege. As in, people wouldn’t care so much about William’s multiple mansions, palaces and castles if Homewards was truly a program which drastically improved homeless people’s situations. If William was a credible expert in the field, or if he was doing anything more than just “visiting a couple of homeless shelters a few times a year” and “donating money,” acknowledging his privilege and moving on would be exactly the way to play this. Unfortunately, there’s no there there. This isn’t actually about solutions for homelessness. It’s about William centering himself in a complicated issue he is too stupid and too privileged to understand.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Elon Musk is creepy in so many ways, it’s difficult to say definitively which is the worst part of his whole deal. I would argue that his obsession with birth rates is right up there though, because it’s like a spider web of bullsh-t contaminating so much of his world view. Make no mistake, Musk is a believer in the Great Replacement Theory, a racist conspiracy about white people being “replaced” by brown and Black people. As in, Elon’s birth rate BS is all about convincing white people to have more white babies. He also wants women to be subjugated to the point where every woman (especially white women) are vessels for white babies and women’s sole purpose is raising those babies. It’s not like Elon is worried about raising his own ELEVEN children. Well, about that – apparently, Musk wants to monitor how his white baby-vessels are raising his children. So he’s set up a compound in Texas where he hopes his baby-mothers will live and raise his kids.

On a quiet, leafy street of multimillion-dollar properties, one stands out: a 14,400-square-foot mansion that looks like a villa plucked from the hills of Tuscany and transplanted to Austin, Texas. This is where Elon Musk, 53, the world’s richest man and perhaps the most important campaign backer of former President Donald J. Trump, has been trying to establish the cornerstone of an unusual family compound, according to four people familiar with his plans.

Mr. Musk has told people close to him in recent months that he envisions his children (of which there are at least 11) and two of their three mothers occupying adjoining properties. That way, his younger children could be a part of one another’s lives, and Mr. Musk could schedule time among them.

Directly behind the villa is a six-bedroom mansion that Mr. Musk helped purchase, according to two of the people and public records. The total cost of both properties was about $35 million. When in Austin, he often stays at a third mansion about a 10-minute walk away, the people said.

Three mansions, three mothers, 11 children and one secretive, multibillionaire father who obsesses about declining birthrates when he isn’t overseeing one of his six companies: It is an unconventional family situation, and one that Mr. Musk seems to want to make even bigger. A proponent of in vitro fertilization, Mr. Musk believes strongly in increasing the world’s population. He has even offered his own sperm to friends and acquaintances, including the former independent vice-presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan, according to two people familiar with his offer. Ms. Shanahan turned him down.

Over the last two years, he has become increasingly fixated on what he sees as another threat: declining birthrates. He believes a global population collapse is coming that will wipe out humanity. His apocalyptic vision is unlikely, according to demographers, but on X, the social media company he owns, he has been encouraging followers to have as many children as possible. “It should be considered a national emergency to have kids,” Mr. Musk posted in June.

[From The NY Times]

Imagine Elon Musk “offering” his sperm to you. It wouldn’t happen to me, I’m too Indian for this man, but some of y’all are going to get offers if you haven’t already. *hork* Anyway, the Times also says that Musk’s Sister Wife-esque compound is off to a “bumpy start,” considering that only one of the baby-mothers has moved in. That would be Shivon Zilis, the Neuralink executive. Grimes has not moved in – she’s waging a custodial battle for her three kids, all with Musk. His five kids with Justine Musk seem pretty estranged from him too. And the fact that it’s in Texas too… you could not pay me to do any of this.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Us Weekly’s cover story this week is “How Kate’s Life Has Changed,” all about how the Princess of Wales is doing now that she’s “completed chemotherapy” and declared herself “cancer-free.” I find it interesting that Us Weekly is doing this very soft-focus cover about a month after the Sussexes authorized their staffers to speak on the record about what Meghan is like as a boss. It’s almost like, “here, Kate, we’ll give you something too” as they pat her on the head. Anyway, as you can imagine, there’s a lot of wheel-spinning and promises to eventually be keen in this Kate story. Some highlights:

The Waleses trip to Southport: “It was a reminder of what a powerful tag team they are,” royal expert and The King: The Life of Charles III author Christopher Andersen shared in the latest issue of Us Weekly, noting that William looked “deeply grateful to have his favorite person by his side.”

When Kate will get back to work: “Kate loves reconnecting with the community and representing her family, but she’s also trying to find a balance between her duties and personal well-being,” explains an insider. “She appreciates the sense of purpose but wants to ensure her stress levels don’t get [too high].”

She’ll take on a less-demanding royal role as she continues to prioritize her health: “Kate has a lot more energy than she did even a few weeks ago,” Andersen tells Us. “She’s tremendously relieved that the treatments seem to have worked and she can call herself cancer-free, but she’s not taking anything for granted. She’s following doctor’s orders,” he adds. “[It’s] baby steps. More than anyone, Kate wanted to let the world know that after months of grueling chemotherapy, she was going to be OK.”

Again with the Southport visit: While Kate’s October 10 visit to Southport alongside William was a surprise and intentionally kept low-key, her decision to join was not last-minute but came down to how well she felt that day. “She loves the work, but it can be tiring,” says the insider, noting that Kate is taking things day by day. The couple reportedly spent 90 minutes in private with the families of three young girls who lost their lives in the attack on the Taylor Swift–themed holiday workshop.

Not back to full strength: “Kate has been [doing this] for some time but is not yet back to full strength,” says Andersen. “It will be some time — certainly months — before we see her plunge headlong into a full-time schedule.” A second insider says the Palace “has scaled things back in terms of not having her travel too much too soon,” and Charles III author Robert Hardman tells Us there’s a “sense of practical optimism” within The Firm. “Kate is certainly conscious that she mustn’t overstress herself.”

Careful not to overdo it: The first insider notes that getting back out there is just as important to her healing and wellness. “It’s a double-edged sword. [Working] is good for her emotional well-being, but she needs to be careful not to overdo it. She is determined, motivated and taking care of herself along the way.”

William is relieved. “Now that Kate is resuming some of her work, William is seeing real evidence that maybe things can return to normal,” says Andersen. He’s happy to let her set her own pace. “[The kids] will always be Kate’s priority, and I don’t think William begrudges her that at all,” he adds. “As a matter of fact, I think he’s very grateful. He’s not going to push her into doing anything she doesn’t want to do, and he took the same attitude before her diagnosis.”

The couple’s dynamic has changed over the last few months. “They love being together all the time,” says the first insider, and that William never takes a day for granted. “He knows how much worse it could have been if they hadn’t caught [the cancer] and treated it in time.” At home, the prince has helped with cooking and cleaning. “They don’t like having staff around at all hours, so William has been stepping it up,” adds the insider. “Kate thinks that’s been very cute and sweet.”

[From Us Weekly]

“It will be some time — certainly months — before we see her plunge headlong into a full-time schedule” – there it is. Yet another story which resets the recovery timeline and kicks the can down the road even further. They bought themselves time until February of next year by my calculations. February is when people will start to ask if Kate is well enough to do one event a week. They’ll be told no, she isn’t, and we’ll be given a variation of this story – the stress is bad for her, the poor sausage cannot be expected to overwork, she’s just listening to her doctors, after all. The thing is, people will buy it because no one has ever seen Kate as a full-time royal anyway. She’s been part of the Firm since 2010, when she got engaged to William. Fourteen years of never working full-time, and now she’s not going to do part-time either.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images. Cover courtesy of Us Weekly.

Channing Tatum & Zoe Kravitz have broken up and called off their engagement. From the looks of things, it was pretty sudden, and yet there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of drama between them. They were together through the promotion of Blink Twice this summer, and they were last seen together in early October. Given Zoe’s history, I’m open to the idea that she has a jumpoff waiting in the wings, but we haven’t heard anything about that. People Magazine had this little update after they broke the story on Tuesday:

Channing Tatum and Zoë Kravitz’s split was a recent one.

The former couple broke up just last weekend, PEOPLE has learned. As for what caused it, a source says, “They haven’t been on the same page and grew apart.”

Multiple sources confirmed to PEOPLE on Tuesday, Oct. 29, that Tatum, 44, and Kravitz, 35, had called off their engagement and gone their separate ways after three years of dating.

Reps for both stars have not responded to requests for comment from PEOPLE.

[From People]

“They haven’t been on the same page and grew apart.” Eh. He seemed to really adore her. It feels notable that they split just two months after Blink Twice came out too. That happens all the time when costars or coworkers fall for each other over the course of a project, then their relationship limps along until the promotion is completely done.

Meanwhile, here’s a weird addendum. You know how Channing’s ex-wife Jenna Dewan moved on with a guy named Steve Kazee? Well, right after Channing and Zoe’s split announcement, Steve posted a big string of “HAHAs” on his IG Stories. People were like “WTF” and “weird.” Now he claims that it wasn’t about his current partner’s ex-husband at all.

Steve Kazee is attempting to clear the air. The actor and singer initially posted a string of “HAHA” on his Instagram Stories Tuesday, Oct. 29, shortly following the news that his fiancée Jenna Dewan’s ex-husband, Channing Tatum, had split from his fiancée, Zoë Kravitz, leading some to speculate that he was reacting to the news.

In a follow-up post on Wednesday, Oct. 30, Kazee, 49, wrote, “A guy can’t laugh about a houseplant Tik Tok in todays world I see … “, referring to the video he’d shared soon after the “HAHA” post the previous day.

He went on to post a photo of a droopy plant, writing over the snapshot, “See? It’s funny because it’s relatable. Get a life.”

The Tony Award winner then shared an image and video of a smaller, dried-up potted plant, illustrating his experience of filling up a coffee maker with water before giving his plants water, a practice the TikTok video was poking fun at.

[From People]

I don’t believe him, although I do believe that this guy probably doesn’t understand how to manage his social media. Does that make sense? He probably was being snarky about Channing and Zoe’s split, but he didn’t realize that he was putting that sh-t on his Stories?

Jenna Dewan’s fiancé, Steve Kazee, appeared to comment on the Channing Tatum and Zoë Kravitz breakup.

After PEOPLE confirmed their split, he posted a long string of “HAHA” on IG. The next day, he added he was referencing a houseplant video on TIkTok. pic.twitter.com/21pGHev1H5

— What’s Trending (@WhatsTrending) October 30, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

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On Tuesday night, President Joe Biden was asked about Donald Trump’s MSG Nazi rally, a rally in which a comedian called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Biden said, off the cuff, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.” There is a conversation about whether Biden’s words were intended with an apostrophe, as in “floating out there is his supporters’ [garbage].” Which does change the meaning, but again, these words were spoken not written, and I totally understand why Biden quickly clarified his meaning in a tweet.

Still, this became “the thing” that Donald Trump and his loser, garbage supporters seized on. It’s a reminder too that the Harris-Walz team has been incredibly disciplined in their messaging, that this minor “Biden gaffe” is basically the only thing they could seize on. Suddenly, after months of Donald Trump calling America a pile of garbage and threatening violence on his enemies, Trump and his people are shocked that Pres. Biden would indicate that they are garbage. So Orangina decided to do some skits on Wednesday. He dressed up like a garbage truck driver, sat in the passenger seat of a Trump-branded garbage truck, and made a speech wearing his new favorite ensemble. His obscenely orange makeup clashed with the orange vest. Dementia Don also had problems opening the passenger door of the truck. It’s like if a domestic terrorist was a deranged Oompa Loompa.

Trump seems to be really struggling physically. pic.twitter.com/yRk7ZB2kDx

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) October 30, 2024

Trump: I told women I will be their protector. They said, ‘Sir, please don’t say that.’ Well I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not pic.twitter.com/LLWFa2NtQr

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 31, 2024

i recommend not wearing vests in the same color as your face pic.twitter.com/TKry5FZD90

— derek guy (@dieworkwear) October 31, 2024

If you were going to choose a metaphor for the 2024 Republican Party, a garbage truck chauffeuring around a billionaire traveling around in circles and going nowhere, all for a photo op, is pretty spot on. https://t.co/f12ChDlvTf

— Melanie D’Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) October 31, 2024

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty.

Teri Garr passed away, rest in peace to her. [Hollywood Life]
The CFDAs were held this week and Blake Lively was one of the few big-name celebrities there. To be fair, Blake looked great in this Michael Kors ensemble. [LaineyGossip]
The official trailer for Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. [OMG Blog]
Adele was so lovely to Celine Dion. [Socialite Life]
My mom loves Doctor Odyssey. [Pajiba]
I love Natalie Portman’s dress & her jewelry. [Go Fug Yourself]
Matt McGorry has long Covid. [Just Jared]
Ciara wore Vera Wang to the CFDAs. [RCFA]
Carol Burnett has advice for young actors. [Seriously OMG]
Christine Brown’s family lore is bonkers. [Starcasm]
Which actress got the best on-screen wig? Rachel McAdams is right up there, her Mean Girls wig is the stuff of legend. [Buzzfeed]

Teri Garr’s Oscar-nominated performance as the quirky and hopeful Sandy Lester in TOOTSIE.

With her magnetic humor and relatable charm, Garr lit up every scene, making Sandy—and many of her other characters—unforgettable. pic.twitter.com/qKV2wRPx4o

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) October 29, 2024

Teri Garr makes fun of David Letterman, 1988. pic.twitter.com/PuiDDGbSnz

— I found this on Youtube… (@doule_tom) October 29, 2024

King Charles and Queen Camilla’s tour of Australia and Samoa ended over the weekend on a sour note. During their final events in Samoa, Camilla made an ass out of herself by openly laughing at Samoan performers and by staggering up the plane’s stairs before the formal farewell was over. There was also a bummer end on Charles’s part, when he said, in his farewell speech: “I shall always remain devoted to this part of the world and hope that I survive long enough to come back again and see you.” As soon as Charles and Camilla left Samoa, their staff began briefing the Times about Charles and Camilla’s happiness that the tour had gone so well (??) and that 2025 would see a return to a normal touring schedule. Well, about that – the Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column led with this short item:

I hear there’s concern among the King’s medical team after an anonymous palace briefing that he will be returning to a full programme of overseas tours in 2025.

Having skipped his cancer treatment regime to make the latest tour – and with no one certain how his body has coped – it was planned that he would take time off on his return, allowing him to recover and for doctors to carry out a full assessment of his wellbeing.

[From The Daily Mail]

Basically, Buckingham Palace was way too eager to declare victory and business-as-usual in the wake of an ambivalently-received royal tour, and now the doctors are like “hold your horses, and not just Camilla.” Speaking of, the Daily Beast’s Royalist also got a tip that Camilla is concerned about her husband’s health post-tour:

Friends of Queen Camilla have told the Daily Beast that she is “terrified” and “fearful” cancer-hit King Charles’ is “rushing” his recovery after palace aides briefed newspapers this weekend that his office had told the British Government he was again available for long haul travel. Aides raced to declare his recent trip to Australia and Samoa a great success, despite the fact that any medium-term impact on his health self-evidently has yet to be established.

There have also been question marks around how the queen has coped mentally with the trip. She spent a week before it at a private and exclusive Ayurvedic retreat in India, yet seemed rather unsettled during the trip.

On the final day of the tour, she had what one friend called an “emotional reaction,” seemingly cycling between giggles and tears, after Charles made, in a rather off-hand fashion, a telling remark at a farewell ceremony in Samoa, telling dignitaries: “I shall always remain devoted to this part of the world and hope that I survive long enough to come back again and see you.”

Friends of the king have brushed off any suggestion that the king was, in fact, saying a final farewell or suggesting he might die soon, despite the fact that, prima facie, that seemed to be exactly what he was saying.

But a friend of Camila’s told the Daily Beast: “It was a strange thing to say, and I think Camilla had an emotional reaction. Of course it would. She is terrified. They have had a horrendous year. Now with this return to work, she is understandably fearful her husband is rushing it. She just wants him to slow down and prioritize his health.”

British media have generally portrayed the incident as a fit of giggles due to a non-operational microphone, but this characterization has been questioned online.

[From The Daily Beast]

This days-long effort to rewrite Camilla’s rudeness as she laughed at the Samoan performers is pretty awful. It was clear that she was being rude and racist. It was clear that she was laughing at her hosts. It was clear that Camilla didn’t want to be there. Camilla hates to travel, hates to go on tours and she was desperately trying to have this tour canceled. Part of me wonders if all of this back-and-forth in the press is a reflection of Charles and Camilla fighting behind the scenes, or some kind of next-level maneuvering because this really was Charles’s last tour and no one wants to say that outloud.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.