It’s time for one of the most mind-numbing games if you’re a royal watcher or a Sussex watcher: tracing a rumor to its source. The reason we’re doing this is because Gordon Rayner wrote a truly bonkers piece in the Telegraph called “Charles and Harry are talking… but is a reunion a bridge too far?” I thought it would just be stating the obvious, which is that one birthday phone call is a good first step between father and son, but no one should get ahead of themselves. But no, Rayner has seemingly been tasked by Buckingham Palace to blame the entire days-long “will Harry call his father” psychodrama on Camp Sussex, as if the palace hasn’t been openly briefing about the Sussexes all along. Like the palace didn’t get called out BY HARRY for lying just last week!

So, if you’re keeping track: the BBC got a “tip” on Tuesday that Harry would call his father on his birthday. The Archewell spokesperson said as much last week, when they denied the “Harry snubbed his father’s party invitation” story. Then on Wednesday, the Sun got the “tip” that Harry had called and the king also spoke to Meghan. Then the Telegraph’s Vicky Ward got the tip that not only did Charles speak to Harry and Meghan, they also sent Charles a video of Archie and Lili singing happy birthday. The Sun and Victoria Ward’s pieces read, to me, like they came from Buckingham Palace sources, that Charles was extremely eager to use Harry and Meghan’s names this week. But please allow Gordon Rayner to make wild claims about how Harry and Meghan are apparently regularly calling up the Sun and the BBC to brief them on phone calls?

The phone call story came from Camp Sussex??? Is this really a “turning point” in the relationship between the King and his younger son, as the Sussex camp would have us believe? If so, why is Buckingham Palace so reluctant even to acknowledge that a phone call took place? Or is it just more spin designed to put Harry on the moral high ground in the ongoing battle for public sympathy? The fact that the Palace does not deny there was a call means we can safely assume that there was indeed a conversation between Harry and his father on Tuesday. That in itself is significant, because the two have barely spoken since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, and there was no contact at all when the Duke of Sussex celebrated his 39th birthday in September.

Sources in California?? Which leaves the questions of: who instigated the call? Why? And why did they want the public to know about it? The answer to the first part of the question is straightforward, as we know that sources in California have said Harry phoned his father, sent him a video of his children Archie and Lilibet singing Happy Birthday to him, and that the Duchess of Sussex also spoke to the King. As to the why, well-placed sources have confirmed that Harry tries to contact his father on every birthday, and is not always successful.

This is still the most idiotic rationale ascribed to the Sussexes: There are lots of moving parts in this particular royal story. The Sussexes are a commercial enterprise, needing to generate vast sums to pay for their lifestyle in the US, not least their privately funded security bill. Without their royal connection, the Sussexes are just another celebrity couple (and in the US the media has already given them that status) rather than having the sheen of monarchy. If they remain frozen out and nothing changes, they will quickly run out of things to say.

Overshadowing the Coronation Food Project! The Palace’s reaction to briefings about the phone call was telling. Royal insiders say that when the news of the happy birthday call threatened to overshadow media coverage of the launch of the King’s Coronation Food Project, which had been months in the planning, there was irritation bordering on annoyance.

The king leaks that he’s wary of being accused of leaking: “It’s a reflex,” said one royal insider. “The King and Queen worry that if stories about phone calls and private conversations make it into the public domain they will be accused of leaking to the press, even if it’s obvious it didn’t come from them. They just think ‘it’s in the public domain, and public domain equals bad’. Even if this had been the most positive story in the world from the King’s point of view, it would still have generated anxiety for him,” the insider added.

Maybe this mess is coming from Camilla? The Queen’s influence over the King can never be ignored, and she would have every right to be suspicious of Harry and Meghan’s motives after the Duke accused her of “sacrificing me on her personal PR altar” in his memoir Spare at the start of this year.

[From The Telegraph]

Rayner also suggests that Meghan is desperate for a royal connection (lmao) because she’s on the verge of launching a lifestyle brand (lmao), which was a rumor started by bored royalists who are obsessed with Meghan. Let me also say that the long-standing argument that the Sussexes “need” a royal connection has grown more strained by the year. Harry and Meghan are thriving, so much so that the Windsors are desperate for the Sussexes’ star-power, celebrity connections and clout. The Windsors clout-chase the Sussexes, not vice versa.

So, what is really happening here? Part of me thinks that this piece came about because there’s some confusion and disagreement in King Charles’s court. One faction wants to brief about the Sussexes as much as possible to deflect from Charles and Camilla’s unpopularity. Another faction thinks that it’s probably unwise to go on such obvious briefing sprees the second they get any contact from Harry. Whoever assigned Gordon Rayner with cleaning up the palace’s mess didn’t expect him to be so heavy-handed and obvious.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I’ve seen a lot of Sussex Squad grumbling regarding Omid Scobie’s Endgame, which has been exclusively excerpted in People Magazine this week. Not only that, there’s a lot of palace outrage, so Scobie is getting it from “both sides.” Despite the palace briefings, Scobie is not “the Sussexes’ cheerleader” and his sources are not exclusively Sussex insiders. Despite the Sussex Squad grumbling, Scobie is not focused on solely telling a purely sympathetic Sussex-exclusive story. The full title of the book is Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival. It will be, I hope, a larger view of what we cover here at this blog all the time – the palace leaks and briefings, the poor management and decision-making within the establishment, the clownshow of it all, the fact that the ashy royals are struggling and unpopular, all of which has been thrown into sharp relief within the past four years of the Sussexit. While most of the people reading this post know the ins and outs of what happened, it’s great that at least one “royal reporter” is attempting to tell the larger story in a coherent and gossipy narrative.

As for the palace outrage, notice that not even unnamed royal aides can come up with a specific denial of what Scobie wrote in the excerpts:

Royal courtiers were last night said to be furious over the revelations about Princes ­William and Harry’s feud that erupted as the Queen lay dying.

Palace insiders tore into author Omid Scobie over a string of claims he made about the pair’s fractious relationship during a time of personal grief for the Royal Family. The writer, who was previously briefed by Megan for another of his books, alleges William ignored Harry’s calls as he ­desperately tried to get to the late Queen’s bedside. He said there was “no proof” Charles phoned his youngest son during his gran’s dying moments. And his book, Endgame, says of William: “He feels he has lost Harry and doesn’t want to know this version of him.” Scobie also said the Prince is convinced his brother has been brainwashed by an “army of ­therapists” in America.

A Royal insider said: “It appears no matter what happens behind closed doors, even in a time of such pain and grief, that where the Royal Family are concerned it will one day emerge. Nothing is off limits with William and Kate appearing to be this author’s number one target. It only takes a few months for the knives to come out again and the wounds to be opened up.”

By having an excerpt of his book published, Scobie overshadowed Kate’s launch of a conference on her campaign for children and their families yesterday. Royal fans speculated details from the book had been timed to mar Kate’s work, a point regularly levelled at the Sussex’s over events.

[From The Daily Mirror]

“Scobie overshadowed Kate’s launch of a conference on her campaign for children and their families yesterday” – LMAO. Kate gave a half-assed schoolgirl book report in which she repeated her motto, “the early years are important” and then nothing. The palace should be glad that so few people are talking about that idiocy. As for “It appears no matter what happens behind closed doors… that where the Royal Family are concerned it will one day emerge.” What’s strange about the Windsors’ sudden pearl-clutching about briefings and leaks during a time of grief is that they had no qualms about it in the hours and days after QEII died. King Charles, just hours into the job he had been waiting for his entire life, authorized a series of palace briefings about how he told Harry that Meghan wasn’t welcome in Balmoral, how “no wives” were welcome (a lie). William was on a rampage too. Go back and read my coverage of the palace briefings from the 72 hours after QEII died. Also: I can’t help but remember how William, Kate, Camilla and Charles were all completely GIDDY after QEII died. Kate and Camilla began raiding the jewelry immediately, Kate couldn’t stop laughing, Charles was thrilled.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Buckingham Palace.

Embed from Getty Images
Target announced at the end of October that they’re limiting self-checkout to 10 items or less. There were mixed feelings online. Most people called out self-checkout for what it is: a way for companies to cut costs by eliminating having to pay actual employees. It’s all about the almighty dollar and those shareholder profits, baby. I guess the joke’s on them because due to a loss of inventory, several other big name retailers have decided to remove self-checkout machines or put clunky other measures in place. These retailers include Walmart, Costco, Wegmans, and British supermarket chain Booths.

Self-checkout, a history: Self-service machines were first introduced during the 1980s to lower labor expenses. They shifted the work of paid employees to unpaid customers. Self-checkout expanded at supermarkets in the early 2000s as stores looked to cut costs, and during the pandemic, many shoppers used self-checkout for the first time to minimize close interaction with employees and other customers.

Customers find them confusing and impersonal: ”Our customers have told us this over time — that the self-scan machines that we’ve got in our stores … can be slow, they can be unreliable (and) they’re obviously impersonal,” Booths managing director Nigel Murray told the BBC. Customers at Booths also frequently misidentified which fruits and vegetables they were buying when prompted by self-checkout machines. Alcohol purchases also were not smooth transactions through self-checkout because employees had to verify customers’ ages.

“Shrink” is a growing problem: [Retailers] have found that self-checkout leads to higher merchandise losses from customer errors and intentional shoplifting — known as “shrink” — than human cashiers ringing up customers. Shrink has been a growing problem for retailers, who have blamed shoplifting for the increase and called for tougher penalties. But retailers’ self-checkout strategies have also contributed to their shrink problems. One study of retailers in the United States, Britain and other European countries found that companies with self-checkout lanes and apps had a loss rate of about 4%, more than double the industry average.

Costco management said this year that shrink increased “in part we believe due to the rollout of self-checkout.” Five Below, the discount toy retailer, said that shrink at stores with more self-checkout lanes was higher. The company plans to increase the number of staffed cash registers in new locations.

User error and technology mishaps: Some products have multiple barcodes or barcodes that don’t scan properly with self-checkout technology. Produce, including fruit and meat, typically needs to be weighed and manually entered into the system using a code. Customers may type in the wrong code by accident. Other times shoppers won’t hear the “beep” confirming an item has been scanned properly.

Some customers pull funny business: Other customers take advantage of the lax oversight at self-checkout aisles and have developed techniques for stealing. Common tactics include not scanning an item, swapping a cheaper item (bananas) for a more expensive one (steak), scanning counterfeit barcodes attached to their wrists or properly scanning everything and then walking out without paying.

Solutions are still causing problems: Stores have tried to limit losses by tightening self-checkout security features, such as adding weight sensors. But additional anti-theft measures also lead to more frustrating “unexpected item in the bagging area” errors, requiring employees to intervene.

[From CNN]

I guess it’s more profitable to hire (and underpay) employees after all. It’s funny, though, because as I read through that article, I found myself nodding along with a lot of the issues they were talking about with the self-checkout process. There have been plenty of times when I put a reusable bag down and had to get an employee to clear the screen for me because it triggered the weight or my transaction was held up for a minute or so because someone needed to come over and check my ID to buy beer.

Personally, I really don’t mind self-checkout because I actually like the impersonalness of it. I listen to podcasts while I shop and feel rude going up to the registers with earbuds, even if I’ve pressed pause. The lines also tend to move a little quicker since there are anywhere between four and ten machines, depending on the store. I think the mobile pickup orders are a good compromise for people like me and keeping workers employed. I do find it amusing, though, that the same companies that complained post-2020 that “nobody wants to work anymore” are now getting bit in the butt by measures they implemented for the purpose of not having workers anymore. Oh well, too bad, so sad.

Photos credit: Jim West / ImageBROKER / Avalon, Filmsbyjosh / BACKGRID and Getty

TV shows make “life coach” sound like a cool, glamorous job, but I would imagine that most life coaches are either hustlers or glorified cheerleaders. By “cheerleaders,” I mean people who are good at hyping someone up, recognizing someone’s achievements, a friendly, positive sort of associate. Very few life coaches are actually trained and certified therapists in any way. Well, SZA found that out the hard way – this poor woman thought she was talking to a therapist but nothing was getting better. Turns out, she was seeing a life coach.

Life coaching is not the same as therapy, and SZA learned that the hard way. In a new cover story interview for WSJ. Magazine’s November Innovator’s issue, the 33-year-old R&B superstar opened up about how she deals with difficult emotions, noting that she’s tried hypnotherapy, talk therapy, psychiatry and acupuncture.

One time, however, she accidentally saw a life coach thinking they were a therapist. The unofficial counselor taught her about box breathing as a method for lessening anxiety, but SZA grew frustrated as the exercise didn’t help.

“After I had box breathed myself for three months and didn’t get better, I called her in a f—ing frenzy like, ‘I’m about to commit myself to an institution today, I need help!’ I said, ‘What form of therapy do you do? DBT?’” she told the publication, referencing dialectical behavior therapy. SZA continued, “She was like, ‘I don’t have a clinical form of therapy because I’m not a licensed therapist, honey. I thought you knew that.’ It turns out she was not a board-certified therapist. She was a f—ing life coach.”

There are several major differences between the two practices — mainly that life coaching does not require a medical degree and therapy does, though many coaches still undergo training.

“Unlike psychotherapy, coaching aims to help people who are already functioning at ordinary or even higher levels work through emotional discomfort and make additional gains,” wrote Yael Schonbrun and Brad Stulberg for The Washington Post in 2022. “A coach can help you perform better physically, emotionally, professionally, socially or athletically, depending on the specialty.”

[From People]

No, but really, I imagine so many people make that mistake and life coaches encourage people to make that mistake. It reminds me of Gwyneth Paltrow’s merry band of pseudoscientists. She’ll say sh-t like “Dr. Mumbojumbo claims that these stickers will heal a brain tumor” and the doctor in question has a PhD in ‘crystal therapy’. Basically, before you go into therapy, make sure you’re actually seeing a psychiatrist, psychologist or licensed therapist. Poor SZA! She’s not going to be signing up for BetterUp anytime soon.

Cover courtesy of WSJ. Magazine, additional photos courtesy of Cover Images & Avalon Red.

A few weeks ago, a study came out that concluded that ultra processed foods (UPF) are likely as addictive as alcohol and cigarettes. I don’t think anyone was surprised by those findings and many of you shared personal anecdotes about your own experiences with UPF (and red dye no. 3). I think it’s widely understood that UPF are addictive and can have really negative effects on your overall, long-term health.

However, a new international study has found that while regularly eating animal products and sugary drinks raise your risk of developing cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, certain ultra-processed foods may actually reduce the risk of disease. These foods include bread and cereals that contain fiber. While the study does affirm that ultra-processed foods (UPF) are harmful overall, it takes a more “Well, actually…” approach by labeling foods as “Bad but not that bad” and “Holy multimorbidity alarm, Batman!” This ping pong game of survey results is truly all over the place.

Not all UPF are created equal: Experts said the findings showed that regarding all UPF products as bad for health is unwise and unwarranted. Bread and cereals actually reduce someone’s risk of [multimortality] – because they contain fibre – despite also being ultra-processed foods (UPF), the researchers concluded.

UPF that aren’t associated with multimorbidity: Sauces, spreads and condiments are also bad for human health, but not as much as animal products and soft drinks. However, several other major types of UPF previously seen as harmful: sweets and desserts, ready meals, savoury snacks and plant-based alternatives to meat products also got the all-clear. They are “not associated with risk of multimorbidity”, said the authors. The term “multimorbidity” is when someone has at least two life-shortening diseases at the same time.

But, they’re still bad for you: Like several other recent research projects, the new study did conclude that UPF harms human health and makes it more likely that someone who consumes a lot of it would suffer a potentially fatal event, such as a heart attack or stroke. However, it also gives a more detailed picture of exactly which UPF products do and do not heighten that risk.

Look, they’re not all bad, but if you want to avoid disease, don’t eat them: The latest study is based on an analysis of the dietary history of, and illnesses experienced by, 266,666 people in seven European countries, including the UK. The authors said: “In this multinational European prospective cohort study, we found that higher consumption of UPF was associated with a higher risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases.” People keen to lower their risk should replace some but not all UPF in their diet with “similar but less processed foods … for the prevention of cancer and cardiometabolic multimorbidity” or follow the Mediterranean diet, they said.

Finally, someone brings up moderation: Heinz Freisling, a co-author of the paper and expert at the World Health Organization’s cancer research agency IARC, which also collaborated on the study, said: “Our study emphasises that it is not necessary to completely avoid ultra-processed foods; rather, their consumption should be limited, and preference be given to fresh or minimally processed foods.”

Access to fresh and less-processed foods is necessary: The acute concern that has built up around UPF in recent months has been exacerbated by the fact that 50%-60% of total energy intake in some high-income countries comes from UPF, rather than freshly prepared dishes. Reynalda Cordova, who led the study and works at both IARC and the University of Vienna, said the study had shown that consumers need to have easy access to fresh and less-processed foods.

Well, actually, the definition of UPF is too broad: Dr Ian Johnson, a nutrition researcher and emeritus fellow at the Quadram Institute, said the study had shed useful light on what types of UPF were and were not harmful. “These observations do suggest a role for some UPF in the onset of multiple chronic disease. But they also show that the common assumption that all UPF foods are linked to adverse health events is probably wrong.”

Dr Duane Mellor, a senior lecturer at Aston University’s medical school, concurred. “The concept of ultra-processed foods is too broad,” he said.

[From The Guardian]

Well, dang, that is a lot of words to say, “Pick Cheerios over Fruit Loops.” Who paid for this survey? Big UPF? It’s wild that the bar has been lowered to “it’s not as bad if it can only potentially give you just one life-threatening condition instead of two!” I will think about that the next time I open a bag of Ruffles. Seriously, though, I don’t know of any health professional out there that wouldn’t say to avoid processed foods as much as you can. If you’re healthy, then it’s generally all about moderation and understanding what your body can and cannot take.

One other thing that stood out to me was how they go out of their way to mention that a majority of people living in wealthier countries are picking UPF over fresh foods. Just throwing this out there, but maybe these studies should take the extreme wealth gaps within these countries into consideration. We’d all be more likely to eat better if fresh foods were affordable and accessible to everyone.

Photos credit: Mart Production, Mizuno K, Anastasia Shuraeva, Ekaterina Bolovtsova and Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels

Margot Robbie wore a (ghastly) Schiaparelli gown to the Saltburn premiere. Robbie’s LuckyChap produced Saltburn. [RCFA]
Andre 3000 has a new album coming out soon! [LaineyGossip]
Taika Waititi, Rita Ora & Michael Fassbender came out for the Next Goal Wins premiere. Fassy’s suit is awful, my God. [Just Jared]
Is Bianca Censori getting some distance from Kanye West? [Pajiba]
Is Kylie Jenner wearing pants or tights? A question for our time. [Go Fug Yourself]
Tom Ford’s thought process about designing men’s underwear. [OMG Blog]
Jill Dillard is praising Michelle Duggar, hm. [Starcasm]
Young Sheldon is ending this season. [Seriously OMG]
Ethan Slater & Ariana Grande are still happening. [Hollywood Life]
Nurse Blake is the new hot comedian? [Socialite Life]
Millennials share the dumb advice their parents gave them. [Buzzfeed]

I know this will shock you, but did you know that the Princess of Wales’s so-called “landmark speech” at her “national symposium” was just another speech about how the Early Years are important? This woman has no plan, no initiative, no campaign, no goals, no fundraiser, no financial grant, no meaningful or impactful organization to actually change a g–damn thing. All she has is keen busywork and a word salad about the importance of Early Years. Behold!

As I said before, they set her up to fail. They wasted a lot of people’s time too, but my hope is that the silver lining here is that actual early-childhood development specialists had a chance to meet during the symposium and that some work got done away from the palace keenery. But yeah, this is embarrassing. They really just sent her out in a pantsuit and gave her another speech in which she said, for the millionth time, that the Early Years are important and more people need to know that.

The Princess of Wales has called for “action at every level” to help to rebalance and restore society’s social and emotional skills as her early childhood foundation released new research on the issue. In a keynote speech at a symposium convened by Kate to discuss the findings, the future Queen said the skills were the “human wiring we need”.

She stressed the importance of the early years development of children and said those she had met at a “crisis point” in their lives had said for others to avoid their journey, a safe and loving childhood was needed.

Kate’s Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood Kensington Palace has conducted a global listening exercise, involving experts from 21 countries, with the results described as “almost a manifesto for social and emotional skills”, by the centre’s director Christian Guy.

Speaking at London’s Design Museum, which hosted the event, Kate said: “Nurturing skills that enable us to know ourselves, manage our emotions, focus our thoughts, communicate with others, foster positive relationships, and explore the world are just as valuable to our long-term success as reading, writing or arithmetic. These skills are the bedrock, not only for helping children to thrive, but also for restoring, protecting and investing in humankind. So, to rebalance and restore, calls for new thinking and action at every level. Because the future for our children is something we all build together; through the actions each of us takes every day.”

[From The Evening Standard]

Instead of actually doing or saying something substantive or developing an actual plan or setting a tangible goal, this woman has spent the past SIX YEARS developing what amounts to a vague mission statement. I’m really disgusted when I think all of the time, energy, money and access gets wasted here, all because Kate wants to pretend to be a big, important girl reading a landmark school report. Kate is almost 42 years old. The fact that she really thinks she’s doing something here is a tragedy.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

King Charles is an addict. He’s addicted to his miserable queen consort, and he’s addicted to briefing about his younger son, Prince Harry. If there’s one throughline of the first fourteen months of KCIII’s reign, it’s sending his staff to brief about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex constantly. The tone was set in the first days of his reign, September 2022, when the new king went on a f–king rampage in the media about how he personally ordered Harry to leave Meghan in Windsor, and he told Harry that Meghan was not welcome at Balmoral. It was disgusting. But Charles and the rest of the family are sadists, so what do you expect. Well, Harry called his father on Charles’s birthday and the palace is once again on a briefing spree. It’s sad – they get so excited whenever they can talk about Harry & Meghan in any way. Victoria Ward at the Telegraph dutifully wrote up this piece: “Prince Harry and King to speak again next week after ‘turning point’ phone call; A notable shift in tone has taken place after the Duke of Sussex offered an olive branch to his father on his 75th birthday.” Some highlights:

The King and Prince Harry will speak again next week after a phone call for the Monarch’s 75th birthday marked a “turning point” in their relationship. Father and son enjoyed a warm conversation on Tuesday, after the Duke of Sussex, 39, called his father to wish him a happy birthday. After a lengthy spell during which the two have barely spoken, the chat marked a notable shift in tone.

The King also spoke on the phone with Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, two, are understood to have recorded a video of themselves singing happy birthday to their grandfather, who they have only met on a handful of occasions, but which would have delighted him.

The fact that both sides have signalled a desire to bury the hatchet and start to mend their relationship was hailed a positive sign that was celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic. As the King joined close friends for a birthday dinner at Clarence House on Tuesday night, he will undoubtedly have felt a weight lifted from his shoulders.

[Earlier this year], in an apparent retaliation for the barbs flying from California, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were asked to “vacate” their UK home, Frogmore Cottage, just as Prince Harry’s damning memoir was released. But the King was said to have been genuinely thrilled that his younger son flew over from California for his Coronation in May. The pair had held peace talks before Prince Harry confirmed his plans to attend the ceremony and the “positive conversations” were interpreted at the time as a significant step towards reconciliation. But since then, there had been little movement.

There seemed to have been little improvement come Prince Harry’s 39th birthday in mid-September, when relations were so strained that he did not hear from his father or his brother.

[From The Telegraph]

The most appalling thing is that the king authorized palace staff to brief the Telegraph about the video featuring Lilibet and Archie. I’m shocked that the palace didn’t release the video, such is their need to exploit the Sussex family. What was meant as a gracious private move, allowing Charles to at least see two of his grandkids, was used as a PR tool in a palace briefing. Charles has only met Lili one time in person, and that was at last year’s Jubbly, btw. Charles is so despicable, my god. Despite the “olive branch” talk, I hope the Sussexes stay far, far away from this rotten kingdom.

Photos courtesy of Netflix, Sussex Royal IG, Avalon Red.

I’m really looking forward to reading Omid Scobie’s Endgame. As much as the British media wants to make it sound like Scobie’s sources are entirely in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s camp, Scobie has always made it clear that he still has a lot of contacts within the institution and beyond. Do I also think that some Archewell people have briefed Scobie, perhaps with Harry and Meghan’s authorization? For sure. I’m already seeing some smaller details in the Endgame excerpts which must have come from Archewell. But as I said, there are also some unique details which clearly come from Prince William’s friends and associates, as well palace aides and even some Spencer family sources. Here are a few more excerpts from Endgame (via People):

William’s thoughts on the Sussexes following QEII’s death: [William] believes Harry and Meghan blindsided the family, even the Queen, with their public complaints and their “oh so California” self-importance (an opinion he has repeatedly voiced in various ways to friends and aides during the past two years). Convinced Harry’s been brainwashed by an “army of therapists,” William says he no longer even recognizes his own brother, a source said.

After the release of Spare: As for how he feels about Harry since the release of Spare, a source close to the prince told me, “There’s a huge amount of anger there. He feels betrayed and sad about the situation. But he also doesn’t agree with the things his brother feels he has done. He feels he has lost Harry and doesn’t want to know this version of him.” That version, countered a Spencer family source, is simply “Harry being a man who has stepped outside of the institution and sees things in a different light. They will never see eye to eye at this point. They’re on completely opposite sides . . . that won’t change.”

Why Harry went to the coronation: In May Harry made a brief appearance at the coronation of his father, King Charles, 75, but was not invited to join the royal family on the palace balcony. Meghan and their children stayed home. As the duke left California on May 5 for King Charles’s coronation — a decision he had made because “it was the right thing” to support his father on such a big day — his emotions were a world away from how he felt landing in London with knots in his stomach for the Platinum Jubilee just a year earlier.

Harry is over it at this point: “Though he hasn’t found closure with his family, he’s accepted that things are unlikely to change, particularly with his brother — who refuses to even properly talk with him,” said a source. As Harry later explained to a friend, “I’m ready to move on past it. Whether we get an apology or accountability, who knows? Who really cares at this point?”

[From People]

“[William] believes Harry and Meghan blindsided the family, even the Queen, with their public complaints” – Harry has shown repeatedly that QEII was not blindsided in the least, that the institution was well-aware that Meghan was suicidal, that there were discussions about the Sussexit at many levels for a year before Harry and Meghan left. And as Meghan said to Oprah, did the institution really think that they were going to stay silent as the Windsors authorized this dangerous campaign against the Sussexes? As for “their ‘oh so California’ self-importance” – this from the man who is desperately trying to convince people that Americans love him, and that he needs to spend more time in America.

As for Harry’s feelings at the coronation – I’m still in awe of how breezy Harry was during his whirlwind 24-hour trip, basically. That man wore his Dior suit, smiled at his aunt, chatted with his favorite cousins, then got the f–k out of there as soon as possible. It was amazing. They were so mad!!!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

People Magazine has published the first exclusive excerpts from Omid Scobie’s Endgame, which comes out November 28. They’ve turned it into their second cover story this week. I’m going to break up some of these excerpts because they’re long and somewhat repetitive, especially if you’ve read Prince Harry’s Spare. Remember that Spare was already completed when QEII died, and Harry ended up writing some extra chapters about what went down during that hellish ten-day period when the Windsors basically held the Sussexes hostage. You can read People’s exclusive here. Some highlights from the section about QEII’s passing:

The Sussexes didn’t know that QEII was near death: While [the Sussexes were in the UK], the palace announced that Queen Elizabeth, 96, had been advised by her doctors to rest. By the next morning, the Sussexes had no idea that Buckingham Palace was already planning for the Queen’s final hours and the first days of the monarchy’s new era — until the duke’s phone started ringing. An unknown number. He usually ignored those. “You should answer it,” Meghan told him. He tapped accept just before it stopped. Harry hadn’t spoken to his father much that year, but this was not the time for any father-and-son tension. Charles told him he and Camilla were about to leave Dumfries House for Balmoral, where Princess Anne was already by the Queen’s side. He told Harry to make his way to Scotland immediately.

William never texted: William, whom Charles had just spoken to, was supposedly working on arranging travel. Harry sent a text message to his brother asking how he and Kate planned to get to Scotland and whether they could travel together. No response.

Operating in the dark: With no further information from other family members or Palace aides, the Sussexes and their team had to operate in the dark. Harry was informed that William had already secured a flight with his uncles Andrew and Edward (and Edward’s wife, Sophie), but he couldn’t get in touch with anyone about joining that flight. “It was upsetting to witness,” said a source close to the Sussexes. “[Harry] was completely by himself on this.”

Charles ordering Harry to leave Meghan behind: Another call came through from Charles, who instructed his younger son to come alone. Despite already publicly confirming that Meghan would come with him (always the plan if they were traveling from California for this very situation), he reluctantly agreed, after Charles assured him that Kate would not be there, either. Charles had cited “protocol,” but the reality was that Kate chose to stay back to pick up the children from their first day at a new school. “They just didn’t want Meghan there,” said a former Palace aide. Meghan, a friend added, “could sense she wasn’t wanted.”

William ignored Harry’s texts completely: Harry sent another text to his brother. Nothing. Though there were available seats on William’s chartered Dassault Falcon private jet, which was leaving in less than an hour, Harry was left to fend for himself. “William ignored him,” said a family source. “He clearly didn’t want to see his brother.” Princess Eugenie reached out to Harry to see if he had any more information about their grandmother. She had heard from another family member that it was “time” but knew little more. With no invite forthcoming from any of the family members, Harry eventually located an available option—a private charter costing [$37,000] from Luton Airport, a 40-minute drive from Frogmore without traffic.

A war over when to confirm QEII’s death: Back on the ground, there was a tug-of-war between the Sussexes’ team and Buckingham Palace over whether to announce the news without Harry being informed. With Her Majesty’s death already confirmed to the prime minister an hour before Harry left, and all other senior family members now gathered in Scotland processing the news, royal press secretaries were ready to share the news with the world. The Palace claimed Charles tried to call Harry (sources later told me there was never any proof of this), and that there was no more time left to delay. “His team literally had to beg for them to wait for his plane to land and they reluctantly agreed to hold the statement back for a little bit,” confirmed a close family source.

The palace lied about when and how Harry was told: Palace “sources” later briefed certain papers that Charles had personally shared the news with his younger son, but this was just a move to save face. “Harry was crushed,” said a friend of the duke. “His relationship with the Queen was everything to him. She would have wanted him to know before it went out to the world. They could have waited just a little longer, it would have been nothing in the grand scheme of things, but no one respected that at all.”

Harry, alone in Scotland: When he arrived at Balmoral, Princess Anne warmly greeted him and led him to the Queen’s room, where he spent a quiet moment privately paying his respects. He had hoped to see his father — who had made it to Balmoral Castle in time to see his mother alive — to express his sympathies, but he was informed that Charles, William, and Camilla had already left for Birkhall together. Again, no invite was extended to Harry. That night after eating he retired to his room, exhausted by the day’s emotional roller coaster. He was glad to have had a private moment to say goodbye to his grandmother, but there was no point in sticking around. With no offer to return with William and the others in the morning (all of his texts, including a thoughtful message about the loss of their grandmother, continued to be ignored), Harry booked his own British Airways ticket on the first available departing flight.

[From People]

One thing I’ll say in defense of the Windsors is that I completely understand why they didn’t wait for Harry’s plane to land before announcing QEII’s death. I’ll even go so far as to say that Team Sussex made the wrong move there, beefing with the palace about when to announce it. Yes, QEII was Harry’s grandmother, but she was also the head of state and there was a bigger picture to consider. Operation London Bridge was already in effect – a detailed plan for how the nation would observe the mourning of a queen with a historic reign. While I’m sure it hurt Harry deeply that he found out about his beloved grandmother’s death through a BBC alert, I’m sure he also understands that she wasn’t just his grandmother.

One thing I’ll say in defense of Harry is that he has a dogsh-t family and it’s completely unhinged that William was too immature, too peevish, too short-sighted to put aside his differences with Harry and simply communicate, however tersely, on logistics of travel. It was also unhinged that King Charles’s first acts were to: order his Black daughter-in-law to stay away and authorize a bunch of lies in a series of palace briefings about the Sussexes.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.