Since 2020, we’ve heard that Prince William “absolutely f–king hates” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. We’ve heard it over and over again, that William despises them, that he will never forgive them, that he follows their movements obsessively because of his hatred, that he will travel to America more often because he loathes Harry so much, that the next time William will speak to Harry, it will be at their father’s funeral. The problem is that William clearly has no more threats left, no more punishments, nothing more to withhold. If he’s been a violent, simmering ball of rage for years, why does it matter if he’s particularly mad this week over Omid Scobie’s Endgame? Welcome to Tom Sykes’ Royalist column in the Daily Beast, where “sources close to William” once again meet a crisis with nothing but rage.

The naming of Kate Middleton as one of the alleged ‘royal racists’ means Kate and Prince William will never reconcile with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, a friend of William and Kate’s told The Daily Beast.

While King Charles is expected to continue to maintain cordial relations with his son, and contact with his grandchildren, William and Kate will have “zero interest” in ever seeing Harry and Meghan again, the friend said.

The friend admitted they had “no idea” before this week’s revelation that Kate was being referred to by Meghan Markle when she told Oprah Winfrey that a family member had raised “concerns” about “how dark” Archie’s skin might be.

They said they were “as shocked as everyone else” by the dramatic developments this week, which saw the king and Kate named as the individuals in question in a Dutch-language version of Omid Scobie’s new book, Endgame.

However they added, “It has been clear for a long time to anyone who knows them that they don’t want to see Harry and Meghan. Now we know why. They will have zero interest in ever seeing them again.”

Although Meghan’s camp have briefed the Telegraph that she did not leak the letter to Scobie, the suspicion that she did is widespread among royal insiders.

One former courtier told The Daily Beast: “It is pretty obvious that detail on the contents of a letter between two people would have to come from one of those people, and it’s hard to see Charles sharing it.”

The Sun has previously reported that palace insiders believe Meghan did share the contents of the letter, citing sources as saying: “That letter is under lock and key and no one from within the king’s circle would’ve briefed anyone about its contents. In all likelihood, it must have been the Sussex camp which leaked the names. It’s a nasty and deliberate attack.”

[From The Daily Beast]

I’m a broken record about this, I know, but how f–king stupid are all of these people? Are they legitimately this dumb, or is it all some kind of elaborate feint so the peasants don’t catch wind of what’s actually happening? As Omid Scobie and Piers Morgan have said, the names of the royal racists have been known by British journalists for some time, I would imagine for years. Journalists knew the names before we even heard any reporting on the letters exchanged between Charles and Meghan – the letters were exchanged in 2021, and we learned of the existence of the letters in April of this year. Meghan didn’t leak the existence of the letters – Buckingham Palace did. Besides that, my larger point is that the knowledge of the identities predates the letters. Someone could know the identities of the royal racists without seeing the letters exchanged by Meghan and Charles. As for Peg & Buttons’ hatred… snooze. It’s sad that even in the middle of a racist storm, they come across as desperate for attention.

Note by CB: Get the Top 8 stories from Omid Scobie’s Endgame when you sign up for our mailing list! I only send one email a day on weekdays.

Photos courtesy of Instar.

There have been so many references to the Sussexes’ 2021 Oprah interview in recent weeks. Truly, one of the defining cultural moments of the past decade. Something I’ve been thinking about, which never gets as much attention, is that in the wake of the interview, Meghan’s friends all came out and issued statements of support, praising her as an amazing person, telling the world that the British media and the Windsors had smeared and maligned their friend. What’s funny is… no one can do that for Kate, the Princess of Wales. When Kate was named as one of the “racist royals” in a mistranslated Dutch edition of Endgame, there was no big outpouring of support for Kate. Probably because most people believe that she really is racist. And because she has no friends other than the sanctimonious white supremacist Karens in the British media. Speaking of, Camilla Tominey had some thoughts:

In Endgame, his second hagiography of Harry and Meghan, author Omid Scobie variously describes the Princess of Wales as “cold”, “keen” and “inscrutable”. Damning the Princess with faint praise, he writes: “Comfortable in her role, willing to bring the requisite smile and elegance to her duties as princess, Kate glides under the radar.”

He refers to an incident when he saw Kate in “fits of giggles”, and suggests the future Queen should reveal more of herself: “I always thought this more frank, real side of the sometimes Stepford-like royal wife was something that others should see more of.”

While I agree the Princess should be heard as well as seen, where has oversharing ever got the Royals? Both the King and Diana, the late Princess of Wales, bitterly regretted pouring their hearts out on prime time.

Harry and Meghan have been forced to row back on some of the more outrageous claims they made in their Oprah Winfrey interview, which has since become a parody of itself. Their repeated outpourings have only served to diminish them in the eyes of a cringing global public. That South Park episode, featuring a young royal couple who move to a small town in search of privacy while simultaneously constantly drawing attention to themselves, said it all.

Conversely, it is precisely because Kate is not a brash blabbermouth that she remains so endearingly popular. Like the late Queen, she is a reluctant royal. She’s an introvert. She’s a conflict avoider. She keeps calm and carries on. She’s very English – which perhaps goes a long way to explaining why she didn’t get on with an uninhibited, over-confident American.

Scobie suggests that “on more recent occasions, Kate has jokingly shivered when Meghan’s name has come up around her.” Who can blame her? She has repeatedly been thrown under a bus by her sister-in-law, seemingly for committing the crime of seeing straight through her meaningless word salad and tiresome pursuit of victimhood. And this is precisely why Endgame won’t damage the Princess of Wales in the slightest.

The mystique that surrounds Kate, unlike Meghan, means no attack will stick, because all anyone sees of the Princess is her public service. She’s full of grace, whereas Team Sussex seem to be full of hate. It’s a classic case of class versus brass.

[From The Telegraph]

“His second hagiography of Harry and Meghan” – Endgame is barely about the Sussexes, and I always use “hagiography” to describe Kate’s sugary, obvious PR from people like Katie Nicholl. So we know Tominey and the rest of the Telegraph royalists read this blog. “Harry and Meghan have been forced to row back” – where? When? Harry said some dumb sh-t about unconscious bias versus racism (unconscious bias is posh racism, basically) for a solely British audience, but that’s it. I hope Trey Parker is cutting Tominey a check for how often she name-checks South Park, a show very few people watch and a show which has not been culturally relevant in twenty years.

But here’s the meat of it: “She’s an introvert. She’s a conflict avoider. She keeps calm and carries on. She’s very English – which perhaps goes a long way to explaining why she didn’t get on with an uninhibited, over-confident American.” Kate is a sh-t stirring drama queen, habitual flasher and racist who actively participated in a years-long sustained smear campaign against an “over-confident American.” And Kate still tries to copy every f–king thing Meghan has ever done. “Over-confident” is a racist dog-whistle too – how dare a Black woman be confident, much less OVER confident? Anyway, it’s funny that these are the only people who defend Kate – the dregs of the British media, desperately trying to embiggen this ridiculous and stupid woman.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Remember when BBC Radio personality Danny Baker tweeted a photo comparing Prince Archie to a chimp? Remember when Boris Johnson’s sister wrote about then-Meghan Markle’s “exotic” DNA “thickening” the royal bloodline? Remember when the Duchess of Sussex was suicidal and begging the institution for mental health treatment? Remember when several royals had several conversations expressing their concerns over how dark Archie would be? What do all of those incidents have in common? During absolutely zero of those scandals, controversies or pleas for help did the Windsor clan offer public or private support to Prince Harry or Meghan. At no point did they treat Meghan with care, empathy, concern or love. Instead, they told her to suck it up, stop whining, stop talking about race, stop expecting anyone to help. Now that King Charles and the Princess of Wales have been curiously outed as royal racists, suddenly those salty folks are now demanding that Harry and Meghan speak up in their defense. How the white supremacist worm turns.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been urged to speak out in defence of the King and Princess of Wales, as leading public figures rallied to support them against accusations of racism.

Prince Harry and Meghan have so far remained silent after the pair were named as the royals alleged to have made remarks about their unborn child’s skin colour.

The identities first emerged this week in the Dutch translation of a new royal book, Endgame, by Omid Scobie, before being reported by news organisations worldwide including, on Friday morning, the BBC.

Buckingham Palace maintains that “all options” are still open for their own response, as the King flies home from the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai and into discussions about how to deal with the row.

However, a source close to the family urged the Sussexes to speak out and defend their relatives.

They told The Telegraph: “For the couple that talked about ‘death by a thousand no comments’, the silence at this point is deafening.”

Another pointedly described the decision not to respond to the claims as “interesting”, given the Sussexes made repeated complaints about being left undefended against negative press stories themselves while at the palace. Sources close to the Sussexes have previously emphasised that the Duke and Duchess have not said that either the comments or those who made them were “racist”.

[From The Telegraph]

If I’m being honest, I wish Meghan would speak out, not in defense of Charles or Kate, but simply to clarify who said what. Enough with the mystery – let’s have it all out there on the record, in her own words. I know she is unlikely to do that now or anytime soon, but I hope at some point we get that. As for the present Windsor crisis… this might be the biggest FAFO I’ve seen in years. Are they really expecting Meghan to come out and say “on second thought, being concerned about how dark my babies’ skin would be wasn’t racist at all, you guys!” Again, think of all the mental gymnastics taking place – as Omid Scobie and Piers Morgan have made clear, all of Fleet Street has known for years who said and did racist sh-t to Meghan, and they know because their palace sources have been spilling their guts for years. Meghan has never backed down from what she said in the Oprah interview, and she named the racists in her letters to Charles. Why all of this performative bullsh-t?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Omid Scobie’s Endgame was published by HarperCollins, a subsidiary of News Corp, which is owned by the Murdoch family. The only print interview Scobie did in the British media (that I saw) was in the Times of London, which is one piece of the Murdochs’ print-media empire. While the Times ran several stories about Endgame and they even referred to Scobie as “Harry and Meghan’s cheerleader/biggest fan,” the outlet has not devoted any space to the Dutch-edition of Endgame “naming” the racist royals. It seems that this is being dealt with in-house, and until then, News Corp isn’t throwing Scobie under the bus. It’s fascinating to watch the Times go radio silent on that part of the story, especially given the howling in the Mail, Telegraph, Express and Mirror. I’m very curious to see how that part of the story plays out, honestly.

So, with corporate seemingly dictating that no royal reporter can dig around the Dutch mistranslation, what’s a royal reporter like Roya Nikkhah to do? It sounds like she just ran whatever dumbf–k story Kensington Palace handed her on a plate. Behold, Harry and Meghan are not invited to a fancy society wedding in the UK. Oh noes, you guys.

If the Duke and Duchess of Sussex need any reminder of the fault lines caused by the royal rift, it will come next summer at the wedding of Prince Harry’s lifelong friend Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster. The King and Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales are on the invitation list for what will be the society wedding of the year, when Grosvenor, 32, marries Olivia Henson, 30, at Chester Cathedral on June 7.

But Harry and Meghan will be notably absent. Grosvenor, one of Britain’s richest men and closest friends of the royal family, has decided to exclude the Sussexes to avoid a family clash in the House of Windsor. It is thought that Prince William is in the running to be best man for Grosvenor, a godfather to Prince George, ten, who is also expected to attend.

Harry and Meghan’s exclusion will [be] a particular blow to the couple because Grosvenor is so close to Harry that it can be revealed that he is also a godfather to the Sussexes’ son, Prince Archie. He is thought to be the only friend of William and Harry’s chosen as a godparent by both. The Sussexes have not publicly named Archie’s godparents, but they include Tiggy Pettifer, a former nanny to William and Harry, Mark Dyer, a former equerry to Charles, and Harry’s friend Charlie van Straubenzee.

Grosvenor, who inherited 140,000 acres of land in Oxfordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Scotland, as well as 300 acres in Mayfair and Belgravia in central London from his father, is the King’s godson and had an official role in Charles’s procession at the coronation in May.

It is understood that he had wanted the Sussexes to attend his wedding and originally planned to invite them, but has decided against it, conscious that the drama surrounding the couple risks overshadowing the day and causing tension for Charles, Camilla, William and Kate. A spokesman for Grosvenor said: “We are not in a position to comment on the guest list.”

A friend of William and Harry’s said: “It’s incredibly sad it has come to this. Hugh is one of very few close friends of William and Harry’s who has maintained strong bonds and a line of communication with both. He wishes they could put their heads together and patch things up, but realises it’s unlikely to happen before the wedding. He wanted to avoid anything overshadowing the day, especially for Olivia, and doesn’t want any awkwardness.”

Meghan may be less disappointed than her husband to miss out on Grosvenor’s wedding celebrations, expected to be held at Eaton Hall, at the heart of his 11,000-acre estate in Cheshire. Scobie has said the duchess is loath to return to England and refuses to “dive back into the soap opera”, a comment that has caused amusement behind palace walls, where the Sussexes’ interview with Winfrey was dubbed “Soap Oprah”.

But for Harry, who was keen to attend one of his oldest and closest friend’s nuptials, it will be a bitter reminder of the repercussions of his departure from the royal fold. Last month a friend of the couple said the Sussexes would “not decline an invitation to spend time with His Majesty” over the Christmas or summer holidays at Sandringham or Balmoral, noting that “as of yet, there have not been any invitations for the holidays”. But with mutual friends of Charles and the Sussexes conceding that it is impossible for them to attend the same event, the likelihood of an invitation from the King looks more remote than ever.

[From The Times]

There’s a subset of royal gossip these days which always amounts to “William threw a tantrum, demanded that someone snub Harry, then the person begrudgingly agrees to the snub and William leaks it to ‘punish’ Harry.” See also: President Biden, Dr. Biden, Tom Bradby, David Beckham and more. What happened here is that Hugh Grosvenor wanted to extend an invitation to the Sussexes, then William threw a massive hissy fit, one which threatened to overshadow the nuptials, so Hugh Grosvenor agreed to not invite the Sussexes. Who probably would not have even come in the first place. This was Kensington Palace desperate to announce some “punishment” for Harry and Meghan, and all they could get was “you can’t attend a June wedding or William’s head will explode.” Not really the winning narrative the royal clownshow thinks it is.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

True story: while I included the video of Felicity Huffman’s interview with a local ABC affiliate, I only watched about a minute of it, and I just went with People Magazine’s quotes when I covered the story on Friday. To be fair, the quotes I covered were already pretty bad! Explaining why she paid thousands of dollars to pay an SAT proctor to change her daughter’s answers (and ensure a higher SAT score), Felicity said: “It felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future. And so it was sort of like my daughter’s future, which meant I had to break the law.” I was blown away by the sh-tty parenting more than anything else, as I said – to claim that you had to “do crime” because you think your kid is an idiot who can’t be allowed to fail. Anyway, it’s even worse than that.

“It felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future,” Huffman said in an interview with ABC7. “And so it was sort of like my daughter’s future, which meant I had to break the law.”

Huffman said Singer’s name came to her highly recommended and it was a slow process for her to realize his plans involved any illegal activity.

“After a year, he started to say, ‘Your daughter is not going to get into any of the colleges that she wants to,’” Huffman said. “And I believed him. And so when he slowly started to present the criminal scheme, it seems like — and I know this seems crazy at the time — but that was my only option to give my daughter a future. And I know hindsight is 20/20, but it felt like I would be a bad mother if I didn’t do it. So I did it.”

Once the FBI investigated the operation, they brought federal charges against 33 parents who participated in the plot, including Huffman.

“They came into my home,” she said. “They woke my daughters up at gunpoint. Again, nothing new to the Black and brown community. Then they put my hands behind my back and handcuffed me and I asked if I could get dressed. I thought it was a hoax. I literally turned to one of the FBI people, in a flak jacket and a gun, and I went, ‘Is this a joke?’”

[From Variety]

“They woke my daughters up at gunpoint. Again, nothing new to the Black and brown community.” I just– how to even unpack this? Does she think that only people of color get raided by the FBI? SWAT teams and FBI raids come for people of every race. It’s like she’s mad that she got treated like a Black or brown person. Lady, you committed federal crimes!! The only reason you’re not sitting in prison right now is because you’re white and rich!

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

In November, Keke Palmer sought and received a domestic violence restraining order against her ex, Darius Jackson. Darius had physically and emotionally abused her for months, and his behavior was escalating over the course of this year. Keke has a lot of evidence, including eyewitnesses, security-footage of some of the assaults, and her own emotional narrative of the abuse. Darius is still threatening her in broad daylight too. But there’s also their son to consider, which is why the court recommended some kind of mediation. Now, Keke and Darius have both agree to try to settle the custody issues in mediation, but the restraining order remains in place:

Keke Palmer and Darius Jackson have requested to delay their restraining order hearing. In November, the Nope actress, 30, was granted her request for a temporary domestic violence restraining order and temporary sole custody of their 9-month-old son Leodis “Leo” Andrellton.

A hearing had been set for Tuesday, Dec. 5, and Darius, 29, was prohibited from all contact with them, by being required to stay more than 100 yards away from Palmer and their son,

According to a court filing from this week, the exes requested to have the court date rescheduled in order to “allow the parties time to attend mediation. The parties request that the Mediation and Petitioner’s DVRO be continued to a mutually agreeable date.” They originally had court-ordered mediation set for Nov. 29.

Palmer and Jackson also agreed that the orders outlined in the temporary restraining order “shall remain in full force and effect” until the rescheduled hearing, according to the documents obtained by PEOPLE.

A source close to Palmer tells PEOPLE the temporary restraining order “remains in full force and effect and will not be dropped.”

“Keke will continue to protect her safety and the safety of Leo above all else,” says the source, adding that the actress “agreed to mediation because the case has gotten so much speculation and media attention, and she is concerned about her privacy, Leo’s privacy, and the privacy of her family.” The source says, “Her preference is to resolve the situation privately rather than in open court, if possible. But if not possible, the hearing remains on the calendar and Keke will stop at nothing to ensure a safe and healthy outcome for herself and Leo.”

[From People]

Mediation can be different things – sometimes it’s two people and their lawyers in a room, working out their sh-t in good faith. Sometimes it’s people in separate rooms, with lawyers going back and forth, negotiating entirely through third parties. My hope for Keke is that she doesn’t have to see that man or be around him. My hope is that she has excellent lawyers helping her and protecting her. My hope is that she doesn’t become another domestic violence victim screwed over by the system.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Please, I love this. About 24 hours after Piers Morgan “named” the Princess of Wales as one of the two “royal racists” in the Dutch edition of Endgame, Kate and Prince William attended the Royal Variety show. They apparently got a standing ovation, which is what usually happens to whichever royal attends this annual fundraiser – everyone stands up and claps, regardless if it’s Sophie, Edward, Harry, Will, Kate, Meghan, whomever. But Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast frames it like, “look, everybody gave Kate a standing ovation for being racist!” They truly think this framing is a good look, to tie the racism thing with the standing ovation. “Over here, everyone is racist, we’re proud of it, we love Racist Kate!!”

The royals are not complaining—or explaining. Kate Middleton was given a standing ovation as she arrived at a keynote royal event Thursday evening, just 24 hours after she was dramatically named as one of the “royal racists” who raised “concerns’ over “how dark” Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s children’s skin would be.

The show of support came as King Charles, who was named as the other person who asked questions about the children’s likely skin tone, took to the stage Friday morning to deliver a keynote speech at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai. Aides insisted he was “utterly focused” on the summit.

There are also reports in the U.K. papers dismissing, once again, any suggestion that Charles might seek to strip Harry and Meghan of their titles. “That is just something that would not be considered,” sources told the Daily Mail’s Rebecca English.

It all adds up to a sense that the royals intend to tough out the crisis, which was triggered after a Dutch translation of Omid Scobie’s new book, Endgame, named Kate and Charles as the individuals referred to by Meghan in her interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, In that interview she said there were “concerns and conversations about how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he’s born.”

Royal sources told The Daily Beast the family would not be commenting on the allegations, despite a growing clamor for them to make a statement. Sources suggest the palace will brush off demands for a statement along the lines of that issued by the queen after the Oprah interview, in which she famously said, “Some recollections may vary.”

They are likely to argue that the publication of the names in a now-pulped foreign language book, and allegedly included by accident, is a very different matter from Meghan and Harry themselves making allegations of racial bias in the Oprah interview: “It’s just another book” is a line that has already emerged as a palace response in some reports.

[From The Daily Beast]

I mean… as far as royal strategies go, “ignoring it and hoping it goes away” is the one they usually choose and it’s rarely worked out for them. That being said, the Windsors barely have to do any heavy lifting here – the British media is so outraged on the Windsors’ behalf, and there’s a frenzy of ass-covering and double-dealing happening before our eyes. Before this is all done, every British royal reporter will admit that they knew the identities of every racist royal and they’ve known exactly what was said to Meghan, and in the same breath, they’ll blame Meghan for all of it and make it clear that they still love their Racist Kate.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Omid Scobie began his in-person UK promotional blitz for Endgame on Thursday by the looks of it. His appearance on This Morning (on Thursday) was fascinating because he made news by confirming that the names of the “royal racists” had been widely known among the royal press corps. That interview was messy because of the interviewers, who kept interrupting him and insisting that he must have been personally briefed by Meghan. The level of delusional obsession on that island is something. Speaking of, on Thursday evening, he did a BBC interview (in-studio) and Victoria Derbyshire asked him, in all earnestness, if he would apologize to the royal family. LMAO. These people will simply never recover.

After a Dutch translation of his book Endgame named Kate Middleton and King Charles as the alleged “royal racists” who questioned Prince Harry about his children’s likely skin color, Omid Scobie Thursday night ducked responsibility for making the claim in a BBC interview, instead blaming “irresponsible people” in the U.K. for repeating the names.

Although he did not mention Piers Morgan by name, it was Morgan who last night said the royals’ names on his Talk TV show in the U.K., leading to a firestorm of follow-up media coverage. He said he was “frustrated” that the names had appeared in the Dutch version, saying: “The book was heavily vetted—legaled, i’s dotted, t’s crossed—and a book that I was extremely proud of [has now been] completely overshadowed…we have a full investigation going on into the series of events that happened.”

Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire had previously pointed out that one of the translators earlier Thursday told the Daily Mail: “As a translator, I translate what is in front of me. The names of the royals were there in black and white. I did not add them. I just did what I was paid to do and that was translate the book from English into Dutch.”

Scobie added, “The English version of the book, the only one I know, the version that I signed off on; that is the book that is out there today. That is the book that has no names in it.”

He appeared to suggest he had not included the names because he would not be able to produce evidence for the claim, saying: “Ultimately, to write the names is a show and tell situation. There is no ability to show, so there was never any attempt to name.”

Derbyshire said: “But in some version you must have written the names in,” and asked Scobie if it was all a “publicity stunt.” He said it was not, adding, “I feel hurt by some of the things I have seen, suggesting all sorts—the conspiracy that this is a publicity stunt, that I am in cahoots with ‘my pals.’”

Asked if he wanted to apologize to the royals he said, “It’s not for me to apologize because I still want to know what’s happened.”

Derbyshire said: “The buck stops with you, surely?” Scobie replied, in what seemed to be a shot at one of his most famous detractors, Piers Morgan, who was the first British broadcaster to name Charles and Kate on air: “It doesn’t stop with me because there are irresponsible people in this country that have broken the law and repeated names that should never have been repeated. The book I wrote, the book I edited, the book I signed off on, did not have the names in it.”

[From The Daily Beast]

She wanted him to apologize to the Windsors for… what exactly? A translation mix-up? The poor, racist, colonialist, bigoted Windsors, what they’ve been put through! The poor sausages cannot complain or explain, remember? Anyway, Omid has been handling his business very well in this interviews, to the point where he looks like the only calm, reasonable one in what can only be described as a “clownstorm,” a clownshow sh-tstorm. In this interview, he also confirms that he’s received twenty death threats just this week. All because he wrote a historically accurate book about the Windsors, their racism and bigotry and how they can’t problem-solve their way out of a wet paper bag.

‘A book I was extremely proud of… now overshadowed’

Omid Scobie describes the fallout of a royal family race row sparked by his latest book Endgame. https://t.co/nsTbPkSrNo
#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/XOuKkyWkup

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) November 30, 2023

Screencap courtesy of BBC, additional photos courtesy of Omid’s social media.

Millie Bobby Brown loves the holidays. Depending on who you ask, the Christmas holiday season either started on November 1 (cough, Mariah, cough) or right after Thanksgiving. I know some people who have had their trees and decorations up for weeks and others (like us) who are just doing them now. When I was growing up, my parents always got a real tree. When Mr. Rosie and I were first living together back in our dating years, we caused a slight scandal by buying an artificial one. At the time, our reasoning was we were living in an apartment with a rambunctious kitten. I just wanted the convenience of having the fake tree that I didn’t have to water and constantly sweep up needles from.

Fast-forward to 2021 when we ponder, “Should we get a real tree now that we’re in a house?” Well, we have now somehow ended up with THREE Christmas trees in one room. It’s absurd but it’s also quite nice. Anyways, back to MBB. She’s a 19-year-old powerhouse and is engaged to Jon Bon Jovi’s son, Jake. From what we’ve seen publicly, Millie and Jake appear to have a healthy, drama-free relationship. But even they cannot escape the usual holiday disagreements. In their case, they are split between types of Christmas trees. In an interview with Eating Well, MBB shared that she likes fake trees while Jake favors the real ones.

EatingWell: What are your holiday plans looking like?

Brown: I love the holidays, it’s definitely my favorite time of year. [My fiancé] Jake’s more into real trees, I like fake trees. It’s a huge debate in the house. I love hot cocoa and my tea, and I love the fire being on. I love it being freezing cold outside and the puppies and dogs are all comfy and cozy. Winter time is definitely my hibernation time, and I absolutely love being able to just be inside with the family.

[From Eating Well]

It’s so relatable that an otherwise drama-free couple debates what type of tree to have in their home. I’m genuinely curious where everyone stands on the real vs. artificial tree debate! That topic reminds me of the “Bringing Back Christmas” song from the excellent musical, Spirited. As I said above, our quest to get a live tree ended up with us now having three trees. It’s ridiculous but it’s also lovely because each tree represents a different part of us. We have the artificial one that hosts all of the homemade and kitschy ornaments, a real one that we use for “fancy” ornaments, and another tiny real tree that the kids pick out to decorate themselves (and thus far they’ve tried to imitate the fancy tree by picking the tiny ball ornaments and very twinkly lights from Target). I know it’s overkill, but honestly, it makes each of us happy and grateful. To me, that’s what Christmas is all about.

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One of my favorite parts of Omid Scobie’s Endgame are his smaller confirmations of some minor story or kerfuffle. This is one of them – two days after QEII’s death, Prince Harry was already back in Frogmore Cottage, in Windsor, with Meghan and their team. He got a text from his brother, and William invited him to do a “walkabout” outside of Windsor Castle, where hundreds of well-wishers had gathered. Harry insisted that Meghan be invited as well, and William acquiesced. We knew that the invitation was last-minute and that Harry and Meghan had to rush to get ready. What was always in question was how William even “decided” to text Harry. I remember the back-and-forth Daily Mail coverage, which unfolded in real time as the new king and new Prince of Wales had a minor briefing war as both tried to take credit for the idea. Well, Scobie reports in Endgame that King Charles absolutely ordered William to invite Harry and Meghan. Not only that, but William didn’t want to AT ALL. Hilariously, People Magazine’s coverage also points out that William and Kate (separately) were desperate to take credit for the idea.

Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s united appearance after Queen Elizabeth’s death almost didn’t happen, Omid Scobie writes in Endgame. In the book, published on Tuesday and originally excerpted in PEOPLE, Scobie writes that King Charles nudged Prince William to invite the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to view tributes and greet the public with him and Princess Kate after Queen Elizabeth died in Sept. 2022.

“Essentially, he told William to swallow his pride and invite his brother and sister-in-law to join them when they greeted mourners and well-wishers in Windsor that day. William wasn’t keen. This was his moment with the public, but the King put pressure on [him],” Scobie quotes a palace source as saying in Endgame. According to the book, shortly before the outing, Prince William “sent his first text message in months to Harry, suggesting it would be ‘good’ if they came along, too.”

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE surrounding the release of Endgame, which chronicles both the breakdown of the royal family and the weakening of the modern monarchy, Scobie stresses that the “Windsor Walkabout” was King Charles’ idea. The author adds that a source “said it was all led by their father, that he was the one that made the suggestion.”

Commenting on the significance of the appearance, which marked the first time that the couples had appeared together in years, “It showed that all four are capable of switching it on and doing what’s right in the moment,” Scobie says. “I thought potentially that could open doors to other moments of seeing what matters and putting certain things to one side, just to coexist or to find some sort of common ground. But I think the thing that surprised me the most was that afterward everyone just went their own ways and nothing happened beyond that.”

Scobie also decodes the brief notice Harry and Meghan had for the public moment as a sign of William’s indifference. “The fact that it was about to go ahead without the Sussexes, who were only asked 40 minutes beforehand, shows just how close William was to not doing it at all. And if it wasn’t for Charles, it wouldn’t have [happened],” Scobie says.

Kensington Palace had said that Prince William invited his brother and sister-in-law to join them. The Prince of Wales thought the walkabout to greet the crowds “was an important show of unity at an incredibly difficult time for the family,” a royal source told PEOPLE at the time. However, a friend of Kate’s told PEOPLE that it was her idea. “She didn’t want her or William to have any regrets,” the friend said.

[From People]

“William wasn’t keen. This was his moment with the public…” I can imagine his little balled up fists as he threw a tantrum about his grandmother’s death being HIS moment to shine. You can tell that William held a grudge about being forced into inviting the Sussexes, because he and Kate went on to a blitz of appearances after that Windsor walkabout. William kept trying to get a do-over, only people actually wanted to see Harry. Remember that whole 10-day hostage situation? Whenever Harry was in view, all of the cameras went to him. The American media covered every single outrageous snub too. I’m not sure the Windsors have even come to grips with how disgusting and sadistic they looked during that “mourning period.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.