In the past three-and-a-half years, the Windsors have tried and failed to stick to different messages about the Sussexit, the Sussex estrangement and the larger institutional and existential threats the Windsors face because of Prince Harry and Meghan’s thriving success outside of the royal establishment. The problems have only increased for the Windsors in the past year, following the death of QEII, who was not only a unifying figure for the nation and the family, but she was also the only person Harry and Meghan really respected and honored. Since her funeral, the new king has paid his advisors to come up with increasingly stupid strategies to deal with “the Sussex issue.” For months, it was “Charles is sanguine, he thinks the estrangement makes him look like a normal father!” But given that he literally just refused Harry’s simple request for one room for one night, Charles feels the need to change tack and go with a different media strategy: a detente must happen, but no apologies will be made to achieve the rapprochement.

No apologies: The friend of the king and Camilla told The Daily Beast that while Charles hopes to be able to build relations with Harry in due course, he would not be tempted to start dishing out apologies. They said: “It has been reported that Charles wants an apology from Harry, but that’s far from the case. [Charles] wouldn’t expect that. He knows the Windsors are a stubborn lot and Harry is no exception. The quid-pro-quo is, can Harry accept that he won’t be getting an apology either? Don’t forget that Charles authorized Jonathan Dimbleby to write a book which attacked his parents, but ultimately they all basically forgot about it, chalked it down to experience and moved on. Charles wants to hit the reset button—but not at any price.”

Dithering about having a conversation: While there is little doubt that an entente cordiale with the Sussexes would represent a win for King Charles, such hopes and dreams are balanced by concerns on the king’s side over the past years of doing anything that may breathe new life into the media narrative of a destructive royal feud. Arranging a meeting with Harry, no matter how cordiale, would risk doing just that. Indeed, the palace has been notably quick to quash as false rumors of “peace summits” or other tête-à-têtes in recent weeks. However, the fact that courtiers are understood to have told Harry he would be made welcome if he wished to visit his father at Balmoral earlier this month is “clearly a positive sign that things are moving in the right direction,” the friend said.

Charles’s priority isn’t Harry, BP’s briefings to the contrary: The friend said: “The Harry issue doesn’t have to be sorted out immediately but it will be sorted out eventually. Charles loves Harry but his priority is to fulfill his duty as king and not let his mother down. That means constitutional considerations have to come first.”

The Sussex estrangement makes Charles look like a dogsh-t father: Charles has inherited that instinct, but times have changed, and the reality is that, while people are sympathetic, the continued alienation of Harry and Meghan reflects poorly on Charles as a leader. It will only become an even more pronounced problem if his grandchildren, who are a prince and princess, grow up in California without any apparent contact with Harry’s family. And while royal sources like to give the impression that Charles has no need to hurry, the simple fact is that Charles is already 74. At the age of 73, he was the oldest person yet to ascend to the British throne. Given that both his parents lived well into their nineties, he is generally expected to do the same.

The William problem: But time is not, actually, on [Charles’s] side, and were something unthinkable to happen and Prince William to take the throne, even the most optimistic of palace spinners concede that an outbreak of brotherly love would be unlikely. William has remained implacably furious with his brother, outraged by what he sees as his betrayal of him and his family, and their privacy, for financial gain. He has no wish to see him, The Daily Beast understands from sources. Charles, however, does.

A strategic need: A former staffer who worked for the king in their time at Buckingham Palace, told The Daily Beast that Charles has a “strategic need to resolve the issue” of Harry’s estrangement from the family. The former staffer said: “It’s not sustainable for the king, who is the national symbol of unity, to be on such bad terms with his son that they haven’t been pictured together in years. Ultimately Charles has not just a personal but also a strategic need to resolve the issue.”

It’s all in Camilla’s hands, actually: “The division between state and family is sacrosanct so Camilla will be pivotal in all this,” the source added, “She is the only one who will be in a position to advise him who he will listen to. She is a pragmatist and I’m sure she understands the importance of putting this saga to bed.”

[From The Daily Beast]

Yeah, the issue is that it’s always been Camilla advising him, and Camilla likes where things are now, so that’s how things will stay – Camilla managed to get her way at every level. Charles’s first wife is dead, Camilla found a way to drive a wedge between Diana’s sons, she figured out a way to get the clever, charismatic son exiled and the other brother is malleable and stupid, as is his wife. This is Camilla’s monarchy. But I agree with the “sources” saying that Charles needs detente for strategic reasons. Too bad he can’t problem-solve his way out of a paper bag and simply treat Harry like a much-loved son, and simply offer the Sussexes a thorough apology explicitly for the sake of his grandchildren. Like, just on a managerial level, Charles sucks at this. At a parental level, the bar is in hell.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

The Earthshot Prize ceremony in Singapore isn’t until November 7th, so there’s still a lot of time for gossip about who’s going and who’s not going and why. In fact, it’s pretty clear that this Singapore trip is “the next big thing” for the British tabloids’ soap opera storyline. They must be bummed that they can’t find a way to make it about Prince Harry or Meghan! Anyway, for months, we heard that the Princess of Wales would join her husband in Singapore, just like she joined him in Boston for last year’s Earthshot mess. Then, rather suddenly, Camilla Tominey suggested that Kate would not go to Singapore. The Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column doubled-down on Tominey’s reporting this week, claiming that Kate is “a reluctant overseas traveller” who prioritizes the school run ahead of any requests from Britain’s Foreign Office. Kate (or her mother) then ran to Tom Sykes with a delightfully unhinged and panicked rant about how Kate is not too lazy to travel. The latest update is that the Mirror’s Russell Myers seemingly got it confirmed that Kate will not go to Earthshot:

The Princess of Wales will miss Prince William’s third annual Earthshot Prize awards in a huge blow for organisers.

Kate has attended every awards since they began two years ago but it can now be revealed that she will not be travelling to Singapore with her husband for the 2023 event in November.

Instead, she will remain at home with children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who will be at school as the event coincides with term time.

It is believed Kate does not want to disturb the youngsters’ schooling and works hard to ensure the trio have a stable home life in preparation for their royal careers later down the line. Kensington Palace is poised to release further details about the 2023 Earthshot Awards soon.

[From The Daily Mirror]

All of these newspapers and tabloids are just flat-out refusing to speculate or investigate what’s going on here, meanwhile how much ink was spilled over “the Sussexes are separating” or “Meghan isn’t coming to London with Harry” or “Meghan didn’t go to the coronation.” It’s always projection. Whatever they say about the Sussexes, it’s always really about (P)Egg and Buttons.

Also: Sky News Australia suggests that Kate is refusing to do anything resembling a tour after she made an ass out of herself during the Caribbean Flop Tour last year. That was her last “tour” if we don’t count Boston (and I agree that Boston doesn’t count). The Wiglet Is On Strike, y’all. Kate’s gonna picket outside Buckingham Palace with a sign reading “Wiglet Rights Are Worker Rights!”

Update: Becky English is confirming it too.

Rumours the Princess of Wales will not be accompanying her husband to @EarthshotPrize in Singapore have been around for a bit. I’ve now had confirmation she won’t be attending. My understanding is that Prince George has exams that week and she wants to be at home to support him.

— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) September 29, 2023

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

From my very unofficial survey of Swifties, it seems like there is not a consensus about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s portmanteau. Are they Traylor? Tayvis? TayTray? Swelce? You guys need to figure it out – y’all insisted on Hiddleswift when, honestly, CB came up with “Tiddles” and we held the Tiddles line here on this blog. I’m personally leaning more towards Traylor, but I’m sure the Snake Fam is clever enough to come up with something better than “Taylor and that football guy.” Anyway, TMZ has been running all kinds of Traylor exclusives this week, including a photo taken inside of the Kansas City restaurant they went to following last Sunday’s game:

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce at the Chiefs game after-party in new photo obtained by TMZ. pic.twitter.com/M86WjeXsjg

— Pop Base (@PopBase) September 27, 2023

The body language was not what I expected. Taylor slinging her arm around her beefy football player boyfriend? Sure. It’s a vibe. Meanwhile, TMZ also got a tip that Taylor will attend the Chiefs’ next game in New Jersey on Sunday:

Taylor Swift is really digging Travis Kelce … because she’s expected back at his next NFL game. Sources confirm to TMZ … as of now, Taylor is expected to attend Sunday’s game between Travis’ Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

We’re told Taylor’s team is still working out security logistics with MetLife Stadium, where she played a huge concert earlier this summer on her “Eras” tour.

Taylor would be going back for seconds … she went to the Chiefs game last Sunday, watching Travis score a touchdown from a private suite with his family. It was the first time she went to one of his games since they started hanging out, and the first time she met his parents.

The NFL schedule is lining up perfectly for Taylor and Travis … his team is playing on the road against the Jets, across the river from New York City … where Taylor owns a place.

[From TMZ]

Oh God before this is over, the Swifties are gonna get into fantasy football, aren’t they? Literally, my first impulse was to look at the NFL schedule to see where the Chiefs would play next. Football was already America’s favorite sport, but Traylor is going to bring millions of new fans to the sport. I hope the football bros are ready to share stadiums with 20-something women with dip-dyed hair, face glitter and friendship bracelets. The NFL better embrace it too.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Getty.

During last weekend’s Buckingham Palace briefing spree, I kept wondering if King Charles was actually mad because he didn’t know where Prince Harry stayed overnight. BP’s courtiers briefed the Sun, the Telegraph and the Times about “the drama with Harry” and Harry’s breezy visit to the UK just before the Invictus Games. Harry attended the WellChild Awards, stayed overnight somewhere and then visited his grandmother’s crypt the next morning. Harry possibly requested a spare room at Windsor Castle for the night, only to be refused and told that there was no place for him in a 1000-room medieval castle, that he should fly up to Balmoral or something. It was dumb.

What I kept wondering was… did Harry stay at Eugenie and Jack’s UK home, wherever that is? I actually don’t know where they are now – they stayed at Frogmore Cottage for a time as well, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family, but I have no idea where they are now when they’re in England. That’s just it – they spend a lot of time in Portugal now that Jack has a fancy job with some kind of real estate/tourism company. Harry hasn’t seen his favorite cousin since the coronation, and he hasn’t met her new baby Ernest. Well, according to Portugese sources, Harry and Meghan might have stopped into Portugal to spend a little time with Eugenie and Jack post-Invictus.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have taken a detour via Portugal on their way home from the Invictus Games, according to reports. According to Portuguese media, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, 39 and 42, took a ‘lightning romantic escape’ to the village of Melides in the Alentejo region of the country following a week in Dusseldorf – and they may have caught up with Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank too. Prince Andrew’s daughter, 33, and her wine merchant husband, 37, have strong ties to the region where Jack works in marketing and sales at the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club.

Now Portuguese magazine Nova Gente has reported that the Sussexes flew back to Montecito, California via Portugal on invitation of Eugenie.

Despite a fraught relationship with most of his family, Prince Harry has revealed he remains close to Eugenie and shared snippets of days out with her in his $100 million Netflix series last December.

The Portuguese magazine reported the Sussexes’ visit to Eugenie and Jack was a ‘mega-secret operation’ which saw them departing Portugal on September 20 on a British Airways flight to London Heathrow airport, accompanied by two bodyguards.

‘The couple reached the plane in a white van carrying just them and their bodyguards,’ a witness told the publication. They added Meghan was wearing a dress with cropped sleeves and flat shoes, with her hair in a ponytail – and she looked ‘tired’ following a busy week at the Invictus Games.

[From The Daily Mail]

A commenter mentioned, months ago, that one of the most amazing things Diana and Fergie did was encourage their children to interact as siblings and loving family with no agenda. That’s really stuck with me, because it’s really true – Fergie still feels like an aunt to Harry and William, she’s proud of them in that way and she would never say a bad word against them. Diana and Fergie’s plan worked in Harry’s case – he adores Eugenie and Bea so much. The more we see and hear of Harry and Eugenie’s relationship, it really feels like she’s the little sister he always wanted, the trusted confidante and friend. The fact that the Windsors can’t find some way to force Eugenie to cut her ties with Harry is also fascinating to me. Anyway, I kind of believe this – I bet Harry and Meghan both wanted to meet Eugenie’s second son and spend a little time with Jack and Eugenie.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

I love Hot Ones, the YouTube show which has arguably become one of the hottest promotional stops for actors, musicians, writers and reality stars. Cate Blanchett appeared on Hot Ones during her Tar promotion, and it felt like that was a huge breakthrough. Suddenly, A-listers were booking it to Hot Ones, a show where celebrities just sit around, eating progressively spicier wings and answering questions. Well, Cardi B finally decided to do Hot Ones. She says she did it for her fans, because they were begging her to do it. She acquitted herself well, honestly, although she did take very small bites for the most part. Here’s the full video:

Cardi looks beautiful, but I wish she had worn her hair back. The giant chandelier earrings were also annoying me. But overall, she did well, especially when someone handed her the ice cream. I always wonder why every Hot Ones guest doesn’t bring their own ice cream. Surely, that’s the best way to combat the heat?

My favorite parts, in no particular order: Cardi using logic and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to explain why aliens are not real and not visiting Earth; Cardi being a history nerd and geeking out about how much she loves FDR and Elenor Roosevelt; Cardi being a fashion girlie and geeking out about Thierry Mugler; when the heat starts kicking her ass and her voice breaks; Cardi referring to each wing as “her” and “she.”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, screencap courtesy of Hot Ones/YouTube.

The curse of Taylor Swift’s exes continues! Matty Healy announced that his band The 1975 are going on hiatus, at least from touring. He said this on stage at a show while the band is in the middle of a six month long world tour. It’s not clear if they’re breaking up the band or just not touring afterwards. But Matty’s string of racist controversies and scandals has probably contributed to this. Since Taylor dumped him at the urging of the Snake Fam, he hasn’t cleaned up his act at all. Just a few days ago he deactivated his Twitter account after making an ableist joke aimed at indie group Boygenius. He is a gross person.

English pop band The 1975 is taking a break–with no indication how long it will last.

Frontman Matty Healy delivered the news on Tuesday to a California crowd at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento between songs. The announcement was followed by audible screams in a video that has since gone viral on social media.

“We always love coming to this place to play for you guys whenever we get the chance,” said Healy, per footage on X. “And it’s wonderful you’re all here. After this tour, we will be going on an indefinite hiatus of shows, so it’s wonderful to have you guys with us tonight.”

The announcement kicked off the North American leg of the band’s Still…At Their Very Best Tour.

Band manager Jamie Osborne hinted at the possibility of a hiatus in August. Still, Healy’s announcement left some fans shocked. Others seemed fed up with Healy’s antics over the past year.

“The guy should just take an indefinite break from everything,” one person wrote on X.

Healy made headlines in January after a performative Nazi salute onstage, which flared into virulent backlash against his brief relationship with superstar Taylor Swift. His self-admitted interest in watching p-rn showing Black women getting brutalized attracted further outrage.

[From The Huffington Post]

It’s always annoyed me that these guys were critical darlings because the music is mostly pretty basic. There are a lot of bands that are doing more interesting things, that are not fronted by morons. A lot of frontmen are at least a little bit narcissistic, sure, but he’s in a league by himself. Maybe The 1975 would be a better band if they just replaced Healy with someone who isn’t a racist edgelord who thinks that being offensive is a kind of performance art. Reading between the lines I do think that this indefinite hiatus “from touring” is a more permanent break. Their manager said on Instagram that this tour would be “the final The 1975 dates of this era and for quite a while.” We can only hope, right?

Photos credit: Justin Ng/Avalon, Cover Images

Former Dancing With the Stars pro Cheryl Burke has had a turbulent past couple years. Early in 2022 she filed for divorce from Matthew Lawrence after three years of marriage, and hinted it was due to cheating on his part. A year later Matthew got together with Chilli Thomas and publicly declared that his life was “in complete bloom.” Most harrowing of all was the court custody case over their baby, French bulldog Ysabella (Cheryl won in the end). Amid her divorce drama, Cheryl also left her professional home of DWTS in 2022 after 26 seasons, but she is now returning in a new capacity (I guess they’ve shaken off her calling them out for strike breaking). No stranger to podcasts — she hosted Pretty Messed Up for two years — Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans will see Cheryl interviewing past celebrity DWTS contestants for a glimpse behind the mirror ball. While hyping the show to Yahoo’s The Unwind series, Cheryl reflected on difficult transitions in life and dance:

She was scared to say yes to DWTS: “I remember being asked to do Dancing With the Stars,” she says. “I was also living in Harlem at the time with my dance partner/boyfriend, and I was very comfortable there. I was scared to say yes to the show. And it took a long time for me to actually say, ‘OK, I’m going to try this.’ There’s a difference of feeling like, ‘No, I shouldn’t do this,’ like following your intuition and [knowing] ‘this is not a good idea’ versus ‘I’m scared to do it, but I know I should.’”

Bodily intuition: “For me, I know there’s always something that I feel in my body,” she explains. “Specifically, when [something] is not a good choice or something fishy is happening, it feels like my heart just dropped down to my stomach, like I’m on a roller coaster ride. I can choose to listen to it or not. Every time I didn’t listen to it, my life became stagnant, my whole energy became stagnant.”

No change without awareness: “You’ve got to step back from your own thoughts for a second and just observe.” And sometimes, when you do that, you may realize it’s time to create significant change — in your relationship with yourself and with others. “You are who you hang out with, you are who you’re raised by, you are your environment — unless you consciously change it,” points out Burke. “It’s like breaking a bad habit. There’s no mental health improvement without awareness.”

Her therapies have a mind-body balance: As she’s forged ahead into a whole new chapter of her life this year, Burke has prioritized her mental health by working with both a talk therapist and somatic therapist, who focuses on how emotions are felt in the body. She’s also tapping into the power of other mind-body practices, including transcendental meditation, which she says she has aimed to do twice daily since separating from Lawrence.

A pandemic in itself: “Suffering [when it comes to] mental health is a pandemic in itself. No one wants to talk about it. In order to normalize it, we have to talk about it… I’m going to do this work forever. It’s never gonna stop, that’s the thing. I will always be healing, I will always be working on me. And at the end of the day, it’s because I’m stuck with me. You’re stuck with [yourself] for the rest of your life, and you better like yourself.”

[From Yahoo! Life]

“You’re stuck with [yourself] for the rest of your life, and you better like yourself.” Oof, that’s a biggie. When I was in my early twenties I found myself saying to a teacher that I thought it was in bad taste to like myself. He very kindly suggested that I might want to take a look at that. We humans are funny creatures. Most of us spend a great portion of our lives figuring out just how to be… ourselves. You’d think that would be the one area where you had an advantage, given that you’re the only you out there. But no. We struggle to unpack the influences, circumstances, and Beyonce albums that have affected us the most, and next sift through what’s helping us versus what we can shed. Then to compound things, we’ve upheld a centuries-old tradition of assigning shame to honest conversations about mental health and self esteem. Outside of a Pixar movie, no other animal on this planet tortures themselves this way. I’m with Cheryl, we have to talk about it. And I love how she’s gone full hippie with somatic therapy and transcendental meditation. On that note, I’ll leave you with the first line (spoken, not sung) of the stage show HAIR: “Transcendental meditation on the ocean of reality is love.”

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Michael Gambon has passed away at the age of 82. He had pneumonia. [JustJared]
Bethenny Frankel chimed in on Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce. [Pajiba]
More photos from the big PFW Dior event this week. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Todd Haynes’ May-December looks creepy! I’ll watch anything with Julianne Moore though, and Natalie Portman’s performance seems unsettling. [LaineyGossip]
The funniest tweets of September. [Buzzfeed]
Kendall Jenner wore Bottega Veneta in Paris. [RCFA]
Ron DeSantis said words at last night’s GOP debate. [Jezebel]
I love this gown on Marcia Gay Harden. [GFY]
Hailey Bieber does ‘80s style so well. [Egotastic]
Bella Thorne used to have threesomes. [Towleroad]
Who will host The Daily Show now? Bring back Nancy Walls! [Seriously OMG]

Michael Gambon, the Irish actor best known for his role as Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in six of the “Harry Potter” movies, has died, Variety has confirmed. He was 82.https://t.co/9WpPz14wIx pic.twitter.com/ynTNIllfR9

— Variety (@Variety) September 28, 2023

Here are more photos of the Princess of Wales at the Orchards Centre, a place for “early years” kids with special needs. Kate didn’t just do a breezy drive-up, she stayed and took part in some kind of session with kids and parents. Kate freeze-posed a lot and seemed to be forcing some of her reactions, but whatever. It is what it is – she’s a deeply unserious person, but I hope those kids and parents felt seen.

There was a lot of talk about Kate’s appearance again, because that’s all she’s really got. For Wednesday’s appearance, Kate wore a “messy bun,” because she saw Meghan do a similar hair look in Dusseldorf. It’s yet another style-stalk. Speaking of, she’s been wearing a lot of pantsuits and trousers-blazer combos lately, which has got people talking. I guess they think she invented pantsuits. Let me tell you the legend of an American woman who married a prince and dared to wear trousers to her events – legend has it, the British papers screamed, cried and threw up about how that American was breaking protocol and the QUEEN hates pants and how dare she. From the Telegraph’s latest royal-fashion piece:

Many of us choose September as a clean-slate moment for our wardrobes, using the new fashion season as an opportunity to refresh the way we dress. The Princess of Wales is no different; after returning to public engagements following her summer break, she has enacted an unmistakable new style strategy. For eight out of the ten new appearances she’s undertaken in the past three weeks, the Princess has worn either a full trouser suit or a blazer with coordinating trousers. She’s mostly chosen muted colours and she’s largely been recycling previously seen pieces.

These many tailored looks point to a very deliberate change in style direction from Catherine, who has always used her fashion choices to send messages. So what is she trying to tell us here?

“It’s a look of the moment, which works well on the Princess with her long legs, and those boxy jackets suit her,” said Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and author of numerous royal biographies. “She wore those ‘little girl’ dresses for so long, but now she wants to look more sophisticated. It’s more of a work-day look; she doesn’t need to be in dresses anymore. A suit is snappier and smarter.”

A year after assuming their Wales titles, Catherine and William are shaping their new roles for a modern era. “Catherine’s suits come at a time when the Waleses are making the way they work much more businesslike,” Seward said, adding that their increased workload and fresh approach to running their office, with the imminent appointment of a CEO, points to a polished and professional attitude from the future king and queen.

If Catherine has spent the past decade being viewed as a mother and young duchess, with a wardrobe of ladylike looks to reflect that perception, then now that she is in her 40s it may feel like the right time to swing the narrative.

“Princess Diana also got into power suits because she wanted to be taken more seriously,” Seward added. “Indeed, the designer Jasper Conran once told me that one day in the mid 1980s, Diana had visited him and said she was fed up of ballgowns. He made her a series of sleek tuxedos to wear for evening functions instead and they became some of her most admired outfits.”

[From The Telegraph]

If only there was another style reference to make, something about her trouser-loving sister-in-law who got ripped to shreds for wearing smart, tailored pants and blazers. They screamed and cried about how Meghan should wear Victorian doilies or Downton Abbey-era coatdresses or, as Seward suggests, “those ‘little girl’ dresses.” Oh well! Personally, I like the idea of “Kate in pants” more than I like her execution of the style – Kate loves to copykeen but she always fails to really put the looks together in the right way. The trousers will be too flared, or the colors will be mismatched or the inseam is off. Still, this phase is much better than her “prairie dress/Sister Wife” era, and it’s a hell of a lot better than her twee, twirly little-girl miniskirt era.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

Here’s my question: do you think Prince William and Kate’s staffers are good at what they do and the Keens just f–k it up, or do you think the staffers are terrible at their jobs because they’re just an extension of Will and Kate’s laziness, pettiness and copykeening? I keep coming back to the fact that seemingly no one has told Kate that it’s extremely creepy for her to Single White Female her sister-in-law (not to mention William’s side-chicks). I also think someone should have tried to convince William – a long time ago – that his jealousy of his brother is completely unhinged. William’s New York trip was blatantly about William’s attempt to copy his brother and stalk his brother in America. Bad staff work or should the blame go solely on Peg and Buttons? Hilariously, Kensington Palace staffers are always briefing their favorite outlets about how THEY are so wonderful at their jobs and that’s why W&K are so popular. That and selfies?

No doubt there are many reasons the Waleses have seen a surge in popularity. There’s the dedication to duty and the generous good humour cultivated by both William and Kate. Who wouldn’t want to meet them, singly or together? At 41, the Prince and Princess have the advantage of relative youth and three charming children, a walking advert for domesticity.

All these things and more help explain why, according to a recent MailOnline poll, William is the most popular living royal with Catherine a close second. Even the New Yorkers seem to think so, turning out in hordes for William’s solo visit last week. Only the late Queen Elizabeth is viewed as having made a more positive contribution to the monarchy than William. This is no accident.

Much thought has gone into the way that William and Kate project themselves – and not least into a highly effective media strategy based on ‘selfies’ and artful video clips made by their own in-house videographer. Available on social media soon after a royal visit, these short clips have increased the sense of accessibility and allowed the Waleses to operate more flexibly and without the encumbering retinue of journalists and cameramen that might have been expected in previous times. Is it possible that William and Kate have learned something from those skilled ‘curators’ of their own image, Harry and Meghan? It certainly looks that way.

It’s not so long, after all, since William, Kate – and, for that matter, Charles – seemed suspicious of the camera lens. The late Queen was heard to comment how disappointed she was to be greeted by a wall of camera phones rather than a sea of faces. The new generation of selfie-savvy royals seems to have no such concerns.

[From The Daily Mail]

“Is it possible that William and Kate have learned something from those skilled ‘curators’ of their own image, Harry and Meghan? It certainly looks that way.” There we go. The change in how Will and Kate approach social media, videographers, selfies and general “image-making” was dramatic as soon as Meghan came on the scene. Not even the Wales hagiographers at the Mail deny it anymore, they openly discuss the fact that Will, Kate and their staff openly copy everything the Sussexes do with their own “keen” spin. Hell, the big CEO idea was stolen from the Sussexes too. Anyway, sucks to have an heir to the throne who is too lazy to get his own ideas.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.