Here are some photos of Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, in Rome this week. She attended the state funeral of Giorgio Napolitano, the former president of Italy. There was a big to-do and several major world leaders and diplomatic figures came out for the funeral. Sophie was the only one from the Windsor clan to attend, the Sunak government didn’t send any major representatives either. So much for European allies, eh? Sophie was seated in the first row with the other heads of state and Napolitano family.

It’s curious that King Charles didn’t send his global statesman son to the funeral – when Charles was PoW, he was always sent to these kinds of international state funerals and memorial services. I mean, Occam’s Razor – William wasn’t sent because William is not a global statesman, and he would have caused an international incident in Rome. William also skipped his godfather’s funeral in Greece in January of this year.

Meanwhile, I’ve been surprised to see that there are some internet rumors about the Duchess of Edinburgh and her husband Prince Edward. Those rumors haven’t bubbled up to legitimate reporting, possibly because people forget about Sophie and Edward constantly. There are rumors about their marriage and rumors about Edward’s health. Edward and Sophie are rarely seen together these days, and Edward looks like he’s lost a lot of weight over the past year or so. While Sophie headed out to Rome, Edward was visiting Turkey and meeting with President Erdogan (yikes). His trip has not made any headlines in the British press and I’m not even sure he’s traveling with any royal rota people?

Anyway, it feels like the Windsors are keeping a lot of secrets these days. Failing to disclose health issues, marriage drama, diplomatic drama. It’s weird.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Jason Sudeikis will pay Olivia Wilde $27K a month in child support. [Socialite Life]
Joe Jonas & Sophie Turner’s second daughter is named Delphine. [Just Jared]
Hollywood interns weigh in on what’s going wrong in their industry. [LaineyGossip]
I’ll disagree with Pajiba and say that the best part of the Fingernails trailer is Riz Ahmed, not the music. Riz Ahmed is always the best part. [Pajiba]
Donald Trump visited a gun manufacturer and called for the execution of a military general who criticized him publicly. [Jezebel]
Timothy Olyphant bleached his silver hair. [Go Fug Yourself]
Would you wear “the table skirt”? [OMG Blog]
Amanda Seyfried wore Prada to a Lancome event in Paris. [RCFA]
Kerry Washington, before she was famous. [Seriously OMG]
Kevin Durant had some dates at Drake’s concert. [Egotastic]
LOL and once again, Generation X is forgotten. [Buzzfeed]
There’s a big plot twist on Love Is Blind. [Starcasm]

My mom was/is a big fan of Inspector Lewis, the British copaganda series which ran for more than a decade. Laurence Fox was one of the stars of that show, and he actually had a decent career for himself in British television and film. He was married to certified hottie Billie Piper, then everything fell apart circa 2016. Fox turned into a self-styled right-wing lunatic, Billie divorced him (citing his “unreasonable behavior”) and Fox now regularly writes columns and does TV appearances all about how much he hates wokeness, women, immigrants and diversity. As such, Fox was naturally invited on Dan Wootton’s GB News talk show this week. This is now Wootton’s sole media gig – his Mail column was suspended as his current and former employers “investigate” Wootton’s decades of fraud, catfishing, bribery and abuse. Well, Fox and Wootton obviously turned into a toxic catastrophe on-air, and it’s become the British media story of the week:

GB News has issued an apology and launched an investigation after it aired “totally inappropriate” comments by the actor and Reclaim party founder, Laurence Fox, about the journalist Ava Evans. Fox made a series of derogatory comments about Evans, a political correspondent for online news site Joe, during an interview with presenter Dan Wootton on Tuesday night.

Evans posted the clip of the segment to X, formerly known as Twitter, with the comment: “Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me,” adding in a reply: “I feel physically sick.”

Shortly after GB News issued a statement saying Fox’s stance “does not reflect our values”.

“Comments made tonight on GB News by Laurence Fox were totally unacceptable,” the station said in a response posted to X. “What he said does not reflect our values and we apologise unreservedly for the comments and the offence they have caused. We have launched an investigation and will be apologising to the individual involved.”

On Tuesday night, Wootton apologised as well, saying: “Dear @AvaSantina I think you’re brilliant … I apologise for what was said during the course of my show and should have done this immediately on air. This is not what our channel is about.”

Wootton issued another apology on Wednesday morning, saying: “I want to reiterate my regret over last night’s exchange with Laurence on GB News. Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments.”

In the segment Fox had called Evans a “little woman” and went on to say: “Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever, ever, who wasn’t an incel. We need powerful, strong amazing women who make great points for themselves. We don’t need these sort of feminist 4.0. They’re pathetic and embarrassing. Who’d want to shag that?” As both Fox and Wootton laughed, Fox added: “Sorry, it’s true though.”

[From The Guardian]

Wootton immediately “apologized” and tried to throw Fox under the bus, and in turn, Fox published some of their texts in a tweet, showing that Wootton thought Fox’s misogyny was funny. Some people think that this incident and Fox’s tweets might be the final nail in Wootton’s coffin. I doubt it? Like, this is a feature, not a bug. This is why he’s on air.

Laurence Fox just did a whole speech on GB News on why men apparently won’t shag me ? pic.twitter.com/XoQD0DUQVm

— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) September 26, 2023

Honesty is the best policy. https://t.co/snrQdY9Zbe pic.twitter.com/gQfg0P3pKA

— Laurence Fox (@LozzaFox) September 27, 2023

Really, really grateful to every person who reached out to me. From MPs, to journalists, to friends and people on here. I’m overwhelmed by how kind people have been.

I’m also immensely grateful to the incredibly courageous people who spoke out despite working on the station.

— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) September 27, 2023

Screencaps courtesy of GB News, additional photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

As we discussed yesterday, the Princess of Wales stopped by a textile factory in Leeds and Lancaster. She wore a dated Burberry suit with ten buttons, and she paired the look with chunky gold jewelry. Style-wise, this was a huge miss. But it’s considered a success because Kate did something and she didn’t make an ass out of herself. She did grab some merino wool and declare “I love the feel and smell of it!” Her office (the bewigletted gopher) also arranged for this People Magazine exclusive:

Fabric from the mill was used in the striking Colonel of the Irish Guards uniform that Prince William wore for his April 2011 wedding to Kate at Westminster Abbey, and the Princess of Wales was shown a photo from the big day while viewing a company timeline during a private reception.

“She is featured with her husband, and as she walked around, she clearly recognized it and was blown away,” Amanda McLaren, managing director, exclusively tells PEOPLE.

“She was so friendly and really engaged in our people and really interested in meeting as many people as she could get to. We took a slight detour — she was so interested,” McLaren added of the Princess of Wales’ enthusiasm.

Though Kate was on the move at AW Hainsworth, operational excellence director Zena Al Mausawe tells PEOPLE that she seemed especially excited by the production of the scarlet fabric.

“She loved it. It was great that she saw the scarlet tunic, which is the iconic red fabric that everyone associates with Buckingham Palace and the guards. It was great how she was trying to feel everything and get the tactile experience as well,” Al Mausawe says. “She loved the smell of the wool and the texture of it and the handle of it.”

[From People]

The event was literally Kate standing in a textile mill, touching fabric and declaring herself keen. But sure, I’m glad she’s doing something, I’m glad she’s getting out of the house. Speaking of, the royal commentators keep pressing Kensington Palace about how Kate needs to go to Singapore. They know it’s not up to Kate, so they’re basically trying to convince William and his staff:

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams hailed the Prince and Princess of Wales as the “future of the monarchy.” He told Express.co.uk: “William and Catherine and their children are the future of the monarchy. Their joint and solo events are always popular and when they champion a cause it invariably gives it a boost. Whilst William took a solo trip to New York, Catherine visited the Royal Naval Air Station at Yeovilton where she has been appointed Commodore in Chief of Fleet Air Arm, and HMP High Down in Surrey, which was linked to her work with the Forward Trust and ahead of Addiction Awareness Week. She also attended a Rugby World Cup match in Marseille.”

“Her body language looked confident. Her new 1970s ‘Farrah Fawcett’ hairstyle looked gorgeous, she had poise and hopefully she and William will be maximising their popularity with more trips abroad shortly.”

[From The Daily Express]

“Hopefully she and William will be maximising their popularity with more trips abroad shortly,” hint hint, Peggington. None of your media keepers want you to fly solo to Singapore. Anyway, imagine praising a 41-year-old woman for her confident body language and Farrah Fawcett wig. My God.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s weeks-long relationship is now being covered by the paper of record, the New York Times. Instead of going to a Nazi diner in Ohio to see what Trump supporters think of the Swift-Kelce alliance, the Times took a different tack: “Travis Kelce Was a Star. Taylor Swift Put Him in Another Orbit.” It’s true! The football guys don’t want to admit it, but it’s true. Travis Kelce was a huge NFL star and every football fan in America knew his name. But “dating Taylor Swift” has him in a completely different level of global stardom.

Despite Kelce’s relative fame in the sports world, becoming part of the frenzied conversation around Swift’s every move is another ballgame. Kelce now has 3.2 million followers on Instagram. Swift has 273 million.

“This puts him on a completely different plane from where he was as a celebrity,” said Daniel Durbin, a professor of communication at the University of Southern California. “This is celebrity on steroids, and it has a powerful impact.”

That Kelce and Swift were in the same stadium this weekend brought together two fandoms that don’t often overlap. A spokesman for Fanatics, the N.F.L.’s official retailer, said that sales of Kelce’s jersey had spiked by 400 percent as of Monday.

Coaches and players from across the N.F.L. also took notice. Bill Belichick, the Patriots coach known for gruff answers to reporters’ questions, said on a radio show that “Travis Kelce’s had a lot of big catches in his career — this would be the biggest.” The star Cowboys defender Micah Parsons posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that one woman “can change your life!!!”

[From The NY Times]

That Instagram follower count is telling – while a football player having 3.2 million followers is HUGE, it really is nothing compared to Taylor’s cultural ubiquity. Not only did the Kelce jersey sell out – Swifties wanted to own the exact one Taylor wore to the game – the Chiefs game also had huge TV ratings, with 24.3 million tuning in, especially once Fox put the camera on Taylor.

Meanwhile, Taylor didn’t leave Kansas City until Tuesday – she was spotted boarding one of her private planes at Kansas City International Airport, with her security people in tow. So… she spent a few nights in Kansas City. I wonder what she and Travis did on Monday.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

One of the funniest things I’ve seen this week are the TikToks where women are telling their boyfriends that Taylor Swift is going to help Travis Kelce make a name for himself and Tay will make him famous. The NFL dudes are steaming mad about it, because to them, Travis Kelce is one of the most famous men in the world. Like, I get it – he IS legitimately a huge deal in football, and football is an American obsession. But Taylor Swift is global, baby. There are now legions of Swifties paying attention to football because Taylor is dating “that guy.”

All of which to say, people are also suddenly paying a lot of attention to Travis’s romantic history now too. The Snake Fam is arguably the largest investigative body ever assembled, and they’ve spent more than a decade deciphering every clue, every Easter egg, every hint, every breadcrumb Taylor has ever given them. Running through Travis’s history was easy-peasy. Some of what I’m learning now is a total surprise – I actually didn’t know he had a dating show called Chasing Kelce. It was on that show that he met and fell for Maya Benberry. They were together for only a few months back in 2016, but she’s already chiming in about his relationship with Swift. First, Maya “liked” a comment which called Taylor a “5” (yikes) and then Maya gave an interview to the Mail (via Page Six):

Travis Kelce’s ex-girlfriend is sending Taylor Swift a stark warning. Amid the stars’ budding romance, Maya Benberry claimed “the man that [she] knew him to be when [they] dated” is an unfaithful one.

“Taylor seems like such a fun girl with a beautiful spirit, so I wish her the best of luck, but I wouldn’t be a girls’ girl if I didn’t advise her to be smart!” Benberry, 31, told DailyMail.com Tuesday — even though she recently “liked” a comment calling the pop star a “5.”

“I’m sure by now she has mastered the ability to see who is really there for her — and who is just using her.”

The marketing and brand consulting expert — who dated the Kansas City Chiefs player for a few months in 2016 after winning his E! reality dating show, “Catching Kelce” — hopes Swift “comes out the teacher in this situation and not the student.”

“Only time will tell,” she went on, “but like the saying always goes: Once a cheater, always a cheater.”

Though Benberry did not elaborate on her claims during the interview, she previously seemed to accuse Kelce, 33, of cheating on her with his next girlfriend, Kayla Nicole. “When you and your ex broke up five months ago but you find out via social media that he’s supposedly been in another relationship for 6…” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet.

[From Page Six]

This is so Kardashian. This is the exact kind of situation in which Khloe would find herself. Anyway, “Kelce sources” ran to TMZ to clap back at Maya, saying that she and Travis only dated for a month and it was mostly contractual (meaning, part of the show). The source also called her interview “A poor excuse of someone trying to get her 15 min of fame.” It’s true! It’s also the kind of messy drama which Taylor kind of hates. She hates it when a man has adjacent drama. Taylor wants to be the only drama in his life.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.

A few months ago, Kelly Osbourne screeched about Prince Harry on her podcast and she got the attention she needed. According to Kelly – a reality star who begs for attention on her podcast – Harry is a bad person because he “whines” and “talks about himself” and he’s trying to be the Pope. Well, Kelly and her family once again decided to talk about Harry on their podcast. I just-

Kelly Osbourne called out Prince Harry on her family podcast The Osbournes, slamming him for taking “the victim road” with his wife Meghan Markle. As her mother Sharon defended the monarchy, Kelly’s brother Jack sided with her as she doubled down on the anti-Sussex comments she made three months ago on the I’ve Had It podcast.

Kelly defended herself, saying: “I said he was a t**t. I just think he’s such a whinger and the thing is, maybe it’s because I feel a certain level of disappointment in the sense where I feel like they had an opportunity to become the most liked, loved people in the entire world that could actually bring some positive change. But then went down this, like, victim road instead. I get wanting to leave [the Royal Family]. I get that, but then just leave. Don’t leave and then just give ‘woe is me’ stories about how difficult it was.”

She added, “Because again, I said this on the podcast I was on, life is hard for everybody. I was just on a podcast and they asked me what I thought of Harry and I just said I think he’s a ‘t**t’. And that’s it.”

Jack chimed in, agreeing with Kelly: “But the funny thing was, I don’t know if you looked at any of the comments from any of the articles, but it was amazing how many of these wokey American people were vehemently defending them. And you’re like, “Hang on a f***ing second!”’

Their mother Sharon strongly disagreed, adding that she loved and respected the monarchy especially after having met Queen Elizabeth II four times. However, as much as she cares for the institution, Sharon said that the monarchy needs to be “modernized.”

“That’s because I’m old,” Sharon continued. “I love it! Everybody’s human, we’re all human. They do a lot of good, but they’re human beings and they f*** up. We all f*** up. So the thing is, they do a lot of good also.” Sharon added that the monarchy “needs to be scaled down” and that there should be less “pomp.” Although she added that she doesn’t think the monarchy should be “stopped,” she noted that it desperately needs to be updated for the 21st century.

[From The Independent]

I’ve said this before, but years ago, as the royals’ “Heads Together” campaign was happening in real time, I found it so simplistic, with the message being: talk about your feelings, get help, go into therapy. I was like “this message is so obvious.” But looking at it now, I understand that the message was something the British audience needed to hear and, frankly, still needs to hear. There’s a ridiculous amount of anger and flat-out rage at Harry for… talking about his mental health journey, talking about his feelings, talking about how therapy helped him. They call him a whinger and a tw-t, they call him emasculated, they call him woke. Anyway, Kelly Osbourne is still f–king racist trash and her mother is horrible. I did find it funny that Sharon has basically sent death-threats to the Sussexes but even she is like “the monarchy needs to be slimmed down and modernized.”

That one time Kelly Osbourne thought she was Cooking #kellyosbourne #bellashmurda pic.twitter.com/TRlIsxQSjb

— dailyhappenigzz After Hours (@dailyhappenigzz) September 19, 2023

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

The Princess of Wales stepped out today in Kent, her second event in as many days. Today she visited the Orchards Centre, a children’s center which provides support for children with special needs. Her purpose here seems to be connecting the very real need for additional support for special-needs kids with her busywork Shaping Us “campaign.” For the event, Kate wore black pants, a really awful beige-y shell, an orange-red blazer from Zara (retails for £59.99) and flats from Boden. The blazer is a repeat, as are the shoes. The pants probably are as well. She looks like she got dressed in the dark – she has a real problem putting colors together. The beige top ruins this – it should have been white or black (preferably black). Of course, the blazer just looks really cheap though.

The Princess of Wales has arrived at a children’s centre where she will join a sensory session for youngsters with disabilities and special needs. The Princess, 41, is at the Orchards Centre in Sittingbourne, Kent, to highlight the importance of supporting such children and their families. It is the first in a series of engagements she will carry out in the run-up to Christmas in support of her long term Shaping Us campaign that aims to highlight the importance of childhood experiences for the under fives.

The visit is considered an opportunity to acknowledge the difficulties faced by many parents and carers who struggle to access the time and resources needed to look after children with special needs. The Princess has made the early years a cornerstone of her work, launching Shaping Us in January through The Royal Foundation for Early Childhood.

The mother of three, wearing black trousers and a red jacket, will join a sensory development class with a group of children with a range of needs and conditions, including social communications difficulties, autism, complex needs and Down Syndrome. She will meet parents and their children, as well as some of the front-line practitioners running the service to understand more about portage and how it supports families on a day-to-day basis. The class will be run by the Kent Portage Team.

The National Portage Association is a home-visiting educational service for children with special needs from birth until pre-school age. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, it works with more than 100 portage services, providing a quality framework and training for practitioners and parents.

[From The Telegraph]

I’m not going to complain specifically about this – kids with special needs fall through the cracks of many educational systems and there is a real lack of support in many Western countries. Kate SHOULD make these kinds of visits and highlight the work being done at local levels and lavish praise on what sounds like a really great program. My larger issue is that Kate is trying to connect it to Shaping Us, which is a PR campaign that exists to waste time, money and resources. Shaping Us’s sole message is “the Early Years are important!” Kate has no plan about how to get tangible support, resources and funds to children and families. I was just thinking about this the other day – when is the last time Kate even ATTENDED a fundraiser, much less hosted one?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

There was a huge Dior runway show/event in Paris yesterday, and all of the Dior-associated people came out for it. I’m including photos of Jennier Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, a severe-looking Charlize Theron and my pick for prettiest princess, Beatrice Borromeo (married to Pierre Casiraghi).

So… um, thoughts about Jennifer Lawrence? J-Law has been a Dior brand ambassador for many, many years, as have Rob Pattinson and Charlize. Jen usually only comes to fashion week for the Dior show and nothing else. We haven’t seen much of her since June, when she promoted No Hard Feelings. At a few of those June premieres, we did talk about her changing/tweaked face. It seems to have gotten worse. I’m still sort of curious about what she’s done and why – she was always such a natural beauty, but she seems to love that “Real Housewife/Kardashian” look so much that she’s trying to emulate it. It’s like she’s surgically eliminated the uniqueness and character from her face.

Rob’s pants are ridiculous and I can’t believe Dior gave Charlize THAT outfit.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Nadine Dorries is some kind of former Tory MP turned Daily Mail social/political commentator. I have no real frame of reference for the American equivalent – maybe someone like Claire McCaskill, a former senator turned MSNBC political pundit? Something like that (update, I was trying to figure out an equivalent of a government official-turned-pundit, I was not comparing Dorries’ politics to McCaskill’s). Well, Dorries wrote a column about how she’s on Team Sophie Turner, a column which I mostly ignored. As it turned out, Dorries actually buried some royal commentary at the end of her Mail piece. This is very curious:

After their triumphant State visit to France last week, I hope King Charles and Queen Camilla are enjoying a G+T or two. All those people who said Charles would struggle to step into his mother’s shoes have been forced to eat their words. The royal visit did more for international relations than any politician ever could.

But I can only imagine the pang Charles must have felt knowing that his success abroad is tempered by the ongoing family rift with Harry and Meghan. As a parent, you are only ever as happy as your least-happy child, whether that child is four or 40 (as Harry will be next year).

Charles will know that two issues go to the heart of whether he can heal this rift. The first is the issue of protection. When the Sussexes are in Britain, the threat to their security is serious and genuine. This problem falls on the shoulders of the Home Office: as I know all too well, a basket-case of a department. To say Harry can’t have full police protection, even if he pays for it himself, is a nonsense. Suella Braverman needs to get this sorted.

The second thorn is accommodation on the Royal Estate. There are enough rooms in Kensington Palace: let Harry and Meghan have a few so they have a safe and familiar place to stay. The children can get to know it – and it will give them a strong sense of their heritage. Prince Harry will always be of royal blood, and though family rifts are always painful, time is a great healer.

[From The Daily Mail]

“As a parent, you are only ever as happy as your least-happy child.” Whenever we see Prince Harry, he looks happy, rich, well-laid, well-endowed and handsome. These people are desperate to convince themselves that “their prince” is somehow deeply depressed more than three years after he left his toxic and abusive birth family and set himself up in a California mansion with his beautiful wife and two children. As for her solutions… what’s shocking is that so few people within the British media, government and royal institution admit that Harry’s security concerns are real and that it’s a completely bonkers position to say that Harry can’t pay the Met police back for his security when he does visit the UK. As for this new talking point (being floated by Buckingham Palace) that the Sussexes should be given a few rooms in Kensington Palace… they literally never should have been evicted from Frogmore Cottage. That decision will haunt Charles forever – he evicted his grandchildren from their safe and secure British home out of spite.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.