As an American, I know I’m not one to talk about soap-opera politics, but wow, the British government is particularly bonkers right now. About thirteen months ago, Liz Truss was ousted as prime minister. The woman could not outlast a head of lettuce. Truss’s Tory replacement is Rishi Sunak. Sunak is seemingly a steadier hand than Truss, but again, a head of lettuce was a steadier hand than Liz Truss. Sunak, his government and the Tories are all deeply unpopular.

One of the most despised figures in the Sunak government was Suella Braverman, the Secretary of State for the Home Department. Every week, Braverman made international news for some new dystopian policy or cruel statement. One of her latest kerfuffles was writing an unauthorized op-ed about policing of pro-Palestinian protests in the UK. Braverman literally just attended all of the Remembrance events this weekend, and then bright and early on Monday, Sunak fired her. Not only that, but Sunak has appointed former prime minister David Cameron to take over as Foreign Secretary in his cabinet reshuffle.

Britain’s beleaguered Prime Minister Rishi Sunak carried out a dramatic reshuffle to his Cabinet on Monday, firing his divisive home secretary and bringing back former premier David Cameron to the heart of government after a seven-year absence from politics.

The hardline Home Secretary Suella Braverman was sacked early on Monday morning, after making inflammatory comments about the policing of pro-Palestinian protests in central London over the weekend. Her tenure had wrought with scandals and divisive remarks, which had long caused fractures in Sunak’s government.

Sunak then announced he was bringing Cameron back to frontline politics as foreign secretary, in a stunning move that has few parallels in recent British political history. Cameron served as prime minister from 2010 to 2016, resigning after Britain voted to leave the European Union in a referendum that he had called. His premiership set the course of 13 years of Conservative rule, but the self-inflicted chaos of the Brexit referendum and its aftermath threw his party into years of instability from which it is still struggling to emerge.

Downing Street confirmed that James Cleverly, formerly the foreign secretary, will take over from Braverman, a shift that made space for Cameron’s remarkable return to Cabinet.

Braverman had served as Sunak’s interior minister throughout his tenure in Downing Street, but her confrontational rhetoric towards migrants, protesters, the police and even the homeless had caused rifts in the government and sparked speculation that she was plotting a future leadership bid. She most recently courted criticism by accusing London’s police force of applying “double standards” in the way they manage protests, in an op-ed in the Times of London newspaper condemning a pro-Palestinian march that Downing Street said had not been cleared by Sunak.

[From CNN]

It’s funny but also just… sad. I feel bad for all of the people suffering under thirteen years of disastrous Tory rule, and the reemergence of David Cameron should hopefully mark the last days of this Tory sh-tshow. Cameron’s Brexit vote – and the mismanagement of the vote – really started this seven-year descent of Tory psychodrama.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

King Charles and his consort attended the Festival of Remembrance on Saturday evening, as you can see in the photo above. Before the festival started, they unveiled new statues of QEII and Prince Philip. Charles seemed unaffected. This is a busy week for him – he turns 75 years old on Tuesday, and he’s planned several days of events to celebrate. On Monday, he’ll go to Highgrove (his country estate) and host a “tea” for other 75-year-olds in the Orchard Room, overlooking the gardens. Then on Tuesday, he’ll do a big launch event for Coronation Food Project, which is just his scheme to end “food waste” (and not food insecurity, hunger or poverty). Later on Tuesday, he’ll have a small party with assorted family members and friends. Ahead of these events, Charles posed for a special birthday portrait and the palace authorized a completely bizarre piece in the Daily Mail, written by Becky English. The headline is “Why Charles is still in ‘great pain’ over Harry.” But Becky actually reveals some tea about Charles and Camilla’s marriage. They basically live separately full time now. Wow, and they didn’t make that the headline. Some highlights:

Charles is in good shape: Other than a nagging back pain he has suffered from for years, the King is said to be in ‘very good shape’ – a must, given that he regularly works 12 to 14-hour days. ‘He’s surprisingly abstemious and lives quite a simple life personally,’ says an insider. ‘He doesn’t drink that much and never over-eats. And he never ceases to delight that even in his 70s he can still fit into all his old uniforms.’

Separate lives: By his side on many of his engagements is Queen Camilla, with whom he has a mutual understanding that they need their own space. The pair operate more as a team now then ever, but the couple still keep separate homes, friends and interests, in what friends see as a ‘sensible and pragmatic’ approach to the stresses of royal life. Returning from foreign tours, where they have often been living and working together 24/7, it’s not uncommon to see ‘his and her’ cars waiting on the runway to take them off to their respective country boltholes for some well-deserved downtime.

Separate wings: Camilla will enjoy a few days with her family and friends, and Charles will potter in his beloved gardens or on the farm. And at Windsor Castle or Birkhall, their Scottish estate, it’s not unusual for them to sit reading companionably – in separate wings. ‘It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but that time apart really works for them,’ one insider says. ‘They are better for it.’

William & Charles’s relationship: William, like Harry, was previously hostile towards what he regarded as his father’s media ‘spin machine’, his youthful shouting matches with the King permeating even the thick Palace walls. Now a father himself, William is far more understanding of his ‘Pa’. ‘Has His Majesty made mistakes when it comes to parenting? Yes. Would he privately admit he could have done some things better, or at least differently? Of course,’ a source says. ‘But while I am sure they still don’t agree on everything all the time, he and the Prince of Wales are firmly united now around a common shared interest, which is to keep the institution in a place where it can serve the nation. This was happening anyway as the late Queen got older, but there’s no doubt what happened with Harry brought everything into sharp relief.’

Pain over Harry: The latter is a subject that still brings His Majesty ‘great pain’. I am told there is currently ‘barely any level of communication’ between Charles and Harry. There is undeniable anger at the anguish the King believes Harry caused the late Queen in the last years of her life, not to mention the insults he has heaped upon his own wife Camilla, of whom Charles is understandably protective. Charles is a man who notoriously hates confrontation and will never close the door on his younger son. But sticking to his guns, he has rejected Harry’s demands for an ‘apology’ and put the whole issue to one side for the time being as he concentrates on the business of state.

Whether Harry was invited to his father’s birthday: Much has been made this week of whether his younger son has been formally invited to his private birthday celebration next Tuesday. In fact, he has not. But I can reveal the event is just a small, intimate dinner in London for close friends in any case. Hardly any family members will be present, in line with the King’s diktat that he just wants it to be an average day. ‘There’s a lot of hurt on both sides, but time is a healer. For now it is baby steps forwards,’ said one informed observer. ‘It’s very sad His Majesty doesn’t get to see his son or his grandchildren, but there’s no rush to patch things up.’

[From The Daily Mail]

“There is undeniable anger at the anguish the King believes Harry caused the late Queen in the last years of her life” – f–k all the way off, Charles. He literally gave his mother Covid and he was openly wishing QEII dead for decades. As for all of the stuff about Charles and Camilla’s separate lives… some of that is old news, they’ve always maintained separate residences and needed “space” from one another, but it’s bonkers that it’s entirely built in at every level of their schedules now, that Camilla is always off with her family and friends and Charles is just… alone, having alienated, exiled and/or neglected his sons at Camilla’s request. I mean, I don’t feel bad for Charles, but I definitely underestimated Camilla’s long game. She not only set out to destroy Charles’s marriage and his first wife, but she never wanted Diana’s sons around either. And after all that, Charles and Camilla take separate cars when they get off the plane.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Last week, Keke Palmer filed for sole custody of her son Leodis and she also requested an emergency domestic violence restraining order. In her court filings, she revealed that her former partner Darius Jackson had repeatedly assaulted her and emotionally abused her, and even broken into her house after they broke up. She had physical evidence to back up everything, including security camera footage from inside her home, from cameras she must have installed after she broke up with Darius. Well, the emergency order was granted on Friday:

Keke Palmer has been granted temporary sole custody of her 8-month-old son. On Thursday, the Nope actress, 30, filed a request for a domestic violence restraining order against the infant’s father, Darius Jackson, in Los Angeles. Palmer asked the court for full physical and legal custody of Leodis, detailing multiple allegations of physical abuse in the filing, according to documents reviewed by PEOPLE.

In response to the emergency filing, the Los Angeles County judge granted a temporary restraining order that states that Jackson must stay at least 100 yards away from both the actress and their son, as well as any childcare or schooling established for the infant.

In addition to granting Palmer temporary sole physical and legal custody of Leo, the temporary restraining order states that Jackson is not allowed to have visitation with his son, with a hearing set for Dec. 5 to determine further action on the temporary arrangement.

[From People]

While I know there are thousands, if not millions, of horror stories of how the legal system compounds abuse as battered women try to navigate a broken system, BUT it does feel like there are some smaller changes in certain areas, where judges are starting to understand that they need to take this sh-t more seriously. I absolutely hope that the courts take Keke seriously and take the evidence she’s compiled into account. Meanwhile, People Mag had this very depressing story about how Darius’s online freakout about Keke going to Vegas (over the summer) was the beginning of the end.

“This is a big surprise,” says the source, who claims Jackson and Palmer appeared publicly amicable late last month during an event in Los Angeles for her streaming network KeyTV. “The baby was there, everybody. Darius went to support her, they were all congratulating her.”

However, the insider acknowledges there have been issues in their relationship in the past. The pair, who reportedly met in 2021 while attending a Memorial Day party hosted by Issa Rae and Diddy, had navigated tough times over the years, according to the source.

“There was at least one breakup, before the Vegas incident,” says the source, referring to the public drama that unfolded this past July after Palmer attended Usher’s Vegas residency, where she was serenaded by the upcoming Super Bowl Halftime performer. At the time, Jackson publicly called her out for her outfit by quoting a tweet showing a video of Palmer dancing with Usher and writing: “It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom.”

Says the source: “I don’t think the Vegas incident caused all of this. There were problems before, but I do think it was the beginning of the end.”

“There was some genuine love there,” says the source, who claims, “Around Leo’s birth things were really good.”

[From People]

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but regular old bystanders have no place to talk about how “there was genuine love there” once a woman files for an emergency protective order after her former partner repeatedly assaulted her. Like, was it love or was it love-bombing? Was he “supporting” her or was he keeping tabs on his victim? His abuse had gotten so bold that he felt perfectly comfortable shaming her outfit when she had a girls’ trip to Vegas! That was how he punished her because she A) went out with her girlfriends and B) flirted with Usher.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Getty.

Happy Veterans Day! The trailer for Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce is here! “You are the visual,” lmao. She heard the Beyhive fussing about the visuals. [OMG Blog]
All about next year’s Met Gala theme, “Sleeping Beauties.” [Socialite Life]
The trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is pretty boring. [LaineyGossip]
Tim Scott really has a girlfriend! [Pajiba]
You guys… is Kelly Clarkson on Ozempic? [Go Fug Yourself]
It’s so amazing to me that Deacon Phillippe is a DJ. [Just Jared]
I hope Jezebel comes back, sob. [Jezebel]
Marcus Epps lost his mayor’s race. [Starcasm]
ABC canceled The Rookie: Feds and The Good Lawyer. [Seriously OMG]
Gisele Bundchen is having fun in a bikini. [Hollywood Life]
What’s the most shocking thing you’ve ever seen at a wedding? [Buzzfeed]

This has been a minor drama for more than a year – what would happen to all of King Charles’s charitable organizations, the ones he started as Prince of Wales? The Prince’s Trust, the Prince’s Foundation and Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund were all sort of in limbo, unsure if a name change was needed following Charles’s accession. It wasn’t the most pressing concern, obviously, which is why it’s taken this long for Charles to do something about it. Well, now it’s finally here – all of Charles’s organizations are getting renamed and rebranded.

A series of charities founded by the King when he was the Prince of Wales, including his flagship Prince’s Trust, have been renamed to reflect his accession. The Prince’s Trust will become the King’s Trust, the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund will become King Charles III Charitable Fund and the Prince’s Foundation will be renamed the King’s Foundation. The rebranding was done in part to draw a distinction between the King and his son, the new Prince of Wales.

“There is sometimes confusion about whose organisations they are,” admitted a palace source. “Prince William has his own foundation and so the name change makes it clear that these are organisations affiliated with the King.”

The renaming comes despite the charities insisting last September that they would retain their original names. John Booth, chairman of the Prince’s Trust, said at the time that there were “no plans” for a rebrand, noting that the organisation had “built a reputation” under that name and had developed a strong record over 46 years. “It is our full intention to continue this vital work under the name of the Prince’s Trust,” he said.

Sources said the decision had not been taken lightly but was the result of several months of discreet consultation. Although the King was consulted, it was ultimately a decision made by the directors and trustees of the various organisations.

“This has been under consideration for some time,” one said. “There have been months of polling and consultation as well as due diligence around risk and opportunity. Ultimately, everyone is very happy. The changes mark a new chapter which happens to coincide with the King’s birthday.”

The King once spoke of his hope his two sons would take over the Prince’s Trust, which he set up with his £7,400 Navy severance pay in 1976. But both have since gone their own ways and the switch in name means that he will be keeping this charity, as well as the two other organisations, firmly under his wing, despite the demands of his role as King.

[From The Telegraph]

Charles spoke publicly about his desire for his sons to show more of an interest in taking over some of this stuff. Given what we know now, I kind of wonder if Harry was even offered the chance to take anything over. If the Sussexes had stayed (and been treated better), The Prince’s Trust would have been a natural fit for them. Which is why I think they were never offered the chance. I suspect that Charles always hoped that William alone would show an interest. Unfortunately, William has always been much too lazy. Charles had been making plans for people outside the family to operate these charities long before he became king too – as the Telegraph says, Charles was merely consulted, because he has teams in place running all of this stuff. Anyway, it’s funny from the perspective of “the king’s heir is too lazy to actually take on the big, signature work and instead the heir just promises to be keen.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

I could take or leave Carine Roitfeld as a magazine editor or style guru, but as a fashion industry insider and gossip? She’s great. Roitfeld recently chatted with the Times of London about leaving Vogue, starting her own magazine (CR Fashion Book), style rules and what she thinks of royal style, specifically for the Princess of Wales and Queen Camilla. I enjoyed this interview probably more than I should – she’s very quotable.

She started smoking at the age of 64: “I like it. It’s better than smoking at 20, you know? I started doing tattoos at 68. I have tattoos on my fingers, all the first initials of people I love, dead or alive. And I have a piercing here that I didn’t before, so I keep young, you know? I’m more fun than I was before. And I smoke. My children say stop. I say give me a break.”

How she decorated her new Paris apartment: “Black. Everything is black. The ceiling is beautiful, it’s black too. Black floor, black curtains. All the doors are mirrored with gold, ’ow you say? A bit like Chanel. A lot of pictures of my work, some art that I like. Mostly Seventies. And black.” She eats dinner in bed, “even Indian food, very spicy and bad smell after”, and says she feels 18 years old.

On Kim Kardashian: “No one wants even now to give Kim Kardashian outfits. Why? Because people think she was cheesy, reality person, but she is more than nice and so well educated, and I like her. The mother I think is hilarious and very smart, and I’ve met all the sisters, but mostly my favourite will be Kim.”

The dominance of TikTokkers and influencers in fashion these days: “I understand it’s very important for sales — if Chiara Ferragni [the Italian influencer] wears a dress you sell millions — but there are too many.”

A little Anna Wintour story: Nor is she impressed by the fact that at a dinner last month at the Élysée Palace to celebrate French fashion, President Macron sat next to Anna Wintour. Roitfeld says it was seen by the French as an insult. “She’s important, but if you want to celebrate French fashion you don’t invite Anna Wintour. She still has this power and I don’t understand why. Every time I do a TV show they say, ‘You are the French Anna Wintour,’ and I say, ‘I’m not.’ She is more in politics than me, I’m in fashion. I respect her work very much, and she’s a very good mum, which is important to me, but I’m not like her. I’m totally different. I don’t like to be compared to Anna Wintour.”

Her personal style: Black is generally held to be unforgiving, especially as you get older, but 90 per cent of her wardrobe is black (“I think black makes me beautiful”). The only colour is a smattering of khaki and her shoes, the only print is leopard, and there’s surprisingly little of any of it for a fashion editor: she has five coats, eight jackets, 10 or 15 skirts, a handful of black sweaters. Mainly, though, being stylish at 69 is about having neat nails, clean hair, black mascara and matching lingerie.

On Princess Kate: She once said she’d like the Princess of Wales to be a bit more rock’n’roll but has evidently thought better of it. Today she praises her as beautiful but in a classic way, a woman who dresses well for her body shape and champions British design. She’s very polished, she adds thoughtfully, in fact a bit too polished for her taste … So how would she style her, then? “Black,” she says firmly. “More black. A lot of black. She only wear black at the funeral, maybe it’s a law in the royal family, but I would dress her more in black. Black eyeliner. More Saint Laurent, more Chanel, more French.”

On Queen Camilla’s style: “Ouf, that’s difficult. I think she would be more chic in pant suits rather than long gowns because you don’t believe her. She’s a woman who likes to ride horses, to go in nature. A pant suit would be fantastic on her. Tell ’er, if you know ’er.”

[From The Times]

I think Camilla prefers dresses because she thinks she has nice legs, and because the cut of her customized dresses hides the fact that she’s gained weight in her midsection. It happens to most women and I’m not criticizing Camilla – she has every right to wear what makes her feel comfortable. I actually like Cam’s housedresses and admire the way she’s found some flattering silhouettes. But that’s why she doesn’t wear pantsuits. As for Kate… I don’t actually think Kate looks all that great in black? Kate looks good in bright canary yellow, burgundy and any kind of purple-reds (but not yellow-reds). And Kate’s style is all over the place these days because she doesn’t know who she’s trying to cosplay at any given moment.

A few more things… I think most designers want to dress Kim Kardashian at this point? She’s doing collabs and campaigns with Fendi and Balenciaga, every designer would love for Kim to go to their runway show, etc. As I get older, most of my wardrobe is black as well, but I mix it up with navy and grey. That’s about 95% of my wardrobe.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Last night, the South American leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour began in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She’s performing three nights in a row in Argentina, so she has concerts at Estadio River Plate tonight and Saturday night as well. The big gossip ahead of her first show was “where is Travis Kelce?” The Kansas City Chiefs have a week off – their next game isn’t until November 20th. Outlets like NBC News and Page Six had sources claiming that Travis was absolutely going to South America to see his girlfriend’s concerts. But… he wasn’t in the audience last night in Buenos Aires.

There was a “Blank Space” in the Buenos Aires crowd Thursday night. It seems that Travis Kelce was absent from Taylor Swift’s first Eras Tour concert in Argentina, despite eagle-eyed fans searching the crowd all night.

Page Six confirmed Wednesday that Kelce would be traveling to the South American country to support the 12-time Grammy winner.

Swift still has two shows to perform in Buenos Aires on Friday and Saturday, respectively, so the NFL star still has the chance to support his girlfriend.

Although Kelce was seemingly not in attendance, Swift still put on a flawless performance in front of over 70,000 fans as she kicked off the international leg of her record-breaking tour.

An insider close to the NFL star, 34, told Page Six Wednesday that he was definitely traveling to see the pop star, 33, perform over the weekend — yet they didn’t specify which show he planned to attend.

[From Page Six]

If sources are saying “weekend,” I bet Travis makes it to the Saturday concert. I wonder if that’s what Taylor prefers as well – it’s probably quite an ordeal to get all of her concert setpieces to South America and making sure the crew and her team are all prepared and everything. She’s busy, is what I’m saying. After Saturday, Taylor doesn’t have another concert until another three-nights-in-a-row situation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, starting November 17th. I wonder if Travis is going to spend a few days – Taylor’s “off days” – with Tay in Argentina or Brazil.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

The story broke in the Spanish press this week, a story about an alleged affair between Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and a Mexican actress (based in Spain) named Genoveva Casanova. My first exposure with the story was through Casanova’s denial, where she claimed that she was merely an expert in Picasso, and a friend asked her to take Frederik around Madrid, so they could look at Picassos. Casanova said she was getting her lawyers involved and she was making news about suing. The problem? Well, there are several. Frederik’s solo trip to Spain was a secret, and no one even knew he was in Spain on those dates before now. The Spanish outlet Lecturas also published a detailed timeline with photo evidence of Frederik and Genoveva spending the day together, going back to her apartment to change, then going out for a late-night romantic dinner, then returning to her apartment… where he apparently spent the night.

Even more questions lingered – if you accept the evidence that Frederik had an affair with this woman, how did all of this come about, how long has this been happening, and did his wife have any idea? Well, a Spanish journalist named Susanna Griso dropped another bombshell: Frederik and Genoveva likely met a while back on a very exclusive big-game hunt for European royals and elites.

The Mexican socialite and reality star linked with the married future King of Denmark met him on a luxury hunting trip, it was claimed today. Glamorous Genoveva Casanova, 47, has been at the centre of furious speculation since it emerged that she has formed a friendship with Prince Frederik of Denmark – who is married with four children. So intense has the interest been in Casanova, who is based in Madrid, since photos of her on an outing with the Prince were published, that she has now gone into hiding and turned her phone off to avoid further attention.

Fresh revelations about Casanova were made today by the presenter of Spanish TV show Espejo Público by presenter Susanna Griso – who said that she had been in touch with a number of Casanova’s close contacts. Griso alleged that Casanova had become close to the heir to the Danish throne after they met on a high end mountain hunting trip.

The presenter explained: ‘These are exclusive meetings, where you have to pay a lot of money to attend. All of the royals and children of the major families are there. The trips are organised mostly in Germany and Austria.’

On trips of this kind, usually in mountainous regions, guests pay thousands of Euros to be able to hunt European big game animals like red deer, Alpine Ibex, wild boar and mouflon wild sheep.

Griso added: ‘Her friends have told me that she is having a very bad time of it. She is in hiding right now and has turned off her mobile phone because she doesn’t want anyone to call her.’

It was the publication of photos in Lecturas magazine that sparked huge media interest in Spain, and the story has been dominating television news and chat shows in recent days.

[From The Daily Mail]

Yeah, here’s the thing – you don’t fly from Denmark to Spain and suddenly expect to spend the night with a socialite you just met that day. Even if you’re the crown prince, that’s ridiculous. It makes much more sense if Frederik’s affair began months ago, maybe even years ago. It makes more sense if Frederik had been making furtive trips to Spain for a while and he just happened to get caught this time. Which brings up a whole other set of questions: why was he caught this time? Was he being careless? Or did certain Spanish outlets get a tip?

¡EXCLUSIVA! Genoveva Casanova y Federico de Dinamarca, juntos. La portada del año solo y en exclusiva en Lecturas. Las fotografías de las que todo el mundo habla #ExclusivaLecturas pic.twitter.com/R97KOHB7fp

— Lecturas (@Lecturas) November 7, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Prince William and his wife did jacksh-t for two weeks during their kids’ school break, then there was a sudden blitz from William as he traveled to Singapore last weekend and spent four days doing Earthshot things. His trip did not garner much attention domestically or internationally, mostly because William is a charisma-vacuum. In fact, the most attention he got throughout the entire trip was on his final day, when he spoke to the reporters traveling with him and said that he has zero plans to take on more patronages because he’s more interested in “social leadership” and making “change” in bigger, keener ways. William’s Singapore trip also happened in the middle of King Charles’s attempted to dominate the newscycle by A) briefing lies to the Times about Prince Harry snubbing his birthday party invitation, only for Harry to correct the lies and B) doing his first-ever Parliament opening with the “king’s speech.” Hilariously, both Charles and William got overshadowed by the Sussexes going to a Katy Perry show and Harry doing a video for veterans. Still, it’s clear that William and Charles are absolutely engaged in a PR war with each other. Without the Sussexes to gang up on, the rats are eating each other. From The Daily Beast’s Royalist:

Friends of the king are sending a warning to William: Friends of the royals have cautioned that competition between King Charles and his son and heir Prince William could trigger Charles’ well-documented jealous streak, after William appeared to criticize his family’s habit of taking on “loads of causes that you sort of turn up and keep an eye on.” The friend of the king and Queen Camilla said: “William is entitled to make these comments, which, frankly, are pretty unremarkable, but part of the reason the marriage with Camilla has worked so well is that she understands that Charles is the star. William has to be careful not to wake the green-eyed monster.”

William wants to make it clear that he’s simply too lazy to overshadow his father: A friend of William’s, however, denied the comments would spark conflict with the king. The friend of William’s told The Daily Beast: “William is in no hurry to be king. This is not him parking his tanks on his dad’s lawn. William and Catherine have three children, the eldest of them is ten, and that’s very much their priority. They are totally focused on maximizing impact and always have been. He was just saying that having 500 patronages isn’t how he is going to do things, which I think is fair enough. Any idea that he is attacking his dad is just rubbish.”

The King’s Speech clashing with Earthshot: On Tuesday, the signs were that William, in Singapore, had accepted that this was just the way the cookie had crumbled on this occasion. His event received some coverage, but arguably less than it might have done were it not for that iconic royal first unfolding on the same day back home. He certainly did nothing to upstage his father (unlike Harry, who released a video in support of veterans just hours before his father started speaking—but Harry’s unpredictable interventions are largely priced into royal calculations these days).

The palace isn’t mad about William’s interview?? Palace sources sought to play down the [interview] While the king’s office and William’s office did not respond to requests for comment, one courtier said the comments were not designed as a headline-grabbing intervention, but were in fact made as part of a casual meet and greet with the print media. This is a carrot that is often afforded media traveling on foreign trips to encourage attendance.

Charles’s people insist he’s no longer seething with jealousy: While William’s comments stirred up the prospect of a jealous Charles for some, another friend of King Charles denied William’s comments would annoy Charles, telling The Daily Beast: “The model is his mother [Queen Elizabeth II]. His mother allowed Charles the freedom to do what he wanted as Prince of Wales and, especially in the last years of her life, he was king in all but name. That model worked very well as it ensured continuity between the reigns. People will no doubt want to suggest he is jealous of William, but that’s just media rubbish. He wants nothing more than for William to start thinking about what his reign is going to look like. What matters more than anything to Charles now is the strength of the institution.”

Whether Charles has, historically, been jealous of his family: Asked whether they thought there was any truth in the well-known accusations of jealousy made against Charles by Princess Diana and Prince Harry, the friend said: “Yes, but it’s not his personal ego. The problems have arisen when he feels the work is overshadowed. I don’t think, looking at the first year of Charles’ reign, anyone could say the collaboration between William and Charles has been anything other than a massive success.”

[From The Daily Beast]

“Part of the reason the marriage with Camilla has worked so well is that she understands that Charles is the star.” I would go so far as saying that the reason why Charles married Camilla is because he knew that nag would never be more popular than him. What has always fascinated me about the Windsors is that none of them have ever taken a remedial business or economics class and they truly believe that the entire “royal project” is zero-sum. That if William gets attention, it’s “taking away” something from the king. That there’s only a limited amount of attention/press, there’s only one pie and they’re all fighting over who gets the biggest slice. That’s not how any of this works or should work, but it just shows that all of these people are idiots. And Charles and William are definitely at war with each other. I would even go so far as to say that Camilla has her knives out for both William and Kate. The fall of the House of Middleton didn’t just happen accidentally – there was and is some palace orchestration happening there.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was treating the British media’s criminal surveillance of citizens and royals as a “privacy issue.” The argument of “it’s illegal to tap my phone and surveil my text messages” isn’t a privacy issue, it’s a criminal issue. Just something to keep in mind when you’re reading all of the headlines about how Prince Harry’s “privacy case” can move ahead. The news came out this morning – Prince Harry, Elton John, Elizabeth Hurley and others can take their case against the ANL/The Daily Mail to trial. ANL sought to have their case dismissed back in March. Prince Harry, Elton and others went to court for the hearings, and now the judge has made his ruling that their cases will not be dismissed.

Prince Harry and stars including Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley have won their bid to take the publisher of the Daily Mail to trial over alleged phone-tapping and other breaches of privacy.

Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) stood accused of carrying out or commissioning unlawful information gathering, such as hiring private investigators to placing listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records, and accessing and recording private phone conversations.

The publisher “firmly” denied the allegations. At a preliminary hearing in March, its legal team asked Mr Justice Nicklin to rule in its favour without a trial, arguing the legal challenge had been brought “far too late”.

But in a ruling on Friday, Mr Justice Nicklin said ANL had “not been able to deliver a ‘knockout blow’ to the claims of any of these claimants”.

In his 95-page judgment, he said each of the seven people have a “real prospect” of demonstrating ANL concealed “relevant facts” that would have allowed them to bring a claim against the publisher earlier.

“I consider that each claimant has a real prospect of demonstrating concealment by Associated that was not — and could not with reasonable diligence have been — discovered by the relevant claimant before October 2016,” Judge Matthew Nicklin said in his ruling. “What was deliberately hidden from the claimants – if they are correct in their allegations – were the underlying unlawful acts that are alleged to have been used to obtain information for subsequent publication.”

Actor Hugh Grant, who is a board director for Hacked Off, a press reform campaign group, described the ruling as a “significant blow to the Daily Mail”. He added it is “great news” for anyone who “wants the truth about allegations of illegal press practices to come out”.

Harry brought the privacy case along with six others, including Sir Elton’s husband David Furnish, actress and designer Sadie Frost, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, and former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Simon Hughes.

[From Sky News]

It’s great news for Harry, Elton, Elizabeth and everyone else involved in what amounts to a larger class-action suit against ANL. The fact that the judge believes that they can prove that ANL used criminal methods to surveil them is a big deal. There’s still a long way to go though. This too is part of Harry’s mission – to change the practices of the British media, to get some form of accountability and justice.

Update: Prince Harry’s lawyers made a statement about the judge’s decision, saying: “We are delighted with today’s decision which allows our claims over serious criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy by the Mail titles to proceed to trial. The High Court has dismissed ‘without difficulty’ the attempt by Associated Newspapers to throw these cases out. Indeed, the Judge found that each of our claims had a real prospect of showing there was concealment of unlawful acts by the Mail titles and that this could not have been discovered until recently. Our claims can now proceed to trial.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.