Here it is, the “balcony” moment at Buckingham Palace, following the coronation at Westminster Abbey. The newly crowned King Charles and Queen Camilla staggered out to the balcony, and this was the end result of months of careful planning and thousands of leaks to friendly media allies: the king not flanked by his heirs, but flanked by page boys, with the all-white working royals pushed off the far ends of the balcony. They stood as the flyover happened, miraculously because there was a real danger that the flyover would be canceled given all of the rain.

At the end of the day, it just felt like a giant disappointment. The palace had openly briefed everyone that Prince Harry was not invited on the balcony because he had committed the cardinal sin of marrying a vivacious Black woman. So you would have thought that Charles would emphasize the dynastic line which did show up for him – William and his children. But no, they were shuffled off to the side with the Wessexes/Edinburghs. Such a weird visual. Then Charles and Camilla staggered back out to pose on the balcony, just the two of them. They are very… self-absorbed.

More people did come out – the Mall was wall-to-wall from the looks of it, even though it was raining for most of Saturday. While Charles was probably relieved with the turnout in London, the “coronation parties” outside of London didn’t have much turnout, if social media is to be believed.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

After the all-white royals appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony on Saturday, they went inside the palace for a private reception and a lunch buffet. Apparently, neither the king or queen stuck around in London after that reception – Charles went to Highgrove several hours after the balcony wave, and Camilla likely went to Ray Mill. That’s curious, right? Well, before Charles and Camilla went their separate ways, Charles and William made speeches at the reception, and Charles made a reference to one of his two mixed-race grandchildren, the grandkids he did not invite to the coronation. The ones he evicted from their sole family home in the UK.

The King raised a glass to toast the fourth birthday of Prince Harry’s son Archie at Buckingham Palace yesterday in a moving to tribute to the grandson he has barely seen. Despite the ongoing acrimony with Harry, who was on a plane back to the US within hours of his father being crowned, emotional Charles made a point of mentioning his absent grandchildren as well as those present on his big day.

The poignant moment came at a private family gathering at the palace following his Westminster Abbey crowning and appearance on the balcony with Queen Camilla. It is understood that an invitation had been politely extended to Harry to join the family lunch but he decided to return to California to celebrate Archie’s big day.

A well-placed source said that, while most members of the Royal Family ‘breathed a sigh of relief’ that Harry didn’t join them, the King, 74, seemed ‘genuinely quite disappointed that he didn’t stay’.

Before they started eating, Prince William, 40, stood and congratulated his father on such a momentous day. Charles replied, thanking everyone who had worked hard to make the day so special.

The King raised a glass to his three grandchildren Prince George – who also served as a Page of Honour – Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who were among the stars of the show and carried out their public appearances with aplomb. But he made a point of also toasting ‘those that weren’t there’ and wished his other grandson a very happy birthday ‘wherever he was’.

‘It was apparently a very sweet moment,’ the source said.

It is understood that as well as the King, Queen and members of the Royal Family, others present included Camilla’s close family – her sister Annabel, best friend, Lady Landsdowne, both of whom served as her attendants on the day, as well as her children, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes, and grandchildren, Lola, Freddy, Eliza, Louis and Gus. The Princess of Wales’s family were also invited, with her parents Michael and Carole Middleton and siblings Pippa and James present.

[From The Daily Mail]

“The King, 74, seemed ‘genuinely quite disappointed that he didn’t stay’” – Charles deserves a huge kick in the ass, my God. Charles only extended a reception invitation to Harry at the last minute, when it was clear that A) Meghan wasn’t coming and B) that Charles would look even worse by so openly snubbing and punishing his younger son. And Charles saying “wherever he was” – Charles knows where his grandson was. Archie was in Montecito, with his mother, enjoying his birthday. Archie had to be in Montecito because – AGAIN – Charles did not invite his mixed-race grandchildren to any part of the coronation. Charles made it abundantly clear that he was trying to pull focus from a four-year-old’s birthday.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

The British media is, unsurprisingly, still gagged about Prince Harry’s quickie visit to the UK for his father’s coronation. They can’t believe he didn’t throw a fit about wearing his uniform, they can’t believe that he showed up in an impeccable Dior suit, and they can’t believe that Dior proudly posted tweets about his suit. I lost count of how many columns, articles, commentary pieces and screeds were written about Harry’s appearance at the coronation. One of the most telling pieces was in the Telegraph, all about Harry’s “28 hour visit” and how it would be his last visit for the Windsors likely until his father passed away:

It was quite possibly the Duke of Sussex’s last royal hurrah, a few brief strides down the Westminster Abbey aisle before the dash to Heathrow and a flight back to his home in effective exile in California.

The Duke was in such a rush to get home, he was still wearing his medals and morning suit when he reached the airport for the 3.45pm British Airways flight to Los Angeles. As he was flying out of London, the King and Queen were still to have their official photographs taken to mark the Coronation. Prince Harry will not appear in any of them.

In all, the Duke spent just 28 hours in the UK for the briefest of appearances on the royal stage. It’s not obvious that he will do that again any time soon. His father’s funeral – whenever that is and King Charles is a fit and healthy 74 – might just be the next time he rubs shoulders in public with his immediate family. No other royal event of such a magnitude that could tempt him (or force him) to attend is on the horizon.

The Boeing 777 jet touched down on Friday morning at just after 11.20am and the Duke whisked from Heathrow to his once family home at Frogmore Cottage in Home Park in Windsor Park, a brief drive of no more than 20 minutes. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who spent millions renovating the cottage, will soon have to give it up after the King ordered their eviction. The prince will, in all likelihood, never stay there again.

The Duke spent the night in Windsor but did not see his brother the Prince of Wales nor speak with his father or stepmother. While other Royals were engaged in eve-of-Coronation duties, the Duke must have spent the hours wondering what he was doing in the UK, trying to keep jetlag at bay and speaking to his wife and children via video link.

…The Duke had missed his son’s birthday party but was home in time to give Prince Archie a goodnight kiss. He had spent just 28 hours on UK soil and now he was home in California. Dreaming, no doubt, of his new life away from the royal household he was born into.

[From The Telegraph]

“The Duke must have spent the hours wondering what he was doing in the UK” – doubtful, Harry knows exactly why he came and he thought long and hard about showing respect for his father on Charles’s big day. “No other royal event of such a magnitude that could tempt him (or force him) to attend is on the horizon.” That’s what is terrifying to the British media and the Windsors. When the Sussexes moved to California, the Windsors had to invent all of these “reasons” why Harry just had to come back, why it would be “shocking” if he did not. More than three years later, they ran out of reasons and bodies. Now, that being said, Harry will be back in the UK next month. To testify in his case against the Mirror. He probably won’t see his family at all, nor would he want to see anyone other than his York cousins and maybe his father (but again, I think Harry knows that he won’t have a relationship with his father going forward).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Pretty much every newspaper and tabloid used the coronation to write about the falling out between Prince William and Prince Harry. They arrived separately, with Harry walking into Westminster Abbey alongside his York cousins and their husbands (Edo Mapelli Mozzi even briefly put his arm around Harry as they walked in, a supportive gesture which did not go unnoticed) while William arrived (late) with Kate, Charlotte and Louis. The New York Times, People Magazine, the Daily Mail, everyone had their own spin on “the brothers did not interact.” The differences in the reporting was whether that refusal to acknowledge one another was purely driven by William’s incandescent rage, or whether royal reporters noted that Harry didn’t even seem interested in acknowledging William whatsoever.

So, in lieu of some breaking-news about what was really going on behind-the-scenes (I think we can safely assume that the brothers ignored each other publicly and privately), let’s focus on the other part of this – why were William and Kate so late to the coronation? They were supposed to be at the Abbey before Charles’s coach arrived. All of that made it into the Times as well:

Where were the Waleses? In the down-to-the-minute choreography of Saturday’s coronation, William and Catherine, the Prince and Princess of Wales, had been expected to arrive outside Westminster Abbey at roughly 10:45 a.m. They would be among the last guests to enter the church before the stars of the show, King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

Instead, Charles and Camilla pulled up to the abbey in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach and then, rather awkwardly, did not alight. Instead, the royal couple stayed put for about five minutes, as cameras caught an aide conferring with a perplexed-looking Charles about the apparent delay.

Were William and Kate running late? Or was it that the king’s coach had arrived early? None of the hundreds of journalists loitering by the broadcast booths outside Buckingham Palace seemed to know for sure. But for a while, it seemed the Waleses were AWOL.

“We frankly expected to see them before this moment,” Savannah Guthrie of NBC told her “Today” show viewers, although William and Catherine were always scheduled to be among the latest arrivals. “So we will see how all this unfolds.”

Eventually, a car zipped up and deposited William and Catherine and their children — George, Charlotte and Louis — at the abbey. There was no immediate comment from the relevant parties, and so the reporters were left to speculate. Some TV commentators said they recognized in William and Catherine the harried faces of parents who had just been corralling a brood. Others raised the prospect of a traffic jam, although the surrounding streets had been cleared of cars.

Hours later, it remained unclear if the Waleses had technically been delayed at all. But it wouldn’t be a royal occasion without some gossip.

[From The NY Times]

As everyone noted on Saturday, William and Kate had the look of two people who had fought in the car ride. And I do believe that they were late rather than “Charles was early.” His arrival had been timed and planned out to the very second. By all accounts, he arrived exactly when he was supposed to, and then his heir made him wait. My guess is that it’s getting harder and harder for William and Kate to “arrive together” for events when they clearly don’t live together.

CB posted this – Charles waiting for William and Kate, and he looked like he was mad as hell.

Charles looks like he’s pissed off? I know he’s probably practicing his speech but still pic.twitter.com/oZx06uotVD

— celebitchy (@celebitchy) May 6, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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Last week, Ed Sheeran was in court for the copyright lawsuit that alleged his “Thinking Out Loud” lifted the chord progression from Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” When asked by his lawyer what he’d do if he lost, Ed said he’d be done with music. Well, he won his copyright case like, the next day so I guess he’ll be treating us to more music. Ed sat down with CBS Sunday Morning to talk about the trial and his new album, among other things. He clearly feels vindicated, saying that you can only get caught if you’ve done something wrong, and he talked about chord progressions and the likelihood of commonalities between pop songs.

Ed Sheeran, one of the biggest musical artists on the planet, has spent the past two weeks defending his integrity in a New York City courtroom, fighting a lawsuit in which the family of the co-writer of Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On” claims Sheeran stole the chord progression for his song “Thinking Out Loud.” Sheeran opens up about the trial, his new album, body image, and more in an interview with correspondent Seth Doane for “CBS Sunday Morning” to be broadcast May 7 on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.

Sheeran, who won the New York case Thursday, said that lawsuits are a fact of life for artists today.

“I just think it comes with the territory,” Sheeran told Doane in an interview conducted before the verdict was announced. “When they say, ‘There’s a hit, there’s a writ,’ it’s true. Every single hit.

“There’s four chords that get used in pop songs and there’s however many notes, eight notes or whatever, and there’s 60,000 songs released every single day,” Sheeran said. “And if you just think mathematically the likelihood of this song having the same chords as this song … You are going to get this with every single pop song from now on, like, unless it just stops, which I don’t think it does because it’s a big money business to take things to court.”

Sheeran told Doane it’s a topic that riles him up, and will have an impact throughout the business.

“You can only get caught out if you’ve done something wrong,” Sheeran said. “And I’m not – I have not done something wrong. I’m not lying here. I used four chords that are very common chords to use, and they sound like lots of songs.”

[From CBS Sunday Morning]

So when I read Ed was quitting music if he lost, I felt a little bad for him. (Even though I don’t like him and on the inside I was like is that a promise?) Because it sucks if you become disheartened and quit something you love. But hearing him now that he’s won, I was reminded of how self-righteous he sounded last time he won one of the multiple copyright cases that have been brought against him. Then I went back and re-read the article from last week and I was wrong. “‘If that happens, I’m done, I’m stopping,’ Sheeran said. ‘I find it to be really insulting,’ he added. ‘I work really hard to be where I’m at.’” That second line — that’s not disheartened; that’s flouncing off in a huff because you didn’t get your way. Ugh.

Whether Ed wins or loses his copyright cases, it still seems like he gets sued more frequently than other artists do. And even if there are only so many chord progressions, it does seem like a lot of his stuff sounds very similar to other (usually Black) artists. I don’t know what the solution is here. Something tells me this isn’t the last of these stories about Ed. But for now, he’s enjoying his victory and hopped up on a car for an impromptu performance in NYC after his American Express pop-up. Thank God I can’t afford to live in SoHo because this would have driven me nuts.

Ed Sheeran Jumps on Car for Impromptu Performance in N.Y.C. After Winning Copyright Trial https://t.co/jT3HIlPbH5

— People (@people) May 6, 2023

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Just before the coronation, the British government passed a law making it easier to arrest, detain and shut down protests and protesters. Instead of protecting free speech, police were give carte blanche to basically arrest or detain anyone they “suspected” of protesting the coronation. Before King Charles and Queen Camilla even got into their stupid gold coach to make the trek down to Westminster Abbey, cops arrested 52 anti-monarchy protesters. Not only that, but cops confiscated their signs. These were people who planned to simply hold up “Not My King” signs and maybe shout. That’s it.

British police arrested 52 anti-monarchy protesters yesterday. Footage showed protesters bearing the slogan “Not My King” being detained, including Graham Smith, chief executive of anti-monarchy group Republic. The group posted photos of officers taking details from them on Twitter. “So much for the right to peaceful protest,” the group said.

As The Daily Beast previously reported, legislation passed this week made it illegal to prepare to “lock-on” to things like street furniture and arrested Republic member Matt Turnbull suggested the straps holding the placards had been “misconstrued” as something that could be used for locking on. “To be honest we were never going to be allowed to be a visible force here. They knew we were coming, and they were going to find a way to stop this,” Turnbull told the BBC.

“We absolutely understand public concern following the arrests we made this morning,” Commander Karen Findlay of the London Metropolitan police said in a statement, quoted by Reuters. “Over the past 24 hours there has been a significant police operation after we received information protesters were determined to disrupt the Coronation procession.”

Police had said they had received intelligence that protesters were going to throw rape alarms at the ceremonial procession, which may have frightened the horses on parade, and therefore caused a risk to public safety.

Certainly, Coronation fever didn’t extend to every corner of the green and pleasant land. Fans at one football match even drowned out a recorded rendition of “God Save the King” with boos. Liverpool were playing Brentford at home, hours after King Charles’s coronation, when the boos occurred. Liverpool Football Club said it was asked to play “God Save the King” by the Premier League to mark the king’s coronation, and that how spectators chose to react was up to them.

The Daily Mirror’s northern football correspondent, David Maddock, tweeted that the booing coming from around “the entire ground” was so loud he did not even know the anthem had started. There have been several reports of fans at other football matches chanting, “You can stick your Coronation up your arse.”

[From The Daily Beast]

“Police had said they had received intelligence that protesters were going to throw rape alarms” – so the police decided to arrest every person carrying an anti-monarchy sign and confiscate Republic’s signs? What do yellow posters have to do with rape alarms? If you couldn’t tell, the police are just making sh-t up as they go along. Most of the coverage I watched was on BBC News, and I was surprised that they included some commentators saying that, actually, one of the defining images of the Chubbly was non-violent protesters being handcuffed and arrested. All so a billionaire wouldn’t have to deign to see some unpleasant signage as he was driven to a party where he got to put on a hat worth billions in stolen jewels.

This is not arresting violent protesters.

This is silencing a protest before it even began. pic.twitter.com/aOPwjZCZxB

— Abbey Heffer (@AbbeyHeffer) May 6, 2023

Britain in 2023. Take a cold hard look at this, and realise that things are set to get much worse. pic.twitter.com/zFw00dfShh

— Martin O’Neill (@martin_oneill) May 3, 2023

Liverpool fans booing the national anthem before kick off pic.twitter.com/3tfyJqXZR6

— Football Fights (@footbalIfights) May 6, 2023

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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This is a video of their welcome wedding party

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens had an intimate courthouse wedding in Houston in late April. That special day was the precursor to the big bash — a destination wedding at an international location with 140 guests and four dresses for the bride. Simone and Jonathan had a lovely ceremony in front of their family and friends in Cabo San Lucas this past weekend.

Two weeks after tying the knot for the first time, Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens said “I do” for a second time during a fairytale destination wedding on Saturday (May 6) in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The 26-year-old Olympian and her 27-year-old football star husband revealed that they officially got married on April 22 in a civil ceremony in Houston, Texas.

They explained that it was necessary to do so since their second wedding was out of the country.

Photos and details from the second wedding are emerging, and they paint a truly fantastic picture of the big day.

According to Vogue, Simone and Jonathan got married in front of 144 guests in Mexico.

Photos from the venue show that she wore a white ballgown with floral embroideries. Jonathan also wore a white suit, and they appear to have exchanged vows under three massive arches that were covered in baby’s breath and white hydrangeas.

The bride carried a lush bouquet of white flowers.

Simone‘s bridesmaids wore cream gowns while Jonathan‘s groomsmen opted for teal suits.

[From Just Jared]

Beachside and flowers everywhere, this wedding sounds lovely. Simone wore a Galia Lahav ballgown dress with a corseted bodice, sheer overlay, leg slit, embroidered flowers, and pearls. Vogue Weddings has more details on the dress and I imagine that’s what they’re saving the photos for, because very few have made it to social media or the regular outlets. Simone also has some wedding stories from her family and friends in her Instagram Highlights. (The rehearsal dinner on the beach at night looked really fun and I thought it was cute that Jonathan wore a shorts suit). What else? Simone’s uncle Paul officiated the wedding and the couple exchanged handwritten vows. The decor colors were champagne, gold, and white. She had eight bridesmaids in cream gowns and Jonathan had seven groomsmen in teal suits. No images yet of the other three dresses, but hopefully we’ll see them soon and hear about the food as well.

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There were so many recycled storylines between the Jubbly and the Chubbly, and my favorite is still “how dare Prince Harry leave so early when we were being so mean to him!!” Last year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quietly left the UK on the last day of the “Jubbly weekend,” during the whole concert mess. They didn’t make a big show of it, they just got the f–k out of Dodge. Except the British media was stalking their every move, so there were a million articles about how the Sussexes left in a huff because of the sh-tty way the Windsors and the media treated them.

Well, the exact same thing happened with the coronation: after all of that build-up, after all of the broadcasts interrupting the king and queen’s gold coach traveling through London just to show Harry’s arrival, after all of British outlets obsessively detailing where Harry would sit, how he would dress, how his brother would refuse to speak to him, after all of that… Harry just left. He went to the Abbey, smiled and looked free and unbroken, then he got out immediately. There are people breaking down in tears because Harry didn’t “stay” to pose for coronation portraits or stand on the balcony or have lunch with his dogsh-t family. Dan Wootton shat out a column within hours about Harry’s “arrogance” for simply getting on a plane and leaving.

Prince Harry’s status as a royal outcast was ruthlessly emphasized at his father’s coronation Saturday, as he was seated in the third row with the disgraced Prince Andrew and his family in Westminster Abbey, and forced to walk alone down the aisle wearing civilian clothing.

And when the rest of the royal family, including Queen Camilla’s grandchildren, appeared for their centerpiece appearance on Buckingham Palace’s balcony, Harry was absent. The Sun reported Harry was en route to the airport as his father and brother and royal relations waved to the crowds, keen to get home to California where his son Prince Archie is celebrating his 4th birthday today.

The paper said that after the coronation ceremony Harry had gotten into a blacked-out electric BMW and driven the 20 miles to Heathrow, arriving by police convoy around 2.05pm local time. Harry was then escorted into the VIP Windsor Suite at Terminal 5, the paper reported.

[From The Daily Beast]

Imagine thinking that this makes Harry look “bad” and the Windsors look “good.” As it turned out, the balcony wasn’t just for “working royals” after all, it was just King Charles demanding that the balcony be kept “whites only.” It was Camilla demanding the prominence of her children and grandchildren at the expense of King Charles’s mixed-race grandchildren. Imagine believing that all of this wasn’t proof positive of everything Harry wrote in Spare and every single thing he’s said about his dogsh-t family in interviews.

Also: Harry’s suit was Dior. He didn’t even change before going to Heathrow. Dior brand ambassadorship WHEN?

Tailoring fit for royalty.

Dior is honored to have dressed Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, for the coronation of King Charles III in a custom design by Kim Jones. Seen arriving at Westminster Abbey, gain an insight into the savoir-faire of his three-piece suit next. pic.twitter.com/rg4r0ER4Ym

— Dior (@Dior) May 6, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Here are some photos of the (arguably) more glamorous European royals who came to London for the coronation. At QEII’s coronation, visiting European royals were decked out in their tiaras, crowns and all of their finery. At Charles’s coronation, most royals opted for business-dressy looks, appropriate for a wedding of someone you don’t know very well. I still believe that Camilla’s insecurities dictated the dress code: Camilla wanted to be the fanciest one there and she didn’t want all of these attractive, younger and charismatic queens and princesses outshining her as they dripped in diamonds.

Speaking of, Spain’s Queen Letizia wore a bespoke Carolina Herrera suit paired with Magrit heels, a Babel headpiece and big diamond earrings. I like it because it feels like Letizia is both cosplaying and parodying the Windsors with this ensemble. Kate would wear this and she would make it look unbelievably dowdy.

Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary was my vote for best-dressed visiting royal. Mary wore a Soren Le Schmidt coatdress, paired with Gianvito Rossi 105 pumps. Stunning. The shade of royal purple, the cut of her dress, the pop of turquoise on her brooch and earrings. She looked regal and beautiful. Kitty wishes.

Monaco’s Princess Charlene was arguably the worst-dressed royal woman. I feel bad for saying it, but the suit is dowdy as f–k and those pale tights make her look like a nurse.

Jordan’s Queen Rania (not European, but glam) also dimmed her light for the coronation. She elevated a somewhat bad Tamara Ralph design, but she couldn’t save it! At least she looks gorgeous no matter what she wears.

Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria went to the Chubbly with her father, King Carl Gustav. Her ensemble felt very “Kate” to me.

Queen Maxima wore Jan Taminiau. I actually love this dress? Maybe the best white dress of the day.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

At the end of the day, the Middleton clan did attend King Charles’s coronation, but it looks like Kate’s siblings were told that they could not bring their spouses. Add to that, it didn’t feel like the Middletons got too much attention or much attention at all during the broadcasts I watched. Carole and Michael Middleton arrived together, and Pippa and James Middleton were alongside their parents. No James Matthews, no Alizee.

I was also fascinated to see how the chaotic dress code dictates played out among the non-royal guests and even the royal guests. Days before the Chubbly, I wondered aloud if most women would simply dress like they were attending a royal wedding, and that’s basically what happened. A lot of women seemed to even be cosplaying Kate’s default style: severe coatdresses, cloth headpieces and some of their best jewelry. Carole looked like she was cosplaying Kate’s Easter outfit. Pippa looked like she was cosplaying Kate too. But as I said, that was the prevailing style among guests. There was so much confusion about what the dress code really meant.

Anyway, I’m curious what will happen to the Middletons in this new era, the Carolean Era. That’s what we’re supposed to call Charles’s reign, the Carolean Era. I’m not making that up. Charles and Camilla are not fans of the Middletons, and now we know that the Middletons are too broke-ass to fight back. It will get interesting.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.