April 3rd was supposed to be the imaginary cut-off date to RSVP for King Charles’s coronation. I’m not entirely sure about that date, I think it was more likely the British media’s imaginary cut-off date, especially given that Buckingham Palace only released a copy of the paper invitation this week. Still, it’s been utter silence from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex about their coronation plans. Public silence, but also… silence privately, in their communications with the palace. I still do not believe that Harry and his father have actually spoken, so this is a case of palace minions being tasked with barraging the Sussexes with questions about whether they’ll come and issuing threats about how badly they’ll be treated when they come. Speaking of, both Page Six and the Daily Mail had updates and they’re just as nervous as can be:

Plans are being finalized for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to jet to the UK for Prince Charles’ coronation, multiple sources tell Page Six. There is just a month to go before the coronation at Westminster Abbey in London and a royal insider told Page Six: “There have been lengthy discussions between the Sussexes and the palace, there is a time crunch on this, of course. It’s such a historical event and it’s hoped that Harry and Meghan will be there.”

The ultimate decision still lies in Harry’s hands as one highly-placed source admitted: “All families are difficult, but this is no normal family, of course. Harry has a lot of questions about how the event will work.”

Conversations are on-going about whether the Princess of Wales will wear a tiara to the coronation – she has previously worn Princess Diana’s favorite headpiece, the Lover’s Knot tiara. However, Markle, 41, is unlikely to have access to the family jewels, aside from what Harry has gifted her already, royal sources said.

The Sussexes are fully aware that it’s a case of “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” and that all eyes will be on them on the day, we’re told.

[From Page Six]

“Plans are being finalized” and yet the Sussexes haven’t actually confirmed anything. All the palace has is “hope.” It’s a treading water story – we’ve heard for weeks now that the palace is organizing everything with the belief that the Sussexes will be there, even though they haven’t confirmed. The only new piece of info is that the palace will absolutely never, ever loan Meghan any jewelry! So stupid. Well, the Daily Mail had more on Panic At the Palace:

Royal insiders say they are still ‘none the wiser’ as to whether Harry and Meghan plan to come to the Coronation, despite the deadline for RSVPs closing on Monday. Sources have said that the April 3 cut-off date has now passed and staff have still not been told whether the King’s estranged son and his wife are accepting his invitation to attend, even though the event is now just a month away.

The issue is said to be causing a ‘headache’ for organisers, who are trying to finalise details such as seating arrangements, cars, and security for VIPs attending the historic ceremony on May 6. And even if they did decide to attend, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would not be allowed to stand on the Buckingham Palace balcony next to the King and Queen because they are no longer working royals.

The monarch will be joined by a select few who show the ‘heartbeat and future of his family’ and who have dedicated their lives to public service. Charles and Camilla will arrive at Buckingham Palace from Westminster Abbey in a Gold State coach, followed by the ‘final group of 15’ which would not make room for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Harry and Meghan’s non-RSVP, although an aide said it was unlikely there would be such a strict cut-off date for family members as there would be other guests. But one source said: ‘Everything is still up in the air and there’s only a month to go. All people have been told is that ‘it should hopefully be resolved soon’. But in the meantime the teams are trying to finalise plans for 2,000 guests, many of whom are international heads of state and VIPs. It’s a headache.’

A game of transatlantic ‘ping pong’ has apparently been going on for weeks now about arrangements should the Sussexes attend. In the meantime Buckingham Palace staff have been ordered to plan as if they were coming, suggesting it wasn’t a definite and immediate ‘no’.

But this is causing problems for staff, who say: ‘Switching things like seating arrangements are fairly easy. But the thing that is causing more of a headache, is the security, cars and other logistical matters. Any plans that mesh with the rest of the family are more important and problematic. There’s clearly a lot going on behind the scenes in terms of talks between members of the family and their offices. But at this stage in proceedings people could just do with some clarity. There are now two plans, one for if they do come and another if they don’t. It’s another layer of responsibility that staff could do without.’

Another family friend said it seemed deeply ‘unfair’ to the King and Queen Consort to have uncertainty over the Sussexes hanging over their heads when they just wanted to get on and plan ‘such a wonderful and historic day of celebration. Regardless of everything that’s happened, a simple yes or no would be polite and suffice,’ they added.

[From The Daily Mail]

It just occurred to me now – I know, I’m ridiculous – that some of the palace briefings are not coming from a place of “Poor Charles doesn’t know if Harry will come to his Chubbly,” but rather from a place of “palace staff are lazy, incompetent whiners and they can’t believe that they have to do SO MUCH WORK to organize this fakakta coronation.” All of these tantrums about organizing seating arrangements, security, cars – those are not Charles’s complaints, those are complaints from his lazy staff. As for the balcony stuff – how many times are they going to use the balcony thing as a punishment? No one cares about the stupid all-white balcony, KKKing Charles.

Note by Celebitchy: Sign up for our mailing list and get the Top 8 Stories about whether the Sussexes will go to the Chubbly! I only send one email a day on weekdays after lunch.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.

A few weeks ago, the Telegraph ran a story about how Prince William and Kate’s three children will all be included in their grandfather’s coronation in some way. We now know that Prince George will be a page, alongside one of Rose Hanbury’s sons and all of Queen Camilla’s grandchildren. I believed, at the time, that William and Kate wanted to make a point of trotting out all three kids, not only because those kids are their little buffers, but because they want to ensure that the coronation isn’t a full-on Parker Bowles event. Like, Camilla’s side of the family will be much more thoroughly represented. If the Sussexes skip the Struggly, it will just be William and his kids, holding down the “Charles line.” Except now it looks like Prince Louis’s participation is up in the air.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s youngest child’s presence at King Charles III’s upcoming coronation is still up in the air. Prince Louis might not attend the May 6 ceremony due to his behavior at past events, a palace source exclusively tells Page Six.

The insider adds, “He’s only 4, after all.”

However, the little one’s older sister, Princess Charlotte, will be in attendance, the palace source says. As for Prince George, the 9-year-old was named in the official invitation as one of the monarch’s page boys.

An official Kensington Palace spokesperson tells us, “The Prince and Princess of Wales will make a decision on Prince Louis’ attendance closer to the time.”

Louis isn’t the only royal family member whose presence at next month’s event is still uncertain. While a spokesperson for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle confirmed last month that the California-based couple have been invited, they have yet to publicly accept or decline the offer.

[From Page Six]

What’s changed in three weeks, I wonder? If anything, seeing Camilla trot around and make the coronation all about her victory lap should make William spit with rage and demand that all of his kids be front and center. My guess is that the kids have been out of school on their Easter break, and William and Kate have been trying to prepare Louis for the event and Louis will not be tamed, trained or pacified. The last thing anyone wants is Louis running up to Charles and covering the king’s mouth in the middle of the coronation.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid, Instar.

A year ago, Queen Elizabeth tasked then-Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall to attend the Royal Maundy service in her place. What Charles and Camilla didn’t know was that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were in Windsor and about to make a surprise visit to QEII. QEII wasn’t surprised – she clearly invited them, and she asked Harry to speak to his father before he and Meghan left Windsor. That’s why Charles and Camilla hauled ass out of the church service and booked it to the castle, to catch the Sussexes before they left. Whenever anyone mentions “the Royal Maundy service,” I now think of that – the Sussexes managing to slip into Windsor without anyone knowing.

Well, now that Charles is king, he’s still doing the Maundy service. Camilla was with him today and they did the whole thing in York this year. The service was presided over by the Dean of York and the Archbishop of York. Charles handed out two special purses of “Maundy money” to 74 men and 74 women. Within the purses were commemorative coins marking Charles’s upcoming 75th birthday and the 75th anniversary of the Windrush generation. The Maundy money tradition dates back to 1210.

Interestingly enough, the king and queen were protested at the cathedral. There were Republic-organized protesters just across the street, holding signs and yelling. Those bells were trying to compete with the protesters!

Charles turned up – we let him know that he’s not our king. #NotMyKing #AbolishTheMonarchy pic.twitter.com/bL9w0dAfcl

— Republic (@RepublicStaff) April 6, 2023

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Every so often, a British outlet – usually the Guardian – will attempt to do some real reporting on the British monarchy and their secretive finances. While the details of the Sovereign Grant are made public every year, the SG is far from the Windsors’ only source of income. The monarch has access to the vast resources of the Duchy of Lancaster, and the heir (the Prince of Wales) has access to the Duchy of Cornwall. Both duchies are billion-dollar portfolios of real estate and investments. Personally, I believe that Charles spent a significant amount of time William-proofing the Duchy of Cornwall, so that when William became the PoW, he wouldn’t loot the entire duchy and spend money like a drunken sailor. In any case, the Guardian has done a new series about the secretive money situations of the royal family – you can read one of the pieces here. Some highlights:

The money from the duchies: King Charles and the late Queen Elizabeth II have received payments equivalent to more than £1bn from two land and property estates that are at the centre of a centuries-old debate over whether their profits should be given to the public instead.

The duchies of Lancaster & Cornwall. The duchies operate as professionally run real estate empires that manage swathes of farmland, hotels, medieval castles, offices, shops and some of London’s prime luxury real estate. They also have substantial investment portfolios, but pay no corporation tax or capital gains tax. Duchy accounts, held in parliamentary and state archives, reveal how the queen and her first-born son, in his capacity as the Duke of Cornwall, benefited from a huge increase in their revenues from the duchies during her seven-decade reign. Last year, their duchy income totalled £41.8m. Adjusting for inflation, the pair have received the equivalent of more than £1.2bn in total revenues from the two estates.

The profits: Profits from the Duchy of Lancaster, which consists of 18,481 hectares of rural land, primarily in the north of England and the Midlands, automatically pass to whoever is sitting on the throne. The estate itself is valued at £652m. The Duchy of Cornwall, which encompasses 52,450 hectares, mostly in the south-west of England, is worth more than £1bn. The estate has not kept pace with legislation, passed in 2013, to bring gender equality into royal succession. Its profits still only go automatically to the male heir to the throne.

The Windsors’ claim to the duchies: The royal family’s claim to the income from the duchies stems from archaic charters dating back to when the country was divided into medieval fiefdoms. Ever since the advent of parliamentary democracy, however, generations of MPs have challenged the arrangement and called for duchy profits to be paid to the Treasury instead. Parliamentary debate has often coincided with the accession of a new monarch, amid renewed scrutiny over their public and private sources of wealth.

The Windsors refuse to spend their own money: The royals insist their duchy income is “private” and the government treats it as entirely separate from the sovereign grant, the annual payment the royal family receives from the government to cover its official costs. That too has risen dramatically in recent times, and costs the taxpayer £86m a year. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the Guardian’s figures for income received from the duchies, which it described as “speculative”.

The Windsors claim to spend their duchy money: The palace has long stated that income received from both duchies is largely spent on the family’s official duties, public work or charitable causes. However, the royals have never provided a detailed account of how money from the estates is spent, describing them as “private financial arrangements”. Charles has reported that 49% to 51% of his duchy income was spent covering public and charitable functions in recent years.

How the duchy money is really spent: As Prince of Wales, a large part of Charles’s duchy income was spent privately, including on secretaries, valets, gardeners, chefs, stable hands and farm workers. The late queen was reported to have used Duchy of Lancaster income to help Prince Andrew pay an undisclosed sum – reported to be more than £9m – to end the sexual assault case filed against him by Virginia Giuffre.

[From The Guardian]

There’s more about how little transparency there is with how the duchies function, where the money goes and how the money is spent. This… seems like a pretty easy fix? I’m sure the part about “wanting duchy profits to go to the government” wouldn’t be an easy fix, but the transparency issue is an easy fix – simply pass a transparency law which applies to the monarchy. Audit the f–kers. Make them do the f–king paperwork and file taxes. Tell the royals they can still keep the profits, but everything has to be above-board and taxed. Why does the British government allow for this issue to still be shrouded in so much secrecy? This isn’t a security issue!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Megan Fox & Machine Gun Kelly are vacationing together in Hawaii? I guess Megan took him back. Ugh, I hate this. [Dlisted]
Kate Bosworth & Justin Long confirm their engagement. [Pajiba]
Country music people did not like Gwen Stefani’s CMA look. [LaineyGossip]
Rachel Zegler wore a lacy dress which does not suit her. [Go Fug Yourself]
Adriana Lima will be the face of Victoria’s Secret new perfume. [RCFA]
Southern Charm’s Craig Conover is… kind of hot? [Starcasm]
Allison Williams looks nice in black velvet. [Just Jared]
WTF is Bari Weiss’s problem? She’s just the worst. [Jezebel]
Jordana Brewster is getting into adventures in Mexico. [Egotastic]
Dandelion children versus Orchid children. [Buzzfeed]
The Muppets are back! (On Disney+) [Seriously OMG]
Dude lost his job, why would he shut down his OnlyFans? [Towleroad]

One of the big coronation announcements released on Tuesday was a confirmation on which children would have roles. Apparently, King Charles and Queen Camilla each get different sets of page boys and page girls, and they have leeway to select kids from their families or friend’s families. We’ve known for weeks that Camilla wanted her pages to be her grandchildren, much to Prince William’s chagrin, as it elevates the extended Parker Bowles relatives at the expense of the Windsors. But the real gossip is within the names selected as Charles’s pages. Prince George will be a page. But so will the oldest son of Rose Hanbury and David Rocksavage, the Marquess and Marchioness of Cholmondeley. Charles and Camilla are really keeping the Rocksavages close, aren’t they? Charles just appointed David as his Lord-in-Waiting.

Prince George is the most notable – and youngest – page of honour chosen by the King and Queen Consort. But all of the boys who will carry the couple’s robes into Westminster Abbey demonstrate Charles and Camilla’s determination to put loyal family and friends at the heart of this historic occasion.

While the Prince and Princess of Wales were touched that the King wanted his grandson to play such a significant role, they wanted to ensure that nine-year-old George felt up to the public scrutiny. After discussions with their eldest son and future monarch, they felt happy he would rise to the occasion.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said last night: ‘We’re all very excited about Prince George’s role in the Coronation, it will be an incredibly special moment.’

A page of honour is a historic ceremonial position, now only employed on state occasions. The king’s pages also include Nicholas Barclay, 13, the grandson of Sarah Troughton, who is one of the Queen’s companions and oldest friends. He will be joined by Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, 13, son of David, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, and his former model wife, Rose. Oliver’s father was recently appointed to be the King’s Lord-in-Waiting – a significant royal role.

The fourth page is Ralph Tollemache, 12, son of British banker and aristocrat The Honourable Edward Tollemache – a godson of the King and a page of Honour to Queen Elizabeth.

The Queen Consort’s pages of honour all come from Her Majesty’s family. They include her grandsons Gus and Louis Lopes, 13, and Freddy Parker Bowles, 12. Her great-nephew, Arthur Elliot, 11 – whose father is former Tory Party chairman Ben Elliot – will be her fourth page.

[From The Daily Mail]

First of all, don’t even start with “Charles snubbed Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.” Archie and Lilibet are too young to be pages, which is why Charlotte and Louis weren’t asked as well – they’re much too young. It’s not a snub for any of the kids. Now, are these names also a victory lap by Camilla? For sure. Her grandkids and relations are the right age to act as pages, so what Camilla wants, Camilla gets.

As for Charles making a point of including the Cholmondeleys… well. My theory is that Charles and Camilla know exactly what Prince William has been getting up to in Norfolk. The social and professional network between Tom Parker Bowles, Giles Coren, the Rocksavages, the Norfolk Turnip Toffs and Charles and Camilla is a perfect circle with no secrets. Everyone in that crew knows exactly what Rose and William were up to and Charles is making an effort to keep the Cholmondeleys inside the proverbial tent. The added benefit is that it keeps William on a short leash too.

Note by CB: Subscribe to our mailing list and get the Top 5 stories about Prince Williams’ Alleged Affair! I only send one email a day on weekdays which I personally write.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

The Princess of Wales hasn’t done anything since March 21st, when she “business launched” her Business Taskforce at a business meeting and then posed in front of business buildings, and don’t forget, she also made a big business speech. So, yeah, that was March 21st. She hasn’t had anything on her public schedule, not even any “private meetings” or “phone calls” on the Court Circular. Kate and William always disappear this time of year – their kids are on their Easter break, so Will and Kate use their kids as an excuse to not do a g-ddamn thing for a month. When people start to ask “should we really be okay with these lazy f–king royals,” the Waleses then deflect to the Sussexes. Surely, Kate will get some sympathy if she whines about how Meghan is always stealing her thunder, correct?

Kate Middleton is said to be ‘wary’ of Meghan and Harry as she fears more drama ahead of King Charles’ Coronation, says a source. The Princess of Wales has a busy schedule as she celebrates birthdays, anniversaries and the coronation of her father-in-law. Yet a source claims Kate “really doesn’t want” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to “ruin” her upcoming events.

Kate is set to celebrate her youngest son Louis’ birthday this month as well as Charlotte’s eighth birthday on May 2. King Charles’ momentous coronation day will take place on May 6 and she will celebrate her 12th wedding anniversary with husband William on April 29.

“Over and over again, Kate’s had to contend with this ‘look at me’ behaviour from Meghan and Harry, and she really doesn’t want them ruining the next few weeks,” the source told Heat. “Their stunts always seem to happen at the worst possible times – on or around important days or milestones. Everyone knows Kate is the least cynical person you could ever meet, but there are just too many instances of perfectly timed drama for it to be a coincidence. Of course, it’s made Kate wary and anxious about what they might do next.”

Meghan and Harry announced their shock exit from the royal family on the eve of Kate’s 38th birthday. Back in December last year, the first look at Netflix series Harry & Meghan came whilst Kate and Wills were in Boston for the 2022 Earthshot Prize awards, with royal experts claiming the Sussex’s “hijacked” the visit. The second trailer dropped just a week later when Kate also unveiled her Together At Christmas event. Harry’s explosive memoir Spare also hit shelved the day after Kate’s birthday.

[From The Daily Mirror]

Some of the examples of “the Sussexes stealing Kate’s thunder” are actually pretty funny, even if they’re not entirely Harry and Meghan’s fault. Like, Spare wasn’t supposed to come out in January, it was clearly pushed back a month or two after QEII passed away. Same with the Netflix docuseries – I’ve never been certain that the Sussexes intended for the series to come out when it did, or for Netflix to drop those trailers when they did (in the middle of Peg and Buttons’ Boston Keenshot trip).

Besides, Kate, William and the rest of the Windsors are constantly trying (and failing) to compete with the Sussexes when they schedule their events. I remember when Meghan did that little NPR interview to promote The Bench, and the palace machinery was in full panic-mode about it and they made asses out of themselves before the interview, and then it was just Meghan chatting about her kids’ book. That happens constantly, where the Windsors try to impose themselves on the Sussexes’ newscycle. It happened when Harry & Meg lived in the UK too, the Windsors were always making a big deal about being booked and busy whenever the Sussexes did anything. It’s not like King Charles scheduled his whole-ass Chubbly on Prince Archie’s birthday either. I swear, the nerve of these people.

It’s not like Kate doesn’t have the nasty habit of Single-White-Female-ing everything Meghan does, says and wears either.

Note by CB: Subscribe to our mailing list and get the Top 10 stories about Kate copying Meghan’s style! I only send one email a day on weekdays which I personally write.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

Two pieces of Jill Biden news today, in what is turning out to be an important week for the First Lady’s office. First off, President Biden formally declined the invitation to King Charles’s coronation. Biden did so in a personal call to King Charles. The White House also announced that First Lady Dr. Jill Biden would attend the Chubbly in the president’s place.

First lady Jill Biden will represent the U.S. at the coronation of King Charles III next month, President Joe Biden told the royal during a Tuesday call, the White House said.

Biden said he looked forward to meeting with the king in the U.K. “at a future date,” the White House said, and that his wife “looks forward to attending on behalf of the United States.”

The White House said the pair also discussed the “strength of the relationship between our countries and the friendship between our peoples.”

The president and the first lady jointly attended last year’s funeral in London for Elizabeth II. No sitting U.S. president has ever attended a British royal coronation.

[From The AP]

I feel like Dr. Biden is too important to attend this stupid Struggle Chubbly. Like, if the White House is making a point of President Biden turning down the invite, than surely the WH should just send Pete Buttigieg or something. Definitely not FLOTUS or VPOTUS. Especially not after the palace gave free rein to the unhinged British media to attack President Biden for the past four days.

Meanwhile, Dr. Biden has never gotten such bad press as she did this week, when she spoke about how much she enjoyed the NCAA women’s basketball final and expressed her desire to invite the winning team (the LSU Tigers) AND the losing team (Iowa Hawkeyes). It was a bad look, it was an insensitive look, and it looked like Dr. Biden wanted to make a point of giving white women a participation trophy. Dr. Biden’s office began walking back her comments on Tuesday, making a point of saying that only the LSU Tigers are invited to the White House:

First lady Jill Biden appeared to walk back suggestions that the White House might invite both LSU and Iowa’s women’s basketball teams after Tigers star Angel Reese called it “A JOKE” on Monday. Speaking on Monday, Biden congratulated both teams on their performance in Sunday’s national championship game, as well as specifically highlighting Iowa’s sportsmanship.

“Last night, I attended the NCAA women’s basketball championship,” said Biden, while speaking at an event at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. “So I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do. So, we hope LSU will come but, you know, I’m going to tell Joe [Biden] I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”

It is traditional for the national champions to be invited to the White House, but not for the runners-up. Reese tweeted a link to the story which included Biden’s comments, calling it “A JOKE” along with three rolling-on-floor-laughing emojis.

In a comment on an Instagram post from ‘The Shade Room’ which included Reese’s tweet, the recently crowned NCAA champion said: “WE NOT COMING. period.”

Press secretary to the first lady Vanessa Valdivia sought to clarify Biden’s comments on Tuesday, saying in a tweet that they “were intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes. She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House.”

Before Valdivia’s clarification, ESPN host Stephen A. Smith had echoed Reese’s sentiment, replying to her tweet saying: “I mean absolutely zero disrespect to the First Lady, but you are 1000% correct.

[From CNN]

I think we can do two things at once: call out Jill Biden for the insensitivity of suggesting that it wouldn’t be enough to recognize the mostly-Black team (the Tigers), that white women (the Hawkeyes) must be included too; and also recognize that Jill Biden’s comments were in the moment, and likely came from a place of wanting to praise all of the young women for being amazing. She’s a teacher and professor and she’s seen the benefits of Title IX for decades. But yeah, it was insensitive and I think most people would appreciate it if Dr. Biden went on the record about what she’s learned from this incident.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

There’s a lot of talk this week about King Charles’s coronation, because it’s almost one month away exactly and plans are being firmed up and the guest list is being confirmed. And yet… the Duke and Duchess of Sussex still haven’t confirmed whether they’re coming or not. It’s so funny. As I’ve said before, I have no tea about what the Sussexes are thinking or if or when they’ll announce their decision. Hilariously, in the BBC’s coverage of all of the coronation keenery, they got in touch with the Sussexes’ spokesperson, who basically indicated that Harry and Meghan aren’t saying anything this week?

But with the coronation approaching, it is still not clear whether the invitation for Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is going to be accepted.

A spokesperson for the California-based couple said this week there was no update on whether they were attending.

[From The BBC]

LMAO. Keep ‘em waiting, Harry. Someone shared a theory on Twitter that the Sussexes have probably already privately declined and the palace is actively trying to guilt-trip Harry and convince him to come (so that they can treat him like sh-t), and then when the palace has to admit that Harry declined the invite, the Sussexes will release a statement saying that they declined weeks ago. It could totally go down that way. I hope it does. Meanwhile, palace sources are still trying to milk the Sussex drama:

While King Charles III may “very much” want Prince Harry and his grandchildren to attend his upcoming coronation, a source tells ET that the royal family feels Harry and Meghan Markle attending could divert attention away from the historic event.

A source close to the royal family tells ET that there’s concern that if Harry and Meghan attend the May 6 coronation ceremony in London, it could steal the spotlight from the king himself.

“The big concern is the chaos that could overshadow the coronation if they attend,” the source says. “No one wants to see the focus taken away from King Charles with the press focused on Harry and Meghan and past family squabbles.”

The source adds, “The fear is — if they do come — more private matters could be made public, so efforts are being made to prevent that.”

[From ET]

If King Charles was so worried about being overshadowed by the Sussexes, he shouldn’t have authorized his courtiers and his bloody wife to leak sh-t about the Sussexes for months now. The palace was actively cultivating all of this attention onto the Sussexes and whether they would accept the invitation. Meanwhile, Charles was also making a point of evicting his rent-paying son and grandchildren from their British home! Anyway, I love how terrified these people are that the Sussexes might come to the Struggly (and overshadow Charles) or stay home (which would also overshadow Charles).

Note by CB: Subscribe to our mailing list and get the Top 8 stories about whether The Sussexes will go to the Chubbly! I only send one email a day on weekdays which I personally write.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

My father was fond of several English expressions, and one of his favorites was “no fool like an old fool.” So it is with Rupert Murdoch, forever unlucky in love. Three marriages down the drain, the last of which was his seemingly solid companionship-based marriage to Jerry Hall. They seemed surprisingly well-suited for each other, but I guess Jerry simply got tired of the old goat and she dumped his ass last year. Months later, Rupert started up with a 66-year-old named Ann Lesley Smith. They announced their engagement two weeks ago in the Murdoch-owned New York Post. Welp, it looks like they’re no longer engaged, you guys. Oh noes.

Wedding bells may not be ringing for Rupert Murdoch anytime soon. According to sources close to Murdoch, the 92-year-old Fox Corporation chairman and Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old former dental hygienist turned conservative radio host, have abruptly called off their engagement. Murdoch and Smith reportedly planned to marry this summer, less than a year after Murdoch finalized his divorce from his fourth wife, model-actor Jerry Hall. One source close to Murdoch said he had become increasingly uncomfortable with Smith’s outspoken evangelical views. A spokesperson for Rupert Murdoch declined to comment.

The breakup ends a whirlwind romance that generated headlines around the world. In January, Murdoch and Smith were first photographed vacationing in Barbados. The photos captured Smith helping a shirtless Murdoch out of the ocean. In February, Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal reported that Murdoch was set to buy a $30 million, 6,500-square-foot co-op on Central Park South, which could have been his and Smith’s New York residence. In March, Murdoch announced his engagement in the pages of his New York Post. “I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love—but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy,” he told gossip columnist Cindy Adams. Last week the Daily Mail reported that Murdoch had given Smith an 11-carat diamond engagement ring said to be worth upwards of $2.5 million.

Murdoch’s adult children from his second marriage to Anna—Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James—were reportedly relieved that Ann Lesley had no children of her own, which could have complicated the already-complicated succession battle over the future of the Murdoch empire. Murdoch’s third marriage to Wendi Deng in 1999—less than a month after his divorce from Anna—ignited a revolt from his adult children, who opposed allowing Murdoch and Deng’s daughters, Chloe and Grace, to receive voting shares on the family trust that controls the media empire.

[From Vanity Fair]

VF also included a passage about how, just days after the engagement announcement, various media outlets began trying to patch together Ann Lesley’s “patchy biography.” Her first marriage was to a man with family money, and she spent $65,000 a month on clothes. When they divorced, she became an abusive alcoholic, then she found Jesus, then she found a second husband – a country music singer named Chester Smith. After Smith’s death in 2008, Smith’s children accused her of financial elder abuse. There was a quiet settlement and everything was hushed up. That sounds like the thing which probably convinced Murdoch to walk away, the financial elder abuse stuff. But I’m sure her evangelical ranting and raving probably drove him crazy too. Some men are just unlucky in love, and they grow more foolish as they age. I’ve been trying to think of who he should marry next and I’ve got nothing. Marjorie Taylor Greene?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.