For years now, Buckingham Palace’s staffers have been playing stupid games with the royal.uk site. The staffers will make a point of refusing to update the site when the Sussexes do something significant, like welcome a child, and the site has consistently underreported Harry and Meghan’s charitable work. It took the palace weeks to update the line of succession when Lilibet Diana was born, and it took them months to update Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet’s titles when their grandfather became king. Is it incompetence, laziness, racism or pettiness? A toxic blend of all of the above, methinks. Anyway, there were some shenanigans over the weekend on royal.uk, and the Mail and other British outlets were reporting on the changes breathlessly. People Magazine tried to explain what was going on:

Prince Archie’s bio on the British royal family’s website contains a slight error. The official royal family website recently refreshed 3-year-old Archie’s profile page to reflect his royal title. His parents, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, used the appellation for the first time earlier this month in a statement to PEOPLE confirming the christening of their daughter Princess Lilibet, Archie’s younger sister.

While Archie is now styled as “Prince Archie of Sussex” on the official site, the page still states that he is seventh in line to the throne, which was his position at birth in May 2019. Following the death of his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth in September and the accession of his grandfather King Charles, Archie is now sixth in the line of succession. He’s behind his uncle Prince William, cousins Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4, and his dad Harry.

The little royal’s bio page on the website, which has yet to be updated in full following the death of the Queen, currently reads, “Prince Archie of Sussex was born at 05:26 on Monday 6th May. He is the first child of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and is seventh in line to the throne.” The language links to the full line of succession, which lists Archie in the proper spot.

Earlier this month, the website was updated to reflect Archie and Lilibet’s titles on the line of succession page. They were previously styled as “Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor” and “Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor” but now appear as “Prince Archie of Sussex” and “Princess Lilibet of Sussex.”

As Buckingham Palace continues to update the extensive website amid the new royal reign (a message on the homepage reads, “Some information on this website may be out-of-date following the death of Queen Elizabeth”), one bio is missing. A profile page for Princess Lilibet, 1, cannot be found on the site. Lili was born in California in June 2021, after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their royal roles and moved away from the U.K.

[From People]

Again, is this incompetence, laziness, racism or pettiness? There are clearly staffers in charge of operating and updating the site, and those staffers clearly believe that they have the authority to play these stupid games with the Sussexes. This is so typical of the way the Windsors and their courtiers operate too – they’ll do something incredibly sleazy/petty/racist, they’ll leak their actions to the press and then the press will write “Harry and Meghan are terribly upset that the palace is snubbing them once again!” The story isn’t H&M – it’s that people in charge of royal.uk are terrible at their f–king jobs.

Photos courtesy of Netflix, Misan Harriman/The Sussexes.

Here are some photos from last night’s LA premiere of Air. This the Ben Affleck-directed film about how Nike built the Air Jordan brand for Michael Jordan. It was done with MJ’s blessing, although MJ isn’t a character in the film. Viola Davis plays MJ’s mom, and Affleck has already said that Jordan was the one who dream-cast her. Ben looked very pulled-together and sharp at the premiere, and his wife Jennifer Lopez was on hand to support him.

Bennifer posed together and they posed separately – they’ve both been at it long enough to know the deal. Photographers wanted all options – J.Lo separately (for the fashionistas), Ben separately (for the film nerds) and Bennifer together (for the lovers). J.Lo wore Antonio Grimaldi Couture. It’s not my favorite look, but she looks fine and they look so happy together. When Ben spoke ahead of the premiere, he gave special thanks to his wife and it was really sweet.

Then Ben Affleck turns his attention to wife Jennifer Lopez, “who means more to me than anything in the world. … You’re fabulous, you’re amazing, you’re wonderful, good, kind, magnificent and I love you.” pic.twitter.com/Xzi5jcM6bI

— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) March 28, 2023

More photos – Viola wore a great Roland Mouret and she looked stunning. Matt Damon came out with his wife Luciana and all of his daughters. Jason Bateman, who is in the movie, was there with his wife Amanda too.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Last year, Wimbledon banned all Russian and Belarusian tennis players from the Slam tournament. It was said that the Johnson government heavily leaned on the All-England club and the club was convinced that it would be a public relations disaster if a Russian or Belarusian player won the championship, besides which, the government would probably put up a fight about issuing visas to Russian and Belarusian nationals. Tennis’s governing bodies weren’t happy about the ban and Wimbledon was stripped of its ranking points, which meant that when Elena Rybakina, a Russian-born Moscow resident (who plays under Kazakhstan’s flag), won the ladies’ championship, she didn’t get the rankings boost she deserved.

Currently, the All-England hasn’t officially made a decision about whether they’ll ban Russians and Belarusians this year, but the governing bodies are once again leaning heavily on the Slam and there are rumors that no one will be banned this year. In addition to all of the politics of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the politicization of tennis players, Kensington Palace decided to make last year’s ban all about the then-Duchess of Cambridge, now the Princess of Wales. It was claimed last year that the All-England banned Russians and Belarusians to avoid “embarrassing” Kate, the patron of the club. One article even claimed: “The prospect of embarrassing the All England Club’s patron – given her emotional investment in the sport – by asking her to hand the men’s singles trophy to Daniil Medvedev was simply too much to bear.”

Which brings up an interesting argument: is handing out a trophy a political act or a political endorsement? Because if it is, Kate handed the Venus Rosewater dish to a Russian citizen and the gentleman’s trophy to an anti-Vaxx Serbian last year. Was that Kate implicitly politically endorsing the politics of Russia and anti-science, anti-vaxx idiocy? As I argued last year, it felt like Kate was inserting herself to the larger issue and trying to take credit for being “the reason” why Wimbledon banned those players. It was a dumb move. It looks like she’s not going to make the same mistake this year:

The Princess of Wales intends to continue with the tradition of presenting the Wimbledon singles trophies this year regardless of whether the champions are from Russia or Belarus. Despite concerns over a high-profile member of the royal family handing over the silverware during the invasion of Ukraine by military forces from Russia and Belarus, sources have said that the princess plans to fulfil her duties as the All England Club’s patron.

Wimbledon organisers are expected to lift the ban on entrants from Russia and Belarus in the next two weeks. Players from both nations will be permitted to compete as neutral competitors, with no mention of where they hail from beside their names on scoreboards and television graphics.

The All England Club has kept Kensington Palace updated during the long decision-making process. While there were initial concerns among some club officials about the propaganda that could potentially be derived from the princess standing on Centre Court alongside a champion from Russia or Belarus, there has been no indication from the palace that the princess will not attend the women’s singles final on July 15 and the men’s singles final on July 16.

Last year the princess presented the women’s singles trophy, the Venus Rosewater Dish, to a player born in Moscow. Elena Rybakina, 23, was allowed to compete in the 2022 championships because she has represented Kazakhstan since 2018. “She congratulated me,” Rybakina said afterwards. “She said that I played really well. I was in shock so maybe half [of it] I didn’t hear. But for sure she was super nice. It was amazing to get the trophy from her.”

The attitude shift of organisers this year comes after 12 months of Russians and Belarusians competing on the men’s and women’s tours as neutral athletes without making any pro-war gestures. British tennis as a whole had also come under considerable pressure from the ATP and WTA with more than £1 million of fines for last year’s ban and the threat of the LTA’s expulsion from tour membership should the ban continue this year.

[From The Times]

This is fine. In fact, this should have been the message last year from Kensington Palace: don’t politicize Kate, she’s just there to enjoy tennis and hand out trophies, and trophy presentations are not political endorsements. The whole idea of making the ban all about Kate was offensive beyond belief, so it’s good to see some backtracking.

As for Wimbledon allowing Russians and Belarusians again this year… I think it’s the right call, especially given how well those players are currently doing on the two tours. Russians Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov are three of the most popular players on the men’s tour and all three are highly ranked. Aryna Sabalenka, a Belarusian, just won the Australian Open and she’s quite popular too. I heard a rumor that the Russian players offered to sign an explicit anti-war memo in an attempt to convince Wimbledon to let them play, only Wimbledon turned down their offer.

Note by CB: Sign up for our mailing list and get the Top 8 stories about Princess Kate’s Early Years Business Initiatives! I only send one email on weekdays which I personally write.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin were on The Drew Barrymore Show promoting their latest project together, Moving On. While they were there, Drew asked them to play her game, Behind the Scenes. That’s when Drew mentions one of their movies and her guests are supposed give a fact about something that happened behind the scenes. I like the concept of the game. I’ll go into my issue with Drew’s version below. However, she played with Jane and Lily and at one point, asked Jane for some juicy detail about Monster in Law. Jane said the first thing she remembered was Jennifer Lopez accidently cutting her eyebrow open during a slapping scene and never apologizing for it. Yikes.

Jennifer Lopez’s bling can really help pack a punch! Jane Fonda appeared on Thursday’s The Drew Barrymore Show where she looked back at some of her most iconic roles. When Barrymore flashed an image of Fonda and Lopez from 2005’s romcom Monster in Law, the 85-year-old actress shared a behind-the-scenes story from set.

“The thing that comes to mind right away is we have a slapping scene,” Fonda began. “I slap her, she slaps me, I slap her. Well Jennifer, as per Jennifer, she had this enormous diamond ring, and so when she slapped me one of the times, it cut open across my eye — my eyebrow.”

Fonda quipped: “And she’s never apologized.”

[From Yahoo!]

In 2019, Jennifer told her YouTube Channel that she did apologize to Jane. In her version of the story, she thought her nail caught Jane’s brow and caused a blood blister. She also said Jane didn’t care. I don’t have any reason to argue on behalf of either side, so I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. It looks a little bit to me like Jane is smirking at the end of her comment, like maybe she’s kidding. But I also think Jane would say she was kidding if she was, because that’s a lot to put out there if it wasn’t true. Obviously, this was going to get picked up, Jen has a bit of a reputation already. I hope Jennifer tried to apologize. Drawing blood, even accidently, should not go unrecognized. Unfortunately, this whole JLo thing took off so the 9 to 5 behind the scene story isn’t getting any play. Jane said that Dolly Parton asked Jane’s then 6-year-old-son Troy if he knew why her feet were so small and told him it was because “things don’t grow in the shade.” I heart Dolly.

Like I said, the game is fun. But usually I don’t watch Drew’s show, just clips for the articles. So I don’t see a lot of her interviewing style. When I wrote about her LA Times profile, it mentioned Drew touching people. I watched the full bit of her with Jane and Lily and OMG. First of all, she’s walking all over her guest’s answers. Second, when Jane discussed trauma with Barbarella and being lied to by her husband Roger Vadim, Drew dismissed it because she liked to see Jane naked. And then Drew kept getting on the damn floor. She was practically in Lily’s lap during the Incredible Shrinking Woman, Lily physically recoiled. Jane called it out at the end. I would have put a foot in Drew’s face and gently pushed her back to her chair. Seriously, I knew she was sycophantic in her interviews but I had no idea.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: Supplied by Pacificcoastnews.com and Getty Images

Here are more photos of Prince Harry leaving the High Court in London on Monday. Several of the plaintiffs coordinated their appearances at the court hearing to bring international attention to the case against the Daily Mail. The Mail is scared sh-tless, if their lack of coverage is any indication. It’s not just the Mail either – Harry’s thriving, happy existence and this lawsuit represent an existential threat to the entire media landscape in Britain. Which is why people like Camilla Tominey are salty as hell. Harry suddenly appearing in London to thrash the media has them shaking in their boots. Tominey rage-typed a piece in the Telegraph about Harry’s visit and she accidentally reveals too much, including her own bitterness and Harry’s ability to overshadow his family whenever he wants. Some highlights:

Harry has torn the family apart!! “Smiling broadly, it was as if he had never been away – let alone written a bombshell autobiography that has torn the Royal family in two.”

Harry’s red carpet needs!! “Yet if Prince Harry expected the royal red carpet to be rolled out for his somewhat shock appearance at the High Court on Monday for the start of his case against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers for unlawful information gathering, then he was sadly mistaken. No sooner had the Duke, 38, landed in London from Montecito, California, than his nearest and dearest had made their excuses for not seeing him.

King Charles the dogsh-t father: Despite France having postponed Monday’s visit by the King and Queen Consort due to ongoing pensions protests, Buckingham Palace apparently made it clear there would be no time for a meeting between father and prodigal son. Although he did inform the monarch that he would be in the neighbourhood, he was told his father was “busy” – despite having a last-minute, two-day gap in the royal diary. It is perhaps ironic that while Prince Harry is fighting the Daily Mail publisher in court, the King’s communications secretary is former Mail executive Tobyn Andreae.

Will & Kate were on another vacation! Meanwhile, his brother and sister-in-law, the Prince and Princess of Wales, would also be “out of town” due to Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis having already broken up for the Easter holidays. The former Cambridge clan like to escape to Anmer Hall, their Norfolk bolthole, at such times and it seems unlikely an invitation

Why did Harry alone time this date for the court hearing?? “While he can have had no control over the court date, had the father of two decided to attend in person believing his “dearest Papa” would be out of the country? Emmanuel Macron only pulled the plug on Paris on Friday, and the royal couple are still travelling to Germany for the second leg of the tour on Wednesday.

Whoops, what a thing to admit: “And had the tour to France gone ahead, were the Sussexes aware that Harry’s surprise High Court appearance would almost certainly have upstaged the King’s European charm offensive?”

Why is this Harry’s problem?? “The court case also comes amid speculation that Paul Dacre, Associated Newspapers’ editor-in-chief, is about to receive a peerage from former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Why does Harry have bodyguards if he’s so obsessed with privacy?? “Flanked by his own personal bodyguards, he appeared willing to risk a high-profile appearance – motivated, seemingly, by his undisguised hatred for the tabloid media (and his somewhat contradictory thirst for publicity, perhaps?). Had the Home Office struck a deal with the fifth in line to the throne for this particular trip?

No support for his trash family!!! “The Telegraph has been told the Duke flew over to show his “support” for the case, which has been brought by a group of celebrities including the singer Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, as well as the actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost. Baroness Lawrence and former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Simon Hughes also allege the newspaper group is guilty of unlawful information-gathering. Whether he will be minded to show similar “support” for his father and stepmother when they are crowned on May 6 remains to be seen.

[From The Telegraph]

I think Tominey was attempting to sound accusatory, bitter and angry towards Harry… but she ended up sounding so sad and she made the Windsors sound pathetic. She’s really arguing: how dare Harry appear in court, doesn’t he know he would have obviously overshadowed his father’s France visit, well at least his family is too lazy to see him! The mentions of Paul Dacre and Tobyn Andreae are fascinating too – once again, Tominey seems to be crying over Harry’s presence being awkward for… the family who keeps hiring Daily Mail people for their comms team? Not to mention the incredibly cozy relationship between the right-wing tabloids (the Mail especially) and the Tory Party? Oh, and the bitter tears about security too – you know all of their violence-inciting C-U-Next-Tuesdays hate the fact that Harry can fly into London with a full security detail and disappear again and they can’t do anything about it.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

President Biden is Irish-American, and he loves Irish people. Still, he’s gone out of his way to show respect for Britain and the British monarch. He made a point of spending time with Queen Elizabeth II and he attended her funeral. But White House sources revealed recently that Biden won’t travel to London for King Charles’s coronation. Why would he? Still, it’s funny because Biden is making a point of visiting Northern Ireland in April to acknowledge the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. He’s already got that visit on his schedule… but he probably won’t stop in London, nor will he meet King Charles during the trip.

President Biden plans to visit Northern Ireland next month to mark the 25th anniversary of a landmark peace agreement there. But his trip is stirring concern in diplomatic circles because Mr. Biden will not meet King Charles III, which British and American officials said could be interpreted as a snub, given that he also plans to skip the king’s coronation.

The White House has yet to confirm Mr. Biden’s trip to commemorate the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. British and American diplomats with knowledge of the planning said Mr. Biden is scheduled to arrive in Belfast, the capital, on April 11, a week before the king and other leaders are scheduled to gather in the city.

Mr. Biden will spend a day and a half in Belfast, the officials said, before traveling to the Republic of Ireland for three days to explore his ancestral roots. He will be back in the United States before Charles, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other leaders, including former President Bill Clinton, are expected to gather in Belfast for a formal ceremony to mark the anniversary.

The president’s heavy emphasis on Ireland, plus the lack of a stop in London or a meeting with the king, has raised concerns among diplomats on both sides about the signal it sends one of America’s closest allies. While Charles remains above politics, he is the head of state, and his coronation is expected to draw a parade of world leaders.

The White House declined to comment publicly on Mr. Biden’s travel, but an administration official said that “details of the trip are still coming together,” and defended the president from suggestions that his actions should cause any offense in Britain.

Mr. Biden’s relationship with the king is “strong,” the official said, noting that the president met with then-Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II in Glasgow, Scotland, before her death. The official added that Mr. Biden and his wife attended the queen’s funeral and are sending an official delegation to the coronation on May 6.

A spokeswoman for Downing Street said, “The prime minister looks forward to welcoming President Biden to the U.K. for commemorations around the anniversary of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in April.” She declined to say whether that meant Mr. Sunak will make an extra trip to Belfast to meet Mr. Biden.

[From The NY Times]

It’s interesting to me that Biden is making a point of going to Belfast a week before the formal commemoration? He wanted to mark the anniversary, but not as part of the official events and ceremonies? It could be a security issue – while the Good Friday Agreement ended a lot of bloodshed, a lot of VIPs still feel like extended visits to Northern Ireland are a bit tricky from a security perspective. The Windsors rarely spend more than a few hours in Northern Ireland, same with English politicians. That being said, I bet Biden considers former President Clinton to be a good representative of America’s interest in the agreement (especially considering the Clinton administration largely facilitated it). Anyway, it’s hilarious that Biden doesn’t give a f–k about stopping in London during his trip. LOL. He probably didn’t want to spend anymore time with that horrible woman who told everyone he farted.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

For months now, Prince William’s wife has been outworking him. Historically, that rarely happens, even though Kate gets much more attention for the few events she does. I’ve idly wondered if William is extremely nervous about being so thoroughly exposed by Prince Harry’s memoir, and if William feels like he can’t do many announced visits these days, because people might start to protest him too, or worse yet, no one will even show up. Thus, he’s doing a lot of “surprise” events, and making “secret visits” to various groups. I bring this up because William seems to think he “plays” better internationally. The Earthshot shambles in Boston would beg to differ, but here we are. William feels like a new man after he went to a gay restaurant in Poland (after showing up empty-handed to visit refugees), and now he wants to keep traveling. Anything to get away from Kate, the kids and British expectations, I guess.

The Prince of Wales will increasingly take on the role of global statesman, determined to stand up for what he believes is right, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Prince William’s trip to Poland last week to thank British troops on the border of Ukraine was a key staging post as he embraces his new position on the world stage, sources say.

The trip – a closely guarded secret – was also seen as an overtly political move for the heir to the throne. Even his visit to eat out at an LGBT restaurant in Warsaw is seen as part of the strategy.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said: ‘It was important for the Prince to travel to Poland last week to not only recognise the duty of our troops, but also to shine a light on the ongoing humanitarian crisis. This is a continuation of the evolution of his role as a global statesman. We talk often about him using his global platform for the good of the environment via Earthshot. But this is the first opportunity for him to take a visit of this kind as Prince of Wales, and given that it is one of the biggest political issues facing every country on the planet, this is a demonstration of him growing as a statesman-like figure.’

While sensitive to the diplomacy deployed by his late grandmother the Queen, who was careful not to stray into the world of politics, William is nevertheless said to be determined to stand up and speak out for what he believes to be right. His trip included a bold statement issued in Polish in which he applauded the way Polish and British troops were working together to ‘defend our shared freedoms’.

Sources say that William was involved in the planning for the trip and ‘expressed a wish’ to highlight the ongoing humanitarian crisis by meeting refugees in Poland. Meanwhile, further foreign trips are being planned for both William and Kate, who are expected to visit parts of the Commonwealth on behalf of the British Government. Closer to home, Prince William will play a major role in the Coronation. A source said, however, that any investiture ceremony for William as the Prince of Wales was currently ‘not on the table’.

[From The Daily Mail]

“A source said, however, that any investiture ceremony for William as the Prince of Wales was currently ‘not on the table’.” As I said, William is afraid – perhaps even terrified – of how he’ll be received close to home. He knows that Welsh people tolerated his father having the Tywysog Cymru title simply because Charles had it for so long, and Charles made an effort to learn Welsh and spend a lot of time in Wales. William isn’t prepared to do the same – he’s simply too lazy, too arrogant, too much of a lightweight. Meanwhile, Charles was actually an international diplomat who was comfortable with representing the crown abroad for decades as PoW. William doesn’t have that background, inclination or ability. He just wants to show up in Poland and for everyone to praise him as the keenest diplomat ever.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

I’m not sure how scandalous Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth’s divorce will be, but I am interested to see if there will be any disputes which spill out into the public sphere. My guess is that no, nothing will spill out – this separation and presumptive divorce has been a long time coming, by most accounts. Reese and Jim have already begun separating their finances and my guess is that they’ve already started working with a private judge to negotiate all of the financial and custodial issues. Now, what was the root of their issues? According to “sources,” Toth had something like a midlife crisis – he quit his job at CAA and he’s been staggering from job to job ever since. It might even be that Toth is the one who wanted to move on from Reese.

A friend and colleague who has worked with the couple over the last decade said the move came as no surprise to those who know them. The source said that despite successful joint business ventures such as the sale of their production company Hello Sunshine for almost $1 billion in 2021, the pair simply wanted different things for their lives.

The insider told The U.S. Sun: “It was never if with Reese and Jim but when. This process of uncoupling really began in late 2021 when it became clear to everybody who knew both of them that they were itching for life apart from each other, even though they were both celebrating the massive success of the Hello Sunshine sale to Candle Media and the hundreds of millions of dollars they personally realized from the deal.

“That money was rocket fuel to them, but it sent them in different directions and pretty quickly after that deal closed, the only real common ground they had was the raising of their son, Tennessee. Even when Reese and Jim couldn’t see eye to eye about anything, they are very dedicated co-parents and that shouldn’t change even if Jim has to change zip codes, which is very likely now.”

The source explained that Jim’s massive career change five years ago, when he quit the agency business despite being one of the most admired leaders at Hollywood powerhouse CAA, was a big factor in the end of the couple’s marriage. Despite failing with short-lived mobile streaming service Quibi in 2020, Jim caught the Silicon Valley investment bug and is likely to move his life further in that direction, according to the insider.

The family friend said: “Jim is the one who has changed massively just in the last few years. Jim just isn’t the guy Reese married and had a son with anymore. His personality, his attitude and his whole take on life really changed when he got out of the agency business and decided he was tired of that stuffy world and being in the service business in general. Call it a midlife crisis if you want but that’s when the tattoos, the chunky, weird jewelry, and dressing like somebody half his age really took hold.

“Jim’s stint as a top executive at Quibi only deepened his interest in the world of Silicon Valley, dot coms and start ups, and after that job ended, Jim essentially worked for Hello Sunshine as an advisor and investor. It led to the company’s sale and for a real gut check moment for him and Reese – they now had more money than either of them could ever figure out what to do with, and it was time to reassess. This divorce is the result of that process, but Reese has handled co-parenting before, quite successfully in fact, and shouldn’t have any problem handling that again with Tennessee. Jim will still be in her life. But he’s taking the millions he personally made in the Hello Sunshine deal and he’s striking out for greener pastures. He’s wanted this for a long time.”

[From The Sun]

I hate when men do this. I know a lot of people – men and women – go through midlife crises and make big changes in their 40s or 50s. But I hate when a man thinks the answer is divorcing his wife and making huge career changes. It’s a cliche but even more than that, you know he’s going to regret that sh-t in five years. Of course, even if he does regret it, he probably won’t admit it. Still, it doesn’t seem like either of them is really broken up about this. I wonder what’s next for Reese, romantically.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.

You can really tell that King Charles is super-disappointed that his first state visit as monarch was canceled. Dude was looking forward to visiting Paris and spending time in Versailles. The French protesters had a different idea, and they began threatening him with the guillotine. C’est la vie. So now the king’s elves are trying to make him feel better about his trip to Germany, which starts on Wednesday. Not only that, there’s a real desperation to portray Charles as a global leader who is beloved and well-liked by other world leaders. It’s fascinating to watch Charles come across as so needy? Some highlights from the Times:

Sanguine Charles: The King was “looking forward” to his first state visit to France, due to have started in Paris on Sunday, but is said to have been entirely “sanguine” when President Macron rang him yesterday morning to call it off.

Charles’s warm relationship: Germany has scooped its neighbour, and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, with whom Charles has a “warm relationship”, will now host the King for his first big moment on the international stage, when he lands in Berlin on Wednesday afternoon.

World leaders love Charles: Since he became King in September, ambassadors and global leaders, including President Zelensky of Ukraine and Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission president, have flocked to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle to meet the UK’s new head of state. A source close to the King says: “World leaders really want to come and meet him. The transition has provoked enormous fascination, on a human and geopolitical level, people want to come and hear from him. There will be a lot of world leaders at his coronation.”

President Steinmeier is doing the most: As a mark of respect and gratitude for the King’s only overseas tour before his coronation on May 6, President Steinmeier is affording Charles and Camilla the highest of honours with a number of historic “firsts”. The King will become the first postwar foreign head of state to be given a ceremonial welcome with full military honours at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and the first British monarch to address the Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament, in a speech he is set to deliver in a mixture of German and English. He is not fluent in the language, unlike his father, Prince Philip.

The reception: Steinmeier, who invited Charles to Germany during the late Queen’s funeral in September and will lay on a state banquet for the royal couple at his residence, the Schloss Bellevue on Wednesday night, has said of the forthcoming visit: “The fact he is now taking up this invitation only half a year later shows how much the King values the friendship between our nations.”

[From The Times]

“World leaders really want to come and meet him… people want to come and hear from him.” There’s something so pathetic about Charles’s own courtiers embiggening him to a domestic audience, telling British people that foreign leaders love him. I don’t think Zelenskyy’s visit or the EU president’s visit should be described as “flocking” either – Zelenskyy is a war president desperate to save his people and his country, not a f–king groupie. Besides that, I bet most world leaders are skipping the bloody coronation – President Biden isn’t coming, and I bet Charles only gets a few European leaders and a handful of Commonwealth prime ministers, honestly.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

No one knew if Prince Harry was just popping into London for the first day of the four-day pre-trial hearing in his case against ANL/The Mail. Considering how much media attention Harry got for his surprise appearance yesterday, he absolutely made his point and the international media is widely reporting on the lawsuit and the accusations Harry and other celebrities have made against the Mail. But Harry has a clear message: this wasn’t just a stunt. He has arrived at the High Court again today. He will likely stay for the entire day’s proceedings, just like he did yesterday. Harry is telling the world: this is very important, please pay attention.

Meanwhile, Harry’s continued presence in London highlights his family’s bitterness, laziness and incompetence, not to mention their continuing collusion with the same media forces Harry is challenging. The American media is covering it too, just as they did last year around QEII’s funeral. Just as they did when Harry’s dogsh-t father evicted him from Frogmore Cottage. New Magazine’s headline was “King Charles Pretends He’s Too ‘Busy’ to See Prince Harry.”

King Charles clearly doesn’t want to see Prince Harry right now. I think we can all relate: Who hasn’t avoided a relative because they did something obnoxious — for instance, writing a best-selling memoir spilling decades of family secrets? What isn’t very understandable is King Charles’s inability to come up with a good reason as to why he won’t be seeing his son during his surprise visit to the U.K. this week. The Telegraph reports that the king is “busy.”

So what exactly is King Charles up to? The Telegraph only says that he is “understood to be at Highgrove,” which is just a two-hour drive from London. And his schedule is probably pretty clear, since he was scheduled to be in France this week but had to postpone the trip owing to protests in Paris.

If the palace was trying to take the high ground in its responses to Prince Harry, that would make sense. If it wanted to give him a Succession-y “F–k off,” that would also be reasonable. But post-Spare, it’s never clear whether the royals are intentionally snubbing Harry or just being incompetent. When King Charles said “Who?” in response to a heckler’s question about Harry, was he genuinely confused? Or was he making a dig at his son? Did palace officials avoid calling Harry’s kids prince and princess for months to belittle him? Or because they didn’t know the Sussexes’ title preferences?

Saying the king is “busy” — with no further details — when we all know he isn’t falls into this ambiguous category. Make up a plausible excuse or give us a decent insult. What’s the point of employing a whole team of publicists if “busy” is the best they can come up with?

[From New York Magazine]

Ouch! This is my favorite line: “it’s never clear whether the royals are intentionally snubbing Harry or just being incompetent.” It’s so true! That’s something I struggle with as well, trying to determine whether the Windsors are just terribly incompetent or whether they’re intentionally vile. Speaking of, in one of the very few stories the Mail published about Harry’s appearance in London, they accuse HARRY of briefing the Telegraph and telling the paper that his father is too “busy” to see him. No – what happened is that Harry surprised everyone yesterday and the Rota rats immediately ran to Buckingham Palace and said “did you know he was coming??” and the palace had to come up with a lie. That lie was “of course he told us, and we told him that Charles was too busy to see him!” The Mail also claims that Charles and William are in no mood to “humour” Harry right now. Good news for them, Harry does not give two sh-ts about them.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.