In October 2021, Alec Baldwin accidentally killed his coworker Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of Rust. He was rehearsing a scene with what he thought was a prop gun with no live ammunition. Apparently, the armorer handed him a real gun with live ammunition, and the whole thing went sideways, killing Halyna and injuring Joel Souza. For years, there’s been back-and-forth about what to call this legally – manslaughter, murder, negligence, or a complete accident. For what it’s worth, I thought the armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was at fault (and she’s already been convicted of involuntary manslaughter) and that Alec Baldwin was guilty of – at most – criminal negligence as the producer of Rust. But even then, it seemed like a pretty difficult case to try. Which is why there was so much back-and-forth about the charges. Last year, the New Mexico prosecutor dropped the involuntary manslaughter charges… and then a short time later, the charges were brought back. The trial was about to begin next week. But now the case has been dismissed:

In a stunning turn of events, the judge in Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial dismissed the case Friday, agreeing with the actor’s lawyers that prosecutors hid evidence that may have been linked to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie “Rust” in 2021.

“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” said 1st Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer. “The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy.” The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning the involuntary manslaughter case against the actor cannot be filed again.

Baldwin, 66, sobbed and put his face in his hands as Sommer announced her decision. He then embraced his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, as lawyers and spectators started filing out of the courtroom. Baldwin could have been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison if the jurors had unanimously agreed he committed the felony. The actor was rehearsing a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe County on Oct. 21, 2021, when the prop revolver he was holding went off, killing Hutchins, 42, and wounding director Joel Souza. The actor had pleaded not guilty. He claims that he was not aware the revolver contained a live round and that it discharged accidentally after he followed instructions to point it toward Hutchins.

Baldwin’s lawyers asserted that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office took possession of live rounds of ammunition as evidence but did not record them in the official case file or reveal their existence to the actor’s defense team. Kari Morrissey, the special prosecutor in the case, insisted the disputed ammunition was not linked to the case or hidden from Baldwin’s lawyers. Morrissey said after the ruling that she was disappointed by the court’s dismissal and disagreed, but respects the decision.

“I believe the importance of the evidence was misconstrued by the defense attorneys,” Morrissey told reporters outside court.

[From NBC News]

So, the case was dismissed on a technicality. It would have been difficult to get a conviction anyway, in my opinion, and this whole situation has gotten pretty ridiculous. Halyna Hutchins’ death was an absolute tragedy and it should have never happened. There was absolutely no reason for any actor to handle a real gun with live ammunition. But I always thought that the drive to criminally charge Baldwin was partially politically motivated and partly because he’s… Alec Baldwin, you know? There was so much hesitation to say: this was a god-awful accident on Alec’s part.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Three weekends ago, Princess Anne tangled with a horse and the horse won. She was walking alone on her estate, Gatcombe Park, when something happened with a horse. Anne’s family likely found her unconscious on the ground, bleeding from a significant head injury. She spent five days and nights in the hospital and she’s been resting and recuperating at home ever since. But on Friday, Anne finally did a public event. Now we know why they had to hide her away for weeks too – she had significant bruising and probably a lot of swelling on her face. You can still see the bruising too – she probably had two black eyes, at least that’s what it looks like to me. Poor Anne.

Princess Anne is speaking out about her health for the first time since she sustained a concussion and minor injuries in a horse-related incident at her country home.

On July 12, the Princess Royal, 73, marked her return to royal duties, making her first public appearance since she was hospitalized last month.

During her visit to the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, Anne shared that she “can’t remember a single thing” about the incident, which is believed to have been caused by an impact from a horse’s head or legs.

Helena Vega Lozano, chair of RDA UK, shared that as soon as Anne exited the car, she stated, “I can’t remember a single thing about it,” reported the Daily Mail.

Despite her recent health setback, King Charles’ sister appeared to be in her element in the equestrian setting, where she joined RDA supporters in the arena, presented awards and met winners.

[From People]

I remember there was one point, circa 2020, where Queen Elizabeth II suddenly looked and seemed quite frail and there was no going back. That’s sort of what this feels like too – all of a sudden, Anne seems mortal and she seems a bit unsteady. They let her sit down for part of this event too, which is nice. I wonder if her memory loss is much more significant than not remembering what happened to her. In any case, I predict that Anne’s schedule will be whittled down for the next three months or so until they figure out if there’s been any lasting damage.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

I will be seated for this new Netflix limited series called The Perfect Couple. Nicole Kidman is at her best when she’s a rich woman with secrets! The rest of the cast looks good too. It’s cool that Liev Schreiber is in it. [Buzzfeed]
Jack Schlossberg is Vogue’s new political correspondent. [Socialite Life]
There are mixed reports about the ID on the Duchess of Sussex’s ESPY dress. People Magazine said it was Oscar de la Renta, but RCFA says it’s Staud. [RCFA]
Is Cardi B pregnant again? My guess: probably. [LaineyGossip]
David Zaslav, political analyst. [Pajiba]
Tom Ford’s resort line is very good. [Go Fug Yourself]
David Duchovny really thought he had Full House in the bag. [OMG Blog]
Fashion pics from the ESPYs – Quinta Brunson looked great! [Just Jared]
Whoops, I thought Ricky Martin was A-Rod. [Seriously OMG]
Wait, I kind of love this engagement ring & wedding ring. [Starcasm]
Photos from the life of the late Shelley Duvall. [Hollywood Life]

Sienna Miller is currently promoting Kevin Costner’s Horizon, a Western saga where Sienna plays a rough-and-tumble pioneer woman. Costner really wanted Sienna for the role, she was his first choice and that worked – she was flattered, and she’s been singing Costner’s praises for months now. Sienna also recently welcomed her second child, another daughter, with her boyfriend Oli Green. Green is 14 years younger than Sienna. She still sounds bummed about that, but she also seems at peace with her life right now. She’s no longer the hunted paparazzi target and she’s no longer the callow party girl. She’s matured into an interesting actress and a mother of two. Some highlights from her Harper’s Bazaar UK interview:

Why she signed on to ‘Horizon’: “Kevin sent me the four scripts, and they were astounding, almost Tolstoyan in length and detail. They hooked me. Then he asked to Zoom, and I was thinking, ‘Be still my Nineties heart!’ because I had been obsessed with Kevin Costner growing up. He was my first love. So, we talked, and he was very complimentary. He told me the story of the film and got to know me a bit. At the end he said, ‘Sienna, I have one question for you: will you go West with me?’ I died. I said, ‘I would go to Mars and back with you, Kevin.’”

Her fortitude: “If there’s one thing I’ve gained from the life I’ve led it’s a sense of resilience, fortitude – which sounds like I’m complimenting myself, but that’s not how I mean it. It’s like being forged in fire. I would have loved to have not been forced into that resilience, but I have, and that’s a part of myself that I brought to [my Horizon character] Frances.”

Flying into NYC for the Met Gala: “We flew to New York on Sunday with our nanny and, on landing, she got deported. So it was a random scramble of trying to find a babysitter, and stressful because I’m breastfeeding. It was a bit of a trip.”

Falling for Jude Law & becoming an It Girl: “That happened very quickly. The other side of it. I was so happy in my life, but it was weird, surreal. At first it was like a game. And then, very quickly, it became insidious and difficult.”

As she lost her privacy, she partied: “I was probably drinking too much, medicating in all sorts of ways, because it was jarring and scary. I was desperate to have roles that were intense, to prove that I was more than a fashion plate or a girlfriend. I just wanted be taken seriously. But, really, there wasn’t much conscious decision-making. I had a decade-long case of the f–k-its. Which is kind of cool, I suppose, and intriguing, but maybe not conducive to getting your career going – ie, what I was meant to be doing.”

Welcoming her second daughter with Oli Green: “I’m in heaven. It’s been a cathartic, healing experience, which sounds woo-woo, but it’s grounded in a way that reflects the life that I want to be living,” she says. Miller also did not intend to fall in love with Green, whom she met at a Halloween party and who, at 27, is 14 years her junior. “I didn’t expect to take it seriously and then quite quickly, I fell in love. I wasn’t like, ‘I’m gonna get a younger boyfriend.’ It was more, ‘F–k! Why are you young? That’s so annoying.’” She was surprised, she says, by how soothing it is to be with a younger partner. “There is a difference in the way that generation of men respect women. It’s specific to him, he is very wise and well-adjusted, but I do believe it’s also that generation. They have grown up with a slightly more level playing field. I see it in his female friends as well as in the men.”

The dark side of the ‘90s: “I could talk myself into all sorts of shapes to make the men in the room feel comfortable. And God forbid that you offend a man’s ego by rejecting them. It was a slightly belittling time. It’s interesting, being older now, and having been raised in that moment, learning from people who are younger about how clear they are in their boundaries, having that self-assuredness and self-advocacy, having ‘no’ in the repertoire in a way that we just weren’t encouraged to have.”

[From Harper’s Bazaar UK]

I’ve said this before, but I think Sienna’s thing with Oli Green works so well because she never expected it to work at all. She had no expectations and she had arranged her life to the point where she was fine with being a single mom. She knows that she’ll be fine if this relationship ends, which changes her attitude, I think. She’s the mature one, she’s the one “leading” the relationship. I really feel her on the ‘90s stuff… while I look back at the ‘90s with rose-colored glasses, I’m often confronted by just how f–ked up and sexist everything was back then.

Cover courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar UK and photos courtesy of Avalon Red..

Jack Quaid is the 32-year-old son of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid. I honestly didn’t realize that he’s in his 30s already, for some reason I thought he was, like, mid-20s. Time flies. Anyway, Jack is an actor, like his parents. He’s been in films like Oppenheimer, Scream (the reboot) and Logan Lucky. He’s doing/done TV shows like The Boys, Vinyl and Star Trek: Lower Decks. He’s not a scrub, he’s a working actor and someone I would put more in the “character actor” category rather than lead-actor. Well, Jack Quaid has heard all of the nepo baby chatter and he has something to say:

Jack Quaid doesn’t shy away from being called a “nepo baby.”

“No matter what I do, people are going to call attention to it. People have called me a ‘nepo baby.’ I’m inclined to agree,” said the 32-year-old “The Boys” star, whose parents are Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. “I am an immensely privileged person, was able to get representation pretty early on, and that’s more than half the battle.”

Meg Ryan recently defended her son against being called a “nepo baby” in a Glamour magazine profile. “Jack is really talented. He’s more of a natural than I’ll ever be,” Ryan said. “That nepo stuff is so dismissive of his work ethic, his gifts, and how sensitive he is to the idea of his privilege.”

Quaid addressed her comments in The Daily Beast interview by saying, “She’s being a loving mom. But I don’t think she’s trying to say that I’m not a nepo baby. I think she’s just trying to say that, in her opinion, it undermines my talent. I don’t think it undermines my talent. I know that I work hard, and I know I’ve heard ‘no’ way more than I’ve heard ‘yes.’ But I also know that this industry is insanely hard to break into, and I had an easier time doing that than most. Both things can be true. So no, I don’t think she was trying to say that I’m not a privileged person. She knows. She must know. I think she was being a mom.”

[From Variety]

I love his answers, honestly. I’ll say this too – while he is a nepo baby and he’s gotten a leg up from his famous name and his famous parents, it helps that he doesn’t really look like either parent. He’s a mix of them, but you don’t look at him and say “oh, that’s Dennis Quaid’s son, for sure.” That alone has helped him carve out his own niche, his own career. But yeah, this is what I want from nepo babies. Acknowledge your privilege, acknowledge that you had an easier time.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Queen Camilla’s birthday is coming up next week – she’ll be 77 years old on July 17th. She’s a Cancer, the same as Princess Diana and Prince William. Like many older folks, Camilla is obsessed with weather-watching. All of the seniors I know love the Weather Channel and they can watch it all day. There are also so many weather apps and ways to track the weather online (I’m a big fan of weather.com and I honestly check it multiple times a day). Well, apparently Camilla has several weather apps and she checks them constantly.

The Queen gets teased about her “obsession” with weather apps, a children’s writer has revealed. Francesca Simon, the bestselling Horrid Henry series author, attended a charity event with Queen Camilla during a downpour on Tuesday, when the pair discussed the miserable July weather.

The event, to mark the National Literacy Trust’s 30th anniversary, was originally to take place in the gardens of Clarence House but was rearranged for inside the building after the day turned wet in London.

Simon revealed that she shared a joke with the Queen about their climate app habits during the event, saying: “We were laughing about our mutual love of weather apps. She mentioned it was raining in France, where I’m meant to be today, and I said, ‘Yeah, I know’. She said everybody teases her, because I’m also looking at weather in various parts of the world, and she’s the same – so we were laughing at our mutual obsession.”

[From The Telegraph]

I’ll criticize Camilla for a lot of things, but this is a cute story to me. I always like these regular-person stories about her – I remember Camilla giving interviews for her 75th birthday and she talked about how she plays online word games with her granddaughters and texts her grandkids almost every day. The idea that Camilla is always on her phone, playing Words With Friends and constantly checking her weather apps is just a humanizing narrative.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

With the Princess of Wales’s absence from public life this year, the York princesses have been getting more attention in recent months. Princess Beatrice and Eugenie were invited to support Prince William at a dreary palace garden party, they both turned up for Royal Ascot and they’ve been keeping up public appearances with some regularity. Back in May, the narrative was “Kensington Palace is concerned about B&E’s loyalty.” Because, you know, William thinks everyone must take “his side” in his “war” against the Sussexes. Eugenie and Beatrice have mostly refused to play William’s dumb game. Eugenie especially seems fine with maintaining her friendships with Harry and Meghan and also showing up to family events with William. The Yorks feel they don’t have to choose a side and that seems fair. But according to the Mail’s royal expert, William is declaring victory because the Yorks have chosen Team Egg.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie have shown signs of ‘solidarity’ with King Charles and Prince William since Prince Harry’s move to the US, a royal expert has claimed. The York sisters appear to have become a beacon of strength amid testing times for the Firm, including Charles and the Princess of Wales’s bouts of ill health.

Leading royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams explained that the sister’s presence at the [garden party] was ‘unquestionably a show of solidarity with the heir to the throne who is currently not on speaking terms with his errant brother’.

Richard explained: ‘It is perfectly possible to be involved in a deep public family rift and be on amiable terms with all involved. Princess Eugenie, who with her husband Jack Brooksbank is mainly based in the Algarve, had Harry and Meghan as visitors. They’ve got on over the years, and she and her husband Jack Brooksbank were resident for a period at Frogmore Cottage whilst the Sussexes were in California before they were evicted. We know that Beatrice and Eugenie are close, and that the Yorks are a close-knit family.’

The royal expert continued: ‘In May, the sisters appeared at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party when William represented King Charles, who is fighting cancer. This was unquestionably a show of solidarity with the heir to the throne who is currently not on speaking terms with his errant brother. She posted on Instagram that she was “delighted to support my family”, these are very meaningful words at the moment.’

‘Also at Royal Ascot, a magnificent event, Eugenie, who had been in the royal procession, was seen laughing and joking with William, Richard added. He continued: ‘With Catherine battling cancer, as she described so movingly in a statement released just before Trooping the Colour, they know it is a very difficult time indeed for the royal family. Harry’s last visit and the public confusion when he and his father did not meet, showed the depth of the rift. It would be of benefit to all if it were resolved, but until that happens Beatrice and Eugenie, who conceivably could act as go-betweens, are undoubtedly supporting William and are likely to give him their full backing if there are further attacks by the Sussexes on the royal family.’

[From The Daily Mail]

They “are likely to give him their full backing if there are further attacks by the Sussexes on the royal family.” Further attacks? Meaning that the Sussexes have already “attacked” the Windsors and Beatrice and Eugenie still maintained close ties to the Sussexes, oh dear. But if it happens AGAIN, the Yorks will move against the Sussexes? This is “royal warfare” to them, with tabloid-driven loyalty oaths and the strategic mindset of a tween girl. To me, it seems like the York princesses are just doing their half-in royal thing and they don’t really give a f–k about William’s childish crap. That being said, I found it remarkable that Eugenie was chatting with Carole Middleton at Ascot.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

OK, kids, we’re taking a slight pivot from documentaries on fabulous women to talk about a documentary on a fabulous president. Yass, sisters, dust off your best stovepipe hats cause the gay gods are gifting us with a doc that explores the (alleged) boyfriends of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln! Is it Hanukkah? Or my birthday? (No to both.) The only negative thing I can think of to say is, why didn’t they hustle to get this out in theaters for Pride Month?? Backing up a bit, People Mag just nabbed the exclusive debut of the new trailer for Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln, in which “preeminent Lincoln scholars and never before seen photographs and letters” detail the hitherto untold tale of ALL the loves of Lincoln’s life. Can you tell I’m excited?

PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the trailer for the upcoming documentary Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln, which peels back the curtain on the 19th-century president’s private life and examines Lincoln’s relationships with men before he was elected president in 1860.

Directed by filmmaker Shaun Peterson, Lover of Men features interviews with over a dozen scholars, historians and experts on Lincoln’s life. The trailer emphasizes his near mythical stature in American culture.

“Lover of Men examines the intimate life of America’s most consequential president, Abraham Lincoln,” reads an official synopsis for the upcoming film. “As told by preeminent Lincoln scholars and never before seen photographs and letters, the film details Lincoln’s romantic relationships with men.”

The movie uses historical evidence of Lincoln’s romantic relationships to then widen “its lens into the history of human sexual fluidity and focuses on the profound differences between sexual mores of the nineteenth century and those we hold today,” the synopsis reads.

“The film fills in an important missing piece of American history and challenges the audience to consider why we hold such a limited view of human sexuality,” the film’s synopsis concludes. “Lover of Men is not only an exploration of gender roles and sexual identity, but also serves as an examination of American intolerance.”

Lincoln’s sexuality has been examined over the years, including a 1999 feature story in Salon magazine and a 2005 book by author Clarence Arthur Tripp titled The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, among other works.

“Years in the making…my passion project has come to life,” filmmaker Peterson wrote on Instagram of the movie in May.

Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln is coming soon to theaters nationwide.

[From People]

The standout quotes to me from the trailer (so far) are, “He was seen wearing Lincoln’s nightshirt!” and “Freud was devastating for sexuality.” (Talk about penis envy!) We all know there’s gonna be a contingency out there who lose their ever-loving minds over the notion that Abe was fluid. Speaking personally, I first encountered the idea REDACTED decades ago when I was in middle school. I had to do a report on Dr. Paul Ehrlich, inventor of the “magic bullet” approach to targeting microbes, which led to the first effective treatment for syphilis. As part of my research for that report, I came across a list of historical figures that had strong, anecdotal evidence (based on symptoms) of having had syphilis. Lincoln’s name was there, and they didn’t suggest he caught it from Mary Todd, wink wink.

If this has ignited the Lincoln itch in you, and since we don’t know how long “coming soon” will be, may I humbly recommend some options to whet your appetites: there’s the HBO doc Living With Lincoln, available on Max. It came out in 2015, and I definitely want to revisit it now because it was about a family steeped in Lincoln memorabilia, so I’m curious to see how their material will stack up to the “never before seen” items Lover of Men promises. And next I recommend Manhunt, the Apple TV+ series about the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth. Tobias Menzies is excellent as the Secretary of War who leads the hunt. Fair warning, though: the historically-accurate discussions of insurrection are quite something to take in from the vantage of our current climate. They don’t beat you over the head with the parallels, it’s just so undeniably apparent.

Photos credit: IMAGO/United Archives / WHA / Avalon, IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Heinz-Dieter Falkenstein / Avalon

This week, Vulture published an impressively detailed article written by friend-of-the-blog Ellie Hall. Hall’s piece was about Rose Hanbury and the years of rumors of an alleged affair between Rose and Prince William. Hall’s analysis is less about the alleged affair and more about the media coverage of the rumors, and the subsequent attempts (many of them successful) to delete or alter the coverage in the British media. It begs the question: why is there a slow-motion cover-up and who is behind it? The answer is egg-shaped. Well, interestingly enough, Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast did a follow-up on Hall’s report, speaking to Hall and analyzing why this Rose story just won’t die. Some highlights:

Water off a duck’s back: Prince William’s office did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast about whether they had been involved in getting the [Rose Hanbury] stories killed. However, The Daily Beast has reported on prior efforts by the Palace to stop outlets in the U.K., where Palace press officers have significant influence, from publishing items about the allegations. Friends of William told The Daily Beast that the allegations were “water off a duck’s back” to him that and he would have ignored the story as “rubbish on the internet,” but had been forced to act after Hanbury, who is a good friend of William and Princess Catherine, was named.

Streisand Effect: Ellie Hall, the author of the Vulture piece, told The Daily Beast that her story which highlighted the removal and editing of dozens of online articles without informing readers, was essentially a critique of “media transparency,” but added that the ongoing interest in the story was “pretty much a textbook example of the Streisand effect” and that trying to “hide information” had only served to make people even more interested in the allegations. Hall said: “I think that this story would have died on the vine back in 2019 if they hadn’t threatened legal action, because the fact that media organizations had been warned off it, as reported by The Daily Beast among others, then became the story. The fact that somebody really wants the story to go away is the only reason it’s still around.”

Why did so many outlets delete/alter the Rose stories? Hall contacted the newspapers which have removed articles but none responded to her queries with the exception of the Guardian which said it had made changes to one story (about the Colbert monologue) on its own initiative not because of “external” pressure.

One former editor explains: A former senior staffer at the Sun told The Daily Beast: “No one likes killing stories and it’s always a bigger deal than you expect. Many editors are against it in principle but it is a last resort when you have lawyers giving you major aggro. If no one is reading the story any more as it’s old, it’s preferable to retrospectively spike it than to waste thousands fighting it.”

Christopher Andersen on the Rose story: The royal author Christopher Andersen, author of a new biography of King Charles, told The Daily Beast, “Anyone who was attempting to scrub or alter past coverage of Rose Hanbury’s alleged affair with William has a mighty—make that impossible—task ahead of them. Of course the irony here is that, by trying to tidy up past articles, whoever is behind this is now pouring more fuel on the fire.”

Friends of William and Kate: However William and Catherine’s friends were quick to defend the couple for pushing back against the stories. One said: “I genuinely think if Rose hadn’t been named they would have regarded this as just more rubbish on the internet and wouldn’t have lifted a finger. Nonsense stories are water off a duck’s back to the royals.” The friend also pointed out that the Cholmondeleys are “one of the great families” and “have a ceremonial role in the monarchy.”

[From The Daily Beast]

You can read my previous coverage in our Rose Hanbury archives. For years now, I’ve had an involved theory about what went down. My theory is that there was an affair between Rose and William (no smoke without fire) and that Kate actually did try to “phase out” her “rural rival” Rose. In the months before the Mail & Sun broke the story, Rose and William’s situation was common knowledge among the aristocrats and Turnip Toffs. Kate may be the Future Queen, but Rose is definitely the Queen of the Turnip Toffs, and the story becoming public was Rose’s revenge, it was Rose pushing back on Kate for not knowing “the rules.”

I also think it’s telling that even Wales-allies are like, yeah, it was different when Rose was named. There hasn’t been a similar freakout whenever William has been caught clubbing with random women or when he’s been seen out with a blonde. It was the fact that Rose was their neighbor in Norfolk, it was the fact that the gossip came out of the Toff set, it was the fact that Kensington Palace had no idea how to control it and so they went into panic mode for months and fed Harry and Meghan to the tabloids to cover it up. That’s another reason why the Rose story will never die – because it’s inextricably linked to what the Windsors did to the Sussexes, all to protect an unfaithful heir.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

New York real estate is crazy and it gets crazier every year. New York developers have gone all-in on creating million-dollar condos and luxury apartments for the super-rich, gentrifying working class neighborhoods and crushing the middle class out of home ownership. But hey, at least New York has a “Billionaires’ Row” with luxury condos on offer for the richest people in the world. Speaking of, according to the NY Post, King Charles has purchased a $6.63 million condo on Billionaires’ Row. Why would the king of England need a luxury apartment in New York? Or rather, who will move into this apartment now that Charles has apparently purchased it?

King Charles has made a royal splash on Billionaires’ Row in Manhattan, shelling out for a lavish condo unit at 111 W. 57th St, according to reports in the Real Deal and Crain’s. City finance records filed this week show this deal, for a unit in the development’s Steinway Hall portion, marks the final sale in the landmarked building.

Listed on the deed as “His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, Represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs,” the buyer snapped up unit 11A, a three-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom pad on the 11th floor for $6.63 million.

The deal closed in June, according to the city register.

Who will bask in the 3,601-square-foot apartment’s luxury, with city views and access to a swanky swimming pool and sauna? It isn’t entirely clear, as the deed mentions Canada in an apparent purchase for that Commonwealth nation, though questions remain as to whether the home will belong to the King himself. Requests for comment and clarification from Buckingham Palace were not returned.

Robert McCubbing, senior trade commissioner and director of trade and investment at the Canadian consulate in New York, signed the deed on behalf of King Charles, the records show. The Post has reached out to McCubbing for comment as well.

The Billionaires’ Row complex features 60 residences, with 14 in the now-fully sold Steinway Hall and the remaining 46 full-floor and duplex homes in the adjacent 91-story tower boasting stunning Central Park views.

[From The NY Post]

At the link, you can see some photos of the unit and the building – I find the decor rather gaudy, quite honestly. But I think it would appeal to Charles’s aesthetic – reportedly, he likes darker, enveloping rooms and lots of gold. Still, why the hell does Charles need a New York apartment? He has to be buying it for someone else. Not Andrew. Not Anne. Not the Edinburghs. Not William. Maybe Kate? LOL, is this her payoff? A quiet, discreet pied-à-terre away from the UK? Maybe it’s someone else entirely though. It has the feel of what Prince Albert of Monaco has done for his “other kids” – buying apartments, easing their way into society financially. Hm. Maybe it’s for one of Camilla’s kids? That would track.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.