I’m kind of enjoying how the British press has turned this story into a huge crisis. The Princess of Wales is the “royal patron” of Wimbledon and for several years now, she’s handed out the trophies and runners-up plates to the singles finalists. When Kate became royal patron, she honestly stopped attending matches as regularly as she once did. In recent years, she will maybe show up for one Centre Court session during the fortnight before coming to the finals. Well, Kate has not turned out for Wimbledon yet – today is the second day of quarterfinals, and the semifinal matches will be on Thursday and Friday. It feels like everyone was fine with Kate missing the bulk of the tournament, but “who will present the trophies if Kate doesn’t show up” has become a five-alarm fire in the British tabloids. Nevermind that Wimbledon’s tournament director has already indicated that they’ll probably ask the Duchess of Gloucester to do it. But now we’re being inundated with Kate-as-tradwife content:
Princess Kate has stepped back from royal duties in January and is focusing on her health following her cancer diagnosis. But with Wimbledon in full swing, royal fans have been wondering if she will make an appearance at the championship.
Former royal butler Paul Burrell shared how Kate “knows the world will want to see her”, but “fiercely protective” Prince William “will decide whether she’s fit enough” to attend Wimbledon. Paul told Closer that it is “highly likely” that Kate, who is patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, will attend Wimbledon as she is a “huge tennis fan.”
However, he claims the decision will ultimately be down to Prince William. Paul explained: “William controls this household and William will decide whether she’s well enough to do this because he’s the one that protects the family – fiercely. There’s no way he’s going to subject Kate to intrusion that she can’t handle. He’s so fiercely protective.”
He added that this “absolutely” stems from losing his mother when he was 15 years old.
Paul continued: “With William by her side, Kate’s safe because he will take care of her and would never let anyone harm her. I think she trusts William implicitly and he has the final say.”
There’s been a streak of this “William is controlling” narrative throughout the year. We heard that William “won’t allow” Prince Harry “anywhere near” Kate too, and there’s been consistent reporting that William is blocking access to Kate and that few people in the Waleses’ orbit have even spoken to her this year. Now, does William actually order Kate around and would he order her to skip Wimbledon? I don’t know. But it’s a weird story.
Do you guys follow Derek Guy, the men’s fashion guy? He’s occasionally covered royal fashion – he’s a big fan of King Felipe’s style, and not a fan of Prince William’s style. I feel like Derek Guy should really dissect what’s wrong with William’s style these days, especially now that Huevo has a valet taking care of his clothes and putting together outfits for him. The valet has actually made things worse, right? It feels like William is stuck between two worlds – the bottom half is faux-trendy skinny-cut trousers and suede booties, while the top half is “Midwest banker in the 1980s.” The lack of structure, the rumpled sportscoats, the ugly striped ties, the moose knuckle… the valet needs to throw most of this sh-t into a cleansing fire and start anew.
Anyway, these are photos from Tuesday, where William did a rare public appearance not involving football. In fact, I’m sure he was told that he couldn’t *just* fly to football matches for weeks and nothing else. So he stopped by the Royal Air Force station in Wales, a familiar place because he used to be stationed there back in 2010 through 2013. Being stationed in Anglesey was actually why he proposed to Kate in the first place, I always thought – reportedly, QEII gave him an ultimatum that if he wanted Kate to stay with him in Wales, he had to propose. I think the RAF laid down the law too.
William was actually named the Royal Honorary Air Commodore last year, when all of the military patronages were shifted around by the new king. William got the patronage last August… and this is his first stop by an RAF base since then? I think so. The RAF got William a personalized coffee mug with his title, HRH The Prince of Wales. Back when he worked at the base, his personalized mug read “Big Willy.” Gross. Anyway, I genuinely believe this was some last-minute, thrown-together appearance so he could say that he did other “work” besides attending football matches.
Oh, he got to ride in a firetruck, I sh-t you not. Did he say “vroom vroom” in the big-boy truck?
I’ve wondered about this too – do you think Tom Cruise is mad about Brad Pitt’s dumb-looking F1 movie? Tom also avoided the British Grand Prix this weekend, even though he lives in England. Was it because Brad Pitt was filming there? [LaineyGossip]
This election is about abortion, ignore all the other noise. [Jezebel]
This story about Alice Munro & her daughter is awful. [Pajiba]
Divorce lawyers reveal their pettiest-client stories. [Buzzfeed]
Machine Gun Kelly & Megan Fox went to the Blink-182 concert. [JustJared]
Yes, Sean Combs is the subject of a federal criminal investigation. [Socialite Life]
Learn more about Jenn Tran, the new Bachelorette. [Hollywood Life]
Martha Stewart really has lived so many lives. [Seriously OMG]
Serena Williams looked amazing at the Essence dinner. [RCFA]
You can watch the first episode of The Last American Gay Bar. [OMG Blog]
The Sun does a weekly talk show about royals, hosted by their royal correspondent Matt Wilkinson. I’ve covered stuff from the talk show before, just because the Sun generates and runs so many stories off of the crazy sh-t said by “royal experts” on the show. It’s basically mainstreaming Deranger storylines and I feel like we should keep our eye on it, because that sh-t has a way of becoming even more mainstream and problematic. Speaking of, this past weekend, the guest on the show was Hugo Vickers and he said something WILD. As we’ve seen for close to five years now, they are still in shambles and spinning all kinds of projections and fantasies about how Prince Harry will eventually come back to them. Well, here’s their latest:
Prince Harry will return home, an expert has claimed, but without Meghan Markle. Speaking on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, historian and biographer Hugo Vickers suggested Prince Harry will return to the Royal Family – but alone and in 10 years time. During an exclusive conversation with The Sun’s Royal Editor, Matt Wilkinson, Hugo was asked where he thinks the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be in a decade’s time.
Hugo replied: “I think he’ll come home. If he comes home, it will be very nice for him, because he won’t particularly want to, he’s quite angry I think.”
Matt clarified: “Do you think he’ll come home alone?”
The expert confirmed: “Yes I do. The King, as I have mentioned before, has left the door wide open for him to do that. And he was doing such a good job before…he looked so happy. Usually you’re happy when you’re doing your duty, and you’re doing it for other people, and you’re putting things into life. I personally think he’s [Harry] petrified of losing her [Meghan] and looks slightly petrified of her to be honest. That’s kind of a tricky one to say. It’s a horrible syndrome to get into.”
Matt continued: “We were told last year, that he [Harry] was feeling a little homesick. And I do worry, when they were here, they were apparently so full of ideas – waking up at 5am in the morning coming up with all these ideas. I am disappointed they have gone to America, after turning on the Royal Family with all their shows…. I don’t know Harry, but I don’t think that is the life he maybe wanted.”
Hugo said: “What is terribly sad is the late Queen gave them the whole of the Commonwealth to explore. William and Catherine would do the home things and the Commonwealth – to which they were both committed [would be Harry and Meghan’s]…[But] that wasnt enough for them – which is very sad. It could’ve all been so wonderful and it’s turned out not to be.”
Matt jokingly suggested: “I’ve got an idea – if Harry comes home alone in 10 years like you suggest, he could live in Royal Lodge.” But Hugo wasn’t convinced: “Well, yes, I don’t know.”
While this is genuinely harmful and awful, it also feels close to an admission that Harry can’t be forced to come back to the UK and that he would never choose to come back to live there any time soon. The rest of it is crap though, including the dog whistles about Harry being “petrified” of Meghan and calling the Sussexes’ marriage a “syndrome.” The fact that these terrible men are basically suggesting that Harry will abandon his wife and children in the next decade… well, they’re saying the quiet part out loud. This has been their plan since 2020, to separate the Sussexes and force Harry to abandon his wife and children. The sh-t about “the late Queen gave them the whole of the Commonwealth to explore” is pretty ridiculous too. William wanted them “sent to Africa” and he didn’t want the Sussexes to move to Canada or Australia, less they overshadow him from abroad.
When ESPN announced that Prince Harry would receive the Pat Tillman Award for Service, everyone who follows royal gossip knew that walls were being punched over at Kensington Palace. While I have zero evidence of this, I absolutely believe that Prince William is behind some of the contrived “backlash” to the award, especially in the British media. I wondered if we would get anything more directly from Camp Huevo. Well, wouldn’t you know, a “friend of the royal family” ran to the Daily Beast’s Royalist columnist Tom Sykes for yet another bitchfest. This “friend” sounds like the same one who rage-shrieked about how William “f–king hates” Harry and Meghan and that the next time William would speak to Harry, it would be at their father’s funeral.
Friends of the British royals and military sources have described Prince Harry’s decision to accept a “retail” award at a glitzy ceremony as “a clear symbol of his desperate need for attention,” “pathetic,” and “sad.”
One friend of the royal family told The Daily Beast: “I’m afraid it’s just a clear symbol of his desperate need for attention. The irony of the whole of the last four years is that Harry and Meghan said they were leaving the royal family so the media would leave them alone. And now, here Harry is, literally picking up retail awards on live TV. It’s pathetic.”
The harsh comments came after a source in Harry’s camp reportedly said that a backlash to Harry being awarded the Pat Tillman award, spearheaded by the mother of the late NFL star-turned war hero, had left Harry upset. Harry’s office declined to comment to The Daily Beast. However, his camp are understood to have been left gratified by former winners of the award, such as U.S. Marine Jake Wood, praising the presentation of the award to Harry.
A military source who worked with Harry in the army said, “If you get a medal in the army, you don’t brag about it, so the idea of turning up at a televised awards ceremony to be honored would be utterly embarrassing to most military people. It’s really sad to see Harry, who was an amazing guy who everyone respected, doing this kind of stuff.”
Earlier this year Harry, who completed two tours of Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot, was given an award for being a “Living Legend of Aviation” at a glitzy ceremony in Beverly Hills, California. The military source said, “That was arguably worse. If other people want to compare him to Buzz Aldrin that is their business, but Harry shouldn’t be endorsing that kind of crap being said about him by turning up at the ceremonies in his dinner jacket.”
“I’m afraid it’s just a clear symbol of his desperate need for attention.” We haven’t seen Harry in more than a month, right? Harry and Meghan regularly disappear for months at a time. I think this tantrum is also about the Invictus service in London two months ago – that was a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games, and it was celebrated by Invictus competitors, the Spencer family, NATO and Britain’s military community and veteran community. The Windsors made a point of snubbing the Invictus service and they threw a tantrum about Harry’s visit, but they never stooped so low as to say that Harry was attention-seeking for attending the service. What’s the difference here? Don’t tell me, I know. The problem for the Windsors is that every award Harry picks up in America shows that Harry was right to leave the UK, and that their completely unhinged hate campaign against him has not worked.
“Picking up retail awards on live TV.” An award honoring the sacrifice and legacy of Pat Tillman is a “retail award” to William and the left-behinds. Meanwhile, King Charles spent decades passing out knighthoods to anyone who gave him a suitcase full of cash. Talk about a retail award.
I hoped that the long Independence Day weekend would dampen the British tantrum over Prince Harry receiving the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the ESPYs. The ESPYs will happen on Thursday, and no one has confirmed Prince Harry and Meghan’s attendance, but I hope they will both come out. Given Mary Tillman’s exclusive statement to the Daily Mail and the subsequent narrative around the statement, this whole thing absolutely has the energy of a British-media operation. They’re currently trying to argue that Harry should “refuse” the honor. Well, the Telegraph claims to have insider information from the Sussex camp about Harry’s reaction to Mary Tillman and the completely idiotic and forced “backlash” to the award.
Since moving abroad and being forced to give up his various military honours and associations, the Duke of Sussex has instead resorted to collecting American awards. But in doing so, it has become increasingly clear that he is now as divisive a figure in the US as he is in the UK. The backlash last week over the decision to give the Duke an award named after Pat Tillman, the American war hero killed in Afghanistan, is understood to have stunned Prince Harry.
It also presents a pressing problem as he seeks to build a career upon the foundations of his past military endeavours. For while the Duchess of Sussex is busy establishing a commercial empire promoting a domestic idyll, her husband has struggled to find his niche since moving abroad.
He is understood to be keen to focus on his experience in the military and working with veterans, hence the acceptance of a Legends of Aviation Award in January and the Pat Tillman Award at the ESPY ceremony next week. Such glitzy award ceremonies serve to boost the Duke’s public profile at a time when he is otherwise rarely in the public eye. However, when the publicity is largely negative, it points to a deeper reputational issue which it may prove difficult to overcome, as the Duke seeks another project to command his focus as the Invictus Games has done.
The controversy whipped up over the decision to award the Duke the Pat Tillman Award – for his work with Invictus – certainly took the wind out of his sails.
Team Sussex is resigned to criticism, fully aware of the polarising sentiments towards both Harry and Meghan. But when it concerns anything relating to his military record and work with veterans, it is a particularly bitter pill to swallow, one source admitted.
“Harry’s legacy on Invictus, the things he has achieved, that’s his real passion,” they said. “This is the space in which he truly feels at home, it is something he deeply cares about. The reaction certainly took the shine off the award.”
The source acknowledged that it was much the same in January when Harry, who completed two tours of Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot, joined the likes of astronauts Buzz Aldrin and James Lovell to be recognised as a Living Legend of Aviation at a star-studded ceremony in Beverly Hills, California. Defence chiefs lashed out at the decision to recognise the Duke ahead of others such as Tim Peake, the first British astronaut to walk in space. Admiral Lord West, former head of the Royal Navy, did not mince his words, saying: “He is not a living legend.”
LMAO, they’re still so mad about the Living Legends of Aviation thing. Living Legends of Aviation is not some super-prestigious or exclusive award – it’s given to pilots and people who are involved with aviation in any way, and it was just some minor, cool thing given to Harry. The Pat Tillman Award is a much bigger deal because the ESPYs are a much bigger deal and because people don’t f–k around with Pat Tillman’s legacy. Which is why the people stoking this ridiculous controversy should be ashamed of their very noticeable erasure of Harry’s military service and his decade-long work as the founder of the Invictus Games, two biographical details which were ignored by Mary Tillman, Pat McAfee and the Deranger cult.
“The controversy whipped up over the decision…” So you’re admitting that the British media stoked the controversy, as they do over every single thing related to the Sussexes? Before the Pat Tillman Award, these same people were losing their minds at the Sussexes’ Nigerian tour and they were having panic attacks over JAM. Maybe the British media should worry about their own deeper reputational issues.
Former Olympic gymnast MyKayla Skinner trashed most of the Olympic team in a YouTube video and the pushback led to MyKayla backtracking like crazy. I would have covered this but it’s crazy complicated and she’s a dumbass. [Buzzfeed]
Drake attended Michael Rubin’s all-white Independence Day party in the Hamptons. People were clowning on the Drake photos all weekend. [Hollywood Life]
I hope Bhad Bhabie gets somewhere safe after her ex assaulted her. [Starcasm]
Podcaster Taylor Stecker says that Eric Stonestreet was nasty to her. [Seriously OMG]
Travis Kelce was emotional during Taylor Swift’s Amsterdam concert. [Socialite Life]
Ryan Reynolds loves South Korea. [LaineyGossip]
Review of Ti West’s MaXXXine. [Pajiba]
Sarah Jessica Parker is committed to giving Carrie Bradshaw the worst designer clothes and these overalls are genuinely upsetting. [Go Fug Yourself]
Zac Efron looks back at his classic works. [OMG Blog]
HBO/Max is making an It-inspired TV show? [Just Jared]
I love Lewis Hamilton’s style but the shoes are a NO. [RCFA]
Part 1: The gymnastics community cannot let these comments to be swept under the rug. I will be as respectful as possible to @mykaylaskinner but instead of engaging in meaningful conversation she blocks anyone who holds her accountable for her words. pic.twitter.com/Y69pwCxnUG
— Riley W (@gymguyri) July 3, 2024
— MyKayla Skinner (Harmer) (@mykaylaskinner) July 6, 2024
The brouhaha over Prince Harry receiving the Pat Tillman Award for Service has come at an interesting time for the Windsors. I absolutely believe the Windsors are driving some of the fury and shenanigans behind the nasty coverage of the ESPY award. I also think it’s downright hilarious that in the midst of the Windsors and British media’s temper tantrum over “Harry receiving an award,” the senior royals trudged up to Scotland so that Prince Edward and Queen Camilla could be inducted into the Order of the Thistle. You know, some would that an award or an honor. The Windsors give each other awards, honors, ribbons, medals and orders constantly, but they still want to be able to say that Harry and Meghan are so wrong for simply accepting a few awards here and there. Well, here’s the latest tantrum, via the Mail’s Palace Confidential show:
Charlotte Griffiths, editor-at-large for the Mail on Sunday, told the Mail+’s weekly talk show that the Montecito-based Duke and Duchess of Sussex are treating life ‘like a red carpet event’. The panel discussed the growing backlash over the decision to give Prince Harry the memorial award set up in the name of Pat Tillman, an American football star who gave up a £3million contract to enlist in the US Army after 9/11.
Host Jo Elvin asked Charlotte whether the Sussexes were being ‘tin-eared’ to the criticism they’ve faced over the past week. Charlotte responded: ‘I get the impression that life for Meghan Markle at the moment is a sort of prom event and [Harry] is the prom king and she’s the prom king and she’s setting up all these events over the years that they can attend together. Although at the Living Legends of Aviation one, she actually didn’t turn up with him because a similar controversy had happened before the event and then she didn’t go with him.’
‘I’ll be very interested to see if this time next week she goes with him. Serena Williams, her great friend, is presenting the award so she may well attend. Life isn’t a red carpet event for them to show off their brand, there are some very serious events out there and they are being tin-eared. Ever since they left the Royal Family for America, the Sussexes have been living the California lifestyle, walking on red carpets, going to film premieres, accepting awards and making more content for Netflix.’
Rebecca English, Royal Editor at the Daily Mail spoke on Palace Confidential about how different their lifestyle is to that of The Firm. She said: ‘You very rarely see a member of the Royal Family getting an award for something they have done. There have been joking ones over the years, maybe the King or the Prince of Wales have accepted one environmental award. But you don’t [often see it] because they consider public service to be an award in itself.’
‘Obviously Harry and Meghan now, I think maybe as you said Jo, are a part of that showbiz celebrity lifestyle, where part of their lifeblood is to get another award and it just shows you how different their lives are to what they would’ve had in the UK.’
Charlotte added that Harry has been put forward for the Pat Tillman award based on work he did when he was in the army between 2005 and 2015. ‘I think that’s why it’s so jarring, because it’s not new work, this is old work. I mean this is also a celebration of his time in the army but that was a long time ago now and it feels like he needs something new,’ she said.
“I mean this is also a celebration of his time in the army but that was a long time ago now.” I swear to God, the ESPN press release was not written in Latin. ESPN gave their reasons for awarding Harry: his military service and the tenth anniversary of the founding of Invictus, which is still ongoing and growing year by year. “Life for Meghan Markle at the moment is a sort of prom event and [Harry] is the prom king and she’s the prom king and she’s setting up all these events over the years that they can attend together.” They think Meghan… set up the ESPYs and convinced them to give Harry the Pat Tillman Award? They think Meghan got Harry a Living Legends of Aviation Award? This is John Travolta slander!
Once again, these people can’t just say The Thing. The Thing being: we’re so mad that our four-and-half-year-long hate campaign hasn’t worked, we’re mad that Americans aren’t being widely influenced by our deranged talking points, we’re mad that the Sussexes are allowed to thrive and win awards.
Whenever other royal women are at the same event as Queen Camilla, they’re rarely in the same color as Camilla, and it often feels like the royal women are making a point to look frumpy. I’ve long suspected that all of this has been dictated by Camilla, especially in the Duchess of Edinburgh’s case. Last year, there were also rumors that Camilla thinks blue is her signature color, and that was a problem for the Princess of Wales, who probably owns hundreds of blue dresses, coats, sweaters and buttons. Well, looks like Camilla and her dresser really have been bossing Sophie and Kate around:
Dresser to the Queen, Jacqui Meakin has slowly released her grip on who can wear the colour blue at the same time as Queen Camilla – but it must be a very different shade, a source claims. The source tells Express.co.uk that the colour blue is particularly problematic for the senior royals’ dressers because it’s a favourite of both Queen Camilla, 76, who was once named the second-best-dressed royal, and Kate, the Princess of Wales, 42.
“The Queen is now able to choose her outfits before all the other women in the Royal Family,” the source said. “It’s part of the royal pecking order and that includes the clothes and colour. Her Majesty’s favourite colour is blue and so is Kate’s. Sophie is also quite fond of it. There was a time when Jacqui [Meakin] was a bit apprehensive to allow blue to be worn at the same time as the Queen, but she’s relaxed that now as long as the blues are very different shades. In the end, it all became a bit comical with all the ladies seeing the funny side.”
Meakin was put in charge of choosing outfits for the most senior woman in the Royal Family after taking over from the late Queen’s dresser Angela Kelly.
However, soon after taking up the role sources claimed she had quickly “ruffled a few feathers” at Buckingham Palace by being too strict over outfit colour choices – most notably the colour blue. A source said that Camilla’s long-time dresser was quite strict in enforcing the royal rule that Queen Camilla’s preferences come first.
That made Meakin the target of Palace sniggers but now everyone can see the funny side and it has become an “in-joke”.
This isn’t surprising. The only surprises are the rare moments when Kate is “allowed” to wear blue or look better or more pulled together than Camilla during a joint appearance. Since Cam became queen, it’s really felt like she’s been playing a lot of games with Kate and what Kate is allowed to wear, especially with the Royal Collection jewels. It was actually a pretty big deal that Kate wasn’t allowed to wear a tiara for the coronation and she had to wear that ridiculous glittery headpiece. It was also a big deal that Sophie was allowed to wear the Lotus Flower Tiara, a tiara only worn by Kate in recent years, at the state dinner a few weeks ago. More is happening behind the scenes than Camilla ordering Sophie and Kate to never wear blue at the same time.
The American media has spent much of the past ten days throwing one of the most unhinged tantrums I’ve ever seen over President Biden and his age. Those of us who were paying attention in 2016 remember what happened when Hillary Clinton had pneumonia and the entire political commentary class decided that was more important than Donald Trump’s racism, fascism and hatefulness. This feels like more of the same. I bring that up because, in a matter of days, British voters and French voters soundly rejected the hate and fascism from the political right-wing. In France, the situation felt even more dire, as many pundits predicted a surge in support for Marine Le Pen and her Nazi-lite party. But French people ended up rejecting Le Pen and most of her Nazi colleagues.
The left-wing alliance in France won the most seats in parliament in a dramatic election, dealing a surprise blow to the far-right party of Marine Le Pen.
In the first round of voting a week ago Le Pen’s National Rally came top and was aiming to secure the most seats in France’s legislature for the first time in the party’s history on Sunday. But tactical voting and collaboration between Le Pen’s opponents to keep her party out of power paid off, final results showed.
The election, however, looks set to throw the country into a period of political turmoil, with no single group coming close to winning enough seats for a majority in parliament.
President Emmanuel Macron gambled on a snap election after a stunning defeat in last month’s European Parliament election, promising “a clarification” he hoped would put the far right back in its box. Instead, he lost seats and landed France in greater uncertainty.
Even so, the mood inside the president’s camp was upbeat on Sunday night, with Macron himself striking a defiant tone. At a gathering of his political allies, the French president galvanized his troops: “Our ideas are still alive and [we] haven’t lost voters,” he claimed, according to one participant who spoke to Paris Playbook.
Macron’s own position as president was not at stake: He is due to remain in office until 2027. His Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has said he’ll offer to resign, though who could take over is far from clear.
“Instead, he lost seats and landed France in greater uncertainty.” Yeah but the Nazis were still defeated, right? I get that it’s more complicated than that, but after so many years where it felt like the far right was on the march across Europe and North America, it’s notable that the trend is actually the opposite, that when voters get the chance to reject racism, hate and a rollback of civil rights, voters actually show up and do the thing they need to do. That should be applauded and let the French people have their victory.
Hang it in the Louvre pic.twitter.com/jWKP2zQpxD
— Tiberius (@ecomarxi) July 7, 2024
France is celebrating their democracy win after kicking Le Pen’s Nazi ass to the curb.
Vive la France
pic.twitter.com/PBh407HWtJ— Marlene Robertson (@marlene4719) July 7, 2024
“No Pasaran”
Incredible scenes in France this evening as the left unites to send the fascists packing.
— Rachael Swindon #WeAreCollective (@Rachael_Swindon) July 7, 2024