Carole and Michael Middleton’s Party Pieces business completely collapsed a little more than a year ago. Party Pieces owed over £2.6million to creditors, many of whom had extended credit to Carole Middleton personally because she’s the mother of the future queen. The Middletons’ house of cards collapsed thoroughly as people learned of the extent of their debt and catastrophic business decisions. Many theorized that the Middletons still have money stocked away – I just don’t see how that’s possible, and I don’t see a situation where a hustler like Carole Middleton would have allowed her social standing to disappear overnight if she had the ability to mitigate some of the damage.

Back in April, we heard a curious story about Interpath, the insolvency firm which was tasked with arranging the “sale” of the now-insolvent Party Pieces. Interpath incurred costs of more than £260,000 as they tried to untangle the Middletons’ fraud and prop up Party Pieces for sale. The Middletons were too broke to pay Interpath’s fees. Now an update: Interpath has written off the £320,000 in fees owed by the Middletons. As in, the Middletons are so broke, they couldn’t pay the insolvency firm so the firm had to write it all off.

Insolvency group Interpath is understood to have written off more than £320,000 in fees it was owed from the administration of Party Pieces, the former business of the Prince of Wales’s in-laws.

Interpath was appointed as administrator in May and over the last 12 months it incurred time costs of £321,716. Time costs are normally charged by administrators to firms whose insolvencies they are handling.

However, creditors’ reports show that the £230,852.99 Interpath was able to raise from selling Party Pieces to Teddy Tastic Bear Co for £60,000, liquidating its stock and other cash-raising actions, was wiped out by legal and other costs.

As a result, Interpath has written off the time costs. It also means creditors, including HM Revenue and Customs, will get nothing back whatsoever.

When it collapsed, Party Pieces owed nearly £613,000 to the taxman in VAT. Its employees were owed £84,690, while trade creditors were owed £456,000 plus. Banks, institutions and other lenders were owed £1.6million. Interpath declined to comment.

[From The Daily Express]

This also explains the larger disappearance of Carole and Michael Middleton over the past year. They came out for the coronation (which happened before Party Pieces collapsed) and then they came out six months later for Kate’s Christmas concert. The only time Carole has been seen this year is in that paparazzi photo with “Kate” in the car. Now, Kensington Palace seemingly claimed that Carole went to a pub in Norfolk with Prince William back in April too. But the Middletons have been politically defanged and they are now a huge, broke-ass liability for Kate. Like… the fact that they couldn’t even pay for the insolvency firm’s bill? The Middletons have absolutely zero power now.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were at the same place at the same time yesterday, but they were not photographed together, nor did they arrive together. They both attended Samuel Affleck’s elementary school graduation on Wednesday and both of them got dressed up for it too. Is that a thing? Elementary-school graduations are now events to which parents need to wear suits and dresses? Jennifer Garner was obviously there as well, as was Ben’s mother Chris Anne Boldt, who has seemingly been in town this week specifically for Samuel’s graduation. Ben drove himself, and J.Lo was driven to the graduation separately.

In the past month or so, Ben and J.Lo have been showing up pretty consistently for their stepchildren’s events. J.Lo went to Violet’s graduation stuff too, and she reportedly took Violet out for a special lunch. Ben turned out for some of Emme’s end-of-school events too, I think. So, no matter what’s going on with Ben and J.Lo’s marriage, they’re really prioritizing the kids and making sure they still show up for the kids’ big events. I keep thinking about J.Lo’s now canceled tour, and wondering if she would have had the time to do all of these family events if her tour was still on.

Reportedly, the Garner-Afflecks had a big lunch at Baltaire in Brentwood after the graduation. I don’t know if J.Lo was included, but she was seen entering Ben’s rented Brentwood home after the graduation ceremony, and after she did a costume change. Yeah… no one is saying divorce, and I hope Ben and J.Lo just spend the summer with their kids and with each other.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die had a great opening weekend & now there are tons of thinkpieces about how the audience is still cool with Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock. [Pajiba]
Bradley Cooper’s current facial hair is so unfortunate. I just got the ick. [Socialite Life]
The Morning Show cast updates: Julianna Margulies is out & Marion Cotillard is in. The Marguilies stuff is unsurprising, iykyk. [LaineyGossip]
A Pride Month announcement: Maren Morris is bisexual! [Jezebel]
Unexpected ways to die. [Buzzfeed]
Kerry Washington stepped out to support her husband. [JustJared]
Kim Porter’s father speaks out about Sean Combs. [Hollywood Life]
I can’t believe it’s taken this long for Ice-T to promote ice tea. [Seriously OMG]
Ayo Edebiri looked gorgeous at the Inside Out 2 premiere. [RCFA]
Azealia Banks hates Lorde too, damn. [OMG Blog]

Natasha Archer has worked for the Princess of Wales for years, mostly as some kind of personal assistant/stylist. I don’t think Archer has ever done much with Kate’s “work” in the sense that Archer is not writing or reading briefing memos or setting up busywork photo-ops. Archer carries Kate’s bags when they’re traveling and… God knows. Wiglet-wrangler, perhaps? Still, Archer is one of the few employees to stick around for longer than a year or two. Now, after years of service, Archer has been promoted to “senior private executive assistant” to both Kate and William. Hm.

The Princess of Wales has promoted her ‘Girl Friday’ Natasha Archer to a key position at Kensington Palace, I can reveal. In a move that has been interpreted in Royal circles as a reward for her loyalty, Ms Archer has been appointed to the new role of senior private executive assistant to Kate and William.

Ms Archer, 36, updated her profile on the LinkedIn career website last week to reflect her upgraded status. Previously she was a PA and stylist, and was pictured carrying Kate’s bags on and off planes for Royal tours.

Ms Archer’s promotion follows reports that she personally collected The Princess of Wales from the London Clinic after her abdominal operation earlier this year. After that, the mother of two was brought into the innermost circle of select friends and family members who have been supporting the Princess through her private cancer battle.

Sources say Ms Archer, who is married to Royal photographer Chris Jackson, has been dedicated to her employer. She has been inseparable from Kate in recent months, often assisting her as she travels to and from hospital appointments. Now she will have a title and salary that reflects her trusted status.

A source said: ‘Natasha deserves this boost – she’s unfailingly discreet and loyal to Kate. The salary boost will be welcome too. This appointment means we can expect to see Natasha by Kate’s side for years to come. It seems to be Kate’s way of thanking her for her loyalty.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Shady shady shady!!! “Reports that she personally collected The Princess of Wales from the London Clinic after her abdominal operation earlier this year.” There was a photo of Archer leaving the clinic with a plant riding shotgun. The plant was not Kate. And I’m pretty sure we were told that William picked up his wife, weren’t we?? I mean, that’s if you believe that Kate was ever being treated at the London Clinic. “She has been inseparable from Kate in recent months, often assisting her as she travels to and from hospital appointments.” Has Kate been disguised as a plant this whole time, because you would think if Natasha is chauffeuring Kate around London and Windsor, someone would have gotten photos??

Anyway, I’m sure there are like ten different conspiracies happening right now. Y’all can even bring Natasha’s husband Chris Jackson into the mix. Ten bucks says that Jackson was the photographer who took some of those original photos “taken by Kate or William” released this year, including the Mother’s Day frankenphoto.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace, Getty.

Following the 80th anniversary of D-Day commemorations in Normandy, Prince William has been telling everyone that he’s an “emerging statesman,” a world-class diplomat and a very important future king on the global stage. It’s true that William was the biggest British name at the Omaha Beach event on D-Day. King Charles visited the British Normandy Memorial and then left before the Omaha Beach event. But what was weird is that Charles and Camilla weren’t the only ones who left before the big world-leader event on Omaha Beach. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also left early – apparently, he rushed back to the UK to give some interviews as part of the upcoming general election. That’s the only reason why William was seated in the front row of the Omaha Beach ceremony – it should have been Sunak, but he wasn’t there. From the Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column:

Could Rishi blame the King for his D-Day muddle? Buckingham Palace provided Downing Street with advance notice that Charles would be missing the international ceremony, principally on medical advice.

It was this announcement which seems to have made Sunak and his acolytes think it was all right to head home early as well.

If the King had stayed, Sunak couldn’t have sneaked off. What no one in Sunak’s team noticed was that the King had appointed Prince William as his official representative for the international ceremony. That backfired. William, as the senior Briton present and representing the head of state, should have been photographed with Biden et al instead of David Cameron. The heir was sidelined.

[From The Daily Mail]

It’s interesting that the Mail is saying that “the heir was sidelined” while the heir has been briefing every rota reporter that he’s a big-boy statesman because of the D-Day events. While William did shake hands with several world leaders (Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau, President Biden), it’s not like anyone takes him seriously. It also feels like the Mail is indicating that it was pretty insulting to Britain’s allies that neither King Charles nor PM Sunak bothered to go to the Omaha Beach event and they were fine sending the angry egg. I know the Mail is pointing out Sunak’s fumble – and it is insulting that he rushed home to do an interview – but make no mistake, they’re poking William too.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

As we discussed yesterday, the Mirror ran a weird story about King Charles’s newfound commitment to being in Prince Archie and Princess Lili’s lives. A source claimed that Charles “would never be content with just seeing his grandchildren on the odd video call.” Which says, to me, that Charles barely even makes time for videocalls with his grandkids – he reportedly saw Archie and Lili via video call on his birthday last year, and I bet that was the last time. Ingrid C-Word was also tasked with trying to make Charles sound like a doting grandfather, and she said: “He does not want a FaceTime relationship with his son’s children. He wants to know them and be involved with their lives while they are still young enough to be able to learn from his wisdom.” What’s interesting about all of this is… no one seems to be buying any part of it. Charles’s actions for two years have shown that he doesn’t give a f–k about the Sussex family whatsoever. Even the Daily Beast’s Royalist called him out: “The King Says He Wants to See Prince Harry’s Kids. So, Er, Why Kick Them Out?”

Cynics might argue that if the king really wanted to see more of the Sussexes he wouldn’t have stripped them of their U.K. home. Many believe that Charles has made it as difficult as possible for Harry to visit the U.K. to avoid him setting up a rival court.

Prince Harry’s camp have long argued that he has made it more difficult for Harry to visit the U.K. safely with his family by evicting him from his home on the royal estate, Frogmore Cottage, where Harry’s children’s security would have been assured by being within the royal protection envelope. Indeed, Omid Scobie in his book Endgame said none other than Harry made this exact point to his father, responding, when told to pack his bags and clear out of Frogmore, “Don’t you want to see your grandchildren again?”

Scobie called the decision from Charles to evict Harry “a cheap shot from a wounded father bound by an institutional system that is often intolerant of human emotion.”

Frogmore, Scobie says, was regarded by the Sussexes as the “only true safe option when visiting the United Kingdom,” due to the royal estate being guarded round the clock by armed guards.

Charles is understood to have seen Archie only a handful of times and has only met Lilibet, who was born in America, once. Charles reportedly turned down an invitation to Lilibet’s christening in California.

[From The Daily Beast]

It feels notable that there’s any pushback on Charles’s attempts to go back to briefings-as-usual about how he obviously wants to see Harry and Harry’s children (but not Meghan). Tom Sykes is right – the Frogmore eviction was absolutely the turning point, as was Harry’s most recent visit to the UK. When Harry released the statement on May 7th about how there were no plans to meet with Charles during his visit because of “the king’s full program,” it really was a game-changer. Harry isn’t playing Charles’s stupid games anymore and Charles showed his panic about that in the days and weeks that followed.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Maybe I’m the biggest delusional B, but I’m honestly not getting “imminent divorce” from any of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s moves. It absolutely feels like they’re having marriage problems and it absolutely feels like there’s a lot happening behind the scenes, but I think they’re actually trying to work out their sh-t. It’s messy and complicated, but I would be shocked if one of them files for divorce this week or this month. It genuinely feels like Ben has laid down the law with J.Lo: we’re selling the money pit house, you’re not going to tour this summer, and we’re going to actually work on this marriage and spend time with our kids.

Page Six got photos of Ben visiting the money-pit mansion over the weekend. Jennifer is still living there, although she’s reportedly looking for rentals or other, smaller homes too (considering they’ve already put the house on the market). Ben reportedly stayed with Jen for four hours at the Beverly Hills home, from 5 pm to 9 pm. A date night? Negotiations? Packing up his sh-t? He didn’t leave with boxes, so I don’t know. But they continue to spend time together. Now, Entertainment Tonight’s sources sweat that Ben and Jen are living separate lives:

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have not fully thrown in the towel on their marriage yet. Just one day after ET reported that Lopez, 54, and Affleck, 51, had put their marital home on the market, a source is sharing where the couple stands as rumors continue to swirl around the state of their relationship.

A source tells ET, “Jen and Ben have been living separate lives but have not officially separated yet. At this point, they are just doing their own thing. They went into their relationship very optimistic and thought things could change, but they haven’t.”

When it comes to their living situation amid the listing of their $60.8 million Los Angeles compound — which they purchased just a year ago — the source shared that Lopez is looking for places to set up shop as they attempt to take some space and figure things out.

The source continued, “Jen is touring houses and shopping around for her own home. She has been leaning on her mom, sisters, and kids during this transitional period.” Lopez has two sisters, Lynda and Leslie Ann.

Affleck — who was previously married to actress Jennifer Garner and shares three children with her — has similarly been leaning on his close friends, including Good Will Hunting co-writer Matt Damon, and family members during this time.

“Ben is sad about it all but focused on his work, being a great dad, and co-parenting well with Jennifer Garner,” the source says. “He has been leaning on Matt Damon and his close circle of guy friends. Matt is always in Ben’s corner and is supportive of him.”

[From ET]

I would pay $50 to hear what Matty D thinks of this whole situation. Damon is an old-school J.Lo hater, and during the first Bennifer Era, Matt was one of the “friends” telling Ben to escape. The “Bennifer Revival” was great because it felt like they were older and wiser and less likely to get peer-pressured into ruining their relationship. But I don’t know. I think Matty D is still capable of peer-pressuring Ben. Anyway, yeah – as I said, I would be shocked if Ben or Jen actually file for divorce any time soon.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Ordinarily, I don’t find English footballer Harry Kane all that “hot,” but standing next to Prince William, Kane really does look quite sexy. Such is the fate of every guy named Harry – compared to William, you’re always going to come out ahead. These are photos from Monday, where William visited Team England’s training camp at the national football center. The visit was timed because the UEFA European Football Championship (aka The Euros) starts on Friday in Germany. William is the Football Association president, so he was wishing the team well, plus visiting with some of the kids doing various programs at the training center. He gave Team England some advice, straight from Prince Louis, who William absolutely saw on Monday morning.

The Prince of Wales had some very important advice from his youngest son Prince Louis to deliver to the England football team on Monday morning. The Prince of Wales, who is the president of the FA, visited the England men’s football team to wish them good luck ahead of the UEFA European Football Championship, sharing advice from Prince Louis to “eat twice the amount” during the tournament.

Travelling to St George’s Park, the national football centre in Burton upon Trent, Prince William met the squad and spoke with coach Gareth Southgate ahead of their first match against Serbia on Sunday.

“I was on the school run this morning with the children and I said, ‘What shall I say to the England team today?’” he said. “The best bit of advice I got to ask you was to eat twice the amount you normally would eat. So I then had visions of all of you running around with massive great tummies and loads of stitches on the pitch so I think maybe take my youngest’s advice with a pinch of salt.”

He presented shirts to each of the 26 players selected for the Euro 2024 team and heard from their coach about their preparations for the tournament. England, who were beaten 1-0 by Iceland in their final warm-up friendly on Friday, will first face Serbia in Germany on Sunday night.

[From Hello]

Who is William if he’s not reminding everyone that he does the fakakta school run as often as possible? I’m shocked that he managed to do the school run AND visit the training center on the same day. Just a reminder – Louis hasn’t been seen in public since Christmas. Neither has Charlotte. In all of the talk about whether or not the Princess of Wales will make it to Trooping the Colour, I have my doubts that all three of the Wales kids will be on the balcony this coming Saturday.

Also: I wonder if William is planning to go to Germany for any of England’s matches? My guess is that if the team makes it far into the tournament – maybe quarterfinals or semis? – he’ll try to go. Which brings up the issue of how he failed to show up for the Lionesses when they made the World Cup final last year.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Over the past month or so, there’s been a conspiracy bubbling around social media about the Princess of Wales. The general conspiracy is that Kate is no longer in England or the UK, that she’s receiving treatment at an undisclosed location in Europe or North America or somewhere else. While I think “Kate is not IN England at the moment” might explain the lack of credible sightings of Kate in Windsor, London and Norfolk, I have my doubts that Kate could be in a whole other country where the Windsors don’t have control over the press. Like, if Kate was in France, the Windsors don’t have the capability of shutting down French rumors. You could argue that Switzerland is the land of “everyone minds their business and no one gossips,” but still, we’re talking about arguably the most famous missing woman in the world right now.

So, one of the latest “Kate is not in the UK” rumors came via a Reddit and TikTok, with various people claiming that they heard a rumor that Kate was seeking treatment in Houston and staying at the city’s St. Regis hotel. The rumor was apparently shut down pretty quickly by Kensington Palace.

A rumor that Kate Middleton is being treated at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is false, according to a Kensington Palace representative.

Speculation about the princess’ location has grown since she announced her cancer diagnosis in March. She began preventative chemotherapy in February, according to Kensington Palace, with no estimated date of when she might return to public duties. Middleton stepped away from public duties and a palace insider told Us Weekly in June that she “may never come back in the role that people saw her in before.”

Amanda Matta shared a video Monday morning on her Royal Family-focused TikTok account “Matta_of_fact” discussing a Reddit post that claims Middleton recently stayed at The St. Regis Houston.

“Was visiting friends at the St. Regis this weekend and they had spoken of her being at the hotel. Has anyone else heard this? Assuming she would be here for treatment. Hoping for the best outcome for the family,” the post reads. Matta’s TikTok had nearly 500,000 views and more than 1,000 comments by early afternoon Monday.

MD Anderson Cancer Center representatives said the hospital is unable to comment on whether or not an individual is a patient due to patient privacy laws. The Cancer Center — known for its groundbreaking cancer treatment and research — has treated celebrities including Eddie Van Halen and Chris Evert.

[From Houston Chronicle]

Okay, here’s the interesting thing – that one TikTok had only been up for about twelve hours when the Houston Chronicle got Kensington Palace to shut down the speculation on the record. KP did not do the same thing when it came to ANY of Concha Calleja’s reporting. To this day, KP has never shut down the “Kate was in an induced coma” story on the record. It was only “royal sources” saying “that’s not true” one week after Calleja’s reporting. KP still hasn’t pushed back on some of Calleja’s more recent reporting, that Kate’s condition is still quite dire and that Kate will likely need at least one more surgery.

So… no, I don’t believe Kate is being treated in Houston. If Kate has left the UK for treatment – which I do think is a possibility – it’s far more likely that she would go to European doctors or specialists, and she would go to a country where her privacy would be all but guaranteed. She’s not wandering around Houston!

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

The photos in this post are from April of this year – Prince Andrew out riding a horse in Windsor on 4/13 and driving around Windsor on 4/29. They’re some of the most recent photos of Andrew we have, although the Mail has published some more recent pics, especially these horse-riding pics from one week ago, right after Buckingham Palace leaked a bunch of sh-t about how King Charles is going to cut off Andrew’s funding if he doesn’t move out of Royal Lodge. It’s pretty clear that King Charles is still attacking Andrew in the press and drawing attention to the Andrew situation, likely as a deflection from some of the bigger issues facing the monarchy. Well, things have devolved to the point where the British media is now writing pieces about how Andrew has gained a lot of weight and he’s “comfort eating” because of the Royal Lodge issue.

Prince Andrew has piled on weight amidst his brother King Charles’ attempts to kick him out of his home, after giving up a diet which was making him miserable and grumpy, it was reported Monday.

A report in British tabloid the Sun said that Andrew’s weight is now approaching 15 stone. The paper says he has been “comfort eating” to cope with his ongoing argument with his brother, who wants him to vacate his home, the palatial Royal Lodge. The Sun says Andrew’s weight gain has been shown during recent horse riding trips.

Royal author, biographer and historian Andrew Lownie, who is writing a new book about Andrew, whose favorite food is said to be steamed syrup pudding, told the paper: “He often diets, a bit like Fergie, who has been a regular dieter. He can go up and down between 13 and 15 stone.”

Royal biographer Margaret Holder said: “He was quite chubby as a child but then so were Charles and Anne at times if you look back at the pictures… I think he is a comfort eater basically.”

[From The Daily Beast]

Is this another shot from Buckingham Palace? Their threats to defund Andrew fell flat, so now they’re telling people that Andrew’s ass is chunky. This is why I made a point of using the most recent photos we have of Andrew – while I think he’s gained some weight in recent years, he honestly doesn’t seem to have drastically piled on the pounds in the past few months. He’s been “portly” for a few decades though. This feels like some palace scheme to humiliate Andrew, right? Why the hell would it matter if he’s gained some weight? If we’re talking about weight, Camilla also looks like she’s been comfort-eating (and comfort-boozing).

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.