For years and years, royal biographers have detailed Prince William and Prince Harry’s early-years boozing. When Harry was a teenager and even into his 20s, he probably spent most weekends swimming in alcohol. Harry’s boozy adventures were often used as a cover for his older brother, who was and perhaps still is quite a drinker. Mike Tindall recently revealed that his nickname for William is “One Pint Willy.” William also looked under the influence during a mid-day investiture ceremony two weeks ago. I strongly suspect that William has been a heavy drinker for years. Well, now Piers Morgan is confirming that William was boozing it up when he was just 13 years old.

“HELLO, Sir,” I said to Prince William when we first met nearly 30 years ago. A tall, shy 13-year-old boy with braces on his teeth tentatively shook my hand at Kensington Palace. His mother, Princess Diana, had invited me to a private lunch – I was editor the Daily Mirror at the time – and at the last minute, asked if I minded her elder son joining us.

“That would be terribly inconvenient,” I replied, deadpan. Diana blushed slightly and started a stuttering “Yes, of course, I’m so sorry…” apology before I burst out laughing.

“Ma’am, I think I can stretch to allowing the future King to join me for lunch!”

What followed was the most extraordinary meal of my life in which Diana opened up about everything in her life from her failed marriage and numerous boyfriends to her cellulite and the future of the Monarchy, as William eyed me throughout like a suspicious young dolphin encountering a hungry shark. He was a polite, intelligent, mature-beyond-his years, quite intense young man who was clearly very close to, and protective of his mother. But there was one moment which has always stuck in my mind.

William asked for a glass of wine to match mine, and Diana, mindful of how such underage boozing would look to a scoop-ravenous tabloid news hound, instantly snapped “No, William, what are you thinking?”

He replied: “But Mummy, I drink it all the time.”

“Erm, you don’t actually, and you can’t have any!” she exclaimed, nervously.

“Yes, I do, and yes, I can!” he chuckled. And he then did. This, I thought, was a boy who knew his own mind, and had a slightly naughty, rebellious streak.

We met a few more times after that, and he was always charm personified, once prodding my stomach at a party and guffawing: “That’s not a six-pack, Piers, that’s a keg!”

[From The Sun]

The rest of Piers’ column is all about how Harry “betrayed” William by, you know, getting married and moving to America. Harry was supposed to stick around so William could hide behind him forever! Harry was supposed to be like Princess Margaret, trapped in the royal system, divorced and unlucky in love, and a tragic alcoholic. Instead, William is the one who is trapped, William is the one who seems unhappy in his marriage, William is the one who needs booze to get through daytime work events. Again, I know both William and Harry were huge drinkers and they abused alcohol when they were far too young. But it looks like only one of them outgrew it and got therapy and stopped self-medicating with alcohol. Anyway, it’s curious that Piers put this out there.

The Prince of Wales has returned to royal duties after his wife’s abdominal operation and following the announcement of the King’s cancer diagnosis.https://t.co/Ig4ZQJ3Vi4 pic.twitter.com/KUXAYfZZfp

— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 7, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Over the weekend, I watched Jennifer Lopez’s musical “film,” This Is Me… Now: A Love Story. She self-financed the hour-long movie for $20 million and she really did not need to do any of that. Like, it should have been just a series of music videos released on her YouTube page. She could have even turned it into a few “short films” like Taylor Swift did with “All Too Well.” The problem is that… the music wasn’t actually very good. You could argue that the “story” of the film was kind of camp and hilariously stupid, but the whole point of the film was that it was supposed to be a companion piece to this new album and the album is…not good. The music was so bad, you guys. Even then, I would consider J.Lo to be a great dancer who can “perform” her music well, but none of the choreography was working either. All of this is being reflected in the numbers:

Jennifer Lopez has made a big deal about investing her own money in her new project. JLo says she put $20 million into “This is Me…Now,” the title of her new album, and the video that goes with it on Amazon Prime.

The project unfurled on Thursday night. There are no numbers yet, but there’s some indication of a soft launch. The album went to number 1 upon release, but now it’s number 4 on iTunes. What goes down on pop charts doesn’t usually come back up.

The album has also not birthed any hot tracks. The lead single, “Can’t Get Enough,” is at number 76. There are no other tracks from the album on the top 100. A good indicator of an album’s strength is it immediately dispersing tracks throughout the top 100. It seems like the fans could indeed get enough.

As for the video, “The Greatest Love Story Never Told” doesn’t hit Amazon Prime until February 27th — next Sunday. By that time, the album and the single may not be in a position to help it.

[From Showbiz411]

I’m actually going to watch the documentary because I want to see how cringe it is and how much Ben Affleck appears in it. I’m also interested in seeing how thoroughly J.Lo documented the fact that everyone in her life told her to just skip the musical film. I kind of think she should have skipped the album too, but whatever. Again, I love Jennifer Lopez and I’m still really sad and outraged that she didn’t win an Oscar for Hustlers. She has every right to do whatever she wants, but oh my god, was this whole three-part album/film/documentary thing a huge miscalculation. Still, I think it was like an itch she had to scratch – she wasn’t going to let it go until she figured out a way to do it.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

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The final event for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s three-day schedule in Canada was a reception in Vancouver to formally mark the “one year to go” until the Invictus Games in Vancouver and Whistler. Meghan and Harry attended the “celebratory gala” at the Vancouver Convention Centre and they shared photos on sussex.com. They also shared one exclusive photo with People Magazine (see above).

Once again, I’m asking them to create an Instagram account so that media outlets can embed their exclusive photos. Again, I don’t need Meghan to have a personal account (although I would love that), but something for their business, or an official Sussex.com Instagram. Sussex.com did reveal that Harry and Meghan were presented with woven blankets, given to them by Four Host First Nations. The Sussexes also shared an exclusive statement with People:

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are opening up about their “meaningful” visit to Canada for the official countdown to the 2025 Invictus Games.

“We loved being back in Canada, a place so meaningful to both of us. It was an honor to be welcomed by the Four Host First Nations, as we marked One Year To Go, together with Invictus coaches, competitors and families,” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex exclusively tell PEOPLE following the three-day Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025’s One Year to Go celebration.

“It filled our hearts to once again be surrounded by Canadian people, food and culture. We felt the Invictus spirit and excitement throughout Whistler and Vancouver, and are so grateful to all our hosts for organizing such a memorable visit. We’re counting down the days until we return!” they add.

Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, also shared an exclusive new photo from the One Year to Go Dinner at the Vancouver Convention Centre on Friday. The snap shows the couple smiling in their seats at the evening gala, where Prince Harry sported a dark suit and Meghan wore an olive green gown by Canadian label Greta Constantine.

[From People]

They looked very happy the whole time they were in Canada. They loved their little mini-tour, and they loved being able to do those events without the saltiest people in the world breathing down their necks. Of course, those salt merchants were trying so hard to get the Sussexes’ attention last week. And now they all have to contend with Prince William’s sustained tantrum over the Sussexes’ successful trip.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, People’s Instagram.

One of the most commonly known life hacks is the old trick where you put your wet electronics into a bag or bowl of uncooked rice. The rice is supposed to help dry it out by absorbing the extra water. I think just about everyone I know has tried this method at least once. It seems to be tried-and-true. Hell, my mom once put her old Macbook into a giant tub of rice (I kid you not) and it turned on after a few days.

Well, I don’t know if saving wet iPhones is cutting into Apple’s billion dollar bottom line or not but the company just put out a warning against this method. According to Apple, doing so could “allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone.” In fact, they recommend merely leaving the wet device on the counter to dry. That’s so old school of them. They actually advised several different things to try in the event of a wet iPhone. All are common sense techniques.

Instead of resorting to rice, Apple provides users with an alternative solution. If your iPhone or charging connector is wet—in the latter case, an alert will appear and disable charging—Apple recommends the following:

Unplug the cable from your iPhone and unplug the other end of the cable from the power adapter or accessory. Don’t plug the cable in again until your iPhone and the cable are completely dry.

Tap your iPhone gently against your hand with the connector facing down to remove excess liquid. Leave your iPhone in a dry area with some airflow.

After at least 30 minutes, try charging with a Lightning or USB-C cable or connecting an accessory.

If you see the alert again, there is still liquid in the connector or under the pins of your cable. Leave your iPhone in a dry area with some airflow for up to a day. You can try again to charge or connect an accessory throughout this period. It might take up to 24 hours to fully dry.

If your phone has dried out but still isn’t charging, unplug the cable from the adapter and unplug the adapter from the wall (if possible), and then connect them again.

In case Apple’s advice doesn’t work, it’s safe to say that you probably need help from professional repair experts and may even need to prepare yourself to buy a new iPhone. Whatever you do, resist the temptation of reaching for the rice.

[From Gizmodo]

Okay, so the cynical part of me that has anecdotal evidence that the rice trick works without causing damage thinks “In case Apple’s advice doesn’t work, … [you] may even need to prepare yourself to buy a new iPhone” kinda sounds like the statement that gives the game away, no? Apple also mentioned some fairly obvious no-gos such as using external heat to dry the phone (no blow dryers, people!) or sticking Q-tips into the connector (that’s a thing?). All that said, I’ve never really thought about it before, but I’m willing to concede that there could be better or equally effective ways at trying to salvage a wet iPhone.

Last summer, my son went into a pool at my SIL’s house and forgot to take his watch off. She gave us one of those silica gel packets to put it in. We put them both in a ziploc bag for 24 hours and it worked like a charm. Honestly, if you live in a dry environment, you can probably just leave it on the counter to air dry out. Idk, there’s just something (the cost and our reliance) about wet electronics that triggers our anxiety and having something extra to help the process along feels calming.

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Photos credit: Andrea Piacquadio and PhotoMix on Pexels and via Instagram

Huzzah — the drought is over! On Sunday Last Week Tonight with John Oliver returned from their quirky November to February hiatus, and they kicked off the new season with a bang. The main story focused on the decades of grifting Clarence Thomas has been up to, namely the undisclosed gifts he’s received from GOP donors, not to be outdone by the income he has been disclosing… from a defunct business. None of this is breaking news, true. But between Last Week being off air a lot of 2023 due to the writers strike and this week being the season premiere, I’m fine with having a Last Year Tonight – SCOTUS Edition episode. Plus they really upped the ante by making Thomas an offer he (hopefully) can’t refuse. Oliver closed the show by offering to pay Thomas $1 million a year in exchange for Thomas leaving the Supreme Court. Plus they’re throwing in a $2.4 million luxury tour bus, the justice’s favorite mode of transportation, to sweeten the deal. Thomas has 30 days to accept:

The British-born, progressive comedian’s offer came after a steady drumbeat of media investigations in the previous several months established that Thomas failed to disclose that political benefactors bought him lavish vacation travel and real estate for his mother. Thomas also failed to disclose — as required — that he allowed school fees for a family member to be paid off and had been provided a loan to buy a luxury motor coach, all after openly complaining about the need to raise supreme court justices’ salaries.

As a result, Thomas’s impartiality came into question after he sided with the contentious ruling that eliminated the federal abortion rights once provided by the Roe v Wade case.

He also recently listened to arguments over whether Donald Trump can be removed from states’ ballots in the presidential election after the former president’s supporters — whom he told to “fight like hell” — staged the January 6 attack at the US Capitol in Washington DC. Thomas resisted pressure to recuse himself from matters pertaining to the Capitol attack, even though his wife, Ginni Thomas, is a conservative political activist who has endorsed false claims from Trump and his supporters that the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden was stolen from him — which in turn fueled January 6.

Oliver alluded to all of those circumstances as he extended his lucrative offer to Thomas, saying: “Lot on your plate right now, from stripping away women’s rights to hearing January 6 cases … and you deserve a break, you know, away from the meanness of Washington. So you can be surrounded by the regular folks whose lives you made demonstrably worse for decades.”

The host suggested that Thomas could upgrade his “favorite mode of travel” by signing a contract requiring him to step down from the supreme court in exchange for $1m annually from Oliver along with the tour bus, which is outfitted with a king-sized bed, a fireplace and four televisions.

Oliver joked that Thomas possibly feared that making such a trade might attract negative judgment from one of his top benefactors: the Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, who was reported to have maintained a private collection of Nazi memorabilia that included a pair of paintings by Adolf Hitler.

But Oliver said: “That’s the beauty of friendship, Clarence. If they’re real friends, they’ll love you no matter what your job is. So I guess this might be the perfect way to find out who your real friends actually are.

“So that’s the offer — $1m a year, Clarence. And a brand new condo on wheels. And all you have to do … is sign the contract and get the f–k off the supreme court,” Oliver remarked. “The clock starts now — 30 days, Clarence. Let’s do this!”

[From The Guardian]

This is genius. Oliver is calling Thomas’s bluff — “you need money? I’ll be your new donor daddy!” — in the name of an actual good cause (unlike gutting affirmative action and women’s healthcare). The poor man has been trying to survive on only $298,500 a year from the court, he deserves the raise! **insert eyeroll here** It was a bold and brilliant move by Oliver, one that did not go unnoticed by his HBO bosses, it seems. The day after the show aired Oliver went to tweet out a YouTube video of it, something he always does on Mondays. But without telling Oliver, HBO says they have a new policy of not posting the video to YouTube until the end of the week. To boost Max viewership they say, but methinks this probably has to do with the HBO lawyers still being at loggerheads with Oliver. Which is a shame, because Oliver clearly said he was putting up his own money, not HBO’s. And there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that Thomas will ever accept anyway! No, I fear Thomas and the rest of the horsemen of the apocalypse are just getting started with their reign of terror. **insert sobbing here**

Photos credit: Avalon.red, Cover Images

People tend to forget this, but in 2016-2017, there were some rumors about Cate Blanchett’s marriage to Andrew Upton. The tabloids got photos of Upton looking very cozy with a 27-year-old, and there were some quieter rumors that Cate and Andrew’s marriage was on the rocks, or that they lived separate lives. Cate never addressed the rumors directly and she and Andrew were seen together in the years since then, but people have just realized that it’s been a while since anyone heard about their marriage or saw them together.

Cate Blanchett has left fans puzzled after stepping out at the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards without her wedding ring on Sunday night. The Australian actress, 54, who has been married to playwright Andrew Upton, 58, since 1997, stunned at the British film industry event in a maroon Louis Vuitton gown and striking body chain combo. However, rather than wearing her white gold and diamond wedding sparkler, the Blue Jasmine star sported a large emerald cocktail ring. Her husband didn’t attend the event.

Curiously, Cate was also spotted ring-free earlier this month, when she attended an event in New York at the Museum of Modern Art on February 6th. Joined by Sophie’s Choice co-star Ethan Hawke, Cate oozed sophistication in a gradient-print grey pantsuit and lariat necklace. Cate made no attempt at hiding her bare wedding finger as she smiled for photos outside the exclusive event. In October 2023, Cate was once again seen without her wedding ring as she sat front row at the Stella McCartney runway show during Paris Fashion Week. Instead the thespian wore a set of elegant gold bands on her wedding finger.

Speaking to Woman’s Day magazine on Monday, a source close to the couple said Cate’s missing ring has sent off alarm bells about the status of her marriage.

‘Seeing Cate without her ring has sent shockwaves through their friends. For the first time they’re wondering if things aren’t so rosy,’ the insider claimed. A question mark has been hanging over Cate and Andrew’s marriage for some time now. The couple also haven’t been seen out on a date since August, when they were photographed enjoying a sun-drenched holiday in Ibiza.

They also raised eyebrows earlier this month after putting their sprawling mansion in Prahran, Melbourne, on the market. The three-bedroom family home, which the couple purchased in 2006, is set to be sold at auction with a price guide of $2.25million – $2.45million. Cate and Andrew have been living in the UK since 2015 and still own several other properties together. Their portfolio includes a glorious Victorian mansion in East Sussex, England, which they bought for £4.9 million (AU$9.4million) in 2015. The couple also own an investment property in Sydney’s CBD.

Cate and Andrew share three sons, Dashiell, 22, Roman, 19, and Ignatius, 16, and a daughter named Edith, eight.

[From The Daily Mail]

Every interview I’ve read with Cate in recent years – especially when she was promoting Tar – it sounded like she and Andrew had been Britain-based for a while. I guess that’s the “Victorian mansion in East Sussex,” where they have some kind of larger estate and Cate is always tooling around in the garden. Given her increasingly cozy relationship with the Windsors – sitting with Prince William at the BAFTAs and being a celeb ambassador for Earthshot – I would assume that she’s committed to spending more time in England in the future. I always assumed Andrew was okay with that, especially after they spent so much time in Oz, nurturing the Australian theater community. I don’t know. They’ve been together for 26 years, and I kind of hate Ring Watch. Who even knows.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Kensington Palace.

This whole story is asinine but I’ve seen people on “both sides” amplifying it, so we might as well get into it. Paul Burrell was Princess Diana’s butler and friend. After Diana’s death, he was accused of stealing Diana’s belongings and he was about to be put on trial, but then Queen Elizabeth II intervened at the last minute and told prosecutors that she recalled telling Burrell years before that he could and should keep some of Diana’s things for safekeeping. Since then, Burrell has fancied himself some kind of royal expert, and he regularly gives quotes to various media outlets about the royal stories of the day. In recent years, he’s taken a hard anti-Sussex bent, because I guess that’s what pays. Burrell’s recent interview has the feel of Burrell being issued certain talking points and just sort of mindlessly reciting them. This is all having to do with the British media’s biggest fear/desire for Meghan to write her own memoir, something which there is literally no indication she will ever do.

Meghan’s nonexistent memoir: “I am waiting for Meghan to release her own memoir,” Paul Burrell exclusively told The Post. “[She] is inevitably going to write her side of the story because of how absent she was from ‘Spare,’ and that is because she is penning her memoir and telling it from a woman’s perspective.”

Meghan’s story: Burrell warned that the royal family should “watch out” for the “explosion” that the “Suits” alum’s rumored book could cause. There’s “going to be another bomb in the House of Windsor…another explosion will go off when we find out that she is going to publish, and she will. There is no way she is going to stay quiet: she is going to want her side of the story out there and that will do even further damage to the royal family and rock them even more.”

Harry is mad at Kate: “I understand why they are upset because Kate went to great lengths to find out if a royal life was for her and it caused her issues, but they both worked it out and she committed herself to a life of public service. This wasn’t a case of fitting the mold — it’s a case of finding the right person to do the job. Harry has got a nerve to say that because his mother was pressured into an arranged marriage and made to fit the mold. Harry is not always the sharpest tool in the box so he should lay off Kate and William. Kate is doing an amazing job.”

Harry’s regrets: Burrell believes that the Duke of Sussex, 39, “will come to regret” the comments he made about his family. “He has to be careful about attacking the royal family,” the former butler said on behalf of Slingo. “Meghan and Harry have forgotten their only unique selling point is being royal, so why are they trying to destroy the institution? It doesn’t make sense.” He also insists that the Sussexes will never be invited back into the royal fold “with open arms,” adding that “the doors are firmly shut.”

No space for the Sussexes: The royals “are keeping tight-lipped and they are keeping everything in-house,” Burrell added. “I think that is their tactic. They have regrouped and pulled together and there is no space for Meghan and Harry.”

[From The NY Post]

It’s like royal-commentary Mad Libs at this point. The royals are mad at Harry, Harry is mad at Kate, Harry and Meghan desperately need the royals, the royals don’t want him but he better not say anything bad about them or else they’ll never let him come back! The thing about “This wasn’t a case of fitting the mold — it’s a case of finding the right person to do the job” is a reference to Robert Hardman’s dumb book, in which sources claimed that William was furious with Harry for making a “blatant attack on Catherine.” That attack? Harry said that men in his family tend to marry women who “fit the mold” rather than their soulmates. Most people believed Harry was referencing his own parents’ marriage, but William kept screaming to everyone that Harry’s words were about his marriage to Kate. William has done more to insult Kate than Harry ever has. Besides, absolutely no one thought that Kate fit any mold, nor did anyone think that Kate was the best person for “the job” of being William’s wife. She was simply the only one who wanted that job.

Also: the royal peeps are desperate for content and they would love nothing more than a memoir from Meghan. That would keep them in business for another year. Truth be told, I would love for Meghan to tell her story too, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen at this point.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

As we discussed, Prince William’s new private secretary Ian Patrick already seems to be in over his head. William has been trying to brand himself as a “global statesman” for a few years now, ever since he saw his brother get embraced internationally and also get invited to speak at the United Nations on Mandela Day. William wants the exact same thing as Harry, but without having to do any of the work. William wants to show up somewhere and have everyone scream “the global statesman is here!!” All of which to say, William has now blundered into the Israel-Palestine mess with zero training, zero briefing and nothing but self-interest and vibes. He’s issued a bizarre set of statements about his “concerns,” statements which… in retrospect were completely unnecessary, given today’s event.

These are photos of William visiting the British Red Cross headquarters in London. It wasn’t some highly political event after all – just a prince visiting the Red Cross HQ, speaking briefly with the head of the Psycho-social team and getting an in-person briefing from British aid workers about how they’re getting medical supplies to Gaza and working in partnership with the Red Crescent. He also did a video link-up with people on the ground in Israel and Gaza. That’s it. Kensington Palace could have done a brief preview of this trip by saying “the Prince of Wales will visit the British Red Cross HQ today to get briefings on what is happening in Israel and Palestine.” And that would have been perfectly acceptable and even royally “apolitcal.” There was no reason for William to issue two statements within 24 hours, neither of which sounded like they were vetted by Downing Street. That being said, Richard Palmer claimed on Twitter that Peg’s statement today was “run past the Foreign Office before he issued it.”

I know everyone has their own trending topics on Twitter, but from what I can see, William is being ripped to shreds for being political in the most bone-headed way. It’s not just by regular anti-royal critics either – there are historians and policy experts criticizing William’s statements and his event. It’s like people don’t even understand that William merely wanted a quick “statesman” photo op and he really doesn’t give a f–k about anything other than his competition with Harry’s successful trip to Canada.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

After Buckingham Palace announced King Charles’s cancer diagnosis, Queen Camilla had to temporarily suspend her very obvious “Camilla is the last one standing, she’s ruling this bitch all by herself” campaign. She gave it two weeks, and now she’s ready to relaunch the same campaign. “Sources close to Camilla” went to Camilla Tominey at the Telegraph to talk about how Camilla is doing these days, how she’s amazing for doing events while her husband has cancer, and how Camilla surrounds herself with loyal friends. The stuff about Camilla’s inner circle isn’t that surprising – Camilla is well-connected in aristo circles and has been all of her life, and these were the same women who helped her gaslight Diana and destroy Charles’s first marriage. At the end of this piece, there’s yet another hilarious aside about Camilla’s relationship with her ex-husband though. Some highlights:

Camilla spent Valentine’s Day with friends: It was an intimate Valentine’s Day gathering of some of the Queen’s close confidantes. Organised by her friend Gyles Brandreth, the evening saw Camilla finally let her hair down after what has been a fraught fortnight behind palace walls. Joined by her sister Annabel Elliot and pals including Dame Judi Dench, Dame Joanna Lumley and Sir Stephen Fry, the ‘Celebration of Shakespeare’ event was designed to bring some welcome cheer following the King’s cancer diagnosis. Although the monarch, 75, was originally expected to attend, after another round of treatment in London on Wednesday, he left his wife to enjoy an evening of performances by stars of stage and screen. Ever the King’s “rock”, Camilla once again put best foot forward to honour the commitment, in the interests of crown and country.

Camilla’s kept the show on the road: If the shock news of her husband’s condition has been taking its toll on the Queen, then she certainly hasn’t been showing it as she continues to live up to her reputation as someone who “gets on with it”. Even a whistlestop visit by Prince Harry, who described her as his “wicked” stepmother in his autobiography Spare, wasn’t enough to put her off her stride. As one source close to the couple pointed out: “It has been pretty phenomenal how the Queen has kept the show on the road.”

Camilla IS the slimmed-down monarchy: Referencing the royal engagements she has carried out since Buckingham Palace announced the news on Feb 5, the insider added: “She has undertaken a range of duties, both big and small, including a visit to the Maggie’s Centre at the end of last month when she knew the King’s condition but couldn’t share it. What a trouper she is at 76 with a poorly husband.” Ailsa Anderson, the former press secretary to the late Queen Elizabeth II said perhaps not enough credit is given to Camilla for being front and centre of the King’s “slimmed down” monarchy. “People forget that she hasn’t been brought up to do this role. The King and Prince William know their destiny but she’s relatively a newcomer to the Royal family. She’s a grandmother, but she’s a wife as well – she’s got to support her husband. Anyone who knows someone who has had cancer knows how hard it is for the spouse.”

Camilla still gets so much support from her ex-husband: There is one more person in her life upon whom she is increasingly reliant – her ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles. Some were surprised to see the former Army officer, 84, at the Coronation but they remain in “regular contact”, according to someone who knows them both well. As one friend previously explained: “He arranges so much for her. They have lunch together the whole time. He’s right in there. He was always, and still is, Camilla’s co-conspirator.” Known as “The Bridgadier”, Andrew is thought to have become closer to Camilla, who he divorced in 1995, following the death of his second wife Rosemary Pitman, in 2010 – although they were never on bad terms, as evidenced by Parker Bowles’s invitation to the royal wedding in 2005. The former military man is bringing up the rear of a formidable army of supporters ensuring that Camilla can keep calm and carry on while the King fights his cancer battle.

[From The Telegraph]

We’ve heard many times before that Camilla enjoys a warm relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles, but I still find it weird that he “arranges so much for her.” Previously, we heard that they were still “joined at the hip” – that was when we learned that he would attend the coronation, a coronation which was very much Camilla’s victory lap and a total Parker-Bowles affair. I mean, what can we even say at this point? Camilla, as always, runs circles around the royal clownshow and she positioned herself to have so much power over everything that happens. What’s happening now, with Camilla’s PR campaign during her husband’s cancer treatments, is part of her victory lap too.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Here are some photos of Taylor Swift in Sydney today. She went out to dinner with Sabrina Carpenter, who is opening for the Eras Tour during the Australian leg. Taylor has been in Oz since the Super Bowl, first playing in Melbourne and now in Sydney. Aussies love Taylor, although from what I’ve heard, Aussies love Pink more. Pink basically has to do a two-month residency in Australia, doing multiple concerts in every single city. Don’t get me wrong, Taylor is making sure her Aussie fans get to see her. But she’s no Pink!

Anyway, Taylor and Sabrina went to Pellegrino 2000 in Sydney and it looked like Taylor’s security guys were doing the most to make sure Taylor wasn’t swarmed by fans. Again, I like that Taylor isn’t hiding these days and I’m glad she feels safe enough to go out to eat. She was out and about in Melbourne too, and she was photographed wearing a Chiefs hat and the TNT bracelet given to her by Travis Kelce.

Speaking of Killa Trav, the Australian media has been tracking Taylor’s plane, and they found something interesting – after her private plane dropped her off in Sydney, the plane headed out to Honolulu. People think Taylor has sent her plane to pick up Travis. I guess the idea being, he would fly from Kansas City to Hawaii on a commercial flight and then get picked up by Taylor’s private plane? Hm. I genuinely hope that’s true, actually – I would love for Travis to join Taylor in Sydney and then stick around for Singapore. I bet he’s never been to Australia or Singapore!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.