In this post, I’m including photos issued by Kensington Palace for various occasions and events. Some KP pics from the Princess of Wales’s various “work” (including the much-loved pie chart pics), some pics for various holidays and birthdays and at least one photo issued by KP after the death of QEII, in which “Kate” took a photo of QEII with all of her grandchildren, a photo which still looks extremely fake. Oh, and I’m including the Kensington Palace-released portraits, taken by Paolo Roversi, for Kate’s 40th birthday in 2022, because those were crazy air-brushed. I bring you this wealth of KP-issued photos because, apparently, CNN has announced that they’re conducting a review of all palace-issued photos.

CNN is reviewing all photographs handed out by Kensington Palace after the Princess of Wales admitted editing a family portrait. The American broadcaster said the picture of the Princess and her three children had been distributed for editorial purposes and that media organisations “expect those images to be accurate”.

The photograph was recalled by four of the world’s biggest picture agencies over fears it had been “manipulated”. The Princess then admitted editing the image after several inconsistencies were identified. She said that as an amateur photographer, she “occasionally experimented” and apologised for any confusion it had caused.

An analysis of the furore published online by CNN said that, like most news organisations, they “regard it as unacceptable to move, change or manipulate the pixels of an image” as it would alter the reality of the situation the image is intended to document.

“CNN is now reviewing all handout photos previously provided by Kensington Palace,” it added. A decision about any action will be taken when the investigation has concluded.

[From The Telegraph]

There have been some egregious examples of heavily manipulated photos coming from KP before now, but the reason why those photos were never called out was because they weren’t released as a significant “proof of life” during a particularly weird missing-princess storyline. Like, the photo of QEII and her white grandkids (taken by Kate) was so obviously heavily edited, but it wasn’t issued as “look, QEII is still alive, we promise!” There were no constitutional implications. Oh, adjacent to this, the British Press Photographers’ Association released a pretty scathing statement about Kate’s Photoshop debacle:

The British Press Photographers’ Association applauds the actions of the major agencies who have had the courage to withdraw the recently distributed image showing Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales and her children by issuing a ‘kill notice’. Their suspicions that the photograph had been digitally manipulated are well-founded and it is important for the reputation of press photography that they have acted as swiftly and decisively as they have.

We are lead to believe that HRH The Princess of Wales has said that she edited the image and has apologised. That should not be an end to the matter however. Whether the picture was manipulated to ‘look nice’ by someone who didn’t understand the importance of truth
in images or whether there is something else behind their actions is not as important as getting the message out there that it is wrong.

The BPPA has always spoken up in favour of making sure that the public has trust in the photographs produced by our members as well as those who supply images to the news media. This has become more of an issue since pictures supplied by such a variety of sources
have become more common and we would urge all of those sources to have a look at item 1, clause i) of the Editors’ Code of Practice which says: “The press must take care not to publish inaccurate or misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text.”

We would urge everyone involved to make the original images available for inspection so that we can assess what has been done, make sure that it doesn’t happen again and allow this story to be the last time that manipulated images are distributed to the media.

[From The BPPA]

This is an extremely harsh statement from the BPPA. Is it personal? Perhaps – they’re mad that they haven’t been called in to photograph the Wales family. But it’s also a huge professional issue for them, the fact that KP has been issuing heavily manipulated photos for years.

Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace, Avalon Red.

There are so many people newly tuning in to the royal sh-tshow and they all have so many opinions and theories. I love that, and I love that there are so many eyes on this unfolding catastrophe, and it’s thrilling to have so many people engaged with something we’ve been covering here for many, many years. I have one note for the new peeps: the idea that the Princess of Wales would suddenly “leave” her husband or that all of this is happening because Kate has “had enough” is the wrong gossip-thread to go down. Kate would never leave William. She would never ask for a divorce. She is in this marriage until William is done with her. Whatever is happening right now – and I truly don’t have any exclusive information on this – is happening because of William’s actions, his behavior, his attempts to get Kate out of the way, to marginalize her or divorce her. Speaking of, it does feel like there are significant efforts to soft-launch a divorce or the idea of Kate’s withdrawal from public life. For example, this very interesting Page Six piece:

Royal insiders fear Kate Middleton’s Photoshop scandal is taking a toll on her recovery from the abdominal surgery which has sidelined her from royal duties — and made her health the focus of intense speculation. The Princess of Wales looked strained as she sat next to Prince William Monday, gazing out of the window, prompting comparisons in royal circles to photos of her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana.

One well-placed royal source told Page Six, “It’s an awful lot to be under all of this public scrutiny when you are recovering from major surgery.

“The rumor mill — particularly on social media — has gotten out of control, but Kate is recovering well and she will be back by Easter. She just needs to be left in peace.”

Another palace insider mused, “I worry about all this attention on Catherine. She did not look happy at all in the car on Monday.”

The insider added that it reminded them of photographs of Diana looking upset as she sat next to her former husband, King Charles, at the height of their marriage crisis. One famous photo saw the couple sitting together on an official visit to Seoul, South Korea, in November 1992. the tension etched across their faces. They announced their official split a month later.

Kensington Palace had stated that Kate would be expected back to public life at Easter after having her planned surgery and are continuing to stick to this while trying to quell rumors.

Global PR and marketing expert Mark Borkowski said the entire affair has shown up how the royal family fares when Kate, the “box office” attraction, is out of commission. “It does focus on William’s decisions about how he calls the shots on how they manage the press… this shows a complete disengagement with the media.”

[From Page Six]

Yep, Borkowski is right in this narrow instance – this is William’s (mis)management of the press, and William has clearly signaled that Kate is being thrown under the bus, that Kate is expendable, that Kate can and will be used to protect him. Evoking Diana and the previous Wales divorce is being done on purpose too. I’m not saying KP wrote this Page Six blurb, but royalists in the UK and North America can read the tea leaves and we understand what’s happening this week.

Kate is pictured leaving Windsor Castle with William https://t.co/9QzAFghyFm pic.twitter.com/cGuEMkI9ki

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 11, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Last year, the trade papers estimated that Margot Robbie likely made about $50 million on her backend deal for Barbie. Barbie grossed $1.446 billion at the box office, and Margot was not only the lead, she executive produced the film and put the whole thing together. Margot was the one who pitched Mattel, and she was the one who hired Greta Gerwig. I would not be surprised if Margot’s backend was a lot more than $50 million. But… I would also not be surprised if Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer backend was even bigger. Variety says that is so, especially now that Oppy won Best Director and Best Picture at the Oscars.

Christopher Nolan took home two Oscars on Sunday night for director and producer of “Oppenheimer.” But his ultimate haul for the period drama was so much bigger. Nolan’s final payday for the film, which traces the life of titular scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in creating the atomic bomb, is just south of $100 million, according to knowledgeable sources.

That figure represents a combination of salary, backend compensation, box-office escalators and a bonus for his twin Academy Awards. A representative for the filmmaker didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Universal film — which nabbed seven Oscars total, including trophies for actor Cillian Murphy and supporting actor Robert Downey Jr. — was made on a budget of $100 million. After its release on July 19, becoming half of the one-two “Barbenheimer” punch, the film earned $958 million worldwide, a mammoth sum considering “Oppenheimer’s” R rating and three-hour running time. (Both are typically considered barriers in luring a so-called four-quadrant audience.) It also marks the highest-grossing best picture winner since 2004’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”

“Oppenheimer” is being rereleased in 1,000 theaters this weekend with its newly minted best picture status. That should run up the film’s final box-office tally and eclipse the $1 billion threshold, thus triggering an additional bonus for the director.

Now all eyes are on what Nolan — who wrote, directed and produced “Oppenheimer” — will do next. Some say it will be a remake of the mystery-thriller “The Prisoner,” based on the 1960s TV series created by and starring Patrick McGoohan, which Nolan was attached to in 2009. But the sci-fi project vanished from Nolan’s dance card that same year, when AMC released its own “The Prisoners,” a six-part miniseries led by Jim Caviezel as the ill-fated agent Number Six alongside Ian McKellen and Ruth Wilson. Others say he will begin writing a new screenplay now that the awards season is behind him.

[From Variety]

It actually sounds crazy to me that his ultimate payday is just below $100 million? Like, one tenth of the film’s gross goes to the director, not taking into account the cost of the production & promotion? While Nolan’s achievement with Oppenheimer was noteworthy and award-worthy, it feels like Margot Robbie should take this article to Warner Bros and tell them to cut her another check. If Nolan’s getting $95 million or so, why can’t Margot? As for Nolan’s next projects… I hope he gets a female cowriter who helps him figure out how to write female characters. All that money in the world and he cannot write women at all.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Did y’all know that Adam Sandler made four film projects and did a tour last year? Forbes has released their annual list of highest paid actors and in 2023, Adam Sandler was the highest paid. I must be hanging out in the wrong entertainment crowds because honestly, I had no idea he did anything other than Murder Mystery 2, lol. According to Forbes, Adam made $73 million last year, thanks to his comedy tour, MM2, action-comedy The Out-Laws, comedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, and voice and production work on Netflix’s Leo. The last time Sandler was named Forbes’ highest earning actor was way back in 2002, but he’s appeared in the top ten list several times since then.

Adam Sandler’s four film projects of 2023 propelled him to an annual salary of $73m (£57m), making him the highest-paid performer in Hollywood, according to Forbes magazine. The standup turned actor also embarked on a comedy tour, which supplemented earnings from starring and producing in Netflix’s Murder Mystery 2, as well as his writing, producing and voice work on Leo, the streamer’s popular animation.

Sandler was also involved with little-seen action comedy The Out-Laws, and produced and starred – alongside his wife and daughters – in acclaimed comedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. The actor last topped the list in 2002, when he made $47m (£37m) starring in the likes of Mr Deeds and Punch-Drunk Love.

In second place was Margot Robbie, who at 33 is also the youngest actor on the list by a decade. The massive global success of Barbie, which she co-produced, is largely responsible for the estimated $59m (£46m) Robbie earned in 2023.

Despite the latest Mission: Impossible movie performing below par at the box office, in part on account of being released a few weeks before Barbenheimer, profits from that film, plus streaming residues from 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, meant Tom Cruise was third on the list, with $45m (£35m).

Robbie’s Barbie co-star, Ryan Gosling, was joint fourth, alongside Oppenheimer’s Matt Damon; both men earned $43m (£34m). Meanwhile, Ben Affleck, Damon’s co-star – and director – on Air, the Nike sports film released early last year, was ninth, with $38m (£30m).

Sandler’s Murder Mystery co-star Jennifer Aniston came in sixth on the list with $42m (£33m). One of only two women in the Top 10, Aniston has only starred in two films in the past five years – Murder Mystery and its sequel – but her earnings were presumably much supplemented by Friends residuals (Forbes does not include money earned through advertising and sponsorship deals).

Killers of the Flower Moon star Leonardo DiCaprio made $41m (£32m), placing him joint seventh with Jason Statham, the only English actor on the list. Statham starred in four 2023 releases: Fast X, Meg 2: The Trench, Expend4bles and Guy Ritchie’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre.

In 10th place was Denzel Washington, who made $24m (£19m) and featured in the third Equalizer film. At 69, he is the oldest, and the only Black actor on the list.

Forbes reports that it calculates its estimates through interviews with agents and industry experts, as well as crunching data from the likes of IMDbPro. The business magazine said its figures represent taxed earnings for the calendar year 2023, and only include income related to entertainment. In 2022, Tyler Perry topped the Forbes list, while Dwayne Johnson did so for the three previous consecutive years.

[From The Guardian]

While Sandler topping the list took me by surprise, none of the other names really did except for Aniston, but as they pointed out, those Friends residuals must be quite nice. I do think it’s kinda interesting that both Tyler Perry and Dwayne Johnson completely fell off the top 10 list this year. I would have at least expected Perry to be up there, but I just looked it up and he didn’t have any new acting projects in 2023.

If you’re like me and need to see things in list form, here’s what the top ten looks:

Adam Sandler ($73 million)
Margot Robbie ($59 million)
Tom Cruise ($45 million)
Ryan Gosling ($43 million)
Matt Damon ($43 million)
Jennifer Aniston ($42 million)
Leonardo DiCaprio ($41 million)
Jason Statham ($41 million)
Ben Affleck ($38 million)
Denzel Washington ($24 million)

I don’t think I need to point out that seven out of the top ten actors were white men, and most are white men that generally appear in some spot on that list year after year. As always, when you compare the highest paid men vs. women, the women’s numbers are much less. I cannot say enough how much I want to see a Barbie bump next year in terms of investment in films created by and starring women and POC. Gosh, that would be so satisfying.

Photos credit: Scott Yamano/Netflix, Getty Images for Netflix, IMAGO/Steve Vas / Avalon

The 2024 Oscars had the highest ratings in four years! I hope that means the Oscars will start at 7 pm from now on. [JustJared]
Da’Vine Joy Randolph looked amazing at the VF Oscar party! [RCFA]
Thoughts on the five-presenter format for the Oscar acting categories… I like the format, but clearly, it’s awkward for the winners. [LaineyGossip]
Speaker Mike Johnson won’t protect IVF. [Jezebel]
I was sort of fine with Al Pacino’s weird Best Picture announcement. [Pajiba]
American ingredients which are difficult to find overseas. [Buzzfeed]
Who was the best-dressed at the Oscars? [Socialite Life]
More photos from the VF Oscar party. [Hollywood Life]
Lenny Kravitz & Rita Moreno: hot new couple? [Seriously OMG]
The children are doing competitive runway! [OMG Blog]

Like many of you, I too was disappointed that President Biden didn’t address the decline in American gum chewing during his State of the Union speech. For a minute I thought he actually might go there, once he started talking about half-filled snack bags and even name dropped Snickers. But no mention of gum. And so it falls to us to start this conversation on the pressing issue tearing our economy apart. The pandemic killed gum chewing, y’all! Who cares about bad breath when you’re social distancing and wearing masks?! And even though we’re (mainly) not doing that anymore, gum sales have not recovered. AP News spoke to gum industry insiders for insight on this developing crisis:

Bubbles bursting: The number of packages of gum sold dropped by nearly a third in the United States in 2020, according to Circana, a market research firm. Consumer demand has picked up only slightly since then. Last year, U.S. chewing gum sales rose less than 1% to 1.2 billion units, which was still 32% fewer than in 2018. Although sales in dollars are back to pre-pandemic levels, that’s mostly due to inflation; the average pack of gum cost $2.71 last year, $1.01 more than it did in 2018, Circana said.

Chewing gum relieves stress? Mars Inc., which owns the 133-year-old Wrigley brand, thinks it may have an answer: repositioning gum as an instant stress reliever rather than an occasional breath freshener. In January, the company launched a global ad campaign promoting its top-selling Orbit, Extra, Freedent and Yida brands as tools for mental well-being.

The ‘Aha!’ moment: Alyona Fedorchenko, vice president for global gum and mints in Mars’ snacking division, said the idea stuck in the summer of 2020, when the company was frantically researching ways to revive sales. Fedorchechenko remembered talking to a nurse in a hospital COVID-19 ward who chewed gum to calm herself even though she always wore a mask. The nurse’s habit meshed with studies by Mars that showed half of chewers reached for gum to relieve stress or boost concentration. “That, for us, was the big ‘Aha!’” Fedorchenko said. “We’ve had a century of legacy of fresh breath, and that is still very important. Don’t get me wrong. But there is so much more this category can be.” Emphasizing wellness is part of a multi-year effort to attract 10 million new U.S. chewers by 2030, she said.

Chewing leads to swallowing leads to bloating: But not everyone finds gum enhances well-being. Kylie Faildo, a pelvic floor physical therapist in Denver, thinks artificial sweeteners and swallowing air while chewing made her bloating symptoms worse. She gave up gum two years ago and doesn’t plan to go back, even though she misses the ease of popping a piece into her mouth before meeting a client. “I use mouthwash a lot more now,” Faildo said.

Time for innovation! Caron Proschan, the founder and CEO of the natural gum brand Simply, said she thinks U.S. gum sales slowed due to a shortage of innovation. Young customers have little disposable income and many distractions, she said, so gum needs to be compelling. Simply — which makes gum from a type of tree sap called chicle instead of synthetic ingredients — has seen its sales double every year since 2021 without raising prices, Proschan said. “Consumers today care about ingredients. They care about quality. The chewing gum category was not evolving to meet the needs of this consumer,” she said.

[From AP News]

First of all, I hope Ms. Fedorchenko of Mars Inc. has business cards printed with her title of Vice President for Global Gum and Mints, Snacking Division. It’s such a fun title! But how do we feel about gum as a stress reliever? I get it, but personally I’ve always found that gum chewing just becomes nervous energy of a different kind. I’ll enjoy the initial burst of flavor (peppermint or spearmint, for me) and then will be chain-chewing to keep getting a fresh hit, and to keep the physical activity going. Basically, the tension just relocates to my jaw. And of all the things to spend money on, it’s hard to get jazzed about buying gum. Instead I took that money and purchased NUMBER REDACTED boxes of thin mint cookies from girl scouts selling their wares out in the rain, thankyouverymuch.

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On Sunday night, as the Oscars were happening, royalists were slowly melting down and tweeting through it as major news agencies killed the “manipulated” Mother’s Day photo from Kensington Palace. It was incredible to watch in real time as even true-blue sycophants clutched their pearls and dared to question the lies they were getting from KP. And now, Richard Kay at the Mail has entered the chat. Kay is a royalist and, even more than that, he’s now closely aligned with KP and Prince William specifically. Kay gets a call when William needs to do clean up on one of his messes (famously, the Rose Hanbury affair story). So it’s interesting to watch Kay really question everything about the series of boneheaded moves from William and his staff right now. Some highlights from Kay’s latest Daily Mail column:

Kay does not believe the palace’s lies: As recriminations flew over the photograph, which cast a deep shadow over the Commonwealth Day service of celebration at Westminster Abbey, royal insiders were privately insisting that there had been no professional manipulation but merely a little tidying up of a picture which captured a private moment. But that explanation simply won’t do. This was no snapshot destined for a family photo album but an image that was going to be shared with the world in a bid to crush the speculation about Kate’s health once and for all. How foolish such expectations look now.

No one believes Kate’s apology either: Palace minders must have hoped that Kate’s mea culpa would head off this dangerous and unforeseen crisis. But far from ‘killing’ the story, her statement breathed new life into it. It quoted her blandly saying that ‘like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing’. She also apologised for ‘any confusion the family photograph caused’. And that was all. There was no explanation as to why she wanted to alter the picture or what it was she hoped to modify. What was the touching up all about?

The rumormill: A widely seen TikTok video suggested that the picture was taken last November and the clothing of the children and the Princess were changed by ‘Photoshop’ manipulation. Perhaps the biggest mystery of all is the most obvious one — the absence of Kate’s wedding and engagement rings. This must surely have raised alarm bells with the Kensington Palace communications team, which was responsible for distributing the image. The Princess’s sapphire engagement ring was Princess Diana’s and is probably the most famous piece of jewellery in the world. The fact that it wasn’t there was bound to arouse curiosity.

Why is KP making Kate take the fall for everything? Kate’s apology is obviously heartfelt but her explanation is partial. It does seem unfair that the woman whose health and welfare has been at the centre of this baffling episode should be the one saying sorry. It is entirely fitting to ask why the couple’s well-paid communications staff didn’t flag up the discrepancies in the picture before its release. But, then again, perhaps they did. By offering her apology, the Princess appears to be taking full responsibility which, for someone still convalescing from major surgery, does seem grossly unfair.

The Waleses’ biggest flaw: William and Kate are bright, personable and intelligent. They are down to earth and unshowy — the very qualities that have made them the biggest draw of our Royal Family. But it is this desire for ordinariness which conceals one significant flaw: a near obsessive need for secrecy. Neither the reason for Kate’s surgery nor the nature of her complaint has been disclosed. Perhaps in years gone by — before social media — such a position could be sustained, but these days it is virtually impossible.

The Waleses are insular & cut off: The couple have erected a towering wall around their family life which rightly screens them from prying eyes. But at a cost: it has contributed to a sense that they can be insular and rather remote. Similarly, their decision to relocate from London to the middle of Windsor Great Park, while terrific for George, Charlotte and Louis’s schooling, has added to the idea that they are slightly cut off. Never was this more apparent than in William’s decision not to attend ex-King Constantine’s memorial service last month. No explanation has ever been offered, but in an institution like the Royal Family, where presentation is fundamental, it looks like an error. An error compounded by the fiasco over the photograph.

No one believes Will & Kate anymore: Some will dismiss media criticism about the manipulated photograph as a storm in a teacup. But there are precious commodities at stake here: trust and integrity. If pictures can be digitally altered, what else can be twisted? The British public adore the Royal Family but that adoration rests on them being told the truth.

[From The Daily Mail]

Kay also went off on a tangent, explaining that Will and Kate are so secretive because the Sussexes will “weaponize” anything and everything against the Waleses… which is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard, and I’m embarrassed for Kay that he even halfheartedly attempted that. William and Kate are secretive because they have secrets and because they’re arrogant and ignorant and they don’t want to “serve” in any way. They do not understand public service or the idea that they should be subject to regular accountability, nor do they feel like they need to disclose anything about their lives, their living arrangements, their health or their marriage. Kay knows all of this. And he’s very publicly telling them to get their house in order.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Sunday, March 10 was Prince Edward’s 60th birthday. He was out in Leeds two days prior, with his wife Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh. They attended the Community Sport and Recreation Awards 2024 at Headingley Stadium, and Edward was presented with a birthday cake (which delighted him). Edward has been doing more youth-oriented events recently, probably because of his inherited patronage of the DofE Awards.

Edward is the youngest of QEII and Prince Philip’s children, so he’s leaning hard into the “spring chicken” vibe for the working royals, especially with Prince William and Kate largely MIA this year. That was the (soft) focus of several birthday-keenery pieces in various media outlets. The Daily Beast’s Royalist column claimed that Edward “might finally be about to get his big break,” and sources insist that Edward “has dedicated much of his life to public service and charitable work. He has always been very clear about his role which is to support the monarchy. Previously that meant doing what his mother asked, now it means doing what his brother asks. He has always been loyal and Charles likes him enormously and is very grateful to him.” Sources also say that there’s little tension between Charles and Edward because Edward isn’t a showboat, nor does he seek the limelight and “He is content to be a thread in the tapestry.” Edward also made some on-the-record comments to Becky English at the Mail:

Edward on his support system: ‘Well, you need a really good supportive network in this and family is incredibly important. I am just very, very lucky that Sophie is a brilliant, brilliant person in her own right,’ he tells me, smiling from ear to ear. It’s worth noting that he is the only one of the late Queen’s children never to have divorced.

Edward travels by foot when he can: Although the prince drives during our day together, he is one of the few royals who often travels by foot – and even the Tube – to work. A friend who has holidayed with the Edinburghs tells me the couple happily go down to the local Co-op to get supplies.

His favorite hobbies: Edward’s favourite pastime is walking alone in the countryside with his beloved spaniel, Mole.But he is also, I am also told, a ‘demon’ BBQ-er, and can often be found outside in the dark at parties wearing a head torch and creating ‘truly amazing’ culinary delights – a talent inherited from his late father.

On his weight loss: I remark to another friend that the duke has lost a notable amount of weight, and wonder if he has embraced a new fitness regime as he approaches his 60s. ‘I hate to bore you, but he’s just remarkably disciplined. He is not a big eater or drinker and certainly not a smoker. He just isn’t a pudding man,’ they say.

Edward on the king’s health: When we meet, I ask Edward about his brother the King’s health. He smiles wanly, understandably emotional given how raw the news is. ‘We were all hugely grateful for the extraordinary support from everyone. I know he has been very touched by it all. He’s doing well, we are keeping our fingers crossed that it all goes very well,’ he says.

[From The Daily Mail]

Some people naturally thin out as they get older and some people put on weight as they get older. It does seem strange that rather suddenly, over the course of about two years in his late 50s, Edward suddenly lost a noticeable amount of weight. “He’s just remarkably disciplined. He is not a big eater or drinker and certainly not a smoker. He just isn’t a pudding man.” Like, I’ll buy that – he’s disciplined about fitness and diet, etc. But most people don’t suddenly drop that kind of weight if they’ve always been “disciplined.” Something has changed and maybe it’s just something as simple as “no snacking, no more cocktails,” but it seems bizarrely squirrelly to refuse to just say that.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

When Kensington Palace has lost the Daily Mail, they really have nothing left. The Mail represents Prince William and Kate’s power base: older, conservative, reactionary, anti-woke, anti-immigrant, racist. If those people are not on Will and Kate’s side, no one is. So I’ve been watching the Mail’s coverage of the Mother’s Day photo scandal and it is fascinating. They’re calling out the Waleses pretty thoroughly and in some interesting ways. Several of the Mail’s columnists have suggested or said outright that Kate’s “apology” for the photo-editing is bullsh-t and it’s just the palace throwing Kate under the bus for their cockup. Several of those columnists are basically begging the Kensington Palace clownshow to tighten their operations because they all look like complete fools. One of my favorite pieces was the Mail’s Liz Jones basically having a come-to-Jesus revelation that everything around Will and Kate is a lie. Some highlights:

Liz Jones saw the problems with the Mother’s Day photo immediately: “I rushed home to study the photo of Kate and her children, released to show the world that she is doing well and on the mend. But then…Hmm. I went outside to stare at trees. Blossom, yes, but no leaves. Another look at the snap. Her expression was a bit off. A bit too bland and a bit too happy. I would have expected, after a couple of months off and reams of speculation, a half-smile, something slightly wry. And why was Louis in a Christmas jumper? Didn’t the floor seem rather shabby?”

WTF was William thinking? “Ordinary people, worried and wondering why, if the photo has indeed been doctored, William couldn’t just take a bloody normal family snap on his phone and post it! We all do it, many times a day. We didn’t want or expect a perfectly posed shot, just a little something to stop us worrying. And we had been worrying ever since that woman was papped in a car, driven by Kate’s mother, last week? I for one got no sleep at all.”

It’s like watching Bambi learn to walk: “Given what is possible with AI and digital trickery today, isn’t it even more important for the Royal Family and its minions to be authentic and transparent in all their dealings with the public and Press, given we all pay for their palaces and their privacy? It is such a blunder, so catastrophic for our faith in the monarchy and I believe that, yet again, Kate has been badly let down by the Palace media operation and advisers.”

The lack of statements from KP about Kate’s health: “No updates beyond the bland and meaningless, allowing the distasteful speculation about her health and the state of her marriage to proliferate on social media and in the foreign press – New York Times and American Vogue – to ponder. Why could they not have simply released a photo for Mother’s Day of Kate from the Coronation, say, with a small note from her? That would have been fine. We don’t expect her to put on make-up during her hiatus.

Was it all a lie?? “Now we are thinking: did she even write the message that accompanied the controversial snap? And more. Why were there as many as 16 anomalies on the photo? Was the photo an old Christmas one, simply repurposed? The children certainly look as hysterical and excited as they would have done on Christmas Day. Why wasn’t an accredited photographer with decades of professional standing sent in to do the shot? Was she too ill for that? The Palace clearly can no longer be trusted, given what transpired on Monday morning when, finally, an official tweet from Kensington Palace arrived.

Kate’s statement: ‘Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I want to express my apologies for any confusion…’ It is signed with a ‘C’. What??!! But Kate is not an ‘amateur’, she is an experienced photographer (She is, after all, patron of the Royal Photographic Society). And it was William who took it! She is a perfectionist and would never do a bad job with anything! Now, I don’t want to accuse KP of lying. But I think the Palace, not the Princess, treats the general public with disdain. The Palace thinks we are all stupid, and will never question anything the Waleses say.

Kate would never bungle this so badly: “I am certain that Kate, as a young, media savvy, empathetic person, who never puts a foot wrong, is never caught with the wrong expression, or wearing something that doesn’t quite fit or is creased, would not make a mistake like this. I believe she had no hand in this photo, or any mistakes made after. What we do know is that this debacle is fuelling even more speculation – even that she is refusing to co-operate with the Palace. Whatever is going on, I can only imagine Kate’s distress, her shock, her anger. And whoever is responsible needs to be sacked. Today.

[From The Daily Mail]

Such a rich tapestry of shenanigans, and I cannot believe I’m saying this, but Liz Jones is making some points! I also believe that Kate’s apology and signature were forged. I also believe that Kate was not the one creating a Frankenstein image composite. I also believe that William and his staff think that the public is too stupid to see what they’re doing. We’ll see if the Mail keeps this kind of energy for long, but it does feel like something has been irrevocably broken here.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Kensington Palace.

Here are more photos of Prince William attending the Commonwealth service on Monday, after which he attended an Earthshot event. Surprisingly, William didn’t look overwhelmed or like he had been in a blind panic for the previous 24 hours. Probably because he had settled on a course of action after he f–ked up so thoroughly with the “Mother’s Day photo” debacle. His solution? Blame everything on his wife, blame Kate for editing the photo and send out courtiers to provide a false narrative about what happened behind the scenes to create an intricate web of lies which could easily collapse under close scrutiny. Behold, the Times of London’s palace-approved narrative of how KATE screwed up so badly.

The image was the first time the princess had been formally photographed since her surgery in January. However, PA, Getty Images, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Shutterstock, Reuters and the Press Association “killed” the image from their databases, noting an “inconsistency in alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand”.

Yet none were spotted by aides before its release and information regarding the editing process was not believed to have been shared by the princess with her team before it became public. It had initially been greeted with praise by courtiers.

The first red flag might have been that the seemingly perfect image was shot in just a 40-minute window on Friday in Windsor, a source said. Time constraints meant that the picture had to happen once the children were back from school and once Prince William was back from London, where he had been attending an Earthshot event at the Oval cricket ground. There was only a limited amount of time because the family was also due to fly off to their home of Anmer Hall in Sandringham for the weekend.

The following day, Kate circulated the image to her team. At no point did anyone realise that it had been subject to an unfortunately clumsy attempt at editing. Looking back, alarm bells might also have started ringing when courtiers realised that it was William, not necessarily known for his camera skills, who had taken the picture. The time frame in which the image was taken would also suggest that, without editing, the Waleses had been extremely lucky for an amateur like William to capture such an engaging picture.

A PR plan was put into place for the image and its corresponding message to go out at 9am on Sunday morning. Within hours, theories were circulating online that the photo had been doctored. A shocked Palace assessed the situation and went back to the Prince and Princess of Wales. Kate confirmed that it was her and is understood to have thought that “honesty is the best policy”. She wanted to “own up” and acknowledge the mistake.

A Palace insider said that she felt “awful” about it and said that she had just “tried to make it the best it could be” because she knew how important it was for it to be “a nice picture”. They added that she was also thinking of her own children, hoping that they looked good for their own sakes. The princess released a new statement, apologising for “any confusion” over the picture. Kensington Palace refused to go further and explain what software was used in the editing of the picture or the way in which it was changed.

However, Sky News said a technician at the broadcaster had analysed the photo’s metadata to reveal that it was saved in Adobe Photoshop twice on an Apple Mac on Friday and Saturday and the picture was taken on a Canon 5D mark IV, which retails at £2,929.99 and used a Canon 50mm lens, priced at £1,629.99. The first save was made at 9.54pm on Friday and the second was at 9.39am on Saturday. It is not clear if the two saves were on the same device. Quite how it could have ended up to be such a PR disaster for the princess can, in part, be explained by the changes under way in the Wales household.

William and Kate’s Palace team is in a state of transition after restructuring. It has advertised for a chief executive but is yet to announce a successful candidate. The widely respected Jean-Christophe Gray, a civil servant and former spokesperson for David Cameron while he was prime minister, was private secretary to Prince William until he recently transferred back to government.

Instead, both William and Kate have new private secretaries, both well respected but new to their roles. Ian Patrick joined the household for the Prince of Wales last month as Gray’s successor. A former private secretary to Lord Ashdown, Patrick has an exemplary track record and sits on the board of trustees for the charity Chron’s & Colitis UK. Kate, meanwhile, has hired Lieutenant Colonel Tom White, filling a role which had been vacant for at least a year following the departure of Hannah Cockburn-Logie.

[From The Times]

As you can see, the new-to-the-job palace officials are thoroughly briefing the Times about Kate’s screwup and putting it all on her shoulders, but the Times can’t even keep up the facade of pretending to believe that no one in the palace “saw” the mistakes, or that everyone really believed the photo had been taken on Friday, or that the photo was taken by William. Lie on top of lie on top of lie. You’ve got to wonder how Kate feels about being thrown under the bus this way. Man, that actually does make me feel sorry for her – for more than a decade, the palace machinery has done the most to protect and coddle Kate, and now… they’re not.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, KP.