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.

As we discussed, the Times reported this weekend that Prince Harry apparently offered to “come back” temporarily and do some royal work while his dad has cancer. I said that it didn’t even feel like the Times spoke to anyone in Camp Sussex, that the whole “story” was either being pushed by Buckingham Palace, or it was a tabloid fantasy cooked up by piecing together random quotes from Harry’s recent GMA interview and other interviews he did last year. Hilariously, The Times barely even mentioned Prince William in their article, which is why I thought the original story probably didn’t come from Kensington Palace. Still, Kensington Palace rushed out to scream about the story immediately.

Prince William has told pals there is no chance Harry will be allowed back into the royal fold. The Prince of Wales is so angered by his brother’s continued attack on the monarchy that he will block any of his bids to return to The Firm. Sources close to William say that in the wake of King Charles’s cancer ­diagnosis, he would be the one to take on more duties himself if needed while it is understood he believes Harry and his wife Meghan “cannot be trusted”.

Reports have emerged that the Duke of Sussex, who quit as a senior royal with Meghan in 2020, is willing to return to a temporary royal role to support his ailing father. The Duke and Charles are said to have had several “warm exchanges” before Harry flew from his Californian home to the UK last week and spent 30 minutes with his father.

William and the King have had one-to-one meetings at the Royals’ Sandringham estate in Norfolk, where the monarch is recuperating after weekly cancer treatment in London. A source close said there is “no chance” the heir would allow his brother back.

“Whatever has been discussed between William and the King is private, but it is absolutely and categorically clear that he (William) would not allow Harry to return. He thought it was a bad idea at the time and he’s even more clear now. If anyone is going to take on more duties it will be William and that isn’t even on the agenda for now. His main focus is on his father’s health, his family and what is best for the monarchy. There is a zero per cent chance Harry is coming back in any capacity.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

LMAO @ “If anyone is going to take on more duties it will be William and that isn’t even on the agenda for now.” I’m picturing William stomping his feet and rage-shrieking: HARRY CAN’T COME BACK, I’M THE ONE WHO SHOULD DO THE WORK BUT I’M NOT GOING TO. Given this reaction, I really do believe the theory that Buckingham Palace is invoking Harry’s name and his potential “comeback” to smoke out William and force him to get off his ass and do some work. BP has been blatantly briefing against William for two weeks, openly discussing their “bewilderment” that William refuses to do anything. It’s fascinating to watch, especially when you don’t particularly care about either side.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Awards season alert: we have a double-header coming up this weekend (look at me using a sports term!) with the SAGs on Saturday and Independent Spirit Awards on Sunday. The SAGs always feel like a relief in the middle of the season, because they’re only about actors and therefore clock in at a tight two hours. But given the lean running time, I don’t understand why the SAGs don’t honor supporting actors in the TV categories. They do it for the film actors! That’s my only quibble with the show. And that is how we have this stacked category for Male Actor in a Drama Series, where Billy Crudup (The Morning Show) and Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) — who won the Critics Choice and Emmy in supporting categories, respectively — are nominated for the same roles alongside leading performances by Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin (both Succession), and Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us). All the nominees (save Brian Cox) just participated in a round table discussion for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, wherein Pedro shared a glimpse of his “psycho” method for learning lines:

“I bet I could show you a psychotic physical example of what I now have to do to learn my lines,” Pascal said in the video that also included Billy Crudup, Matthew Macfadyen and Kieran Culkin. “This is like a psycho first letter of every word. You see the letters, right? Basically, I’m the Unabomber.”

He continued, “You use the first letter of each in these towers or columns, I guess, and it’s this very, very tedious way of making yourself learn the line so that you’re not making choices. It’s not even sort of artistic, it’s just this really technical way I’ve had to acquire because of that horrible experience of forgetting my lines.”

Pascal will seemingly continue using this method of learning his lines for The Fantastic Four, the Marvel film he was recently confirmed to star in as Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic. The actor will also share the screen with Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

In addition to the superhero movie, Pascal will be seen in the near future in the second season of The Last of Us and the Gladiator sequel.

[From Deadline]

Not to split hairs here, but I’d call that worksheet he revealed more Zodiac Killer than Unabomber, though I concede that’s based on a fleeting glance. This story actually brought out the acting class nerd in me, when he briefly referenced wanting a purely technical method for learning lines. The idea is, you don’t want to predetermine or get stuck in one way of saying a line — at least not at the getting off book stage. Whenever I have anything I want to memorize, my method is equally as tedious as Pedro’s, if a little less convoluted: I handwrite the material in its entirety over and over and over again until I can write it all out by heart. Simple! So I appreciate where Pedro is coming from, and I applaud anyone who champions notetaking by hand. Where I’m losing him is with the practice of only writing out the first letter of a word. Because, you know, a single letter can be the start to any number of different words! What keeps this system from turning into live action mad libs? What stops a Joel Miller line like “You think I can still handle things but I’m not who I was,” from coming out as “Yo that ice cream sundae has triple butterscotch inside new wasabi infused walnuts.” And I love how the rest of the actors try to jump in and save him, like Billy Crudup saying “so you write this shorthand on the script?” And Pedro is like “no.” He knows he’s insane and he’s made peace with it. Hey, whatever works Pedro.

Photos credit: IMAGO/Jennifer Bloc / Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon and screenshot from YouTube

In 2018, Prince William visited Israel and Gaza and met with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other local leaders. During the five-day trip, William’s staff briefed the British press that William “pledged to make Middle East peace his lifelong project.” He promptly forgot about it and did absolutely f–k all. Then, last fall, he and Kate issued a carefully-worded statement following the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack. And since then… nothing. No visits to synagogues or mosques, no follow-up statements of concern. Don’t get me wrong, this is one of the most sensitive political hot potatoes ever, and I completely understand why Downing Street would tell a bald, insensitive, charisma-vacuum to simply shut up and not blunder into this situation whatsoever. William couldn’t even attend the BAFTAs and chat with actors without his ghastly gaffes making international news. So… it’s interesting that Kensington Palace thinks that William is capable of threading this particular needle right now.

The Prince of Wales will recognise the scale of “human suffering” caused by the war in Gaza in his first public comments on the conflict since it began last October. Prince William, 41, expressed “profound concern” about the ongoing violence in the Middle East ahead of an engagement on Tuesday, in which he will meet aid workers involved with the humanitarian effort in the enclave.

The Prince will be briefed on the latest developments in Gaza and how charities are supporting those on the ground. He has been “closely following” the Gaza conflict since the Hamas terror attacks in Israel on Oct 7, the Telegraph understands.

He will join a synagogue discussion with young campaigners against hatred next week, in the wake of a sharp rise in anti-Semitism caused by the conflict. The Prince is keen to use his platform to highlight the plight of millions of innocent civilians on both sides. The two engagements will be among the first he has conducted since returning from looking after his wife as she recovered from abdominal surgery, and their three children.

A Kensington Palace spokesperson said: “The Prince and Princess were profoundly concerned by events that unfolded in late 2023 and continue to hold all the victims, their family and friends in their hearts and minds. Their Royal Highnesses continue to share in the hope of a better future for all those affected.”

[From The Telegraph]

All of the British papers got the same statement and the same briefing, likely from William’s brand-new private secretary Ian Patrick. Patrick comes from the diplomatic world, and it looked like Patrick was basically assigned to William to help tutor this dumbass on How To Be A Soft Power Diplomat 101. Except William hates to read, he surrounds himself with incompetent staffers who fail to prepare him for events and he cannot be trusted in these kinds of sensitive situations. Weirdly, this whole “visiting a synagogue and speaking with anti-hate campaigners” is exactly the kind of thing King Charles would have done and has done a million times. Say what you will about Charles, but he’s always been very good in inclusive multi-faith conversations. His heir, not so much. Oh, William just issued this statement ahead of his events today:

“I remain deeply concerned about the terrible human cost of the conflict in the Middle East since the Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October,” he said. “I, like so many others, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible. There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. It’s critical that aid gets in and the hostages are released. Sometimes it is only when faced with the sheer scale of human suffering that the importance of permanent peace is brought home. Even in the darkest hour, we must not succumb to the counsel of despair.”

[From Sky News]

This is 100% the new guy, right? Worse yet, I absolutely believe that William is doing this last-minute, without guidance and approval from Downing Street or the Foreign Office. It will be interesting to see what happens.

A statement from The Prince of Wales pic.twitter.com/LV2jMx75DC

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) February 20, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

This past weekend, my social media was full of people who went to see Madame Web and love-hated every minute of it. The film is apparently completely terrible, poorly written, poorly acted, weird and likely another nail in the coffin for superhero films. On the other hand, it might become a camp classic, because it’s so stupid and terrible that people can’t even believe it was made. Anyway, after Madame Web bombed in its opening weekend (it only made $15.4 million domestically), the mood at Sony is quite glum.

The trailer buzz was worrisome, advance ticket sales anemic. Then last week, the critic reviews for Madame Web were posted, and they stung deepest of all — Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff received the lowest average Rotten Tomatoes score (13 percent) of any major superhero film in nearly a decade. “On Wednesday night, you could actually watch advance purchase sales declining in real time as buyers were refunding their tickets,” marvels a major theatrical chain insider. “It really says something when you’d rather have Shazam! 2 numbers.”

It marked one of the lowest starts in Hollywood history for a film based on a Marvel character. Domestic box office for the first six days in North America was just $26.2 million after opening midweek on Valentine’s Day. International tallied $25.7 million from 61 markets. Even the fan-friendly CinemaScore grade was poor (C+ — extremely low for a superhero title).

Like DC and the once-unstoppable Marvel, Sony is now finding itself in under the gun to reevaluate how it makes comic book movies. Sony’s previous Spider-Man universe movie — 2022’s Morbius — was a critical bust and much-maligned by fanboys online, but at least it managed to earn $170 million worldwide. There’s no such hope for Madame Web. Plus, the feature’s collapse doesn’t just impact this film, but a new potential franchise led by star Dakota Johnson that Sony had hoped to spin out (spoiler alert: her character is connected to Peter Parker, whose birth is documented in the movie).

The film introduced a trio of supporting characters (played by Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor and Sydney Sweeney — now one of the top stars her age). It set up a future in which the three could have become a team of Spider-Women under the guiding eye of Johnson’s Cassie Webb. Now that’s not going to happen. “We’re not going to see another Madame Web movie for another decade-plus,” quipped one industry veteran. “It failed. Sony tried to make a movie that was a different type of superhero movie.”

“I don’t know if women are enough to carry the box office here,” one veteran studio source outside of Sony says. Indeed, males make up 65 percent to 70 percent of the superhero audience in North America. In the case of Madame Web, the percentage of female viewers was still only 46 percent.

“We are in transition when it comes to superhero movies,” notes the insider. “I don’t know how big that transition is or what the other side looks like. It may be fewer movies, but bigger brands. Sony is willing to take some risk but also wants home runs — that’s good. And if [Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man Universe title] Kraven is a gigantic hit, the narrative could be completely different. So it’s too early to know the outcome.”

[From THR]

The “women didn’t carry the box office” stuff is a pointed reference to Sony’s attempts to shake up the marketing and really sell Madame Web to women and girls. It wasn’t enough because, from the looks of it, Madame Web is simply a bad movie. One of the most pointed criticisms I saw (and it was backed up by Dakota Johnson’s interviews) was that the script had the feel of something half-written by AI and half-written by committee. Anyway, there would have never been a second Madame Web movie anyway because Dakota f–king hated this experience and she really does not want to do it again.

In case you’re wondering about the money, THR says that Sony spent “in the low $100 million range” on Madame Web. Do you see it on screen? I’m really asking. From what I’ve seen and heard, the film looks cheap as hell.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images. Posters courtesy of Sony.

One of the things driving me crazy about the British media’s current unethical journalism is that they constantly claim that they’re being briefed by “sources close to Prince Harry” when it’s clear that they’re being briefed by Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace. Remember when there was wall-to-wall reporting about Harry calling his father on King Charles’s birthday last year? That came from KP, not the Sussexes. Initially, I thought it came from BP, but no, some royal reporter recently confessed that it was coming from William’s office. So it is with the current fiction, that Harry wants to “come back” to the UK temporarily to help out dear old dad. This did not come from “sources close to Harry.” This whole story came from Buckingham Palace. They did it to poke Prince William and they did it so that they could once again create a cycle of “we hate Harry, he’s the worse!” Speaking of, Tom Sykes’s sources claim that Charles and William would NEVER allow Harry to come back.

Rumors of Prince Harry’s potential return to royal duties were unequivocally crushed Monday morning, with sources telling The Daily Beast that the king and his older son, Prince William were “totally united” on the issue and there was “no way” they would “re-royal” Harry.

The pushback came after Harry’s team last week floated in the London Times the notion that he could step back into a part-time royal position, helping out with royal jobs while his father is battling cancer. The prince was said to have told friends he would be happy to “step into a royal role while his father is unwell.”

However King Charles’ camp have made it clear the offer has been unilaterally dismissed, and that Charles and his heir are unified on the issue, and that his younger son should not return to representing the family in any official capacity, having traduced them in a number of TV shows and his memoir, Spare.

A friend of the family’s told The Daily Beast: “William and his father are totally united on this. There is no way they are going to re-royal Harry after what he has said.”

Asked if there was a difference of opinion between Charles and William on the Harry issue, and it was accurate to say that the king wanted to rebuild the personal relationship with Harry, the friend would only say: “The king loves both his sons very much and was delighted to see Harry the other day, and of course, he wants to see more of him.”

Charles’ camp have made it clear that the king continues to build bridges with Harry, as evidenced by his 30-minute meeting with Harry earlier this month in the immediate wake of his cancer diagnosis. However, that doesn’t mean Harry will soon be back on the balcony of Buckingham Palace waving at the crowds.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, by the paper’s respected royal reporter, Rebecca English, sources close to the monarchy have asserted that the king holds the view that Prince Harry’s return as a part-time working royal is out of the question. The king’s camp appear to have briefed that the king is “firmly of the opinion” there is no way back for Harry as a working royal “in any way, shape or form.”

[From The Daily Beast]

This is how palace courtiers spend their days, starting rumors about Harry so they can deny those rumors and bash Harry. That is one thing which unites William and Charles, the one thing they can agree on, that if they’re trying to deflect or hide something, start a rumor about Harry. That being said, I agree with a lot of commenters, that this whole storyline was about Charles telling William to get off his ass and do some work or else Charles will ask Harry to come back. I also think that Sykes’ “friend of the family” is just the same William-centric source who is constantly making William sound like a psychopathic nutjob.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

If you ask me, the only questions which surprised Prince Harry in his Good Morning America interview were the ones about American citizenship. You could see him get thrown off and actually weigh what he wanted to say and how to say it. He was prepared for questions about his father and his family and Harry knew exactly what he wanted to say. But Will Reeves caught him off guard by asking him “Do you feel American?” and “Would you think about becoming a citizen?” Harry’s responses were that he loves his life in California but he doesn’t know if he feels American, and that “I have considered it” and “it’s a thought that has crossed my mind” when it comes to naturalizing. He also said that American citizenship is “not a high priority for me right now.”

In my coverage, I wondered if Harry had already begun the process of applying for citizenship. It takes years, even if you’re a wealthy white prince married to an American. Given the Heritage Foundation’s year-long endeavor to seek and publicize Harry’s visa application, it would make sense that Harry has already looked through all kinds of paperwork, including what it would take to get a green card. Incidentally, this week, Heritage’s lawyers are going back to court to try to force immigration to hand over Harry’s files. If Harry does apply for citizenship (or if he already has), you know the right-wing groups will target him for that too.

The coverage in the British media about the subject has been a bit weird, like they have also never considered the idea that Harry might one day become a naturalized American. The Telegraph suggested that Harry just said that because “he hoped to please the American audience watching.” They got a royal source to snipe: “Pity his immigration lawyers, they must be beside themselves.” The Telegraph also did this stand-alone story about how Harry would have to “renounce” his titles:

The Duke of Sussex has said he has “considered” becoming an American citizen, in a move that would appear to compel him to renounce his titles. According to policy published by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, any application would require him to renounce his title. It would be one resolution to the long-running criticism of the Sussexes, who continue to use their titles despite their public disparagement of the Royal family and institution.

Critics have called for the King to strip them of their titles, a move it is understood the palace has never considered. Others have argued they should drop them voluntarily. They have already put their HRH titles into abeyance under an agreement made when the late Queen Elizabeth II was alive.

The Duchess is understood to have begun the process of applying for UK citizenship during her short time in Britain, but she did not complete it. She remains a US citizen and the children are reported to have dual citizenship.

US immigration policy states that “any applicant who has any titles of heredity or positions of nobility in any foreign state must renounce the title or the position”. Part J of the USCIS policy manual, about the oath of allegiance, states: “The applicant must expressly renounce the title in a public ceremony and USCIS must record the renunciation as part of the proceedings. Failure to renounce the title of position shows a lack of attachment to the Constitution.”

In order to renounce a title, the applicant must say: “I further renounce the title of (give title or titles) which I have heretofore held” or “I further renounce the order of nobility (give the order of nobility) to which I have heretofore belonged.”

The decision would also have implications for tax.

[From The Telegraph]

Yeah, the last sentence is more significant than everything that comes before it. Whatever Harry is considering or whatever applications he’s already put in, I would assume it’s more about taxes. And probably wanting to be a citizen of the same country as his wife and children too. The thing about titles… well, I don’t even know, I don’t know the ins and outs of immigration law when it comes to titled foreign nationals, but I would assume that IF Harry seeks American citizenship, he would want dual citizenship and as a British citizen (subject) he would still retain his titles.

Photos courtesy of Netflix, Instar.