Vanity Fair released this new cover of Donald Trump on Wednesday, hours after he officially won (or “won”) the election. He looks half-dead and decrepit, like he’s rotting from the inside (just like America). Which reminds me of something I noticed during the election cycle – Trump was not being photographed as much this year, and photo agencies were not buying most Trump photos. I took it as a signal that no one wanted to see his ugly face at this point, but maybe it was all part of the larger image-management of the Trump campaign. It worked – a weak, enfeebled, demented 78-year-old man won because his “brand” is “strong, tough.” Speaking of, the first item on the Trump agenda is mass deportation.

Donald Trump has called immigrants “animals,” “monsters,” and “murderers,” and said they are “poisoning the blood of our country.” He falsely claimed they are responsible for a “surge in crime,” because “it’s in their genes,” and claimed they’re “eating the pets.”

Trump, now the president-elect, reportedly plans to conduct a massive deportation operation of undocumented immigrants on his first day in office.

“The American people delivered a resounding victory for President Trump, and it gives him a mandate to govern as he campaigned, to deliver on the promises that he made,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, told Fox News Wednesday, Newsweek reports. “Which include, on Day 1, launching the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrants that Kamala Harris has allowed into this country.”

Axios reports Leavitt says that “mass deportation operation” includes “millions of undocumented immigrants.”

Back in September, Trump infamously attacked President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and immigrants.

[From Raw Story]

I remember when he started deporting people in 2017 and putting babies in cages throughout his first term. I remember one Hispanic woman, a Trump supporter, crying because her husband was deported and she never thought the leopards would eat her face. Seven/eight years later, Trump managed to make significant inroads in the Latino vote in this election. Clearly, this is what the people want.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, cover courtesy of Time.

For years, Donald Trump has made nasty comments about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. This was back in his first term, but it kicked up a notch when Harry and Meghan fled to California just as pandemic lockdowns began in 2020. That’s something that kills me too – Harry clearly applied for a visa to stay in America in 2020, when Trump was president. The Trump administration clearly approved his visa. That hasn’t stopped the Heritage Foundation – aka the authors of Project 2025 – from waging a nearly two-year legal battle to get their hands on Harry’s visa files. This fall, a federal judge shut down Heritage’s latest attempt, but they’re still trying to scam their way into getting Harry’s files. Now that Trump is coming back into office, you think he’s going to target Harry? Trump is surrounded by British wingnuts like Nigel Farage, wingnuts who absolutely have a “deport Harry back to the UK” agenda.

A royal risk. Long before Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, he was vocal about Prince Harry’s move to the US. Trump, 78, has gone on record saying he’d consider deporting Harry, 40, because of drama over the Duke of Sussex’s US visa.

Harry is currently in a legal battle involving his immigration status. He admitted he took illegal drugs (cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms) in his memoir “Spare,” which would be grounds for his visa application to be rejected.

The father of two and his wife, Meghan Markle, have been living in California since they quit their royal duties in the UK in 2020. Meghan, 43, is a US citizen, while Harry has been fighting to become one.

The Heritage Foundation conservative think tank has sought Harry’s visa records, arguing that the second son of King Charles III and the late Princess Diana could not have legally entered the US due to his drug use. In “Spare,” Harry wrote that cocaine “didn’t do anything for me,” but “marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.”

A judge has since ruled that Harry’s visa application is to remain private — making Trump’s mission to deport the duke a harder feat. Trump first threatened to throw Harry out of the country in February while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md.

“I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own,” the 45th president said.

[From The NY Post]

Harry actually hasn’t been “fighting” to become an American citizen. He was asked about that point-blank this year, if he ever considered naturalizing, and he said he had considered it but he made it sound like he wasn’t in the process of naturalizing. In any case, the Sussexes’ purchase of a home in Portugal sounds like one of the wisest investments ever right about now. All they would have to do to get an EU Golden Visa is invest about $500K-600K in Portugal. They could move Archewell over there too, or create a second base for their business/charity.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

This is apparently the first election since 2004 where the Republican won the popular vote. What’s so weird about that is Donald Trump will likely win the popular vote having won two-million-plus fewer votes than he won in 2020. It’s also weird that Kamala Harris apparently lost fourteen-million-plus votes from Joe Biden’s win in 2020. None of the national vote counts make any sense to me, nor do the trendlines in certain states, like North Carolina. This was supposed to be another historic-turnout election, with fifty-million plus Americans voting early, etc. I wish Kamala Harris had an appetite to demand a national recount. But she conceded mid-day on Wednesday, and she addressed supporters at Howard University in the late afternoon. Note: I am not watching this, and I never watched more than a few minutes of Hillary Clinton’s concession speech in 2016. It’s too painful for me, but if you want to watch it, here you go:

She looks so tired and sad. She looked like she hadn’t slept at all and she had been crying most of the day. I maintain that the American people let her down. I feel the same way about Hillary Clinton and even Joe Biden. Hillary would have been an amazing president who worked hard for the country. President Biden wrested control of the country from a fascist lunatic and delivered a remarkable economic prosperity for the country, yet Trump supporters are still saying that Democrats lost because of “the economy.” Anyway, all of this is bullsh-t. I hope Kamala takes her bag of Doritos, goes home to California and tells everyone to f–k off forever. In 2016, it felt like we were bravely forming a resistance to hold Trump to account. 2024 is different – there will be no resistance, and Kamala, Hillary, Joe and Barack are not coming to save anyone. No one is being saved because the majority of the electorate signed up for this. Trump even said this would be the last election, and he would fix it so people never have to vote again. That’s what people wanted, so here they go.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Obviously, Tuesday did not go as we wanted or were hoping that it would. I know we’re all devastated. I’m devastated. I’m scared. I’m pissed. I can’t even properly enjoy that my adopted state, North Carolina, went blue in all of the big races, including defeating a member of Moms for Liberty for school superintendent. It sucks. We even gained two Democrats in our State House and broke up the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly!

So while there’s some, but not much, good news from yesterday, there is one story that I wanted to highlight. Paul Rudd made surprise appearances at both Temple University in Philadelphia and Villanova University in Villanova, PA to hand out water bottles to students who were waiting in line to vote. When asked by MSNBC what he was up to, he said that he thought it was “wonderful” that so many young people were voting and he just wanted to make sure they knew how awesome he thought it was that they were waiting in hours-long lines to do their patriotic duty.

Paul Rudd made a surprise appearance at universities in Pennsylvania to hand out water to students waiting in hours-long lines to vote. While reporting live from Philadelphia’s Temple University, MSNBC National Correspondent Jacob Soboroff spotted the “Ant-Man” and “I Love You, Man” star and sprinted over to him.

“Hey, Paul, I’m on live with Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC!” Soboroff said before asking the actor what brought him out to Pennsylvania voting lines.

“I just wanted to give people water,” Rudd said. “They’re waiting in line for a long time, and it’s a wonderful thing that all these young people are out voting.”

When Soboroff told Rudd that some people have waited up to two hours to vote, Rudd said, “That’s impressive.”

“We’ve been doing lots of stuff today here in Pennsylvania,” Rudd said. “We wanted to come out and tell these students they’re doing really great things.”

Soboroff then asked Rudd how he felt about the election, prompting Rudd to laugh and say, wryly, “I feel good about handing out some waters!”

Soboroff left Rudd and continued to interview voters, stopping to talk to a first-time voter, a young Black woman, who said it wasn’t hard to make up her mind. “It’s been ready to go, out the gate,” she said. “I didn’t need to hear people talking in my ear.”

Rudd then appeared behind them. “Want a water from Paul Rudd?” Soboroff asked. “Yes, I do!” she exclaimed, and handed her phone to Soboroff so he could take a photo of the two of them.

Based on photos posted to X, Rudd also showed support for students waiting to vote at Villanova University, which is located less than an hour from Temple. During the 2020 election, Rudd made headlines for handing out cookies to people standing in the rain while waiting to vote in Brooklyn, N.Y.

[From Variety]

I had completely forgotten about Paul handing out cookies in Brooklyn in 2020. He’s such a sweetheart. It’s pretty awesome that he does these things without being invited or announcing it to draw attention to it. And now those students at least have a cool story to tell about an otherwise depressing day.

When I heard about Paul’s good deeds, it got me thinking. I don’t know what comes next, but I do know this: It’s dark right now, but there are always going to be good people like Paul Rudd who are going to be there to help. We (Kamala voters) need to do that for each other right now. Look for the helpers when you need one. When you’re feeling up to it, try to be a helper for someone else who’s struggling. There are still almost 68 million people in this country who came out to do the right thing. We have to find each other and stick together because it’s the only way that we’ll get through whatever the next four years are going to bring.

Photos credit: Oscar Gonzalez/Wenn/Avalon, Imago/RW/Avalon

The inimitable Catherine O’Hara just spoke with the consummate Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Julia’s Wiser than Me podcast, which got me wondering: have those two powerhouses ever worked together? My quick Google search yielded no results. How can this be?! It would be an improv for the ages! Catherine and Julia obviously discussed their shared comedic backgrounds, but Catherine also shared a sweet story about Tim Burton. While Tim wasn’t exactly a matchmaker, it was on his 1988 Beetlejuice set that actor Catherine met production designer Bo Welch, who is now her husband of 32 years. And now Catherine has revealed what the artistic auteur gave them as a wedding gift: a tour of the Vatican. That’s certainly different from your average kitchen appliance!

“Tim gave us an amazing wedding gift, which was a private tour at the Vatican,” O’Hara said, prompting Louis-Dreyfus, 63, to reply, “Yeah, only Tim Burton would give us a present like that.”

“Somebody had given [Burton] the gift, and he’d been blown away, so he passed it on, which is really wonderful and generous,” O’Hara continued. “So this lovely priest or cardinal took us all around the Vatican, and he was wild.”

She recalled how their tour guide took them “everywhere” — “including, I swear, the Pope’s closet.”

“He took us on the elevator that the Pope takes down to the St. Peter’s Basilica to his dead mass. He took us in this beautiful, little private museum full of, in glass cases, all the gifts given to the Vatican from all over the world,” O’Hara said. “And he let us open the case and take out crowns and pretend to be putting them in my husband’s backpack.”

The actress also told Louis-Dreyfus that she has Burton to thank for pushing her husband to finally ask her out when the three were on the set of 1988’s Beetlejuice. Burton directed the film, and O’Hara starred as Delia Deetz. Welch, 72, worked behind the scenes as a production designer.

“Tim Burton basically made him ask me out. Because I was grousing to Tim that this guy was talking to me every day, and never asking me out,” O’Hara told Louis-Dreyfus. “So Tim said, ‘Let me see what I can do.’ He did talk to him, and Bo begrudgingly asked me out. And now we’re still married, thank goodness.”

Back in August, the Schitt’s Creek star told PEOPLE that the day Welch invited her on a date was her favorite part of filming Beetlejuice. She recalled that he finally made the move when they were out shooting the exteriors of the iconic Beetlejuice house in Vermont.

“Bo came up to me that day and said, ‘Our department’s going to a swap meet. You want to come?’” she said.

[From People via AOL]

Oh, Bo, honey. That pick up line is so lame it kind of swings back around to being fabulous. And that was after Tim already gave him the nod that Catherine was interested! There’s so much to enjoy about this story. It tickles me that Catherine involved Tim Burton in getting Bo to make a move, like Tim wasn’t otherwise heavily preoccupied directing a movie. I love that the Vatican tour guide was like, “Si si, go ahead and pick up the priceless artifacts to make a funny picture, va bene.” But I think what I appreciate most is the detail that this was an experience that had been given to Tim, and he found it so powerful that he wanted to pass it on. For one thing, it’s another example of Tim being an endearing emotional monster. And on a personal note, it reminded me of my late father, who ardently preached that “you should always give a gift you’d like to receive yourself.”

And on that note, Catherine and Julia: would you please treat us by doing a series or movie together asap? Cause heavens to Betsy are we in desperate need of some laughter.

Note by Celebitchy: this story was written before the election was called

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Catherine O’Hara and Tim Burton are shown in 2012 at the Frankenweenie premiere. Credit: PacificCoastNews.com/Avalon. 2024 photos credit Getty, James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon

Last week, several of the Avengers assembled for a video conference endorsement of Kamala Harris. Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Bettany and Don Cheadle were on it. RDJ’s involvement mildly surprised me because he’s indicated plenty of times that he’s voted for Republicans in some elections. Chris Pratt was noticeably absent from the call. The Worst Chris has long been aligned with conservatism and Evangelical politics. It doesn’t matter that he married into the Kennedy family, he’s always shown more of an interest in right-wing messaging and culture. Well, just before the election, he published an op-ed on his mother-in-law’s website:

Chris Pratt published an op-ed a few days before Election Day on his mother-in-law Maria Shriver’s website, Sunday Paper, in which he said that he’s focused less on who becomes our next president and more on making sure Americans continue to help one another regardless of the election outcome. Pratt did not publicly endorse either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in his op-ed, which resulted in some fan disappointment on social media.

“I write this now because about half of the voting population is going to be incredibly disappointed on November 6th,” Pratt wrote. “But for me, the question is not, ‘Did your candidate win or lose?’ but rather, ‘Will you wake up the next morning and help an old lady move?’”

“It’s OK to take a moment to lick your wounds when you lose. Heck, go ahead and cry in the mirror. But if we become too paralyzed by defeat or too pompous in victory, allegiance to our ‘team’ can blind us to the fact that we are fellow countrymen. How do we become a nation of honorable winners and graceful losers? It starts with remembering no matter who wins or loses, there are still going to be people who need help in this country. Find them. Be of service.”

Pratt said that America’s greatest strength as a country is “our unified communities,” citing “places of worship, Elks clubs, Rotary clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Salvation Army and in our service members.”

“Our strength lies in our people who step across the political aisle not just with the handshake of a good sportsman, but a helping hand to anyone in need,” Pratt wrote. “So, be a good sport. We need you. Our country needs you. Team Red, Team Blue, and Team ‘Didn’t Even Vote,’ too. Your civic duty can be uniquely exercised on November 5th, but there is an even bigger civic duty required the next day: which is to accept the results and focus instead on showing up for each other.”

Pratt concluded, “Check in with your neighbor — especially if they voted for the other guy or girl. Ask how they’re doing. See how you can help. And while you’re at it, see if they know any old ladies who need help moving.”

[From Variety]

This is what kills me: Pratt and the other right-wingers were already striking this kind of tone before the election because they thought Trump was going to lose. Not just that, they thought Trump was going to get obliterated, and after nine years of Trumpism, chickens were coming home to roost. I wonder if Pratt feels like singing Kumbaya with Democrats now that his people won, now that angry white men smashed the republic into a million little pieces. “Our strength lies in our people who step across the political aisle not just with the handshake of a good sportsman, but a helping hand to anyone in need” – Trump promised to throw his critics in prison. Women who have miscarriages will be prosecuted. Trump said Liz Cheney should face a firing squad. F–k all the way off, Chris Pratt.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

In 2021, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah aired in the US and around the world. The Windsors completely panicked. Pre-interview, they signed off on Prince William’s scheme to smear Meghan as a sociopathic bully who made staffers scream and cry with just a look. Post-interview, the Windsors tried to change the subject (??) by announcing that they had BIG plans to hire a “diversity czar.” Remember how big those headlines were? Blaring headlines about how QEII and Charles suddenly realized – no, they realized months before the Oprah interview – that what they needed most was a shiny new diversity czar. A few months after the interview, the palace admitted that whoops, they didn’t hire anyone and they weren’t going to. After QEII’s death, King Charles’s staff admitted that they put together an 88% white committee to “tackle palace diversity,” yet there was mysteriously still no diversity czar. Now, suddenly, there was a diversity czar this whole time, and yet no one ever paid attention to her? It doesn’t matter because she recently quit.

King Charles’s diversity czar who was brought in after the Harry and Meghan race row has quit.

Eva Omaghomi, who was the King’s most senior black aide, was appointed to a newly created role of director of community engagement in July 2021. She had worked for the Royal Household for 13 years before picking up the job at the height of the Royal Family race row.

Her job was said to be to ‘help take forward Their Royal Highnesses’ work with minority groups in the UK, Commonwealth and globally’.

She was by the King’s side throughout his visit to Rwanda two years ago but was not in Samoa or Australia. It is understood she resigned her post last month for a job in the private sector with insiders “sorry to see her go”.

[From The Sun]

Granted, this news has skewed the results I’m getting, but this is the first time most people have even heard that Eva Omaghomi was supposedly the Windsors’ diversity czar for the past three-and-a-half years? Why were the Windsors taking L after L about their childish PR scheme for a czar if they could have pointed to Omaghomi this whole time? That makes me wonder if the palace has just recently decided that Omaghomi had that “diversity czar” job the whole time now that she’s left royal work. The Windsors are all about revisionist history, and I would love to hear from Omaghomi about what she thought her role really was and whether she knew that she was supposed to be the Black czarina.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

I’m sorry but it’s still bonkers that Prince William scheduled his Earthshot mess in South Africa this week. William desperately wants American media attention, not to mention international and domestic attention, and it feels like the whole world is curled up in a ball, weeping uncontrollably because of the American election. And here’s Slumlord Willy, doing a tragic photocall with Earthshot finalists at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town. He’s really not doing back-to-back events whatsoever – he’s basically kept it to two “engagements” a day since he’s been in Cape Town. William also spoke to the media outlets on the ground, and the biggest headline was his friendship bracelet.

The Princess of Wales is doing “really well” and has been “amazing this whole year”, Prince William has said. He was speaking to broadcasters ahead of presenting his environmental Earthshot Prize in Cape Town, South Africa later.

On his wrist the Prince of Wales was wearing a bracelet saying “Papa” made for him by his daughter Princess Charlotte for a Taylor Swift concert, which he said he had promised to wear on the trip and “try not to lose”.

His wife has not travelled to South Africa as she recovers after treatment for cancer and will instead be watching the ceremony at home in Windsor. Catherine will be “cheering me on”, he said, adding: “I know she’ll be really keen to see tonight be a success.”

The bracelet was made by Charlotte for her father when they went to a Taylor Swift concert at Wembley. Friendship bracelets have become synonymous with the pop star and her sellout Eras tour and are regularly swapped with fellow “Swifties” at her concerts.

Prince William was speaking to the BBC inside the Super Dome that has been built for this evening’s awards ceremony in Cape Town. The eco Dome will be recycled and reused elsewhere after the ceremony.

[From BBC]

Wait, Earthshot built a “Super Dome” specifically for the prize ceremony? Wouldn’t it have been more sustainable to just use an existing venue? Anyway, the friendship bracelet thing is yet another copykeen of Harry, who has worn friendship bracelets and beaded bracelets since he was a teenager. Between that and William’s ugly beard, he’s really trying so hard to rebrand himself into “I’m Just Like Harry, Look At Me.” Also: ten bucks says Kate does not watch the Earthshot event.

Prince William Wears ‘Papa’ Friendship Bracelet in Sweet Nod to His Kids During South Africa Visit https://t.co/OPruTYqoSR

— People (@people) November 5, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

As I said earlier, I do not blame Kamala Harris whatsoever. She ran a brilliant campaign, she raised in excess of a billion dollars on short notice, she coalesced Biden Democrats, Obama Democrats, Clinton Democrats and created a disciplined message of hope, unity and liberal American ideals. She was a great, bridge-building candidate. The electorate wasn’t there. The voters were not there. The American people decided they wanted the orange fascist instead. Given everything that’s happened, it’s also sort of insane political analysis to go from “this is Kamala’s fault” to “this is Joe Biden’s fault!” But that’s where people are headed. I’m already seeing too many pieces like this one, a USA Today op-ed:

Donald Trump, despite who he is, has won the 2024 presidential election and will retake the White House for a second term. Republicans made every mistake they could along the way in nominating Trump again, but Democrats threw them a lifeline in mismanaging Joe Biden’s exit from the race and making Kamala Harris campaign from behind most of the way. Instead of persuading Americans to vote for Harris, they spent their efforts persuading them to vote against Trump, and that was not enough for Americans.

In the end, Biden took the presidency from Trump and gave it right back to him. Trump required a special level of incompetence from the Democrats to win, and boy, did he get exactly that.

Democrats did their best in their pivot from Biden, but it was too little too late. In their 2020 quest to beat Trump at all costs, they boxed themselves into a corner by propping up a mentally unfit octogenarian purely for the sake of winning that election, then didn’t realize it was time to change candidates early if they wanted to win this one.

Biden had every opportunity to take the dignified way out and not seek reelection. In the face of poll numbers stacked against him and extremely apparent mental decline, any reasonable person could have seen the odds were too far stacked against them. Instead, Biden’s ego got in the way and put Democrats in the awful situation of a last-minute switch to Harris.

[From USA Today]

It’s bizarre to me that the argument is “Biden never should have sought reelection” as opposed to “Biden is the only one who has ever beaten Trump and maybe Democrats were wrong to publicly push him out, and the nationally televised interparty fight was what made Democrats look like a bunch of childish, bedwetting idiots.” Once Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris, look what she did with it, look at the outstanding campaign she ran. I was grateful that VP Harris (and not Biden) was the one making an energetic Democratic case to the nation. But I also think that people in the Rust Belt really did love Biden, and even more than that, people love a man at the top of the ticket. If anything, these election results have vindicated both Biden and Hillary Clinton. It feels even more remarkable that Biden pulled it out in 2020, and it feels like Hillary fundamentally lost because she’s a woman, and the American electorate does not want a woman president.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

This week, Omid Scobie tweeted out some criticism of the royal rota, the “royal reporters and commentators” who cover the Windsors full time. You would think that if your whole thing is the palace beat, you would be all over the Times and Channel 4’s revelations about the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, and how thoroughly King Charles and Prince William are profiting from public services like hospitals and fire stations, plus they’re charging the military preposterous rates for sh-t like “mooring” and fuel. Not to mention, William and Charles are lining their pockets by charging charities for rent, even if they themselves are patrons of the charities. Well, Richard Kay is the first royal reporter to actually highlight the reporting and criticism (in a meek way) the Windsors. From his latest Mail column, “Amid a cost of living crisis, these revelations about the Royals’ finances could gnaw away at hard-won public trust.”

Just over 25 years ago, an internal Buckingham Palace report recommended steps the monarchy should adopt to rebuild trust after the catastrophic collapse in public support for the Royal Family that followed the death of Princess Diana. Many of the suggestions were practical – less formality for official engagements and opening royal events to a wider cross-section of the population – and approval ratings quickly rose. But buried in the report was a warning about one aspect that was not addressed – the wealth of the royals and a need for what it delicately put as ‘greater transparency’.

Two and a half decades on, and the monarchy – thanks to the dedication to duty of King Charles and a modern-looking Prince William – is more popular than ever. But there is an Achilles heel, and it remains the thorny issue of their private finances. In particular, the opaqueness and complexity that surrounds the running of the Duchy of Lancaster held by the King and the Duchy of Cornwall held by his son – which provide both with vast sums.

Now an investigation into these two private fiefdoms has uncovered some eye-raising details which, if not confronted, risk generating suspicion that will gnaw away at the hard-won public trust. For years, speculation about how rich the royals are has been just that, a guessing game. But revelations from Channel 4’s Dispatches programme and The Sunday Times about the millions the duchies are raking in from public services, including hospitals, schools and even the hard-pressed Armed Forces, have provoked worrying questions that highlight potential conflicts of interest and strike at the issue of transparency. The feudal-sounding duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall are actually property companies with assets worth £1.8 billion and 5,410 landholdings, ranging from rental houses and flats to farmland, mining rights and drilling sites.

And the investigation has thrown up some intriguing details. One 15-year deal will see the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust in London pay £11.4 million to store its fleet of electric ambulance in a warehouse owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. The King will also make at least £28 million from windfarms because the duchy retains an ancient right to charge for cables crossing the foreshore across a swathe of coastline in the northwest of England.

William’s Duchy of Cornwall has signed a £37.5 million deal to lease Dartmoor prison for 25 years to the Ministry of Justice, which is liable for all repairs. His estate also owns Camelford House, a 1960s tower block on the banks of the Thames, which has brought in £22 million since 2005 from rents. It is known as ‘Charity Towers’ because so many, including Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie and Comic Relief, have rented offices there.

The King is patron of both Macmillan and Marie Curie, while William has promoted Comic Relief. A charity that has the King or heir as its patron, or a cause advocated by them, that pays rent to the duchy, must surely touch on a possible conflict of interest. A Member of Parliament in the same position would have to declare it. Shouldn’t the Royal Family be held to the same standards?

At a time when many households are struggling with the cost of living – and Labour’s higher taxes – the findings are bound to provoke debate. There already have been calls for the two duchies to be folded into the Crown estate, which sends its profits to the Government.

The late Queen had a unique ability to divine the mood of the nation. After the Windsor Castle fire, amid public anger that taxpayers should be asked to meet repair costs, she funded the restoration herself. It would be a shame if her successors facing a potentially similar test of public confidence, failed to grasp the nettle.

[From The Daily Mail]

“Feudal-sounding” – no, they’re actually FEUDAL. They’re genuinely a remnant of feudal England. While it’s not shocking that Charles and William are up to their necks in this kind of feudal catastrophe, I think the scope of their profiteering from public services surprised people. Like, grabbing millions from the NHS? Profiting from a prison? Charging exorbitant rent from charities? Skimming money from the military? It’s insane. It will be interesting to see if other commentators follow Kay’s lead and oh-so-gently suggest that Charles and William need to do more to clean up this gigantic mess.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.