Stormy Daniels is an American heroine. Whenever I hear her speak or read her interviews, I’m always sort of blown away by her integrity. She was one of only a handful of people adjacent to the entire Trump clownshow who spoke up, did the right thing, sought justice until the end and faced a lot of danger because of it. Now that the grand jury has indicted Donald Trump for multiple counts of white-collar crime, all stemming from the hush-money payments Trump made to Stormy, she’s talking about the years-long journey to get here and how much it cost her and how much it cost the country. Some highlights from her Times interview:

No one is exempt from the law: “Trump is no longer untouchable. A person in power is not exempt from the law. And no matter what your job is, or what your bank account says, you’re held accountable for the things you’ve said and done, and justice is served.”

On Trump’s indictment: “It’s vindication. But it’s bittersweet. He’s done so much worse that he should have been taken down [for] before. I am fully aware of the insanity of it being a porn star. But it’s also poetic; this p–sy grabbed back. It’s monumental and epic, and I’m proud. The other side of it is that it’s going to continue to divide people and bring them up in arms. He’s already gotten away with inciting a riot, and causing death and destruction. Whatever the outcome is, it’s going to cause violence, and there’s going to be injuries and death. There’s the potential for a lot of good to come from this. But either way, a lot of bad is going to come from it, too.”

The violent threats against her: “The number and the intensity is the same as it was the first time around, but this time it’s straight-up violent. The first time it was ‘gold digger’, ‘slut’, ‘whore’, ‘liar’ whatever. And this time it’s ‘I’m gonna murder you’. They’re way more violent and graphic.” Is she frightened? “For the first time ever, yeah. And part of me is hesitant to say that because you don’t want blood in the water. It kind of encourages the sharks.” But, she says, “it’s especially scary because Trump himself is inciting violence and encouraging it.”

Trump’s supporters feel emboldened, post-insurrection. “The country is more divided and people are more desperate. I’m not afraid of him, or of the government, but it just takes one crazy supporter who thinks they’re doing God’s work or protecting democracy.”

She’s not afraid of facing Trump in court. “I’ve seen him naked. There’s no way he could be scarier with his clothes on. And after what Avenatti put me through last January I’m not as scared.” (She was cross-examined for hours in court by her former lawyer Michael Avenatti, who was representing himself on charges of cheating her out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in book proceeds; he was jailed for four years.)

She wants to testify against Trump: “I hope that I do have to. I’m not afraid, I have nothing to hide, and I look forward to telling everybody what I know.”

How she sees the NDA & the hush money: “If I hadn’t signed the NDA, and I hadn’t taken the hush money, then he didn’t do anything wrong. He banged another hot chick — which he’s kind of known for doing — and nothing about that is illegal. Signing the NDA and taking the hush money was actually the greatest gift that I gave. Because it’s what made it illegal, which made it possible to actually go after him.”

She couldn’t be shamed: “Can you think of a single time that ‘porn star’ wasn’t put in front of my name? Imagine if I did something else — would ‘school teacher Stormy Daniels, or ‘accountant Stormy Daniels’ have ever been printed? No, it was salacious and used against me and used to ruin my credibility.” But, she says, it also went in her favour. “Because I couldn’t be shamed. I couldn’t be threatened with nude photos — they are everywhere.”

She doesn’t regret speaking up: “Sometimes in the moment, I’m like, ‘What the f*** was I thinking? Was it worth it?’ But I wouldn’t be able to look at myself in the mirror. If I could go back far enough to where I did go to the hotel that night, I wouldn’t have done that. But . . . coming forward, I would do the same thing again. Because it was the right thing to do.”

[From The Times]

See what I mean? I’m actually tearing up because she’s an amazing person. The fact that she was brave enough to stand up to him, to see this to the end, to be the one to take him down… it’s beautiful and poetic. I’m very worried about her safety too – I hope she’s got good people around her, and I hope she stays in secure locations, because she’s right – the people who support Trump are absolutely unhinged.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

When I watched the first season of Wednesday, I was blown away by Jenna Ortega’s performance and I genuinely thought “wow, where did she come from?” I truly didn’t realize that Ortega has been acting since she was a little kid and that I’d already seen her a dozen times before then. Part of that is because Wednesday Addams is such a specific character and look, but there is a shapeshifter element to Ortega, plus she has an “every woman” quality which… is going to give her a lot of career longevity. Jenna is promoting Scream VI, her second time in the (rebooted) franchise. She covers Elle and this is very much a “star is born” introductory piece given the overwhelming success of Wednesday. Some highlights:

Music is her preferred language. “I listen to absolutely anything. I know everyone says that but sometimes I’ll listen to stuff that I don’t even think is good because I just need to understand.”

She works constantly: “From ‘Action’ to ‘Cut’ is the only reason I like my job,” she says. Between those two directions, she says, “It’s like I pass the f–k out.”

The ‘Scream’ franchise: “I have so much respect for the franchise that I didn’t want to do it wrong. I wanted to do it justice, but I also didn’t want to be ripping anybody off.” In this movie, for the first time, Neve Campbell won’t reprise her role as Sidney Prescott. Campbell walked away, she told Variety, due to a salary negotiation that she felt undervalued her contribution as star of the 25-year-old franchise. “It was really unfortunate,” Ortega says of Campbell’s absence, “especially because Neve is the coolest, sweetest, most talented lady. The franchise wouldn’t be what it is without her.”

Ortega is naturally introverted. “If I want to make films so badly and I want to play characters or I want to direct and write film scores, I could do that all in my backyard. I don’t have to be doing it on a grand scale like this. But ultimately, all the other side stuff that comes with my job, sometimes it makes it feel like it’s almost not worth it. I don’t want to feel like a walking billboard, which is a really, really scary feeling because then you feel less and less in control of your life. I feel like I’ve seen a lot of people or know people who have succumbed to that pressure. I don’t want to belong to anyone or anything.”

Seeing ‘Man on Fire’ with Denzel & Dakota Fanning changed her life: “I was happy sitting and dissecting that movie over and over again. I couldn’t fathom how someone so young could do something that would scare me so aggressively. But I also loved the way that it made me feel. I decided that’s what I was passionate about.”

Her mom would drive her to auditions from northern California: “To do that four to five days a week and still raise your other children was absurd. My family made a lot of sacrifices.” The prospect of building her career was exciting—and daunting. “It was the guilt of, Okay, well if this doesn’t work out, I’m screwed, I guess. I just put my entire family through this because that’s a lot of money and time that we did not have.”

Is she really this dark horror/Wednesday person? “I feel very conflicted in what I’m interested in or what I’m passionate about, because there’s apart of me that always feels like the girl in the Coachella Valley.”

She doesn’t like traditional rom-coms: “I hate being googoogaga over a boy. I think it’s secretly a pride thing. It’s a problem with a lot of female characters, that a lot of them are guy oriented or what they’re expressing or emoting is based on a guy’s position and a guy’s story.”

She’s not dating: “Maybe I am too obsessed with my work, but the idea of relationships stresses me out. And also being that vulnerable with someone and having to get to know someone that well and having someone see you for all that you are… My brain knows that I don’t need to think about that right now.”

[From Elle]

She comes across as charismatically neurotic, if you know what I mean? Like, she’s not burdened by deep neurosis, she’s just a young working-class woman who buries herself in work so she doesn’t have to figure out her own sh-t. She’s 20 – that sounds completely normal, especially given her talent and given “hustle culture.” I’m actually surprised she hasn’t done “more” already with her sudden fame from Wednesday, and that probably speaks to her inherent discomfort with the trappings of the industry. She just seems like “I don’t want to f–k this up, I want to keep working.” She will.

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Cover & IG courtesy of Elle.

Megan Thee Stallion looked amazing as she threw the first pitch on MLB’s opening day in Houston. She really looks so great these days! [Just Jared]
Hong Chau’s awards-season wardrobe was great. [Go Fug Yourself]
Someone created creepy AI clips of Will Smith eating spaghetti. [OMG Blog]
Sebastian Bear McClard accused of sexual misconduct. [Dlisted]
The trailer for the new season of Barry. [LaineyGossip]
Neil DeGrasse Tyson shares words of wisdom. [Seriously OMG]
Did Daisy Jones & the Six fail a certain character? [Pajiba]
Nicholas Hoult is such a style star. [RCFA]
Rep. James Comer sounds like a sleaze and an abuser. [Jezebel]
Candice Swanepoel parties in Miami. [Egotastic]
The modern dating scene is a hellscape. [Buzzfeed]

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Rosie Perez has had a 30-year-plus career in film, television and theater. She’s worked with everybody and she still feels like she’s never really “made it.” She covers the latest issue of Variety to promote her role in Your Honor (the Bryan Cranston show), a part which she only got a few days before filming began. Rosie has worked with everyone, and she is perfectly fine with trashing some people (but not others). Like, I definitely want to know more about her beef with Jennifer Lopez, but she gives Variety very little tea about that. Still, she has some interesting stuff to say:

On the Oscars: “I think Brendan deserved the Oscar. But I wouldn’t be mad if Colin had got it for ‘Banshees of Inisherin.’ He did something specific to his culture, right? How many other movies has he done that were specific to his culture?… That’s what we’re asking for as Latinos. We want to do things that are specific to our culture, to our story.”

On the lack of Latina stories: “A few of us have come through, and I’m very grateful for that. But it’s just not enough. And when we do get our stories told, we have some executive who knows nothing about who we are as a people. And then they’re like, ‘Can you spice it up a little bit?’ You want to punch these people in the face. And then if it’s too real, they’re, ‘Could you pull it back, ’cause we don’t want the audience to feel offended.’ And people are getting sick of it. I think that’s the reason why ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ was such a big winner.”

On the abuse she suffered as a kid: “When people say, ‘Yes, but it made you who you are, and you’re stronger for it,’ they’re validating the abuse, giving credence, right? Imagine what I would have done without getting smacked, getting beaten, getting mentally abused. So it’s bullsh-t. And I think that people say that to make themselves feel better because it’s hard to hear.”

She was uncomfortable with a sex scene in Do The Right Thing: “In our cancel culture, some people need to be canceled. And when I was telling the story, people were ready to cancel Spike Lee and cancel me for saying something. And I was like, ‘You know what? This is getting out of hand.’ Here’s the thing. It happened. We discussed it, we made up, we hugged it out, and we’re still friends to this day. And sometimes people need a chance to say, ‘I’m sorry.’ For a man of his stature to say ‘I’m sorry’ is huge. But that’s why I don’t like to talk about it — because people get too crazy.”

Choreographing the Fly Girls on “In Living Color.” As for a feud with Jennifer Lopez, Perez deadpans, “I don’t even want to get into that.”

She auditioned for the female lead in “The Matrix”: “I was horrible. As I was walking out, I was like, ‘I know I didn’t get the job. I really sucked,’ and the Wachowskis were like, ‘No,’ and the casting director was trying not to laugh. And then finally I looked at her and I go, ‘I really sucked,’ and she just burst out laughing. We all were laughing. I just gave the Wachowskis a hug and I said, ‘Well, good luck with this.’”

What she’s offered: She’s still being offered “crack addict roles. Do you believe to this day?” But she laughs and insists that she’s game so long as “the crack addict has an actual storyline. I see these actors just get destroyed by negative feedback. I say, ‘There’s things that you should never let people take away from you. If you felt like you did a good job, own it.’ What makes me feel powerful as a woman is coming to grips with my own self-worth — understanding my own self-worth — and not apologizing for it, not compromising it, and letting that knowledge just shine through effortlessly.”

[From Variety]

She tells a story about working with Johnny Depp on 21 Jump Street and Depp telling her that she’s too good to play those kinds of roles. She sounds grateful for the validation, especially at that point in her career. She also talked about how nothing changed for her after her Oscar nomination for Fearless, and how nothing changed for her after White Men Can’t Jump either, although she still loves that movie. I get so depressed when I hear actors like Perez and John Leguizamo talk about how they were typecast, stereotyped and ignored throughout their careers. It f–king sucks.

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Keanu Reeves is still promoting John Wick: Chapter 4, and he’s still giving interviews, obviously. It’s kind of nice that while Keanu is a movie star and he’s still the lead in multiple franchises, there seems to be a real effort to not press him on his personal life? The guy has had so much tragedy in his life, I think most people – even entertainment journalists – are like “just let the guy live.” That being said, we know he’s still with Alexandra Grant, his girlfriend of something like six or seven years, I believe? While Alexandra didn’t attend any of the John Wick premieres, he did make a reference to her while he was speaking to People Magazine.

Keanu’s last moment of bliss. “A couple of days ago with my honey,” the actor says of his longtime love, artist Alexandra Grant, 49. “We were in bed. We were connected. We were smiling and laughing and giggling. Feeling great. It was just really nice to be together.”

Last time I danced: “At a friend’s wedding about eight months ago. Sometimes I’m the first out there and sometimes I need coaxing. Sometimes it’s the song and sometimes it’s the person. I just go with the feeling.

Last recurring dream: “I’ve had recurring nightmares, but they’re too scary to describe. It’s always fun to fly in dreams, isn’t it? I’m just glad I have the chance to do it anywhere. It’s quite extraordinary.

Last game I played: I’ve been playing some chess. It’s a competitive game. I don’t think you walk to the board and go, “I hope I lose.” If you don’t know how to play, I’m great—yeah, I’m a master. And if you’re really good, I’m terrible.

Last time I watched the sunrise: “I was recently traveling in Japan and had some wonderful jet lag and got to see the sun rising in Kyoto. Those are always cool. You have to stop, like, “Aren’t we glad to be here?”

[From People]

“We were in bed. We were connected. We were smiling and laughing and giggling.” Why is he rubbing it in our faces?!? No, I’m happy for him. Like, he seems lovely and gentle and kind. He’s a 58-year-old man in a loving partnership with a 48-year-old woman. Keanu’s not out there, trying to hook up with Instagram models. Also: I hate flying dreams! I only have flying dreams, on average, about once a year. I hate them. But then again, I’ve had multiple sex dreams about Andrew Garfield.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

While I think Lauren Sanchez is kind of a vapid golddigger, I have to admit, I kind of hate-respect her. She secured the bag and then some. She carried on an affair with Jeff Bezos when they were both married to other people, then when the National Enquirer exposed them, they just divorced their spouses, became official together and never looked back. Bezos and Sanchez still haven’t gotten married and it doesn’t sound like they will any time soon, but they live together and they do everything together and she clearly believes that what’s his is hers. Lauren was interviewed by WSJ. Magazine and this piece is bonkers! She’s very confessional, gregarious and over-the-top. I kind of understand why she would end up the mistress-turned-official of the richest man in the world.

She pilots helicopters & planes: “This is one of the only places I feel entirely in control.” She formed Black Ops Aviation, one of the first female-owned aerial film and production companies with a focus across television and film, in 2016, when she realized she was one of only a few women doing the job. “I don’t know why more women don’t do it,” she says. Sánchez often pilots Bezos and their families around the world and tries to get in the cockpit at least three times a week to stay up to date on instruments.

She & Bezos do everything together: “He stole my trainer!” she says of Wes Okerson, who pops up occasionally on her Instagram. “Jeff is extremely dedicated to his workouts. I mean, you have no idea. He really puts in the work.”

Their life together: Sánchez and Bezos, who respectively have three children and four children from their prior relationships, share a historic Beverly Hills house built by Hollywood founding father Jack Warner, which Bezos bought from media mogul David Geffen for a then-record-setting $165 million in 2020. (The couple has other homes, including one in Seattle, where Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, and another in Washington, D.C., where the Washington Post, which he bought for $250 million in 2013, is based.) “On a typical Saturday, we hang out, we have dinner with the kids, which is always fun because you never know where the conversation is going to go with this many kids,” Sánchez says. “We are the Brady Bunch!”

Working with her boyfriend on the Bezos Award for Courage & Civility: “Jeff and I think [civility] is what’s missing in the world right now. Everything’s driven by negativity or conflict. When we called [Dolly Parton] two weeks before [the award announcement], she goes, ‘Is this real? Did you say $100 million?’ She couldn’t believe it.”

How Bezos will give away his money before he dies: “Jeff has always told me, since I’ve known him, that he’s going to give the majority of his money to philanthropy….[It wasn’t] surprising to me at all. He just never felt the need to have to say it.

Working together with Bezos: “It’s the greatest experience I’ve ever had. I’ve always had a career very separate from my partner. I think now that I can work with my partner and be with him all the time…. We love to be together and we love to work together. He’s helping me with the book. He’s getting his pilot’s license. We fly together. We work out together. We’re together all the time.

The best business advice Bezos gave her: “Living with Jeff is like having a master class every day. What he’s really taught me a lot about is management. Biggest pieces of advice? I hold a lot of meetings and I would talk first in a meeting and he goes, “No, no, no. You’re the boss. You talk last. You let everyone else talk so that they don’t get swayed by your opinion.” Keep meetings under an hour if you can. I don’t know how he does it; he can read documents for hours. Another thing he taught me is: If you’re going to have a meeting, have the person running the meeting write a document about what you’re going to discuss and why. And it can’t be more than six pages.

She’s a gossip: “It’s hard [not to talk about my relationship]. I’m a very open person. I talk a lot. I like to tell all my secrets. I have had to learn that I can’t do that. It’s a good lesson. [I used to] say stuff to people and no one would care! [I catch myself] All the time. I want to tell everyone everything. I want everyone to be my friend! I learned how to not give the location of where I’m at. I can’t Instagram things that I normally would before. I have to be more private, a little more controlled, and that’s fine.

Sunday mornings with Jeff Bezos: “Every Sunday morning, Jeff makes pancakes. He wakes up early. He gets the Betty Crocker cookbook out every time, and I’m like, “OK, you’re the smartest man in the world; why don’t you have this memorized yet?” But he opens it up every time: Exact portions make the best pancakes in the world.

[From WSJ. Magazine]

See what I mean? I sort of like her. Well, I don’t hate her. She seems like fun, she seems like she’s terrifically indiscreet and she loves having a good time. It also sounds like Bezos never really sat down and said “I’m giving away all of this money, babe.” Maybe she knows she just has to ride this to the finish line and have a lot of fun doing it. They criss-cross across the country and the globe, they live in crazy mansions, he makes pancakes from a Betty Crocker recipe… not a bad life.

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Just hours after a New York grand jury handed down a 34-count indictment against Donald Trump, Ol’ Diaper Don was seen at Mar-a-Lago. There’s a TMZ video of Trump giving a thumbs up to supporters before he went into dinner. Apparently, he and Melania had dinner together. Wow, I bet Melania was acting her ass off, trying to suppress her smiles and laughs. Thankfully, Maggie Haberman at the NY Times has a piece about how Diaper Don handled the news of the indictment. As it turns out, he was a lot like the rest of us – he thought that the grand jury probably wouldn’t indict him until late April too.

At Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening, former President Donald J. Trump was still absorbing the news of his indictment, according to several people close to him. Mr. Trump and his aides were caught off guard by the timing, believing that any action by the grand jury was still weeks away and might not occur at all. Some advisers had become confident that there would be no movement until the end of April at the earliest and were looking at the political implications for Mr. Trump’s closest potential rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

At Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate, Mr. Trump’s mood has ranged in recent weeks from optimism and bravado to anxiety about his future. On Thursday evening, after the grand jury indicted him, Mr. Trump was angry but mainly focused on the political implications of the charges, not the legal consequences, according to people familiar with his thinking.

He seemed eager to project confidence and calm and was seen having a very public dinner with his wife, Melania, and her parents at the club at Mar-a-Lago.

He has been keeping a relatively normal schedule at Mar-a-Lago, which he calls “my beautiful home” — dining with guests, playing golf and telling nearly anyone that he was in a good mood and that he believed the case against him by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, had fallen apart. At times Mr. Trump has appeared significantly disconnected from the severity of his potential legal woes, according to people who have spent time with him in recent days.

He was also trying to tamp down his own behavior, after he posted to his social media site a news article with an image of Mr. Bragg on one side and Mr. Trump holding a baseball bat on the other. Mr. Trump’s lawyers were alarmed that he was doing himself damage. He did not repeat the act.

[From The NY Times]

Haberman also reports that Trump was particularly disturbed when Allen Weisselberg, his longtime business associate, was charged with various crimes. I would argue that Trump was disturbed because he knew that the walls were closing in – if they got Weisselberg, they would get him. Anyway, yes, Trump has been threatening violence and raging at people, and then he’ll aim for delusional optimism when he sees tourists and supporters around Mar-a-Lago.

This morning, Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina told NBC News that Trump will surrender voluntarily to New York authorities but Trump will not seek, negotiate or accept a plea deal. Tacopina says Trump wants to go to trial. Likely story.

So far, Hillary Clinton and President Biden have not said anything on the record. Biden was just speaking a pool of reporters and he no-comment’d them when asked about Trump. I’m dying for Hillary to say something iconic. Obama hasn’t said anything either.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

The Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes podcast was one of the few podcasts I really looked forward to listening to, discussing and writing about. Was every episode a slam-dunk? No, but all of them were thought-provoking and every single episode made news. I thought the best episodes were “The Stigma of Singleton,” “Upending the ‘Angry Black Woman’ Myth” and “Beyond the Archetype: Human, Being.” I have my fingers crossed that she’s already at work on a second season and that she’s listened to fans about some of the “archetypes” she should discuss and dismantle. Meanwhile, the first season has been recognized with a Gracie Award!

Meghan Markle is being honored by the Gracie Awards. PEOPLE exclusively reveals that the Duchess of Sussex, 41, has been named a digital media national winner for the 48th Annual Gracie Awards for her Spotify podcast Archetypes. Organized by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, the Gracies celebrate exemplary programming and individual achievement created by, for and about women across all media in news and entertainment.

“Thank you to the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation for this prestigious honor. This is a shared success for me and the team behind Archetypes — most of whom are women — and the inspiring guests who joined me each week,” Meghan said in a statement shared to the Archewell Foundation website.

The Duchess of Sussex is being recognized for her role as a podcast host, as is Katie Couric for her namesake show Next Question and Alex Cooper for Call Her Daddy. Stars being celebrated as television national winners include Christina Applegate, Tracee Ellis Ross, Faith Hill, Amanda Seyfried, Ava DuVernay and Ziwe (who appeared on Archetypes in the fall).

This year’s theme, “Storytelling,” highlights and celebrates the narratives shared by the winners, which not only inform, inspire and captivate audiences but also enrich a collective comprehension of the world.

Winners of the 48th Annual Gracie Awards will be celebrated at a gala event at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles on May 23, which will see a special tribute to women directors following a record number of submissions.

[From People]

May 23rd? The Beverly Wilshire? I hope Meghan goes to the gala and enjoys herself and networks with other female creators. Maybe score some guests for Season 2! Anyway, I enjoy that Archetypes is being recognized for being part of an important cultural conversation. The pod should win an award for just making the British media PANIC every Tuesday’s episode drop. Meghan’s haters were the first ones listening to her and crying about how they were being FORCED to listen to Meghan!

Photos courtesy of Archetypes/Spotify. Archewell Media, Instagram.

In the hours after Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, the new queen consort and the new Princess of Wales began looting the Royal Collection jewelry. They changed the locks on all of the archives and jewelry collections, tossed Angela Kelly’s ass out of the castle and they immediately began wearing all of QEII’s pieces to all of their public events. It was pretty tacky. But I believed it would be a new era in royal jewelry, and that we would begin to see Kate and Camilla in a lot of Royal Collection jewels, pieces which were rarely seen. While Camilla is already wearing tons of jewels (especially pieces associated closely with the Queen Mum), Kate has not gotten tons of access thus far. And now it looks like Kate might not even get a tiara for the Chubbly??!?

King Charles and Queen Camilla are set to be crowned with historic headpieces at the May 6 coronation, but Kate Middleton may go with a surprisingly more low-key option at the historic event.

With less than six weeks to go until the coronation, it’s thought that the Princess of Wales might not be wearing a tiara for the prestigious event. However, with increased anticipation for her to deliver glamour, PEOPLE understands the conversation around the decision is still ongoing.

Looking back at past coronations, there is a precedent for women in the royal family to wear bejewelled toppers.

“Tiaras were worn by nearly every royal lady at the Queen’s coronation in 1953, as well lots of aristocratic women but times have certainly changed in 70 years,” Lauren Kiehna, writer of The Court Jeweller tells PEOPLE.

Should Kate, along with other senior female members of the family forgo a tiara, then presumably long gowns are out of the question too, resulting in a radically different dress code to what might have been expected, with heirloom tiaras potentially replaced with hats or fascinators.

“I’m certainly hoping we’ll see coronation tiaras, but it’s possible that Charles is following the example of some of his European counterparts, like the King of the Netherlands, and setting a daytime formal dress code for the event,” says royal jewelry expert, Kiehna.

“That would mean that we could still see some grand jewels, like necklaces, brooches and earrings but no tiaras. I’ll be sad if that’s true but it may just be another part of the ‘de-formalizing’ of the British royal world that has taken place over the last several decades.”

[From People]

King Charles has indicated for months now that the dress code at his coronation will be different than that of his mother’s – no hosiery for men, fewer ceremonial robes, fewer Medieval touches. But I was under the belief that women would still be in formalwear and all of the royal and aristocratic women would wear all of their finest jewels. The Duchess of Higgenbottomshire would wear her family tiara, the Countess of Biscuitbourgh would wear the crested necklace, and of course all of the royal women would get to borrow large pieces from the Royal Collection. If Kate’s not in a tiara, then I feel certain this is some kind of power-play from Camilla, and/or a specific snub.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, Instar.

Just a few days ago, the Daily Beast’s Royalist had a fascinating exclusive, with “sources close to King Charles” screaming and crying about Prince Harry’s appearance in London, and his witness statement in his lawsuit against ANL/The Mail. According to those sources, Harry had “torpedoed any remaining bridges” with his family and that Charles was completely out of olive branches. Sources close to Prince William and King Charles are always claiming that about every little thing Harry and Meghan do and say. The Windsors are obsessed with reacting negatively to all things Sussex. What’s even funnier is that, after a few days, it’s like… all is forgotten and the whole cycle starts over. Now that Harry’s court appearances are over, the palace is back to openly briefing the media about the potential seating arrangement for the coronation, as in… the Sussexes will be seated prominently. Some highlights from Royalist:

It looks like there are more olive branches & bridges: “Nothing that happens between now and then will make any difference to the seating plan,” a friend of the king told The Daily Beast. “Charles has always said that he loves both his sons. He wants them both there. Harry and Meghan are invited and will be seated prominently.”

William will get the best seat: Most observers believe that the seating layout will favor William, as the heir to the throne, with the best spot at his father and Camilla’s side (when the king and queen are sitting with the congregation, as they will be for part of proceedings). He will be accompanied by his wife, Kate, and their three children, which will account for all the seats on the right of the aisle (assuming they go 14 abreast as they did at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral) and will neatly keep the king and the first four in the line of succession together visually.

They’re honestly counting seats: Those three spaces could be filled by Harry, Meghan and Andrew. There seems to be broad agreement in royal circles that uncomplaining Edward may have to take the hit of being seated next to Andrew, meaning that peeling away from the aisle you could have Harry, Meghan, Anne, Sir Tim, Sophie, Edward, and Andrew. The inclusion of Andrew in this pivotal event seems to be what the public has been being softened up for ever since he escorted his mother to her seat at the memorial for her late husband. It would cement a narrative of Charles the Magnanimous.

Charles doesn’t want to look like he’s snubbing Harry: It would be good for Charles not to be seen to be snubbing his second son, who is fifth in line to the throne, a position he will retain until William has grandchildren, which could easily be over 20 years away given that his eldest son, George, is only 9. Attempting to banish Harry, Meghan, and Andrew behind a pillar a few rows from the back would succeed only in making Charles look extremely petty, and give credence to every word Harry has written.

Charles the Traditional: Another friend, who said they believed seating arrangements had not as yet been finalized, told The Daily Beast: “Charles has a strong sense of tradition, and tradition dictates that Harry ought to be in the front row. I am sure he will do the right thing. Despite everything that has happened, he is his son.”

Charles loves Harry: Charles loves Harry; he is his son and of course he is wanted at the coronation. Even the most ardent supporters of Harry don’t dispute these core claims—indeed, Harry’s book was surprisingly tender towards his beleaguered father. There is no malice and little duplicity in the “Pa” of Spare, rather his failures as a dad seem to stem from very human weakness.

What book? Spare certainly dented the mystique of the monarchy but it notably failed, unlike Diana’s book with Andrew Morton, to rock the institution to its foundations. The guiding principle of the Palace in relation to Spare increasingly appears to be, “Book—what book?”

[From The Daily Beast]

This is all part of the nervousness in recent weeks, a nervousness shared by palace and press about whether they’ve overplayed their hands and been too nasty about the Sussexes, to the point where Harry and Meghan will refuse the Chubbly invitation. Sources already made a point of saying that Harry would not have to publicly show any sort of respect to the stepmother he hates. Of course, I also believe that this outsized focus on the Sussexes’ possible attendance is a way to avoid discussing the lack of enthusiasm for the coronation, as well as avoiding the conversations about Charles and Camilla’s historic unpopularity. But sure, I believe that Charles will probably want the Sussexes in the front row if they come.

The royal reporters made such a BFD about the seating arrangements at QEII’s funeral, but in the Abbey, Charles placed the Sussexes directly behind him so they were in every shot of the new king. The reporters were like “Harry was snubbed by being placed in the second row!” But the optics worked differently: Harry looked like the heir, not William.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.