You can really tell that King Charles is super-disappointed that his first state visit as monarch was canceled. Dude was looking forward to visiting Paris and spending time in Versailles. The French protesters had a different idea, and they began threatening him with the guillotine. C’est la vie. So now the king’s elves are trying to make him feel better about his trip to Germany, which starts on Wednesday. Not only that, there’s a real desperation to portray Charles as a global leader who is beloved and well-liked by other world leaders. It’s fascinating to watch Charles come across as so needy? Some highlights from the Times:
Sanguine Charles: The King was “looking forward” to his first state visit to France, due to have started in Paris on Sunday, but is said to have been entirely “sanguine” when President Macron rang him yesterday morning to call it off.
Charles’s warm relationship: Germany has scooped its neighbour, and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, with whom Charles has a “warm relationship”, will now host the King for his first big moment on the international stage, when he lands in Berlin on Wednesday afternoon.
World leaders love Charles: Since he became King in September, ambassadors and global leaders, including President Zelensky of Ukraine and Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission president, have flocked to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle to meet the UK’s new head of state. A source close to the King says: “World leaders really want to come and meet him. The transition has provoked enormous fascination, on a human and geopolitical level, people want to come and hear from him. There will be a lot of world leaders at his coronation.”
President Steinmeier is doing the most: As a mark of respect and gratitude for the King’s only overseas tour before his coronation on May 6, President Steinmeier is affording Charles and Camilla the highest of honours with a number of historic “firsts”. The King will become the first postwar foreign head of state to be given a ceremonial welcome with full military honours at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and the first British monarch to address the Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament, in a speech he is set to deliver in a mixture of German and English. He is not fluent in the language, unlike his father, Prince Philip.
The reception: Steinmeier, who invited Charles to Germany during the late Queen’s funeral in September and will lay on a state banquet for the royal couple at his residence, the Schloss Bellevue on Wednesday night, has said of the forthcoming visit: “The fact he is now taking up this invitation only half a year later shows how much the King values the friendship between our nations.”
“World leaders really want to come and meet him… people want to come and hear from him.” There’s something so pathetic about Charles’s own courtiers embiggening him to a domestic audience, telling British people that foreign leaders love him. I don’t think Zelenskyy’s visit or the EU president’s visit should be described as “flocking” either – Zelenskyy is a war president desperate to save his people and his country, not a f–king groupie. Besides that, I bet most world leaders are skipping the bloody coronation – President Biden isn’t coming, and I bet Charles only gets a few European leaders and a handful of Commonwealth prime ministers, honestly.
No one knew if Prince Harry was just popping into London for the first day of the four-day pre-trial hearing in his case against ANL/The Mail. Considering how much media attention Harry got for his surprise appearance yesterday, he absolutely made his point and the international media is widely reporting on the lawsuit and the accusations Harry and other celebrities have made against the Mail. But Harry has a clear message: this wasn’t just a stunt. He has arrived at the High Court again today. He will likely stay for the entire day’s proceedings, just like he did yesterday. Harry is telling the world: this is very important, please pay attention.
Meanwhile, Harry’s continued presence in London highlights his family’s bitterness, laziness and incompetence, not to mention their continuing collusion with the same media forces Harry is challenging. The American media is covering it too, just as they did last year around QEII’s funeral. Just as they did when Harry’s dogsh-t father evicted him from Frogmore Cottage. New Magazine’s headline was “King Charles Pretends He’s Too ‘Busy’ to See Prince Harry.”
King Charles clearly doesn’t want to see Prince Harry right now. I think we can all relate: Who hasn’t avoided a relative because they did something obnoxious — for instance, writing a best-selling memoir spilling decades of family secrets? What isn’t very understandable is King Charles’s inability to come up with a good reason as to why he won’t be seeing his son during his surprise visit to the U.K. this week. The Telegraph reports that the king is “busy.”
So what exactly is King Charles up to? The Telegraph only says that he is “understood to be at Highgrove,” which is just a two-hour drive from London. And his schedule is probably pretty clear, since he was scheduled to be in France this week but had to postpone the trip owing to protests in Paris.
If the palace was trying to take the high ground in its responses to Prince Harry, that would make sense. If it wanted to give him a Succession-y “F–k off,” that would also be reasonable. But post-Spare, it’s never clear whether the royals are intentionally snubbing Harry or just being incompetent. When King Charles said “Who?” in response to a heckler’s question about Harry, was he genuinely confused? Or was he making a dig at his son? Did palace officials avoid calling Harry’s kids prince and princess for months to belittle him? Or because they didn’t know the Sussexes’ title preferences?
Saying the king is “busy” — with no further details — when we all know he isn’t falls into this ambiguous category. Make up a plausible excuse or give us a decent insult. What’s the point of employing a whole team of publicists if “busy” is the best they can come up with?
Ouch! This is my favorite line: “it’s never clear whether the royals are intentionally snubbing Harry or just being incompetent.” It’s so true! That’s something I struggle with as well, trying to determine whether the Windsors are just terribly incompetent or whether they’re intentionally vile. Speaking of, in one of the very few stories the Mail published about Harry’s appearance in London, they accuse HARRY of briefing the Telegraph and telling the paper that his father is too “busy” to see him. No – what happened is that Harry surprised everyone yesterday and the Rota rats immediately ran to Buckingham Palace and said “did you know he was coming??” and the palace had to come up with a lie. That lie was “of course he told us, and we told him that Charles was too busy to see him!” The Mail also claims that Charles and William are in no mood to “humour” Harry right now. Good news for them, Harry does not give two sh-ts about them.
As a longtime Angelina Jolie fan, I’m happy to see her looking so happy and free these days. The fog lifted a few years back, and she suddenly seemed a lot happier and eager to work. I think booking The Eternals helped her – a big project where she was part of an ensemble, and she made new friends like Salma Hayek. I still believe that Salma was the one who put Angelina together with David Mayer de Rothschild, a scion of the billionaire Rothschild family. Salma runs in those circles. To be fair, Angelina runs in those circles too, but I definitely believe Salma is even more elite. In any case, as much as we want to believe that Angelina is getting some from a ruggedly handsome British adventurer, a “source” spoiled the fun:
Angelina Jolie’s recent lunch outing with David Mayer de Rothschild was simply a business matter, sources tell PEOPLE.
On Monday, a source close to Jolie, 47, clarified that her lunch with the British environmentalist, 44, at Nobu in Malibu, California last Thursday was only for business purposes. Meanwhile, a source at the restaurant says the pair had lunch with a small group of people and that the meeting did not appear to be a lunch date.
The pair were previously spotted leaving Nobu last Thursday after a lunch that Page Six reported lasted for three hours. Jolie was captured exiting the establishment in a black dress that featured cutouts on the side. She accessorized the look with a pair of black heels and matching sunglasses. Mayer de Rothschild, meanwhile, kept it casually cool in a pair of jeans, a blue shirt and a blue jacket, which he paired with black shoes.
Representatives for Jolie did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment Sunday regarding the outing.
Jolie’s meeting with Mayer de Rothschild came months after the star announced that she was stepping away from her role as a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Special Envoy in December.
Yeah, maybe there were other people at the lunch. Maybe it was technically a business lunch. But my body language expertise says that they were smitten with each other. My Jolie-fashion expertise says that Angelina wouldn’t have worn spike heels and a flattering cut-out dress if she wasn’t down with some flirting. Now, even if they’re both like “wait, we can’t get involved, even though that just makes it hotter,” it’s really good for Angelina to have these kinds of associates and allies on her side in the long-term. Because her ex is abusive trash.
Angelina Jolie goes on three-hour lunch with billionaire David Mayer de Rothschild https://t.co/w6tX0sMG3l pic.twitter.com/skcWZw8rTR
— Page Six (@PageSix) March 25, 2023
Angelina Jolie Spotted on Lunch Outing with Billionaire Environmentalist David Mayer de Rothschild https://t.co/eOpBo2IaQl
— People (@people) March 26, 2023
Kaley Cuoco is due to have her baby any day now, right? She and Tom Pelphrey announced that they were expecting their first child, a baby girl, back in October. I guessed late March or early April based on that timing, and it seems like it’s getting close! The couple posed for a pretty chill maternity photoshoot with their dogs. Five dogs, to be exact, who are “just waiting on their human sister to arrive.” Cute!
As Kaley Cuoco’s due date looms, the pregnant Flight Attendant star is sharing her maternity shoot with fans.
On Sunday, the 37-year-old actress — who is expecting her first child, a daughter, with Ozark actor Tom Pelphrey, 40 — shared a series of photos lensed by photographer Claudia Craig. Keeping in casual in blue jeans and black T-shirts — with Cuoco’s pulled up to expose her stomach — the couple posed both solo and with their beloved dogs.
“Just waitin’ on their human sister to arrive,” the Big Bang Theory star and animal rights advocate, captioned the black-and-white shoot.
On her own Instagram, Craig shared several other outtakes from the maternity shoot, some of which see the mom-to-be baring her bump.
Cuoco and Pelphrey were first romantically linked early last year, and announced that October that they would be having a baby girl.
“Baby girl Pelphrey coming 2023,” the Emmy nominee told her fans. “Beyond blessed and over the moon…”
Kaley loves animals and has horses, a zonkey, and some other animal buddies, so I’m a little bummed we didn’t get a photo shoot with the whole gang. But maybe the bigger ones would be a bit much around a pregnant woman so near her due date. And the pups are the ones that will be living with the family in the home. It kind of seems like Kaley has been pregnant forever, but she’s only been with Tom for about a year. The pair met at the Ozark premiere through their mutual manager last April, went Instagram official in May, announced they were expecting in October, and had a big baby shower in January. Quite the whirlwind! Kaley has said that she’s not overly preparing/planning by reading all the books, but Tom is doing that for both of them. I wonder if that’s changed. I also still wonder if they’re married because they’ve been wearing rings and everyone’s noticed, but they’re not saying. What do we think they’ll name the baby girl? I’m guessing they’ll split the difference between Kaley and Tom and it will be something we’ve heard before, but not super common.
Spoilers for previously aired episodes of Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets season two premiered on Showtime last weekend. I won’t post S2 spoilers and I deleted the spoilery parts of the excerpts, so you’re safe on this post. I’m already angry at some of the characters and the incredibly stupid choices they’ve made. But, there are some things that have intrigued me. And I’m here for Juliette Lewis.
Last season, the four main actresses playing the older versions of the Yellowjackets got the most press, which makes sense given their star power. This season I think the four younger actresses will breakout. They did a great job last season and with the amount of attention the show’s getting, I bet the spotlight will shine very brightly on them. Like 22-year-old Sophie Nélisse, who plays the young Shauna to Melanie Lynskey’s adult Shauna. This will be a spoiler if you didn’t watch season one, but since Jackie died, young Shauna will become even more prominent this season, for a variety of reasons, if episode one is to be believed. Sophie got a big profile in InStyle where she spoke about how she and Melanie approach playing the two versions of the same character, the craziest theories fans have about the show and how she’s been obsessed with Jake Gyllenhaal since she was 10.
On how she and Melanie play Shauna: We talked together before starting the first season, just to make sure that we had the same essence and we pictured Shauna the same way. And we just both personally had a bunch of things in common with Shauna, and I think that’s how we never really got into the specifics of any mannerisms that we wanted to match or body language,” she notes. “It was really just more about who she is, fundamentally. And I think once we locked that down, we just went with it.
I definitely tried to pay close attention when watching the first season, now that I finally got access to her acting in the scenes. I was like, ‘OK, so she’s doing this and this and this.’ Before shooting the second season, she has a lot of tiny mannerisms that she does naturally. For example, she bites her lips quite often, and I was like, ‘Oh, let me incorporate that.’ I tried doing it in front of the mirror, and I looked so stupid doing it. It just looked so forced. I abandoned just trying to mimic whatever Melanie was doing. The audience seemed to think it’s a great fit, so I just thought, ‘Let’s not change a working recipe.’
On watching the older cast after the fact: Watching the post-trauma is fun for us, because we haven’t seen anything from what they’ve shot, so it’s like watching a show for the first time. Even though we’ve read it, when we watch it, we haven’t shot any of it, so it’s like we’re watching a TV show that we haven’t been on.
She doesn’t believe in ghosts: I guess I believe more in energy, more than a ghost. I don’t think that anyone stays in a house, per se, the way you’d picture a haunted house and there’s a ghost,” she says. “I don’t think you could ever see one. I think maybe you could feel. You just don’t feel right or there’s definitely a presence entering a room. I don’t think I’ll ever see someone standing in the corner of my room or have someone touch me or feel someone going through me.
The craziest fan theories she’s heard: Shauna eats her baby, I think, is one that a lot of people have suspected. I can’t say anything about it, but that’s a pretty crazy one. Who’s going to kill who is very interesting. That Shauna might be the Antler Queen, I think, is a cool one. Watching the first season, [fans are] like, “Oh, Shauna will be the Antler Queen, because at this moment she was standing underneath this piece of artwork, and you could see the antlers in the back.” And I didn’t even notice that when shooting it, so the things that the fans pick up on, it’s pretty amazing.
She’s obsessed with Jake Gyllenhaal: Jake Gyllenhaal. I cannot. I cannot. I’ve been obsessed with him since I was 10, and I say that I’ve met him, but I just said hi when I was 10, on a red carpet. And then that was before I was really into him, and literally, after that carpet is when I started watching all of his work. And to this day, I’m upset that I didn’t say more when I met him.
There was this one time I also saw him at a festival in Venice. I can’t remember where, but I started crying. It was for a premiere of his show. I was there and I started crying, and my mom was there with me. And she was literally mad. She was like, “Sophie, get a grip. This is embarrassing. You are not someone that gets starstruck. This is … no. Get yourself together.” It was pretty funny. I was crying.
That InStyle link has spoilers, btw. As for how Sophie and Melanie approach the same character, what they’re doing is smart. I don’t know if all the actresses do the same thing, but it feels like they do. The older/younger versions feel like the same person but clearly a person who was forever changed by a traumatic event. There’s no mimicry but there is consistency. And I could see how watching the adult portion of the series would be entertaining to see how ‘they’ turned out. It’s like getting to see into the future.
As for Sophie’s obsession with Jake G, I mean, she’s the right age for him. I hope her Mom sticks around to keep speaking sense to her when it comes to him and young protegées. But I understand getting starstruck. We all have a celebrity that causes all the words to fall out of our head. My mother, who gets rattled by no one, gasped when Paul Newman smiled at her. And I got giggly around Seattle Slew, for crying out loud. A racehorse. So no, I won’t fault a besotted 10-year-old for not keeping it together when she met Jake.
I forgot Elijah Wood was going to be in season two of Yellowjackets. They show him for just a second in the trailer. Now that’s the kind of info that’s going to keep me coming back. And Juliette Lewis, of course.
Photo credit: Instagram and Getty Images
Elon Musk estimates that Twitter is worth about $20 billion. He purchased it for $44 billion. More brilliant business from Mr. Emerald Mine. [The Wrap]
Oh, god I hate Toni Collette’s dress here. [Go Fug Yourself]
Beyonce has done a 16-piece collection with Balmain. [LaineyGossip]
Spoilers for the first episode of Succession Season 4! [Jezebel]
There’s a documentary called Do I Sound Gay? [OMG Blog]
Happy belated birthday to Lee Pace. [Dlisted]
Jeremy Renner is learning to walk again. [Seriously OMG]
Review of John Wick: Chapter Four. [Pajiba]
What were the best looks of the awards season? [RCFA]
Adele is jealous of fans going to Taylor Swift’s concerts. [Just Jared]
Is Genie Bouchard ever going to play tennis again? [Egotastic]
Twitter is ending legacy verification. [Buzzfeed]
Jon Hamm joins the Mean Girls musical movie. [Towleroad]
When we make reference to Rose Hanbury, it should be noted that we’re always referring to her by her maiden name. Her married name is Rose Rocksavage, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley. She’s married to David Rocksavage, the Marquess of Cholmondeley. During QEII’s reign, David acted as Lord Great Chamberlain. The position is hereditary and part of an archaic system to favor three aristocratic families on a rotating basis. When a new king or queen comes in, the Lord Great Chamberlain position is filled by the next family. In this case, King Charles’s Lord Great Chamberlain is Rupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington. The position is mostly ceremonial and – I would argue – social. During QEII’s reign, the Rocksavages were often invited to all of the big palace dinners and events. It looks like King Charles wants to continue the formal association with the Rocksavages too – Richard Eden at the Mail says that Charles has appointed the Marquess to a new position.
When the Marquess of Cholmondeley was replaced as Lord Great Chamberlain after the death of Queen Elizabeth last September, it looked like he was losing his intimate connection with the monarchy. But I now hear that King Charles has handed the Marquess, aka film-maker David Rocksavage, a new position that will see him and his wife, the bohemian former model Rose Hanbury, returning to the heart of the royal court.
Charles has appointed the Marquess, 62, as his Lord-in-Waiting — a prestigious position that will see him attend important state and royal occasions, as well as being called upon to represent His Majesty at various events.
The appointment is likely to please the Prince and Princess of Wales, who are friends and Norfolk neighbours of the Cholmondeleys. They live near Anmer Hall, Prince William and Catherine’s country home on the private Sandringham estate.
Rose, 39, married Rocksavage in 2009. He is 23 years her senior and friends had almost given up hope that he would ever marry. Rose soon produced an heir and spare, twins Alexander and Oliver. Like Catherine, she has since given birth to a third child, Iris. While Catherine and William stay at ten-bedroom Anmer, previously rented out to a kitchen timber boss, the Marquess and Marchioness live in splendour at nearby Houghton Hall, one of the country’s finest Palladian houses, surrounded by 1,000 acres of parkland.
Okay, here’s my question: all of the Rocksavage-Wales connections are completely an open secret in British high society and British media circles, correct? So this is Eden very publicly yanking William and Kate’s chains. Especially with this wording: “Like Catherine, she has since given birth to a third child, Iris.” Like, at this point, the story isn’t even that Prince William and Rose (allegedly!) had a torrid affair and are perhaps still dealing with each other sexually or romantically. Like, there seems to be some media prodding about Rose’s third child too. Which brings me to the question of why Charles would make a point of giving this honorary position to the Marquess? Is this Charles telling William: I know all, and we need to keep these people very close, lest they start spilling all of our royal tea?
Last week, the Princess of Wales “unveiled” her Business Taskforce on Early Childhood. Business Kate gave a big-girl business book report to a group of business people, then Business Kate posed outside with business buildings in the background of her business photoshoot. As always, the optics are the only thing she cares about. She made all of those businessmen stop their days to listen to her read out her Early Years word salad book report and y’all know that every single adult in that room was thinking “this could have been an email.” Kate doesn’t even have goals or tangible objectives. There is nothing she is fundraising for, there is nothing she is trying to achieve with all of this nonsense. It’s just about giving this 41-year-old incompetent, lazy moron something to do. Speaking of, someone wrote an essay and Kate slapped her name on it, and it got published in the Financial Times. FT notes at the beginning “The writer is the Princess of Wales.” Likely story. Here’s an edited version:
This year, I launched a major new campaign, Shaping Us, to increase understanding of the critical importance of early childhood and its impact in shaping the rest of our lives. We must now harness the interest and enthusiasm around this to drive real action.
Earlier this week, I created a Business Taskforce for Early Childhood to discuss how we can work together to change the way we all view and prioritise early childhood. This is not only for the benefit of society today, but for all of us in the years to come. The taskforce creates a bridge between the scientific community — whose evidence so unequivocally makes the case for prioritising early childhood — and the business community. Businesses should play a significant role in changing attitudes, both within their own organisations and across their wider network of suppliers, customers and communities.
Parental wellbeing is the biggest single factor in determining a child’s wellbeing, and we know that becoming a parent places additional pressure on mental health. Nearly 75 per cent of people find parenting under-fives stressful. We also know that parents make up a significant part of the UK workforce — 76 per cent of mothers and 92 per cent of fathers with children are in work. We must recognise the challenge for many of these parents, and other caregivers, in balancing a successful working life with a nurturing home life during their children’s formative years. Employers have an important role in making that possible.
Of course, there are many others within the workforce who play an important role in the lives of children — grandparents, friends, community volunteers. As the saying goes, “it takes a village”.
I believe that we need to do two things. The first is to prioritise creating working environments that provide the support people need to cultivate and maintain their own social and emotional wellbeing. The second is a more concentrated focus on the social and emotional development of our youngest children. The environmental, social and governance framework — or ESG — is now readily recognised and supported by business. Considerable progress has been made within a relatively short few years on the environment and governance parts of that framework, but the “social” aspect is not discussed as overtly or measured and reported in the same way.
So, over the coming months, the taskforce will look at the opportunity to put the early years at the heart of delivering the “social” element. While great work is being done by individual businesses, by being more co-ordinated across business and commerce, our impact could be far reaching.
So… she launched a brand new campaign, Shaping Us, which is just the same old sh-t she’s launched and relaunched for years, and now she’s launched her Business Taskforce on Early Childhood. She read her business book report outloud, she posed in front of business buildings, and here’s the moment to really put a bow on all of this business keenery and show us that she has actual business objectives and all of this isn’t insipid busy work. And her big objective is: “the taskforce will look at the opportunity to put the early years at the heart of delivering the ‘social’ element.” Millions of dollars, hundreds of hours, dozens of wiglets, thousands of buttons later, and she wants to put the full weight of her office and her business taskforce behind… “we need to find a way to socialize more.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, KensingtonRoyal.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex still haven’t said anything about the coronation attendance or, hopefully, their non-attendance. Every briefing, every leak, every article with unnamed sources being quoted is coming from Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace. King Charles really wants Harry to come (but not Meghan or Archie or Lili) and Charles wants to be able to perform his dogsh-t fatherhood for the world by snubbing Harry. Everyone is afraid that these palace manipulations will work on Harry, plus he would simply want to be there for his terrible father. “Sources” tell the Daily Mail that Harry and Meghan also want to come with the hope that they could be part of a special family moment, perhaps on the balcony? Again, this is coming from the palace, not Montecito:
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex would like to be part of the ‘special family moment’ when members of the royal family gather on the balcony at Buckingham Palace at the King’s coronation, sources have claimed. Prince Harry, 38, and Meghan Markle, 41, are understood to be keen to attend King Charles’s coronation on 6 May – the same day as Prince Archie’s fourth birthday.
Although the couple have not yet confirmed whether they will attend, it has been reported that they are hoping to be at the celebrations, and would like Prince Archie’s birthday to be recognised in some way during the during the day. Sources also suggested they would also like to be included in some way when members of the royal family appear on the balcony at Buckingham Palace following the ceremony.
A source told OK! earlier this month that discussions are ongoing about the Duke and Duchess’s involvement in the coronation, including the question of whether they and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will appear on the balcony. They said that the question is a ‘sticking point’ because typically, non-working royals don’t appear, however they added: ‘Harry and Meghan are keen that they too should be a part of that special family moment.’
The source added the parents-of-two had requested to stay in Frogmore Cottage, where they had lived before moving to the US, when they return to the UK for the coronation. They are also said to want their children to spend more time with family members, including Princess Eugenie’s son August who is a similar age to Lilibet. Another hope of the Sussexes is that Archie’s fourth birthday will be marked in some way despite it falling on the same day as the coronation.
The source said: ‘The Sussexes have asked for some kind of celebration or acknowledgement to be factored into the day’s plans to ensure that his fourth birthday won’t get lost during the momentous day.’
My opinion? This is Buckingham Palace throwing some red meat to the British media to get them outraged over the idea that King Charles would acknowledge his mixed-race grandchildren on his coronation day, or that Charles would want both of his sons on this fakakta balcony. Remember all of this balcony crap during the Jubbly? At the end of the day, the Sussexes were invited to Trooping the Colour and they watched from another building with Harry’s cousins and extended family, and they were fine with it.
Anyway, this story was part of the discussion during the Mail’s royal “talk show,” Palace Confidential. Robert Jobson was part of the discussion, because Jobson is a royal biographer who recently published a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it biography of Prince William. Jobson got a lot of access to Charles and Camilla back in 2017-18, and he was the source of some anti-Sussex crap back then. So, Jobson and the Mail crew were talking about whether the Sussexes should be on the balcony, and Jobson “joked” about dangling Archie over the balcony. The violent, hateful and racist rhetoric against Harry, Meghan and their children continues with the implicit (if not explicit) blessing of Buckingham Palace.
As reporter Robert Jobson jokes about dangling Archie over the balcony like Michael Jackson, I recalled Meghan Markle’s words:
“Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child?” pic.twitter.com/za5WrYMepg
— R.S. Locke / Royal Suitor (@royal_suitor) March 24, 2023
Introduction: Minutes 0 to 6:45
We plan to have episodes for the next two weeks and then we’ll be off April 15th and 22nd. We are both watching the new season of Ted Lasso. We debate binge watching vs. watching once a week. I watched The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent on Starz and thought Pedro Pascal was a standout. You can listen below!
Royals: Minutes 6:45 to 22:00
One of the biggest stories over the past two weeks was the manufactured one in which the British press tries to manipulate the Sussexes to come to the coronation. Unlike the Jubilee, to which the Queen invited the Sussexes directly, Charles isn’t talking to them and wants someone else to convince them to come. Other reports say that there are negotiations happening behind the scenes, and that they’re preparing two schedules for the coronation, one that includes the Sussexes and one that doesn’t. They’ve since been told that they can stay in Frogmore if they come to the coronation. There are also reports that if they do come they will be strictly controlled like they were at the jubilee.
While we were off we got an announcement that Princess Lilibet was christened in Montecito. The Sussexes used Lili’s Princess title in their announcement about it to the media. The order of succession website with Archie and Lili’s titles was finally updated a day later. We got a bizarre story that when Charles evicted the Sussexes from Frogmore he told them that the website would be updated with their children’s titles. Charles had been trying to convince the press that he had the power to make a decision on the children’s titles. After the christening story came out, the palace changed their tune.
We’ve also heard that Camilla’s grandchildren will have prominent roles in the coronation but that Archie and Lili haven’t even been formally invited yet. Royalists don’t think Camilla’s grandchildren should be in the coronation. Meanwhile William and Kate’s children are expected to be in the procession but it’s unknown if they will have a big role.
Prince Edward, Charles’ youngest sibling, also finally got his Duke of Edinburgh title that was promised to him by the Queen and Prince Philip. The titles were supposed to be passed to him and his wife, Sophie, when the Queen passed but Charles kept holding it over his head. Charles conferred that to him on March 10th, which was Edward’s 59th birthday.
This week Princess Kate met with her new “Business Taskforce for Early Childhood.” Here’s a link to the tweet I mentioned where I compared this to the two kids in a trenchcoat gag from Bojack Horseman. I was floored by how bad her speech was. It had a bunch of big words and made zero sense. Someone on Twitter said it was like ChatGPT wrote it. The taskforce was the whole announcement. They have no agenda and no goals. We wonder when Kate will do something substantive like fundraising or advocacy work.
Trump’s possible arrest: Minutes 22:00 to 25
Back in October, 2020 we recorded an add on to podcast #68 when we heard that Trump had covid. We had that same kind of hope when we heard he might get arrested. It hasn’t happened yet unfortunately. Here’s a link to some AI photos of Trump getting arrested. Our moms are really happy about this possibility.
Comments of the Week: Minutes 25:00 to end
Chandra’s comment of the week is from girl_ninja on the post about Charles and Camilla visiting France during their nationwide strike. Since we recorded, their trip has been canceled.
My comment of the week is from Manda on the post about the TikTok from Romy Mars, Sofia Coppola and Thomas Mars’ 16-year-old daughter.
Thanks for listening bitches!
Photos credit: Backgrid, Cover Images, Avalon.red and via social media