Last week, Apple Martin came out to the Chanel show at Paris Fashion Week. I thought it was interesting enough to make it into the lead link, because what’s the story, right? “Apple Martin went to Paris.” That’s it. Well, you guys had some thoughts! Some of those thoughts made me uncomfortable – while Apple is a second-generation nepo-baby, right now she’s not doing anything questionable or rude. She graduated from high school and she’s currently in college. Practically everything we know about her, we know because her mom talks about her in interviews. If Gwyneth wanted Apple to be a model or actress, trust that it would have already happened. Instead, it looks like Gwyneth wants Apple to experience a normal teen life and it looks like Apple wants that too, for the most part. Now, do I also think it’s funny that Apple was invited to attend the Chanel show right as her spring semester was starting? Sure. Do I also think it’s funny that she did an interview with Vogue while she was in Paris? Also yes. But if this is a soft-launch for Apple’s influencer/model era, it’s fine. Once again, Apple isn’t taking work from anyone. She’s just existing as a pretty teenager who loves makeup and clothes.

Apple Martin is staying true to her personal style. After making a splash during Chanel’s haute couture show at Paris Fashion Week on Monday, the 18-year-old-daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin told Vogue that she doesn’t consider herself to be “super trendy.”

“I love sweaters and oversized cardigans, loafers, and a good pair of comfy Levis,” she said. “The most important thing for me is feeling like my genuine self when wearing an outfit; I’m aiming for a mix of classic ’90s and cool grandpa.”

Because of her taste in fashion, she strongly connected to the black-and-white checked dress-and-blazer ensemble by Chanel that she wore during Paris Fashion Week. She added while speaking to Vogue: “My favorite part of the look was the combination of the loafers and the minidress. It’s something that felt very true to my own style.”

With the outfit, she highlighted her eyes with a smoky, winged liner and a bright, red lip. She described the makeup choice as something that helped “encapsulate Chanel’s timelessness” and added “edge.”

Fashion journalist and TV personality Derek Blasberg highlighted Apple’s night out at Fashion Week, posting some behind-the-scenes shots of the teenager on Instagram and a caption that paid tribute to the late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, who saw Martin’s fashionista potential long ago. “Karl Lagerfeld met Apple Martin when she was 4 years old and declared that one day she’d be a Chanel girl. It happened today!” the Fashion Week mainstay, 40, wrote of Lagerfeld’s prediction coming to fruition.

[From People]

From what Gwyneth has said about her daughter, Apple loves clothes and makeup so much more than Gwyneth ever did. Apple is really into all of this, and I think it would be a pretty easy choice for any budding young fashionista to travel to Paris for the Chanel show if they were invited. I hope Apple only missed a day or two of classes! As for her comments to Vogue… she sounds pretty typical to me? Kids her age love the ‘90s and Friends and normcore/granddad style. At least she’s going to school!

I bet she loves Clueless. That’s what she reminds me of in these photos – Cher Horowitz. And Rachel Green’s style in the early seasons of Friends, which is so funny given her mother’s history with “the TV girl.”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

So many launch events and so few substance events. That’s always the case with Catherine, Princess of Wales. I was around for the actual launch of this fakakta Early Years crap in 2019-2020 and it was the same thing – a million “launch” events, social media videos, pie charts and gurning, all signifying nothing more than “the early years are important.” Now, in 2023, we have the launch events, videos and gurning for Shaping Us: “the early years are important.” As I mentioned before, the only real change Kate has made to her childishly simple message is “there’s too much importance given to childhood development over the age of five.” That’s it. One could argue that she’s advocating for fewer resources to be devoted to kids over the age of five.

Anyway, these are photos from today’s launch event in Leeds. And by “launch event,” I mean that Kate wandered around a market and asked vendors about their childhoods:

During her visit, the mother-of-three is hoping to increase public awareness surrounding the importance of early childhood in shaping adulthood and society as a whole.

Bringing the cause to the heart of the community, the Princess of Wales met vendors and members of the public at Leeds Kirkgate Market to discuss their experiences of early childhood.

Leeds Kirkgate Market opened in 1857 and is home to hundreds of local independent businesses covering everything from fresh fruit and vegetables, butchers, and fishmongers, to a Community Library, cookery school and Volunteer Centre.

[From Hello]

I… well… sorry, who came up with this event? Seriously?? She just wandered around a market and talked in her cut-glass accent “what were your early years like, what shaped you??” THAT is what her staff put together? That is the “awareness raising campaign”?? Just sending Kate out to random places to talk to random people (at a market!!!) about their childhood? Even if Kate was a credible child development expert (she is not), that would be a huge waste of time and resources. It’s kind of insane how incompetent all of these people are.

Kate’s coat here is “bespoke McQueen,” according to the Mail. I don’t know if it’s a repeat – she has a million green coats, so if this is new, that’s really sad and wasteful. Her boots are Gianvito Rossi.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

We’re just four months shy of the biggest royal event of the year, Prince Archie’s fourth birthday, during which Archie’s grandfather will ride in a big gold carriage and throw himself a Chubbly party. The coronation is the focus this week in the British media, and as always, they’re telling on themselves. The Windsors can’t help but tell on themselves too. The main storyline, four months before this mess, is solely about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and whether they’ll be invited and whether they’ll come. It’s gotten so bad that Dan Wootton is spinning unhinged conspiracies about how Meghan is wielding her silence to provoke King Charles or something. Wootton’s blaring headline at the Mail is: “Why is Meghan distancing herself from Spare? Royal insiders fear the disappearing act by the Duchess of Sussex is to secure her even more power during Harry’s negotiations with Charles over the coronation.” LMAO. Her power.

Meghan’s silence during Harry’s memoir promotion: “[She was silent during] the massive backlash prompted by his egotistical, puerile, nasty and divisive autobiography Spare, designed to destroy the reputation of his brother, the future king, and begin the process of dismantling the British monarchy as we know it. While I have been told Meghan was privately supportive during the writing of the book – and heavily involved with the scorched earth strategy in regards to the royal institution and British media ­– publicly there has been a marked change in tone.

Meghan’s changed strategy: “It seems hard to believe that Meghan has all of a sudden decided that publicly roasting her husband’s family is a mistake, given that’s exactly what she has done in the past. And, apart from the specific rolling back of claims the Royal Family is racist, Spare is the continuation of a narrative she started in her infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey… Indeed, the Duchess is said to be privately ecstatic that many of the previously concealed and publicly damaging claims about Prince William’s behaviour, especially the so-called physical attack on Harry, during her time in the Royal Family have now been made public.

Nefarious motives: “That’s why, contrary to any suggestion of disunity between the Sussexes, Royal Family insiders now fear there is a far more nefarious motivation behind Meghan’s rare silence. By keeping out of the public bunfight surrounding Spare and making no comment on its contents, Meghan could be setting herself up as a power broker in likely forthcoming negotiations between Harry and his father King Charles over his possible attendance at the coronation.”

Meghan holds the key: “It’s Meghan who now holds the key to appeasing her husband and granting Charles his misguided wish of family unity on his big day. That’s a situation that Meghan will relish. The former Suits actress was incandescent when courtiers, most likely at the behest of senior members of the Royal Family, appeared to cut her out of the Megxit negotiations by holding the Sandringham Summit when she had returned to Canada to care for her young son Archie.

Royal insiders speak: One royal insider told me: ‘Meghan’s silence around Spare seems highly strategic. She can now appear to be the peacemaker while making it very clear to her husband what concessions they will need before they agree to attend the coronation. She’s put herself in a position where it’s now almost impossible to circumvent her. But, make no mistake, Meghan still wants to cause the ultimate damage to the Royal Family. Her fingerprints were all over the Netflix series which even questioned the role of the Commonwealth, the life’s work of Her Late Majesty. There’s no trust there anymore, but what choice does anyone have if Charles is determined to have them both there.’

[From The Mail]

As I’ve been saying, it’s utter Panic! At the Palace. And I do believe that Prince William and Kensington Palace are largely behind this week’s briefing spree – this is a jealous and enraged William throwing a ludicrous tantrum in the media about his father’s plan to make a temporary peace with the Sussexes. This is William’s incandescence that he can’t destroy, humiliate and degrade Harry and Meghan. Wootton’s obsession with Meghan has always been sick and twisted, but it stems from William’s own obsession with the Sussexes. The Mail’s commentary class wouldn’t write like this about Harry and Meghan unless they were getting the explicit go-ahead from senior royals.

Also – have you noticed that the British papers are trying to find ways to address William’s assault on Harry? They can’t deny it outright – because they know it happened – so they’re just like “Harry CLAIMS that William attacked him!” And boy, all of the Windsors are so mad that Harry loves and respects his wife and wants to include Meghan in any peace talks or conversations.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

I kept waiting for the Princess of Wales to actually, you know, launch her big new keen awareness campaign during the day on Monday. She did not. Probably because she was getting her wiglet conditioned and some fresh Bo, all to make a glitzy appearance at the BAFTA headquarters in London on Monday evening. You might think “wait, what’s happening at BAFTA?” This was the launch event for Shaping Us, yet another “the early years are important y’all” awareness-raising campaign. It has nothing to do with BAFTA. The reason they got to use the space is because William is BAFTA president and the Royal Foundation employs the former BAFTA CEO Amanda Berry (who was also there last night). This was Berry and Peg placating Kate and making her feel embiggened for her big “launch.”

Kate looked nice, honestly. I’ve been saying that since she got the upgraded POW title, her wigs have been painfully bad. Like, it looks like she isn’t even taking proper care of them and she just plops them on the back of her head with no blending. But last night, someone did her hair and makeup. She looked better. Her suit is Alexander McQueen and the cut and style is very reminiscent of a suit worn by Meghan in her Variety photoshoot last year. Plus, Meghan wore all-red when she spoke at One Young World in Manchester last September. Yet another big moment for Kate’s Meghan moodboard. Kate’s earrings are by Chalk, and they’ve a repeat.

Kate was in rare form, if these photos are any indication. William was paying attention to her and he put his hand on her back, and everyone was admiring her fire-engine red suit. She’s like a little kid trying to get attention. Early Years, heal thyself.

Her speech… it isn’t even a word salad. It’s just a collection of nothingness.

“Move over Meg” are u not embarrassed pic.twitter.com/Rsu0sHS7ZT

— Kaiser@Celebitchy (@KaiseratCB) January 31, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Tom Brady lost 15 lbs with the stress of his divorce. He’s also still thinking about playing football next season?? Good lord. [Gawker]
Is Dorit Kemsley the new Hilaria Baldwin? [Pajiba]
Pamela Anderson’s documentary promotion is wild. [Dlisted]
Harry Styles & Jennifer Aniston? Please, no. [LaineyGossip]
I wouldn’t like this clown prank either. [OMG Blog]
Mugler is doing a lot of leather this season. [Go Fug Yourself]
Damar Hamlin thanks people for the love & support. [Seriously OMG]
Drake stayed in the “most expensive hotel room in the world.” [Just Jared]
This was a Law & Order: SVU episode, I swear to god. [Jezebel]
People love Nick Offerman in The Last of Us. [Buzzfeed]
Rick Astley was actually a great pop star?? [Towleroad]

Embed from Getty Images

We’ve often talked about the utter clownshow that is Kensington Palace, and I have to say, it’s gotten so much worse since William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales. Like, I’m not a huge fan of Charles in general, but when Charles was POW, he worked. He had a million schemes, charities, events, foundations, etc. He stayed busy and it was never this amateurish exercise we’ve seen from Kensington Palace for more than a decade. It’s not entirely the fault of KP’s staff and advisors, because William and Kate are clearly two of the dumbest, laziest and most tone-deaf people in the world. They’re content to do busy work and burn through resources on their embiggening. They still think the model of “show up empty-handed and get photographed at foodbank” is the model which works. Nothing speaks to this more than Will and Kate’s two “signature” initiatives, Earthshot and the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. Well, we knew that Kate was going to announce some big new busy work for her Keenwell Institute, and here it is: a campaign called Shaping Us. The campaign’s mission is to spread awareness of the importance of early childhood. That’s it. That’s all. Kate “wrote” an open letter about it:

“This week, I am delighted to reveal The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood will launch a major new awareness raising campaign, highlighting the critical importance the first five years of our lives have on shaping the adults we become. During our very early childhood, our brains develop at an amazing rate – faster than any other time of our lives. Our experiences, relationships, and surroundings at that young age, shape the rest of our lives. It is a time where we lay the foundations and building blocks for life. It is when we learn to understand ourselves, understand others and understand the world in which we live.”

“But as a society, we currently spend much more of our time and energy on later life. I am absolutely determined that this long-term campaign is going to change that. It will start by highlighting how we develop during early childhood and why these years matter so much in terms of shaping who we become. I will be joined by a remarkable group of experts spanning science, research, policymaking and front-line practice as well as an exciting group of well-known faces from music, sport and television to show all of us why it is in all of our interests to care about this.”

“We all need to know the critical importance of our early childhood,” Kate said. “They really are years like no other in our lives. I urge everyone reading this to take the opportunity to learn more about this incredible time of life, to think back to your own childhood and how it shaped you, and most importantly, to ask yourselves what you can do to make the world a more supportive and loving place for our children. Because healthy, happy children shape a healthy, happy future.”

[From People]

“But as a society, we currently spend much more of our time and energy on later life. I am absolutely determined that this long-term campaign is going to change that….” Do “we” spend “much more of our time and energy on later life”? Aren’t most child development specialists looking at, you know, all of childhood? I’ve always been disconcerted with Kate’s overwhelming message that if you have a f–ked up childhood under the age of five, there’s no hope for you. What happens to kids AFTER the age of five is pretty important too. It’s ALL important.

People Magazine also got some mind-numbingly stupid sh-t from the Kensington Palace clowns, with KP’s spokesperson saying: “The Princess has taken an active role in every stage of this campaign… the Princess really wants this campaign to bring about change in the way that we think about and see the importance of early years. This is very much the start. And I think this is very much going to be a key focus of her work way beyond next week. And I’m sure it will be a golden thread throughout her working life.” Wait, THIS is the start? Then what was she doing for twelve years? Wasn’t the Five Big Questions and the pie charts the start of something? And the “golden thread” – jesus h.

Of course there’s a keen new video too. The comments were… rough. But the whole thing is kind of insane? Literally going through a photo album and flashing Big Blue???

Our early childhood shapes the rest of our lives.#ShapingUs – coming soon with The Centre for @Earlychildhood pic.twitter.com/jM7nJS5xhX

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) January 28, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

I haven’t entirely worked out who is leaking what and all of the details of the palace intrigue, but from what I can see, King Charles and Prince William are not on the same page and there are some low-key briefing wars happening behind-the-scenes. The biggest drama seems to be Prince Harry’s invitation to the Clowning – will Harry be invited, will he come, who will approach Harry to smooth things over before the Chubbly, will Harry be treated respectfully as the King’s son. Keep in mind, Harry hasn’t confirmed anything, nor is he briefing anyone about this. It’s all melodramatic leaking between William and Charles’s offices. So, first off, the Mail on Sunday had a curious piece about Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Welby’s history with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Welby officiated the Sussexes’ wedding and christened Archie, and Welby has spoken highly of Meghan. Someone is really mad about that.

Justin Welby’s relationship with the Sussexes has deepened through a series of meetings since his first encounter with Meghan in the run-up to the wedding. He has praised Meghan, saying: ‘She’s a person of profound humanity and deep concern for people, seeking to carry out her role with every ounce of her being – and I think she’s a remarkable person.’

In 2021 he expressed sympathy for Harry, telling the Financial Times that being in the Royal Family was ‘life without parole’ and the public expected them to be ‘superhuman’.

The relationship between Welby and the Sussexes has been known in the corridors of Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace for some time. ‘The closeness of the Archbishop and the Sussexes has been a subject of conversation for a while,’ said one well-placed source.

‘Justin clearly had a lot of sympathy for them [over Megxit] and we were shaking our heads wondering why he felt so sorry for them. It was like he had completely fallen under their spell.’

[From The Daily Mail]

So, the Archbishop of Canterbury likes and respects Harry and Meghan and now someone is complaining loudly that Welby has “fallen under their spell.” Very strange, right? Well, here’s the chaser: there’s some talk about King Charles asking Welby to act as intermediary when it comes to inviting Harry to the Chubbly.

The King has asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to broker a deal to allow Harry to attend his Coronation – but has met resistance from William, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Charles wants Justin Welby to strike an agreement with his warring sons that would allow Harry and his wife Meghan to attend the Westminster Abbey ceremony in May, senior sources close to Lambeth Palace say.

Speculation has been rife about whether the Sussexes would attend the high-profile event since they stepped away from Royal duties – and especially since the publication of Harry’s tell-all memoirs, Spare, earlier this month, that contained a string of wounding attacks on senior members of the Royal Family.

The King is said to believe that the couple’s absence would be a greater distraction than their presence, so is prepared to make concessions to persuade them to attend. But William is understood to be concerned that his brother will use the event to stage a ‘stunt’ that would overshadow the event.

Sources say Harry could be guaranteed a high-profile seating position in the Abbey or an informal assurance that he will be able to keep his titles as an inducement to attend. However, William fears that unless Harry’s visit is tightly scripted, he could steal the limelight by, for example, going on a walkabout in a deprived London borough with Meghan.

One source said: ‘The issue of substance is whether they attend the Coronation, and if they do, under what terms and conditions. The family is split, and all the indications are that Harry is being advised to agree to nothing at this stage and “play it long” right up to the last minute, which is making negotiations with him very difficult.’

‘Harry’s camp made clear that the idea that he would just attend the Coronation and behave himself but then be stripped of his titles was a total non-starter. While he might decide at some point to discard his titles of his own volition, he objects to the idea of being forcibly stripped of them. He resents being lumped together with Andrew in the public mind as the two “problem Princes”, when he considers the circumstances to be totally different.’

Last night, both Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace declined to comment, while a source close to Prince William said they were not aware of any such negotiations over the Coronation. Harry’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Mr Welby, who will officiate at the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, was first asked to act as an intermediary between William and Harry shortly after the Queen’s death in September.

[From The Mail on Sunday]

Real question: did both stories come from Kensington Palace? Did Charles mention to William that he planned to use Welby as an intermediary and this is William throwing a tantrum about it? This all seems like William: the suspicion that Welby likes Harry & Meghan a lot (“he’s under their spell!”) and that Welby would be inclined to treat the Sussexes fairly; the anger and violent rage that if the Sussexes come to the Clowning, they’ll pull focus; and finally, the fact that Harry holds a lot of cards and he truly doesn’t have to come to the Chubbly. Or am I wrong – is some of this coming from Buckingham Palace as some kind of trial balloon? I can’t decide. The whole thing is bizarre though. LOL, they’re really in a blind panic over there, huh?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

We’re about 100 days away from King Charles’s coronation, or whatever we’re calling it now. I’m extremely partial to the Clowning and/or the Chubbly. King Charles would much rather spend these 100 days talking about knickerbockers, ermine robes and gold carriages. Instead, he’s walking through a minefield of controversies just waiting to explode, the biggest of which is Prince Harry’s attendance. Harry was asked a few times about the coronation in his Spare promotional interviews, and he remained noncommittal. He did make it abundantly clear that he wants a sit-down conversation with his father and brother (mostly his father), and he wants Meghan included in the conversation. That is Harry’s priority – clearing the air, getting an apology, an acknowledgement of wrongs and accountability for those wrongs.

Except Charles doesn’t care about any of that – he wants to be able to order Harry to come and go, and Charles hates the idea that he could actually extend a Chubbly invitation to Harry (alone) and Harry would still refuse to come. This is a situation needing care, diplomacy and love. So, obviously, Charles is incapable, and he’s telegraphing the fact that he wants the Archbishop of Canterbury to negotiate with Harry instead. Just as Charles’s people briefed the Daily Mail about the plans to use the Archbishop as intermediary, the Mail’s editors published this staff editorial called “Problematic Prince.”

As a father, it’s only natural that King Charles hopes for a reconciliation with Prince Harry. As sovereign and head of the Royal Family, however, he must think very carefully before inviting his wayward son to his Coronation.

The prince has caused untold damage to the monarchy and inflicted great pain on the Queen in her final months. If he has any sense of honour, he himself will make clear he doesn’t wish to attend the ceremony. If not, he should be excluded.

[From The Daily Mail, via Richard Eden’s Twitter]

The Daily Mail is bluntly ordering the KING to exclude Harry from the Chubbly. The British media has always seen itself as part of the monarchy, and when Harry attacks the invisible contract and the repugnant operations of the British media, the media then acts as if Harry is attacking the monarchy itself. I’m not sure the average British person understands how unhinged this is, honestly. To think that Charles and Camilla have courted and colluded with these people, and to think that the Mail’s editors have the f–king audacity to publish this.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

It actually feels amazing to watch as one of the big discussion points on this blog becomes a national and international conversation. In this case, it’s the fact that Prince William and Kate are poverty tourists who show up empty-handed to visit poor people or refugees. Last week, Will and Kate stopped by the Windsor Foodshare, a food bank located just minutes away from their fourth home, Adelaide Cottage. Will and Kate arrived empty-handed, stayed for about an hour, posed with some food and several volunteers, and then made a self-serving fan-cam about it without ever including information about the food bank or how to make donations on their social media. This followed William and Kate’s repeated empty-handed visits to refugees as well, where they also failed to provide information about where their fans could donate. The point of William and Kate’s visits is not to help or encourage others to help. The point is that William and Kate are making it all about them. This time, their visit to the Windsor Foodshare has become some kind of inflection point.

The Prince and Princess of Wales made a “surprise visit” to Dedworth Green Baptist Church in Windsor on Thursday. The royals were pictured talking to staff and packing food supplies into bags. William asked: “What is the hardest thing? How do you start setting up a food bank?”

They were then taken to the church where they helped a team preparing 98 food vouchers which can feed just under 200 people. William packed food deliveries which feed a family of four while Kate checked food labels were in date. At one stage when she was chatting to a group of four volunteers, William joked that they should pick up the pace and stop chatting. He also joked with one volunteer that Kate usually does the shopping and laughed with another about knobbly vegetables.

A video of the visit prompted anger on social media from some, with the couple accused of being part of a “publicity stunt”.

Graham Smith, the CEO of anti-monarchy group Republic, told The National: “These visits are little more than PR for the royals. They’re aware how bad their extravagant tax-funded lifestyles look during a cost-of-living crisis. Now they want us to believe they’re rolling up their sleeves for foodbank charities. A brief trip round the corner from one of their palatial homes smacks of cynicism, not genuine concern. If they were concerned they wouldn’t be accepting the £22 million a year income from the Duchy of Cornwall or the state-funded homes.”

Another Twitter user said: “How do they not realise how offensive and insensitive this is? Multi-millionaires funded by the public visiting a foodbank. It’s obscene.”

One person added: “Such a shock and surprise a fucking camera crew were there. This country is so broken The future King exploiting the poverty of peasants for a photo op.”

Staff were reportedly told the royals were coming just an hour before.

[From The National]

Here’s the thing – there are ways for royals or politicians to visit foodbanks, homeless shelters and refugee centers without it smacking of hypocrisy, out-of-touch cruelty and tone-deaf self-aggrandizement. Again, none of the criticism would be this brutal if William and Kate had shown up with bags and boxes full of food to donate. Very little of the criticism would be this hostile if William and Kate were capable of using their position to put the spotlight on the charities and organizations rather than themselves. And no, none of this is the fault of the Sussex Squad. This is William and Kate being tone-deaf a–holes yet again.

Sick of seeing us being played for f*cking fools here. The Royal Family showed up to a Foodbank yesterday.. nothing but swooning press articles all day.. they didn’t bring so much as a packet of f*cking crisps.

— Mikey Walsh (@thatbloodyMikey) January 27, 2023

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Prince Andrew has clearly hired a new publicity team and they are TERRIBLE. For the past week, we’ve been inundated with all of these breathlessly contemptible stories about how Andrew will try to overturn his settlement agreement with Virginia Giuffre and how he’s assembled a “war chest” to clear his name. There’s an outsized focus on trying to “discredit” Virginia, who was abused and trafficked for years by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell when she was in her teens. Part of Virginia’s story is that Andrew forced her to take a bath with him at Maxwell’s London home, and following the bath, Andrew raped her. She was 17 years old at the time. Well, check out the Telegraph’s cover on Saturday: a photo arranged by Ghislaine Maxwell’s family to “clear” Andrew. But wait, it gets so much worse.

A photograph that the family of Ghislaine Maxwell believes discredits the Duke of York’s accuser has been made public. The image shows the bath in which the Duke is alleged to have engaged in sexual activity with a teenage girl. Two of Maxwell’s acquaintances are sitting in the bath, fully clothed, wearing makeshift masks depicting the Duke and Virginia Giuffre.

They posed for the image in an effort to prove that the bath was too small for the kind of behaviour alleged by Ms Giuffre, and planned to use it as part of her defence during her sex trafficking trial. The photograph was released after it emerged that the Duke hopes to overturn the multi-million pound settlement he struck with Ms Giuffre last February.

Ian Maxwell, 66, an elder brother of the shamed British socialite, said he was happy for the Duke to use the image if it helped his case. Ms Giuffre accused the Duke of raping and sexually abusing her three times in 2001, when she was 17. In a 2011 interview, she claimed she and the Duke got into the bath where “he started licking my toes, between my toes, the arches of my feet” before they went into the bedroom and had sex. In Dec 2019, she told BBC Panorama: “There was a bath and it started there and then led into the bedroom.”

Mr Maxwell told The Telegraph: “I am releasing my photographs now because the truth needs to come out. They show conclusively that the bath is too small for any sort of sex frolicking. There is no ‘Victorian bath’, as Giuffre has claimed, which is proved both by the attached plan of the bathroom and the photos themselves.”

[From The Telegraph]

So here we are, with the invisible contract visible to all – the Telegraph running rape and trafficking apologia on their front page on behest of Prince Andrew. One of the oldest conservative newspapers in the UK publishing a photo – provided by a family member of a convicted abuser and human trafficker – which they claim “disproves” Virginia’s story. A word about the actual photo – it disproves nothing. There clearly is room for two people.

Keep in mind, Andrew is the same human trafficking rapist who sat down on BBC Newsnight and said he felt he needed to break off his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein in person, and that’s why he stayed at Epstein’s New York mansion for years after Epstein took a sweetheart deal from the FBI on all of the pedophilia, abuse and trafficking charges. Andrew didn’t have to step down as a working royal because of Virginia’s many statements – he stepped down because of HIS OWN statements in that Newsnight interview. For all of this talk about Andrew wanting to clear his name, he was the one who sullied his name in the first place.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, cover courtesy of the Telegraph.