For years, we were told that the Duchess of Sussex “made Kate cry.” For years, the story kept shifting about exactly what happened and what was said. Was it about bridesmaids’ dresses? Tights? How Meghan treated Kensington Palace staff? Even when Meghan corrected the record in the Oprah interview – that Kate had actually made her cry before the wedding – we were still lacking specifics of exactly what happened. Enter Prince Harry and his memoir. This is one of the top stories at the Daily Mail – their summary of Harry’s account of the whole fracas. The Mail is trying desperately to put an anti-Sussex spin on this, but it definitely feels like Harry was writing this based on the actual text messages between Meghan and Kate, and Kate does not come across well.

Harry has given his first full account of the infamous bridesmaid dress fitting at the heart of ‘Megxit’, claiming Princess Charlotte ‘cried when she tried it on at home’. Directly referencing his niece – a breach of privacy that is sure to anger his brother William – Harry insists the incident was driven by his sister-in-law Kate, who appeared irritated that it had taken Meghan a day to get back to her about the problem.

The disagreement between the two women was, he claims, further exacerbated by Kate’s unwillingness to visit Meghan’s tailor at Kensington Palace and suggestions that they hold a party for the page boys when his bride-to-be was busy dealing with a row with her father, Thomas Markle.

Opening his latest salvo, the prince writes that Meghan received a text from Kate four days before their wedding saying there was a problem with the dresses for the bridesmaids and they needed altering. They were ‘French couture’ and had been hand-sewn from measurements only – without a fitting – so ‘it wasn’t a big shock’ that they might not fit perfectly, he says.

Harry writes: ‘Meg didn’t reply to Kate straight away. Yes, she had endless wedding-related texts, but mostly she was dealing with the chaos surrounding her father. So the next morning she texted Kate that our tailor was standing by.’ She told her that his name was Ajay and he was ‘at the palace’.

‘This wasn’t sufficient,’ Harry goes on to write darkly. After setting up a time to speak later that afternoon, Harry writes that Kate complained: ‘Charlotte’s dress is too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it on at home.’

Meghan snapped back: ‘Right, and I told you the tailor has been standing by since 8am. Here. At KP. Can you take Charlotte to have it altered, as the other mums are doing?’

According to Harry’s version of events, Kate replied: ‘No, all the dresses need to be remade.’ And said she had discussed the issue with her ‘own wedding designer’ who agreed.

Harry writes: ‘Meg asked if Kate was aware of what was going on right now. With her father. Kate said she was well aware, but the dresses. And the wedding is in four days!’

‘Yes, Kate, I know….’ his fiancée replied sharply. He also claims that his sister-in-law had ‘problems with the way Meg was planning her wedding. Something about a party for the page boys? It went back and forth’.

The prince reports his wife as saying: ‘I’m not sure what else to say. If the dress doesn’t fit then please take Charlotte to see Ajay. He’s been waiting all day.’

‘Fine’, Kate is said to have replied.

Harry states that he arrived home a short time later, which suggests that he and his ghost writer were given an account of the actual conversation by Meghan, to find his fiancée ‘on the floor sobbing’. While he says he was ‘horrified’ to see her so upset, he didn’t think it a catastrophe as emotions were understandably high. He told Meghan that ‘Kate hadn’t meant any harm’. He suggests his point was proved when the then Duchess of Cambridge came round the next morning with flowers and a card to say sorry.

Harry makes a point of writing that Meghan’s best friend, Lindsay, was in the kitchen when she turned up as if to suggest he can prove his version of events.

[From The Daily Mail]

As I said before, it’s giving Wedding Karen. “Charlotte’s dress is too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it on at home.” Jesus H. And Meghan had already given her the solution when Kate texted that! Meghan had *already* told Kate to take Charlotte to the tailor at KP. Kate is an utter drama queen, my God. I hope Meghan’s texts were that curt as well – I can really feel Meghan’s annoyance at Kate’s melodrama. I love the Mail’s melodrama too – “a breach of privacy” for mentioning Charlotte’s name! Literally, Charlotte’s name was always mentioned in all of the stories pushed by Kate.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Instar.

Embed from Getty Images

This is just a small fraction of the crazy bullsh-t that went down on Friday night as Kevin McCarthy finally won the speakership. [Jezebel]
I love Michelle Yeoh but this is too much “look.” [Go Fug Yourself]
Brazil is having its own insurrectionist mess. [Buzzfeed]
This pizza-destroying cat doesn’t look the least bit guilty. [Dlisted]
I loved the video of the twins watching Whitney Houston. [LaineyGossip]
The true story behind 1923. [Pajiba]
Damar Hamlin cheered for the Bills from his hospital bed. [Seriously OMG]
Olivia Wilde is the most-watched female director on Letterboxd. [Gawker]
Keke Palmer can’t wait to hold her baby. [Just Jared]
A Gold Rush couple are back together. [Starcasm]
Amelia Hamlin is desperate for attention. And apples. [Egotastic]
No rainbow products in Algeria. [Towleroad]

Rep. Hudson, R-N.C., left, pulls Rep. Rogers, R-Ala., as he confronts Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., during the 14th round of voting for speaker as the House meets for the fourth day to try and elect a speaker in Washington, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. (@AP Photo/@andyharnik) pic.twitter.com/ok3K8ERtfU

— Andrew Harnik (@andyharnik) January 7, 2023

At some point, perhaps this week, we can discuss the British media’s irresponsible words and phrasing when it comes to matters of assault and abuse. When Prince William assaulted his brother in Nottingham Cottage, it was not a “fight,” nor was it a case of “fisticuffs.” It was an assault. It was violence. It was a man physically abusing his younger brother. I bring this up because, as I’ve long believed, William put his hands on Harry following Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021. The Windsors were practically gleeful about getting Harry alone- especially just weeks after the Oprah interview – and Charles and William ganged up on Harry. It was there that William “lunged” at Harry.

Prince William twice lunged at brother Harry in a physical bust-up in front of dad Charles just after Prince Philip’s funeral. Harry says in his new book Spare that a “steaming” and “shouting” ­William “grabbed my shirt” as the three of them held peace talks in the gardens of Frogmore Cottage in April 2021.

Harry claims the pair and their dad Charles went on a half-hour stroll, arriving at a gothic ruin near Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. They discussed his Oprah Winfrey interview from weeks earlier. Harry claims he tried to reason with his brother and father, and wanted to discuss bullying allegations against wife Meghan. But they weren’t listening, he said, and he was turning away to say goodbye.

He says William, who was “really steaming”, shouted at him: “You never came to us. You never came to me.” Harry expressed his feelings over their Megxit agreement being “violated” when William shouted he should “take it up with Granny”. Harry wrote: “I waved a hand, disgusted, but he lunged, grabbed my shirt. ‘Listen to me, Harold’. I pulled away, refused to meet his gaze. He forced me to look into his eyes. Listen to me, Harold, listen! I love you, Harold! I want you to be happy.”

Harry claims he fired back with “I love you too…but your stubbornness is extraordinary!” He pulled out of William’s grasp but claims his brother grabbed him again and twisted him to maintain eye contact. He says in the book: “Harold, you must listen to me! I just want you to be happy, Harold. I swear I swear on Mummy’s life. He stopped. I stopped. Pa stopped. He’d gone there. He’d used the secret code, the universal password. Ever since we were boys those three words were to be used only in times of extreme crisis.”

Harry said he was ready at that point to fly back to the US to be with Meghan. He wrote: “Willy wasn’t quite ready to accept defeat.. ‘I’ve felt properly sick and ill after everything that’s happened and, and I swear to you now on Mummy’s life that I just want you to be happy’.

Harry added: “My voice broke as I told him softly: I really don’t think you do.”

The Sun on Sunday understands that William did hug his brother and told him “I love you”.

[From The Sun]

In retrospect, it should have just been Charles and Harry taking a walk and making some of the first steps towards working on some of their issues. Including William in this ensured that Charles and William could gang up on Harry, and then William would get in Harry’s space and his face. The description of William grabbing Harry is upsetting, especially since just two years before, William had violently assaulted Harry and thrown him to the floor.

In this section of the book, Harry apparently reflects on how bizarre it is that the family reunited for a funeral: “Now I saw that even our finest moments, and my best memories, somehow involved death. Our lives were built on death, our brightest days shadowed by it. Looking back, I didn’t see spots of time, but dances with death.” He looked around at Windsor Castle and wondered if the family was a death cult (hint: they are!).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, WENN and cover courtesy of The Sun.

So, from what I’ve seen, several British tabloids are running with “Prince Harry backtracks on royal racism claims” today. This is because in Harry’s ITV interview, he was asked about the Oprah interview and the claims he and Meghan made about mystery Windsors speaking about the baby’s skin color, etc. Harry said, to Tom Bradby, that he never used the word “racism” and that he believes there is a big issue of unconscious bias in the Windsor clan.

Prince Harry has denied that he and Meghan ever accused the royal family of racism, arguing that there is a “difference between racism and unconscious bias”. In an interview with ITV News presenter Tom Bradby, Harry was asked about the couple’s sit-down with Oprah Winfrey last year.

Meghan claimed to Winfrey that when she was pregnant with Archie there were “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”. In Sunday’s interview, Bradby said: “In the Oprah interview, you accuse members of your family of racism…”

“No,” Harry interjected. “The British press said that, right? Did Meghan ever mention ‘they’re racists’?” Bradby said: “She said there were troubling comments about Archie’s skin colour. Wouldn’t you describe that as essentially racist?”

Harry responded that he would not describe the incident as racist, “not having lived within that family”.

“The difference between racism and unconscious bias… the two things are different,” he said.

Unconscious bias is “the tendency of us as humans to act in ways that are prompted by a range of assumptions and biases that we are not aware of”, a University of Edinburgh definition says. Harry continued: “Once it’s been acknowledged or pointed out to you as an individual, otherwise an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you therefore have an opportunity to learn and grow from that… otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism.”

Harry then referred to an incident in which Lady Susan Hussey, a member of the Buckingham Palace household, repeatedly asked black British charity boss Ngozi Fulani where she “really came from”.

“What happened to Ngozi Fulani is a very good example of the environment within the institution,” he added. Harry also said that he and Meghan “love” Lady Susan. He said: “We think she’s great. I also know that she never meant any harm at all. But the response from the British press and from people online because of the stories that they wrote was horrendous, absolutely horrendous.”

[From ITV]

Yeah… from what I’ve seen of the ITV interview, this was the biggest head-scratcher. I think it’s important to remember that Harry tailored his answers and comments to the audience, and he knows that the British audience will react differently than an American audience. That’s the explanation I have for this mess – this is Harry soft-launching a nuanced conversation about the “bias” within British society and the British royal family, because “unconscious bias” is less incendiary than “racism.” But yeah… I think we’re past that. I think Harry should just say: these people are racist, these incidents are about race and racism.

I truly did not have Harry caping for Susan Hussey on my bingo card either, especially given that the Hussey debacle was a perfect example of the entrenched RACISM within the British monarchy. It was also yet another example of the Windsors letting a victim of racism twist in the wind (for WEEKS) while they shielded the racist, Susan Hussey. It sounds like Harry actually has more work to do if he believes Hussey is the victim here. She was not. Ngozi Fulani was punished in every way possible for simply reporting an incident of racism within the palace.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, BP and Backgrid.

Prince Harry’s pretaped Good Morning America interview aired this morning, and hilariously, Harry keeps radiating joy. This man is so happy to speak on the record, he’s been waiting for this for years, to finally set the record straight, to speak his truths out in the open. Despite the Windsors’ need to make Harry sound like he’s dumb or damaged, what really comes across is that he’s a well-spoken man who has opened himself up to change and done a lot of work. He’s made mistakes (and he even makes mistakes in these interviews), but he owns that sh-t and acknowledges that he’s a work in progress. I enjoy his emphasis on how important it is to him to be able to write his story too. Here’s the GMA interview:

Prince Harry to @michaelstrahan on rift with his family: “What people don’t know is the efforts that I’ve gone to to resolve this privately, both with my brother and with my father.” https://t.co/3H8haerzWR pic.twitter.com/Fa45y4D3V4

— Good Morning America (@GMA) January 9, 2023

Some quotes:

On Kate vs. Meghan: “[The press] pitched the Waleses, which Kate and William are now, against the Sussexes, me and my wife. They always pitched us against each other. They pitched Kate and Meghan against each other.” When asked whether press reports of Kate and Meghan fighting disrupted the women’s relationship, Harry replied, “Without question.”

How Diana would feel about her sons’ split: “I think she would be heartbroken that it’s ended up where it’s ended up. I think she would be heartbroken about the fact that William, his office, were a part of these stories… William and I made a pact, made a deal that no matter what, we would never let our offices fight against each other.” Strahan: “You think he broke that pact?” Harry: “Yes. The people he employed broke that pact.”

They’re trying to destroy him: “The people that he employed broke that. But again, within the family, it’s hard because you are led to believe that if you don’t play the game, that you will be destroyed. And again, I’m the one who’s proving that that is true, right? Chose not to play the game, but they’re trying to destroy me.”

On Camilla: “I have a huge amount of compassion for her, you know, being the third person within my parents’ marriage. She had a reputation or an image to rehabilitate, and whatever conversations happened, whatever deals or trading was made right at the beginning, she was led to believe that that would be the best way to do it. And I don’t have a problem with any member of my family needing to rehabilitate their image, but if that rehabilitation or that relationship with, in this case, the British tabloids, comes at the cost of my girlfriend or my family — my close family or my larger family — then I draw a line at that.”

On family reconciliation: “If we can get to the point of reconciliation, that will have a ripple effect across the world. I genuinely believe that, and that’s kind of what is pushing me. And if that doesn’t happen, then that’s very sad.” Harry said he believes the British press continues to try to “drive a wedge” between him and William, but hopes that he can reconcile with his brother. “I hope that we will be joined at the hip again. Because, you know, if there’s something that will terrify the British press more than anything, it’s William and I being aligned.”

Security: “I was stunned that my family would allow security to be taken away, especially at the most vulnerable point for us. And maybe they didn’t understand the concerns that I had. I mean, I listed them. I laid them out.”

On his relationship with his grandmother: “My grandmother and I had a very good relationship… It was never a surprise to anybody, least of all, her. She knew what was going on, she knew how hard it was. She never said to me that she was angry. I think she was sad that it had got to that point.”

[From GMA]

He also takes ownership for his part in the breakdown in relations with his family, but that he has made significant efforts to make peace (peace with accountability). Harry emphasizes that there absolutely needs to be larger conversations within the family. As for what he says about Camilla… H is a shady B. “I have a huge amount of compassion for her, you know, being the third person within my parents’ marriage.” MY GOD.

“My wife is not visibly Black” – I mean… no comment. I know what he meant.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, GMA, Backgrid.

Prince Harry’s Spare could have been subtitled “How My Petty, Toxic, Jealous Brother Made My Life Hell Until I Broke Free.” That really seems to be the running theme of Harry’s memoir, how Prince William is a toxic a–hole who believed that Harry was his possession, his property, and William could bark orders at Harry throughout their lives. It’s also pretty clear that William was always jealous of Harry – jealous of Harry’s charities, jealous of Harry’s wife, jealous that the Queen seemed to prefer Harry. Speaking of, Harry’s includes a very interesting story about his beard. Harry started wearing a beard in his late 20s, following his second tour of Afghanistan. When his wedding day approached, Harry actually had to get special permission from QEII to keep his beard while marrying in uniform. QEII gave her permission, and William lost his pegging mind about it.

Prince Harry has reportedly claimed that Prince William was “livid” after the Duke of Sussex asked permission from the late Queen Elizabeth II to keep his beard for his 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle. In an excerpt from the royal’s forthcoming autobiography, the 38-year-old royal reportedly wrote that his grandmother gave him the “green light” to keep his facial hair for his televised nuptials to the Suits actress.

However, Harry alleged his older brother “bristled” at the notion and said Harry had put their grandmother in an “uncomfortable position.” During a conversation between the two, Harry reportedly told the Prince of Wales that “his opinion didn’t really matter” because the queen had already said he could keep his face unshaven.

“He raised his voice,” he wrote, adding that William said the queen “had no choice but to say yes” to Harry. The Spare author recalled finding his brother’s claim ridiculous, and told William that “she can speak for herself.”

Harry had speculated that his brother was angry about the beard because he thought the queen had a “soft spot” for the younger prince. While the late British monarch had decided her grandson could wear a beard during his wedding, the fight between the brothers allegedly continued over the phone for an entire week.

“At one point he actually ordered me, as the ‘heir’ speaking to the ‘spare,’ to shave,” Harry wrote. According to Page Six, Prince William allegedly confessed that he was “bitter” that he “wasn’t allowed” to keep his own “full beard” after returning home from a military assignment.

“He hated the idea of me enjoying a perk he’d been denied,” he wrote, adding that William wasn’t able to get married in a uniform of his own choosing while Harry was able to do so. “Finally, I told him flatly and defiantly that his bearded brother was getting married soon, and he could either get on board or not,” Harry said. “The choice was up to him.”

[From The Independent]

Imagine putting the Queen in an awkward position over keeping your beard for your wedding day, my God. “Harry’s beard disrespected the Queen!” No, the Queen cosigned the beard. “Harry’s beard puts the Queen in an awkward position!” No, it’s just a beard. “I DEMAND THAT YOU SHAVE YOUR BEARD, THIS IS THE HEIR SPEAKING.” Shut up, Baldemort. Besides, the rare times when William did have facial hair, he always looked awful. As soon as Harry grew his beard, it was like “oh, this is how he was always supposed to look.” If he ever shaved it, he would go back to looking so baby-faced.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.

Roya Nikkhah at the Times of London has become one of Prince William’s favorite sycophants, one of his go-to royal reporters for “his side.” Weirdly, it doesn’t feel like Kate feels the same way. Nikkhah famously did that stupid “The Other Brother” story, and Nikkhah’s new one has the same energy: pity poor Peg, he’s the real victim in all of this. This is Kensington Palace’s explicit message, and they’ve been briefed with William’s side, just as Harry said they would be. The headline is “William knows he’s a punchbag — he’s silent but burning inside.” Ah, so William is the “punchbag,” that’s weird because Harry wrote about how William violently assaulted him in Nottingham Cottage. Some highlights:

William’s deafening silence. As a close friend of both brothers explains, revenge is not how William rolls. “He won’t retaliate, he never would, because he’s dignified and unbelievably loyal. William is a sitting duck because Harry knows he isn’t going to retaliate. How many shots can you take at a sitting duck? It’s cruel, cowardly and so sad for William to keep taking the punches. He’s keeping quiet for the good of his family and the country.”

William is discussing Harry’s book with “only with his closest family and a small handful of friends”: William is hurting. “He’s anxious and he’s sad,” says the friend. “He’s concentrating on his wife and his children, that’s what he has. He has to focus on them, and look out for the rest of the royal family. He’s handling it so well on the outside — inside he’s burning.” Another friend says: “William will be going through a range of emotions — anger, concern and worry — not just for his family but how all this is going to affect the institution. He will be thinking strategically and grappling with the personal versus the institutional reaction. We know how closely he followed his grandmother’s example, and the institutional response may win the day over the personal. But he is staunchly protective of his own family, and he’s not just going to roll over.”

Kitty & Peg will be out this week: The Waleses will sail forth next week, resuming official duties after their Christmas break with a joint engagement. “His focus is on getting on with the job and his commitment to duty and service is unwavering,” says an aide. “We’d rather concentrate on the work we’re doing than on books or anything else that is happening.”

The long game, lmao: A friend of the royal family says: “William is tough, the family can play the long game in the way Harry and Meghan can’t. They can channel their inner Queen Elizabeth: show, don’t tell, demonstrate this is the role you’ve taken on with courage and decency. That’s a very powerful counterpoint to all this.”

The “fisticuffs” & a threat: While fisticuffs in the Nottingham Cottage kitchen in 2019 have long been known about in their tight-knit group, nobody thought Harry would go there. Why? Because of how much “sh-t” on Harry friends and family have kept under wraps for years, much of which has so far not emerged in the book’s leaked extracts. “I don’t know how you can do that to your brother, even if you don’t like or get on with him any more,” says a friend of the royal family. “William was always there to pick up the pieces for Harry, he was his mum [after Diana]. There’s so much stuff over the years that Harry has rung friends up about and said, ‘throw away that photo, promise you won’t speak about this’. You could have a f***ing field day with sh-t on Harry. So could William, who (in comparison) is as clean as a whistle. I can’t believe he’d stoop so low. It’s outrageously disloyal.”

Ah, they think Harry is stupid: “It’s strategically not clever. Harry is good at getting his narrative out there but we know so much, we’ve cleaned up so many messes over the years, there is so much we could say.” Several friends of Harry, once loyal to him, say they are considering whether to go on the record to debunk some of his claims as “bollocks” and drop counter-bombshells of their own. “Loyalty works both ways,” warns one.

They are so bonkers: “William would [want to reconcile] but how can he right now?” says a close friend. “Maybe once Harry has written a book about all the great work the royal family does.”

Charles won’t fly to Montecito: A source who knows the King well says: “The royal family has to avoid being vindictive but that doesn’t mean the King is going to fly out to Montecito to calm Harry down. They’ve got no alternative but to let the hurricane blow through.”

The coronation: Harry has cast his attendance at the coronation in doubt, but sources close to him believe he will return to the UK for the service at Westminster Abbey on May 6: “It is an important moment for Harry’s father and he would want to show his respect.” If Harry does make it, he might be relieved to learn that he will not be required to kneel and pledge allegiance to his father. In a major break with tradition, Charles has scrapped the act of the royal dukes kneeling to “pay homage” before touching the crown and kissing the monarch’s right cheek. William will be the only royal to perform the tradition. A well-placed source says: “As things stand, there is no role for Harry in the service.” Courtiers will breathe a sigh of relief. Royal photographers and body language experts will be devastated.

[From The Times]

The way Peg is doing this with a straight face, I cannot. “They can channel their inner Queen Elizabeth: show, don’t tell…” Literally all William does is tell and not show. William used his KP communications team to put together this piece which is, in summary: poor William, he’s so brave in the face of his disloyal, damaged brother telling his story, William would never go on the record like Harry. The way you can tell all of this is coming from William is the careful wording around his violent assault of Harry – William can’t deny it outright, so his “friends” say “how dare Harry report his assault, we have dirt on Harry!” Tyler Perry was 100% correct when he said Harry and Meghan were victims of abuse and the Windsors (namely William) were “batterers.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Cover Images, archived cover courtesy of the Sunday Times.

There were so many amazing, heartbreaking and incredible moments in Prince Harry’s 60 Minutes interview. I’m so glad 60 Minutes posted the entire interview on YouTube (you can see below). It starts on a great note, with Anderson Cooper reading the passage from Spare where Harry wrote that William’s baldness was “alarming” and Will’s resemblance to Diana had faded. Like, we started the interview with “William is bald and ugly.”

My overall opinion on Harry and how he came across on 60 Minutes is that he’s being incredibly honest about his own damaged backstory, how grief warped him, his “years of magical thinking” where he believed his mother was still secretly alive into his early adulthood. He went harder on Camilla than I was expecting, but he went easier on William than I was expecting. Harry even admits that he wouldn’t have told Meghan about William’s assault if Meghan hadn’t seen the cuts on his back. Some particular quotes:

On William’ ugliness: “I don’t see it as cutting at all. Um, you know, my brother and I love each other. I love him deeply. There has been a lot of pain between the two of us, especially the last six years. None of anything I’ve written, anything that I’ve included is ever intended to hurt my family. But it does give a full picture of the situation as we were growing up, and also squashes this idea that somehow my wife was the one that destroyed the relationship between these two brothers.

On greeting people at KP after Diana’s death: “I think it’s bizarre, because I see William and me smiling. I remember the guilt that I felt. The fact that the people that we were meeting were showing more emotion than we were showing, maybe more emotion than we even felt. There was a lotta tears. I talk about how wet people’s hands were. And I couldn’t understand it at first. Their hands were wet from wiping their own tears away. I do remember one of the strangest parts to it was taking flowers from people and then placing those flowers with the rest of them. As if I was some sort of middle person for their grief. And that really stood out for me.

Why he wanted to see photos from the Paris crash scene: “Mainly proof. Proof that she was in the car, proof that she was injured and proof that the very paparazzi that chased her into the tunnel were the ones taking photographs of her lying half dead in the back seat of the car. All I saw was the back of my mom’s head, slumped in the back seat. There were other more gruesome photographs. I will be eternally grateful to him [his secretary] for denying me the ability to inflict pain on myself by seeing that. That’s the kind of stuff that sticks in your mind forever.

He visited the tunnel in Paris where his mother died when he was 23: “I wanted to see whether it was possible driving at the speed that Henry Paul was was driving that you could lose control of a car and plow into a pillar killing almost everybody in that car. I need to take this journey. I need to ride the same route. William and I had already been told, the event was like a bicycle chain, if you remove one of those chains the event would not have happened. The paparazzi chasing was part of that. Yet everybody got away with it. William and I considered reopening the inquest because there were so many gaps and so many holes in it, because it didn’t add up, it didn’t make any sense.

Whether he would still like to reopen the investigation into Diana’s death: “Truth be known, no. Do I need any more than I already know? No, I don’t think it would change much.

On not wanting his father to marry Camilla: “She was the villain, she was the third person in the marriage, she needed to rehabilitate her image. We thought that [the marriage] was going to cause more harm than good. If he was now with his person, surely that’s enough. Why go that far when you don’t necessarily need to? We wanted him to be happy and we saw how happy he was with her.

Camilla’s propaganda machine: “The need for her to rehabilitate her image made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press. There was open willingness on both sides to trade information. With a family built on hierarchy and with her on the way to being queen consort there was going to be people or bodies left on the street because of that…If you are led to believe as a member of the family that having positive stories written about you is going to improve your reputation or increase your chances of being accepted by the British public, then that’s what you’re going to do.

On his family’s reaction to Meghan: “Right from the beginning before they had a chance to get to know her and the UK press jumped on that. [The mistrust was based on] the fact that she was American, an actress, divorced, Black, biracial with a Black mother. Those are just four of the typical stereotypes that becomes a feeding frenzy for the British press. My family reads the tabloids, it’s laid out at breakfast when everyone comes together. If you have that judgment based on a stereotype right at the beginning it’s very very hard to get over that. A large part of it for the family but also the British press was like “He’s changed, she must be a witch” as opposed to yeah, I did change and I’m really glad I changed because rather than getting drunk, falling out of clubs, taking drugs I’ve now found the love of my life and I have the opportunity to start a family with her.

William assaulting him in 2019: “He was being told certain things by people within his office. At the same time he was consuming a lot of the tabloid press. He had a few issues which were based not on reality. I was defending my wife. He was coming for my wife, she wasn’t there at the time, but through the things that he was saying. I was defending myself. We moved from one room into the kitchen. His frustrations were growing, he was shouting at me, I was shouting back at him. It wasn’t nice, it wasn’t pleasant at all and he snapped and he pushed me to the floor. He knocked me over, I landed on the dog bowl. I cut my back, I didn’t know about it at the time. He apologized after. I wouldn’t have [told Meghan] until she saw my back.”

[From CBS’s transcript & CB’s transcript]

Every part of his statements about Diana were heartbreaking. I didn’t know that he still believed she was alive well into his 20s, that every day he woke up thinking “maybe today will be the day she’ll call.” What’s left unsaid is that his family’s need to clam up and carry on like nothing happened reinforced Harry’s trauma – he wasn’t allowed to process anything in his childhood, so he would drink and take drugs and fall out of clubs. As for Camilla… “With a family built on hierarchy and with her on the way to being queen consort there was going to be people or bodies left on the street because of that.” Yiiiikes.

A few more things – Harry talked about the Jeremy Clarkson mess in both his 60 Minutes interview and his ITV interview. In 60 Minutes, he was like “thank you for proving our point” about how the misogynistic and racist British media treated Meghan. Cooper also asked Harry about “”renouncing” his titles and Harry’s cold line delivery of “And what difference would that make” was brilliant. He’s right – it would make no difference.

And finally, the Palace “demanding” a copy of the 60 Minutes interview – what an utter clownshow. It just shows how the Windsors think nothing of their open collusion with the media, to the point where they think they have the right to “demand” advanced copies of interviews or Netflix series. As utter clownshow.

60 Minutes reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. Palace representatives demanded that before considering commenting we provide them with our report prior to it airing, which is something 60 Minutes does not do. https://t.co/JK98Zzaopk pic.twitter.com/VylhJ7SIz9

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) January 9, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, CBS.

Jen Shah, from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, has been sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for leading a phone scheme scamming people out of their money. Jen and her assistant were arrested in March 2021 over the scam, which targeted people over 55 and purported to offer a job training course. Though Jen’s assistant pled guilty in November 2021, it wasn’t until July 2022 that Jen finally admitted her role. Now Jen’s been sentenced and her attorney offered some pretty milquetoast and performative apologies on her behalf.

Jen Shah has been sentenced to 78 months (6.5 years) for her role in orchestrating a fraud scheme.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star appeared in a New York court on Friday after pleading guilty to her role in the telemarketing conspiracy.

Shah’s husband Sharrieff and their sons, Sharrieff Jr. and Omar, were in the courtroom as the decision was handed down.

Shah’s attorney Priya Chaudhry issued a statement to PEOPLE after the decision: “Jen Shah deeply regrets the mistakes that she has made and is profoundly sorry to the people she has hurt. Jen has faith in our justice system, understands that anyone who breaks the law will be punished, and accepts this sentence as just. Jen will pay her debt to society and when she is a free woman again, she vows to pay her debt to the victims harmed by her mistakes.”

Earlier Friday morning, Judge Sidney Stein spoke to the packed courtroom. According to Inner City Press’s Matthew Russell Lee, Judge Stein told attendees: “Jen Shah’s role on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, which I guess is why the courtroom is so full today, is just that, a role. People should not confuse the character she plays on an entertainment show to the person before me.”

When given her own chance to speak, Lee reported that Shah said, “I am sorry. My actions have hurt innocent people. I want to apologize by saying, I am doing all I can to earn the funds to pay restitution.”

Before Shah was sentenced, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman called her crimes “brazen fraud.” Per Lee, Sobelman added, “Every cooperator told us, ‘Jen Shah is the boss.’ They all knew who she was.”

Before that, Judge Stein had told Chaudhry that her client “was a leader of this conspiracy,” according to Lee. Judge Stein continued, “So this cuts against you, not for you.”

Chaudhry later responded, “Jen has spent month reading the names of those she has hurt. She has prayed for their forgiveness. But she cannot forgive herself. Jen understands she cannot undo the pain or repay them today — but today is about justice for them. Measuring the pain.”

Explaining her client’s motives, she later said, “Jen hoped that the TV spotlight would hide her pain. She spent years trying to hide her feeling, to fake it until she make it. She tried not to see the people who lost money. Her original fraud was on herself.”

Stein countered, “Her activity in this crime took place years before The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City started. So you are saying her hunger for trinkets predates the show?”

[From People]

I’m glad the judge and prosecutor pushed back on Jen and her lawyer a lot because what she did was awful. Like, the shamelessness, the temerity of this person! My friends and I have a group chat where we discuss any and all Bravolebrities and though we sometimes disagree on our Housewives, everyone agrees that Jen is the absolute worst. Aside from her defrauding strangers, Jen also allowed her mother to drain her own retirement savings for Jen’s legal defense. And Jen’s actions endangered her children, causing her Black sons to be held at gunpoint and handcuffed while the police were looking for her. Terrible. And the fact that she was able to keep filming and try to spin the incident makes it even worse. Jen doesn’t seem remorseful at all, even having the gall to request a specific prison (Elizabeth Holmes’s, unclear why) and celebrating her light sentence with a big group at at nice Midtown restaurant. Wanting to have a “last meal” and say goodbye before prison is understandable, but doing it publicly at a place like this is tacky, especially considering the charges. Rent an event space and get some catering if you must, instead of bopping around Midtown Manhattan of all places and then pretending you don’t want to be seen.

Photos credit: Janet Mayer/startraksphoto.com/Cover Images and via Instagram

One thing is for sure: Prince Harry has been waiting to write his memoir for decades. He’s kept a list of all of his grudges, no matter how minor or how major, and he has been waiting to settle all of his accounts. Even I am surprised and shocked by the level of detail in some of these Spare excerpts, and I covered a lot of this stuff as it was happening. Picture it: Toronto, September 2017. The third Invictus Games, being hosted in the city then-Meghan Markle has called home for years as she’s worked on Suits. Kensington Palace gives the okay – Invictus will be the first official public outing for Harry and Meghan. Doria Ragland even flies in to support Meghan and Harry at the games, and all of the photographers get the money shot at the wheelchair tennis match on Day 3 of the games. Harry and Meghan sitting together at the match, holding hands, talking to each other, laughing, being natural and loved-up. The next day, the British media complained about the fact that Meghan wore ripped jeans.

Prince Harry revealed in his memoir, Spare, that he feels his family should have done more to defend wife Meghan Markle against public backlash.

In the soon-to-be released book, Harry, 38, opened up about his and Meghan’s first official public outing — the 2017 Invictus Games — for which the California native, 41, donned a classic button-up shirt and ripped jeans. While onlookers were mesmerized by the chemistry between the couple at the event, the “British press” quickly criticized Meghan’s distressed denim, Harry recalled in his tell-all. Online trolls even slammed the casual getup as inappropriate.

Turns out, Meghan’s Mother jeans, Misha Noonoo blouse and Sarah Flint flats were all “pre-approved” by the palace, he alleges. However, “no one” from the royal family expressed support publicly or denied claims that the former Suits actress had broken protocol. “I mean not anyone at the palace,” Harry wrote. “One statement, that week, in defense of Meg … it might’ve made a world of difference.”

[From Us Weekly]

While I think ripped jeans would have been inappropriate or worth mentioning if this was some formal event, it was literally just… a sporting event, and Meghan was still Harry’s civilian/celebrity girlfriend. She wasn’t even a royal fiancee at that moment. Days beforehand, Meghan had attended the Opening Ceremony and she wore a completely appropriate ensemble – a burgundy dress and a leather jacket. Anyway, it’s interesting that Harry is giving KP credit for stage-managing the first official outing, even writing that KP approved of Meghan’s outfit ahead of time. Of course KP didn’t defend Meghan about the ripped jeans commentary – KP was probably behind the commentary in the first place.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, WENN.