The Prince and Princess of Wales were somewhat busy – for them – last week, making a visit to Northern Ireland, then both William and Kate had solo events. It felt like whatever is happening in their marriage, they’ve negotiated some on-camera couple time. That being said, well before the death of QEII, there had been a significant shift in their marriage. That was the whole reason why Kate and the children were being shuffled off to Windsor in the first place, and why it felt like William was going to be based at Kensington Palace. Throughout the year, they’ve been giving off “living separately” energy, complete with shared custody of the kids. Well, interestingly enough, it looks like this past weekend was not William’s weekend with the kids.

Prince William returned to Scotland to make a personal pilgrimage back to Balmoral for the first time since the funeral of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. The Prince of Wales is thought to have spent a weekend at Craigowan Lodge, which was one of Her Majesty’s favourite boltholes on the Scottish estate and was used on less formal occasions, where he went deer stalking.

It would have been a bittersweet reunion for the first in line to the throne, who was last in Scotland just over a month ago as he rushed to be by the Queen’s side as she died on the 50,000-acre estate on September 8.

A source told the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden: ‘He stayed at Craigowan Lodge, where Her Majesty used to stay. He was there just for the weekend.’

By stalking deer the Prince follows in the footsteps of both his grandmother and his grandfather, Prince Philip, who introduced him and his brother Harry to it while they were boys. Deer stalking is the act of culling ageing stags that would otherwise die in the winter, with William shooting his first when he was 14 years old, something that is said to have left him delighted at the time. The activity, which has been a shared passion among generations of the Royal Family, was encouraged by William’s father King Charles III, while Princess Diana used to jokingly call him ‘my killer Wales’.

William is not thought to have been joined in Scotland by his wife Catherine, who is herself a keen markswoman, and their children. A spokesman for Kensington Palace declined to comment.

[From The Daily Mail]

So a man leaves his wife and children at home for the weekend to go and stay at a Scottish hunting lodge… by himself? While those sources make a point of noting that Kate and the kids weren’t there, they aren’t saying he was there alone. I imagine Kate took the kids to Bucklebury and William brought a side chick. Which brings up something I’ve been wondering… in some ways, it will be much easier for William and Kate to hide their separate lives now, as Prince and Princess of Wales. In other ways, it will be more difficult, right? Because there’s even more focus on them. The British tabloids know a lot but they’re keeping quiet for the moment. I wonder when some of this stuff will start to come out.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Constance Wu has written a memoir/essay collection called Making a Scene. It’s about her life, her childhood in Richmond, VA, her career, representation for the Asian-American community, and it’s about how she attempted suicide several years ago after a social media pile-on in 2019. As we covered at the time, when Fresh Off the Boat was renewed for one more season, Wu threw a big tantrum about it on social media. The backlash against her was immediate and very harsh, so harsh that Wu attempted suicide and ended up checking into a mental health facility for treatment. To promote her book, Wu spoke to the New York Times about the entire ordeal and lots of other stuff, including how a senior production member on FOTB sexually harassed her. Some highlights from NYT:

The backlash to her Twitter tantrum: “I was so alone,” said Ms. Wu. She publicly apologized, but it wasn’t enough. Her tweets had become a story that began to feed on itself. She was shamed. People demanded atonement. While some wrote to see if she was OK, the silence from others was deafening. One night, upset and isolated, feeling unsupported by even her closest friends, she attempted to take her own life. Fortunately, a friend was there to save her. She spent the night in a psychiatric hospital, under supervision, until she was released the next day. “I was punished for being ungrateful… I’m glad I got through it. It took a long time. I was in therapy every day for a bit, under observation.”

She had a dramatic five-year falling out with her mother: “I didn’t know how to handle the public scrutiny and I took it out on my mom. Paranoia and anxiety made me say regretful things to her.”

Sexual harassment: In her book, Ms. Wu alleges that during her first year on “Fresh Off the Boat,” she was sexually harassed by a senior member of the production team. Naming him only by an initial, she writes that he controlled her, demanding that she run all her business matters past him and telling her what to wear. Ms. Wu put up with it. In the beginning, she tried to see him as her friend and protector. But she was also afraid of the consequences if she didn’t.

She didn’t understand what was happening: “‘Fresh Off the Boat’ was my first-ever TV show. I was thrown into this world. I don’t have parents in the industry. And because I was 30, people thought I knew what I was doing. It made me paranoid and embarrassed.”

She’s not trying to sound like the hero: “I try not to make myself out to be a hero. I try to make myself out to be a pretty normal person who has flaws like everybody else. I’m not really into the actor memoir where it’s like, ‘I overcame the odds, and I’m this person who was humble and just kept working. I was the victim.’ It’s less black and white than simply victim and perpetrator.”

They couldn’t wait to tear her down: “When I spoke beautifully about representation, everyone loved it. But the second they had a chance to find a crack in my facade… It’s funny. It was almost gleeful. It was almost like they couldn’t wait to tear me down. I think the Asian community in Hollywood is still hyper-focused on positive representation, which to me is an illusion. Whole, human representation is more complex. And I think it’s interesting to me how, at that time, when I most could have used their help, they were the people who shamed me.”

[From The NY Times]

She talks about how she pushed back on her sexual harasser after a year, when she grew more comfortable with her place on a network show. Nothing happened to that guy, it seems, other than Wu telling him off and not speaking to him. That experience and other sh-tty experiences which came along with Fresh Off the Boat obviously influenced her sadness and resentment when the show was renewed for a season which no one expected, thus her Twitter tantrum. I think it’s fair to say: what Wu did was a big mistake, and a mistake which affected her career and her mental health and how people perceive her. We can also say: Jesus, what a huge public overreaction to one woman’s mistake.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

The day Queen Elizabeth II passed away was supposed to be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s final day in the UK. They had done a four-day mini-tour with events in Manchester, Dusseldorf and they were scheduled to appear at a London event on that Thursday. The event? The WellChild Awards, one of Prince Harry’s favorite patronages. He loves kids and he loves spending time with the families of kids who have health struggles. When he married Meghan, she came with him to the awards, and she was planning to attend that evening. Then QEII passed away and the Sussexes had to cancel their appearance. The WellChild event went on that night, although it was apparently much more subdued.

In any case, Harry still wanted to see those kids and spend a little time with the families, so he worked with WellChild to set up some Zoom calls with the families. WellChild posted the video online:

First he spoke to 4-year-old Henry Waines and his parents Shevonne and Ben. Little Henry seems like a very happy, spirited boy and Harry bonded with him over names, because Harry’s real name is Henry too. The parents said that Henry was actually named after Harry, because they liked the name so much. Harry gushed over Henry’s voice, saying: “You sound just like my son Archie…you have the same little squeaky voice. I love it.” The parents asked about Archie and Lilibet, and Harry said “They’re doing great… Archie is very, very busy and Lili is learning to use her voice which is great.” Then Harry spoke to Shakeerah, who speaks through sign language. Harry attempted some ASL and it was very sweet.

Harry also spoke to Isabelle Delaney, who has a service dog, so of course Harry talked about dogs. Harry told her about the Sussexes’ three dogs: “I tell you what, we all need a dog that keeps us calm. I’ve got three in this house now. So, we basically have five children. I’ve got a black Labrador called Pula, a rescue beagle called Guy. And we got another rescue beagle called Mia. And between the three of them, they charge around chasing squirrels and causing all sorts of problems to us, every single day. But they are also emotional support dogs 100% — when they’re behaving.”

In Hello’s coverage of the calls, they truly wrote, “The Duke of Sussex shares his two children with his wife Meghan Markle. The couple are raising their family in Santa Barbara, California. Their lavish Montecito mansion features everything from a spa and tennis court to an outdoor pool and private playground.” Jeez, I hope every time William and Kate do an event, they mention their lavish five homes, one of which is g–damn Windsor Castle.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WellChild.

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A while back, Dwayne Johnson started some mumbling about throwing his hat in the ring for the presidency. The issue was, when DJ says he’s thinking about something, it usually means he’s planning on doing it. And that was an issue because DJ has no political background and instead of going back to school, interning or starting on a community level to learn politics, DJ wanted to skip the line to the top office. It was a disaster waiting to happen, I don’t care how much you like the guy. But lack of experience didn’t deter DJ, the more he ‘joked’ about it, the more polls suggested voters would back him. And simultaneous to all this foolish talk, DJ was producing a show about himself as a young kid who grows up to be – wait for it – president. It made many of us nervous

However, DJ appeared on CBS News Sunday Morning and ended his run for presidency before it began. Forever. He said he’s taking his political aspirations “off the table” so he can raise his daughters instead. And then he posted his promise to Instagram.

Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson is sharing more about his decision to not make a bid for the White House — despite, he says in a new Instagram post, being urged to consider the possibility.

The Black Adam star, 50, ruled out a run while speaking to Tracy Smith for CBS Sunday Morning, with the father of three daughters explaining that he was putting his family first. Along with raising daughters Jasmine, 6, and Tiana, 4, with wife Lauren Hashian, Johnson is also dad to 21-year-old Simone from his first marriage to Dany Garcia.

“It’s off the table,” the former wrestler told Smith. “I will say this ’cause it requires a B-side: I love our country and everyone in it. I also love being a daddy. And that’s the most important thing to me — is being a daddy. Number one, especially during this time, this critical time in my daughters’ lives, because I know what it was like to be on the road and be so busy that I was absent for a lot of years in my first daughter’s … life. And that’s what the presidency would do.”

But Johnson now says that he’s “not a politician, nor have I ever aspired to be one.”
In an Instagram post shared over the weekend, the action hero explained why he’s “choosing parenting over presidency.”

“With midterms here and a presidential election 2 years away, I’ve been approached by the most influential in politics on both sides of the aisle asking and supporting that I run for president,” he wrote late Saturday night. “It’s a humbling, grateful and inspiring feeling to even have these conversations, as I’m not a politician nor have I ever aspired to be one. But I am a patriot to my core, love my country and everyone in it.

“But being a father to my little girls is the most important thing in my life,” Johnson continued. “To raise ‘em and always be there, during these critical years in their life. I know what it’s like to not be there all the time as a father, because of an unrelenting work schedule. I won’t let that happen ever again.”

[From Yahoo! Entertainment]

Well somebody’s been watching the Tom Brady divorce with a critical eye. This feels very deliberate, and I want to know what prompted it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled he’s put an end to this, but he could have just said no, I’m not running. He made a point about raising his daughters and being the father his wasn’t as his reason for not running. It reads like he’s sticking it to someone else, someone he thinks isn’t prioritizing their family. Or maybe Lauren Hashian did give him a Gisele-inspired warning to make more time for the family.

As long as the result is him not running for president and he sticks to it, because DJ saying he’s, “not a politician, nor have I ever aspired to be one,” is BS. That’s how we got in this mess to begin with, he floated the idea to see if anyone would bite. I’m bummed that he could have taken this Sunday Morning announcement as an opportunity to endorse the Biden administration that he voted for or boost some of the midterm races that need it. But no, he just used the midterms to point out how much both parties wanted him.

And right after he tells us he’s not running for office, DJ is out here kissing babies. Of course, this poor baby needed a kiss and a cuddle after she was crowd-surfed into DJ’s hulking arms. This tweet made the rounds Sunday night, and it traumatized a lot of people. DJ was in Mexico promoting Black Adam when a baby was passed through a series of hands up to DJ on stage. He took the baby and cradled it, which made for a lovely scene, but we were all so freaked the hell out watching that baby travel through strangers hands, it was a little hard to appreciate. So DJ took to IG to try to explain that it’s okay, he wasn’t surprised by being handed a baby, because the baby’s dad had made eye contact with him first. And then somehow non-verbally asked DJ if he’d like to hold the baby. No! All of this is no. The good news is the baby is safe and will have a photo of herself being held by The Rock for the rest of her life – that she can sell to pay for the therapy she’ll need when she sees the video of how she got to him.

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John David Washington’s latest movie, Amsterdam, premiered on Friday. I haven’t seen it, but have seen the trailer and it looks like he and the other two leads, Margot Robbie and Christian Bale, have great chemistry. John David is making the promotional rounds for the film and as such appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, where he talked about his acting career, his initial choice to pursue a pro football career, and of course, being Denzel’s son, which he realizes is his inescapable identifier.

Despite carving out his own Hollywood success in films like Tenet and BlacKkKlansman, John David Washington knows that any story about him (including this one) will inevitably identify him as “Denzel’s son.” It’s something the 38-year-old Amsterdam star, the eldest son of actors Pauletta and Denzel Washington, has finally made peace with, he tells CBS Sunday Morning’s Kelefa Sanneh in a new interview.

“I have to understand I could have the best game, career … the headline’s always going to be what it is,” the football-player-turned-actor says. “So to try to prove something to somebody is a fool’s errand.”

But the younger Washington at first resisted following in his parents’ acting footsteps.

“My mother is an extremely talented artist, and my father is one of the greatest of all time. He’s my favorite actor,” says Washington, adding that the idea of going into acting seemed “intimidating” given the inevitable comparisons that would come.

“It didn’t seem as simple to just pursue it,” he says of his deciding to make his mark not as an actor, but as a college football star. Choosing to keep his acting dreams under wraps “because of who I’m related to” Washington instead threw his energy into playing for Morehouse College and, later, the United Football League.

“What motivated it, really, is independence — was my own name, was being able to carry my own weight in my life, even though I was hiding what I really wanted to do,” says Washington, who was also signed by the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent. “It gave me an identity.”

In addition to that identity, Washington says he “felt football would change that narrative” of being the son of a certain two-time Oscar winner. Spoiler: It did not.

His father’s superstardom also cast a shadow over his football achievements, says the Malcolm & Marie actor. He recalls a headline early on his college career as a running back.

“I had a great game and [read] ‘Denzel’s son runs for this many yards and this many touchdowns,’” he says. “I realized then it was inescapable.”

Washington got his breakout role in the series Ballers, which he admits reading for just to get some audition experience under his belt. He’s now making his Broadway debut in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson opposite old family friend Samuel L. Jackson, and says his parents are frequent audience members. “I get notes from them too,” he says.

And while Washington is hopeful that one day he’ll have his own child to carry on the Washington name, he doesn’t waste time wondering if he’ll ever eclipse his famous father’s legacy.

“Nah. I don’t see it as a reality for me,” he admits. “He’s larger than life. So no, I don’t think of it that way. I can’t.

[From Yahoo! Entertainment]

Admittedly, I do describe him as Denzel’s son when talking about him or his movies to people with less knowledge of celebrity gossip. It’s like a fun fact and then people are like “oh, Denzel’s son is hot” (he is) or “Denzel’s son is a good actor” (he is). But I can see how it would suck a bit to be known that way when you’re trying to make your own way and it makes sense that he was driven to pursue football at first to separate himself and his talents from his famous and talented father. That story about the college football headline particularly sucks. I could see mentioning it in the article as a tidbit, but having it there in the headline, but have been so disheartening and that’s when John David realized that no matter what he did, being known as Denzel’s son would be “inescapable.” But I believe he still didn’t really pursue acting until his Achilles injury ended his football career. As an aside, the fact that he played pro football means unlike many other celebs, his height is accurate and contextualizes the heights of his co-stars. And while his football background and physicality makes his action roles very convincing, it seems John David is carving out an interesting and varied career for himself and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

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Chris Pine cut his hair and now he looks like a distinguished silver fox. The silver really brings out his amazing eyes. Best Chris! [Just Jared]
Jessica Biel’s Giambattista Valli gown is one of the worst things she’s ever worn, but at least the event was for a good cause. [RCFA]
Mindy Kaling is such a great voice actress! Here’s the teaser for HBO Max’s Velma, which already seems a bit too self-referential, but I get it. [OMG Blog]
Fat Bear Week outsells Shark Week, I’m sorry. [Dlisted]
I’m gonna pass on Triangle of Sadness. [LaineyGossip]
The Glass Onion cast was out and about to promote the movie. [Go Fug Yourself]
Are novels, as an art form, over? No. [Gawker]
Review of Mila Kunis in the Luckiest Girl Alive. [Pajiba]
SNL’s “Try Guys” skit was tone-deaf and stupid. [Buzzfeed]
Brittney Griner could be released by the end of the year? [Towleroad]
Genie Bouchard & her twin sister are cute. [Egotastic]
Another domestic violence story ends in murder. [Jezebel]

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The Ellen Show is thankfully over. The last episodes of Ellen DeGeneres’s daytime talk show aired in May and she went out with a whimper, not a bang. The Ellen Show limped along in its final season, mostly because Ellen had a contract and she didn’t want to go out in a flurry of controversy about how deeply unpleasant she is and how she terrorized her staff. I have no idea how Ellen is spending her time since her show ended, but it looks like she hasn’t kept up with anyone from her now-defunct record label. Her record label was called (lowercase) eleveneleven. The label was tied to Interscope Geffen A&M. Both Charlie Puth and Greyson Chance have now gone on the record about how poorly run the label was.

Charlie Puth claims he was ghosted by Ellen DeGeneres’ eleveneleven record label. The singer, 30, spoke about his own experience with the Interscope Geffen A&M Records-distributed label after fellow songwriter Greyson Chance alleged the “opportunistic” comedian “completely abandoned” him.

“We both have different experiences, me versus Greyson. But I do agree with him that no one was present, certainly, after the creation of my first demo EP,” Puth, who was signed to the short-lived record label in 2011, said on the latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now. “Not putting any blame on one person, but from a collective … all the people that were in that room, they just disappeared. I didn’t hear from anybody.”

Puth clarified that he never personally discussed any of these feelings with DeGeneres, noting that he didn’t find a problem with her allegedly toxic personality. “People describe Ellen as rude. I’ve never experienced that,” the “One Call Away” singer said, referencing allegations that DeGeneres, 64, was “manipulative” behind-the-scenes and that her daytime talk show was a toxic workplace. “Maybe she likes me.”

Sources close to DeGeneres’ team told the outlet that they “don’t recall” any of this happening with Puth. A rep for DeGeneres did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

The new interview comes just weeks after Chance claimed to Rolling Stone that he’s “never met someone more manipulative, more self-centered and more blatantly opportunistic” than the talk show host.

The “Good as Gold” singer, 25, first met DeGeneres when he appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in May 2010 after a video of him performing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” in front of his schoolmates went viral. DeGeneres signed him as her record label’s first act, with Chance – who was just 12 years old at the time – claiming she told him, “I’m going to protect you. I’m going to be here for you. We’re going to do this together.” She gifted him $10,000, a new piano and set him up with high-profile managers, agents, a publicist and more.

However, Chance alleged to Rolling Stone that DeGeneres quickly became “domineering” and “too controlling” with every aspect of his career – demanding everything from what he should wear to which other artists she thought he should resemble. Chance further alleged that DeGeneres disappeared in 2012 following low ticket sales for his various tours and his music underperforming. He claims he never heard back from DeGeneres after Interscope ultimately dropped him and key people from his team.

“I couldn’t get ahold of her. Couldn’t talk to her,” Chance alleged, despite returning to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” for occasional appearances in the years following. “Whenever I would come on the show, it was such a fake smile.”

[From Page Six]

I’m reminded of the stories about what it was like to work on her show, and how out-of-touch she was with the daily operations, leaving it to abusive producers to create an extremely toxic workplace, which actually suited her just fine. While I think there was probably an element of that with eleveneleven, it’s probably more like “Ellen and her people simply got bored and walked away.” And they left artists like Greyson and Charlie in the lurch. Ellen seems like an exceptionally bad manager who surrounds herself – and empowers – some really toxic people.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Royalist nutjob Tom Bower is still at it. I think he’s mad that Katie Nicholl and Valentine Low’s books have been getting so much attention, and his sad Deranger fiction came and left with little real noise. So Bower has been running around, desperately making sh-t up about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Bower keeps “hearing things” from “people in London” about Meghan and Harry, and he breathlessly gives away these exclusives to street pigeons and/or Page Six. Some highlights:

Whether Harry will update his memoir: We previously reported that Harry, 38, is desperate to rewrite the book in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death last month, wanting to “take out or downplay” what he wrote about King Charles III, Queen Consort Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton. But Bower doesn’t think that can happen. “I think that everybody knows that the Sussexes can’t amend the book in any way,” he opines. “Can they make it nastier? Because otherwise, we wouldn’t get sales.”

London chatter about the memoir’s release date: Harry’s memoir, originally scheduled for release from Penguin Random House in November, has already been pushed back until sometime next year. Bower says chatter in London has the book coming out around “Easter and will include in it a chapter on the [Queen’s] funeral. And there’ll just be more material about how they were snubbed and all the rest of the invective against the royal family. So I think to that extent, the delay will add to the poison.”

Harry clings to Meghan: Prince Harry “clings” to wife Meghan Markle “like a needy man, like a life raft,” royal biographer Tom Bower tells Page Six exclusively. The Duchess of Sussex “satisfies all” of the Duke of Sussex’s “requirements,” which he “didn’t get from other girlfriends.”

Weird how only Harry is messed about his childhood: Bower also claims that Harry, 38, is a “damaged” and “very disturbed” man as a result of childhood trauma — and Markle, 41, allegedly knew just how to win him over. “He is psychologically harmed both by his mother’s death and the father’s treatment of his mother, and of Harry himself, when he was a child,” the author alleges to us.

Bower claims Meghan researched Harry: “Her genius was that before she ever met him, she carefully researched him and as an intelligent woman with a lot of experience, knew exactly what buttons to press,” the biographer claims to Page Six. Bower stresses that Harry was miserable as a senior royal and Markle offered a way out.

Miserable Harry: “I think the funeral awakened some misery in him that he was so cut off from his family and friends and was an outsider,” Bower adds. “And I think that puts great pressure on their relationship.”

[From Page Six]

Tom Bower is a horse’s ass. Why is there chatter in London about the release of a memoir by an American publishing house? And why is it that no one seems to recall that Harry has a multi-book deal, and that he doesn’t actually need to push back the release date on his first memoir because his second book will be the real barn-burner? As for Harry being “damaged” – he literally made a TV docu-series about his therapy journey and his extensive work on his own mental health. Way to stigmatize a guy who is actually putting in the work out in the open, for all to see. It’s also so strange that people go on and on about how Harry is so screwed up because of his childhood when William literally had the same f–king childhood. That being said, I do think Harry’s childhood was more screwed up because he had to deal with Peggy as his jealous, bullying brother. I won’t even bother with Bower’s fantasies about Meghan. He’s a racist wackjob.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and all of the mourning-period events were very symbolic and beautiful. It’s one of the few things the British monarchy does well: fussy pomp. Did everything go off without a hitch? Of course not. Mistakes were made, mostly by the new king and his staff. It was an extraordinarily bad look that in the 48 hours following QEII’s death, the biggest story about Charles banning his son’s wife from Balmoral. The focus on the “Montecito royals” genuinely overshadowed the pomp, which is why Charles could not avoid having Harry and Meghan included in everything. I imagine it will be the same for Charles’s coronation, which is reportedly set for early June next year. The Mail on Sunday has all of the fussy plans so far, none of which include the Sussexes. Which is fine – we don’t know if they’re invited, nor do we know if they want to go. But it absolutely feels like a huge, gaping hole in Charles’s careful plans if they aren’t making contingencies on top of contingencies to deal with the Sussex issue. Anyway, here are some highlights from the MoS:

A breezy one-hour coronation: King Charles’s cut-down Coronation is set to last little more than an hour, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The service at Westminster Abbey next year will have fewer arcane rituals and be significantly shorter than the 1953 ceremony when Queen Elizabeth was crowned. King Charles is understood to want his Coronation to set the tone for a streamlined and modern monarchy, while retaining some of the pomp and majesty that stunned the world during the Queen’s lying-in-state and funeral ceremonies.

The blueprint known as Operation Golden Orb: The Coronation ceremony is set to be dramatically cut in length from more than three hours to just over an hour; The guest list for the ceremony is likely to be slashed from 8,000 to 2,000, with hundreds of nobles and parliamentarians missing out; Discussions have been held about a more relaxed dress code, with peers possibly allowed to wear lounge suits instead of ceremonial robes; Ancient and time-consuming rituals – including presenting the monarch with gold ingots – will be axed to save time; Prince William is likely to play an important role in helping to plan the ceremony.

Who will miss out? Among those set to miss out will be MPs and peers who are likely to be told that they cannot be guaranteed a place. It will be more religiously and culturally diverse. While the 1953 Coronation required the Queen to make various outfit changes, a source said: ‘King Charles is unlikely to do the same and the language will be adapted so as to be understandable to a more modern audience.’

What will stay: Some key rituals will be retained, including the anointing of the monarch, who will swear to be the ‘defender of the faith’, not ‘defender of faith’ as previously speculated. The 1762 Gold State Coach, which was refurbished at great expense for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, will also once again be part of the Coronation procession.

No Ingots: The traditional presentation of gold to the monarch is also likely to disappear. In 1952, it was reported that ‘an ingot or wedge of gold of a pound weight’ was presented to the monarch by the Lord Great Chamberlain before being placed upon the altar. A source said: ‘In an age where people are feeling the pinch, this is not going to happen.’

Will royal women wear tiaras? Diplomats and other male guests invited to the 1953 Coronation were instructed that ‘knee breeches’ were in order, while women were advised to wear headgear, preferably tiaras. The dress code next year will be less prescriptive. Discussions had taken place on relaxing the requirement for peers to wear so-called coronation robes. A cloak of crimson velvet, the rank of the peer is indicated by rows of ermine – a stoat’s white winter fur and black tail end – on the cape. Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Mather, who started the plan for King Charles’s Coronation – which has since been updated – told The Mail on Sunday: ‘No Coronation robes. Give them to a museum where they belong. It’s not going to be a tweed jacket and pair of jeans – but morning suit or lounge suit.’

William’s role: Seventy years ago, Prince Philip was instrumental in chairing the Privy Council Coronation Committee that oversaw many of the ceremonial arrangements for the big day. A great moderniser, he agreed that the service should be televised. This time, as heir to the throne, Prince William is expected to play an important role on the committee.

[From The Daily Mail]

LOL, I hope King Charles doesn’t actually expect William to do anything on the Privy Council. William refuses to read briefing papers or learn languages or make one iota of effort. All of the other people will organize the coronation and then William will swoop in and take credit for everything. As for the rest of this… it’s typical of Charles to try to dial down the one thing people expect: pomp, glamour, the connection to British history. I get that some/all of the coronation rituals will be a bad look for a modern audience. But the jig is up, right? If you’re going to do a coronation, do a coronation. Dust off all the gold carriages and make women wear tiaras and drape everyone in ermine. Charles is going to do some cheap Brexit coronation. Oh well!

Photos courtesy of Instar, Avalon Red.

In February, Brad Pitt sued Angelina Jolie over her sale of Nouvel, her 50% stake in Chateau Miraval, the home and winery they bought together in 2008. Pitt accused her of going behind his back and selling Nouvel, claiming that they had some kind of understanding or agreement that she would only sell Nouvel to him. Last week, Angelina’s lawyers filed her cross-complaint, laying out the extensive timeline, pointing out Jolie’s lengthy receipts for her many attempts to sell Nouvel to Pitt, and documenting his attempt to tie the sale to a gag order about how he terrorized and abused her and their children in 2016. Ever since Jolie’s cross-complaint went public, Pitt’s team has been scrambling. “Sources close to Brad” cried about parental alienation to TMZ, Pitt’s rep cried about how Jolie’s cross-complaint was “completely untrue” and Pitt’s lawyer basically huffed “I’ll see you in court!” On Friday, Angelina’s attorney spoke on Jolie’s behalf.

A lawyer for Brad Pitt has responded to abuse allegations that were detailed at length this week in a legal document filed by ex-wife Angelina Jolie, saying Pitt isn’t about to cop to any false accusations. On Friday, Jolie’s attorney added his own comments to the dispute.

“Brad has owned everything he’s responsible for from day one — unlike the other side — but he’s not going to own anything he didn’t do,” Pitt attorney Anne Kiley said Thursday in a statement to The Times. Kiley said in Thursday’s statement, Pitt “has been on the receiving end of every type of personal attack and misrepresentation. … Brad will continue to respond in court as he has consistently done.” A representative for Pitt declined to comment further.

However, Paul Murphy, a Jolie attorney, took issue late Friday with the Pitt camp’s statement.

“The carefully worded statement from Brad Pitt’s divorce attorney, Ms. Kiley, clearly did not address any of the very serious accusations in our Cross-Complaint. Mr. Pitt has been accused of harming his children and he has not denied any of his specific abhorrent behavior,” he said. “Instead, he is continuing his attempts to misinform and deflect, just like he has done for the last six years.”

Eve Sheedy, former executive director of the L.A. County Domestic Violence Council and former director of domestic violence policy at the L.A. City Attorney’s office, noted Friday that in situations similar to that of Pitt and Jolie, it wasn’t unusual for an abusive partner to “seek to exercise power and control” through means other than physical force, including controlling finances and decision-making.

“It takes courage for any survivor, especially those like Ms. Jolie who is subject to intensive public scrutiny, to come forward to reveal acts of abuse that were both terrifying and dangerous,” Sheedy said in a statement. “[I]n cases where specific conduct is at issue, general nonspecific denials of responsibility and efforts to lay blame on others reflect another tactic that can be used to further manipulate survivors.”

[From The LA Times]

Angelina was focused on the welfare of the children; Brad was focused on his professional reputation. Angelina wanted the children to have therapy and to process what had happened to them; Brad wanted to manipulate and financially abuse Angelina to get her to shut up. What I kept coming back to in Jolie’s cross-complaint was how many other people were involved at every stage too – clearly, Jolie has people she trusts, people who help her keep her documentation and receipts. The business side of this seems extremely clear-cut from her side, backed up with extensive communication between lawyers and business managers, etc. All Brad has is rage and lies – he’s clearly in over his head and what kills me is that… he brought this entirely on himself. Did he think he was just going to vibe his way through a huge lawsuit when Angelina clearly has everything documented?

Also: Jolie’s lawyers added another document to her cross-complaint. This is the letter she sent Brad informing him on January 21, 2021 (the day after Joe Biden’s inauguration!) that she wanted to sell Nouvel to either him or the Perrin family. This letter is heartbreaking – you can really feel her pain at coming to the realization that Pitt is not going to change, that he’s a conniving, cruel, abusive a–hole about every single part of their relationship. This letter also blows up Pitt’s entire case.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.