Over the weekend, Denmark’s Prince Joachim and his wife Princess Marie gave another interview. Previously, Joachim spoke, on camera, to a Danish media outlet soon after his mother Queen Margrethe yanked his four children’s royal titles. Joachim was very upset and he said the children are upset too. He made it sound like he was barely given any notice. His two sons by his first wife are in their 20s, but his two younger children, Henrik and Athena, are just 13 and 10. And they just got bullied by their grandmother in public. Well, after the kids’ titles were yanked, it feels like Joachim and Marie are ready to speak out against Margrethe… and Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary. Some highlights from this weekend’s interview:

Athena is already being bullied: Princess Marie said that Athena is being bullied at school after the decision was publicly announced earlier this week. ‘They come and say (to Athena): Is it you who is no longer a princess?,’ Princess Marie told Danish news outlet BT. She said her children were put under the public spotlight and feels the need to defend them, especially now after her youngest is being picked on. ‘The children were publicly exhibited. At very short notice. This means that we, as parents, have not had time to prepare them for the change and people’s reactions,’ she added.

Joachim & Marie discussed Frederik & Mary: Joachim and Marie said they have not spoken to the Crown couple, with Marie describing the relationship as ‘complicated’. The prince added that they have not yet spoken to the Queen either. Commenting on Crown Princess Mary’s point that her children may too lose titles in the future, Joachim said: ‘I don’t know how they feel if they have to think it through. Now is preparation time. We didn’t have that.’

A proper way: Speaking about the monarch’s intention to slim down the Danish royal family, he said: ‘The reality must still be: whether you modernize or slim down, it must be done in a proper way. It’s about children. Orderliness and children. It is a very heavy matter.’ Meanwhile, referencing the idea of a slimmed down monarchy, Marie said: ‘I don’t think it’s modern to have some injured children.’

[From The Daily Mail]

In this interview, Joachim and Marie indicated that they’re “not thinking of leaving the Danish royal house. Instead, they will continue their work in their own way – even if the family is divided like never before,” according to Hello. What’s interesting about that is that Joachim, Marie and their two young kids live in Paris now. In early 2019, they moved to Paris for what was supposed to be a temporary military training program for Joachim. Then Joachim had a stroke in 2020. At the time, people were told that Joachim decided to keep his family in France and take a position as defense attache at the Danish embassy. Now that move is being seen in a different light though – perhaps an effort from Margrethe, Frederik and Mary to exile him. In 2021, Marie came right out and said that the move to France wasn’t their “choice.” As in, they were exiled.

There are also new and old quotes about how Joachim has “felt humiliated and ignored for a long time” and that the issue with his children’s titles will not be “the last word in the matter.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

In the Duchess of Sussex’s cover profile in The Cut, the journalist Allison P. Davis is allowed into the Sussexes’ Montecito mansion, which Davis described in detail. The house sounds like it’s lovely, comfortable and sort of like it has the vibe of a high-end hotel. I came out of The Cut’s piece believing that Harry and Meghan liked the home a lot and they were happy to build their new lives there. But what if the Sussexes are looking to move to a different home in the elite Santa Barbara community of Hope Ranch? That’s the rumor! I can’t even blame the British press for this one, the rumor seems to have originated in the Santa Barbara News Press:

The buzz around town is that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have either already purchased or are shopping for a very private estate in Hope Ranch, having determined that their Montecito mansion does not properly accommodate them.

[From The Santa Barbara News Press]

Hope Ranch is apparently about ten miles away from their Montecito home and from the photos, it seems like it’s more of a “nestled in the mountains” vibe, as opposed to ocean-adjacent. I’d rather be closer to the beach, but perhaps it’s a security thing – the Mail’s reporting mentioned that there have been break-ins in the Sussexes’ neighborhood, weird how the Mail knows all of that though. It could also be an amenities thing – from what I gather, Hope Ranch is some kind of gated community with a members-only country club, golf club, tennis courts and equestrian trails. According to the NY Post, homes in Hope Ranch can go for $22 million.

So do you think Harry & Meghan will move? LOL. What if they move somewhere with even more bedrooms and bathrooms and it’s more expensive? Hahaha the Mail’s editors will be frothing at the mouth. There will be all-caps headlines about the number of bathrooms. Anyway, the Sussexes’ Montecito home was a good investment and if they sold it, they would probably double their money. That being said, I bet you anything that Meghan simply likes to look at real estate and seeing what’s available in their area. Looking around doesn’t mean they’re buying or selling!

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.

I’ve never really thought of Oprah Winfrey as someone who is close-minded about anything, really. She seems exceptionally curious, which is what made her such a good TV talk show host. While Oprah is pretty religious, she’s also not bash-people-over-the-head about it. Which makes this story really weird. Apparently, Shania Twain and Oprah had dinner together at some point, and their conversation turned to religion versus spirituality, and Shania made Oprah sound close-minded or weird about religion?

Shania Twain learned never to talk about religion at the dinner table while out with Oprah Winfrey. The country pop star, 57, shared on the podcast “Table Manners with Jessie Ware and Lennie Ware” on Wednesday that the divisive topic made her conversation with the media mogul, 68, turn “sour.”

“It was great to just sit and have real talks, but as soon as we started talking about religion, it all went sour,” Twain — who did not specify when the dinner took place — said, adding that she then told Winfrey, “Let’s stop talking about religion!’”

The “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” singer said there were clear differences between her and the former talk show host because Winfrey is “quite religious” and Twain considers herself more “spiritual.”

“I’m not religious in the sense that I’m dedicated to a religion,” she explained. “I’m much more of a spiritual person. I’m a seeker.”

Despite their conflicting points of view, Twain said she was open to having a conversation but the topic just “wasn’t debatable” for Winfrey.

“There was no room for debate, and I like to debate,” the “From This Moment On” singer said. “Canadians like to debate everything. So, I’m like, ‘Oh, OK. It’s time to change the subject.’”

A rep for Winfrey did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment on Twain’s claims. In an interview with AARP Bulletin in 2015, the Oprah magazine founder, who grew up Baptist, opened up about her relationship with her faith and how she views those of different backgrounds.

[From Page Six]

Why does this feel so shady? Granted, if a dinner conversation with Oprah turned to religion, I would try to change the subject too, just because there are more interesting topics of conversation! I’d like to talk to Oprah about royalty, celebrity gossip, whether Gayle ever annoys the bejesus out of her, what Steadman is really like. Again, it feels like Shania is trying to say Oprah is close-minded or even bigoted about religion and… I’m just not buying that? Oprah reads and recommends too many self-help books (many of which are just watered-down lessons from Buddhism and Hinduism) to be close-minded about religion.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram and CBS/Harpo.

Clarence Thomas’s nutjob wife Ginni Thomas is a full-blown QAnoner who sent Mark Meadows (then Trump’s chief of staff) more than 30 texts to get him to “release the Kraken,” tell Americans that the election was stolen and install Donald Trump as dictator for life, basically. She testified for hours before the January 6th Committee this week and she told them that she still believes the election was “stolen.” [Jezebel]
Incel Jordan Peterson cried when he was asked about Olivia Wilde calling him an incel. The incel circle of life, honestly. [Dlisted]
FKA Twigs has a new song and a new AI-spun video?? [OMG Blog]
More photos of Jon Hamm & Jennifer Aniston on set. [LaineyGossip]
Cher walked the Balmain red carpet. [Go Fug Yourself]
Some theories on Liz Truss’s jewelry choices. [Gawker]
Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen went to Paris Fashion Week. [Just Jared]
Review of Andor, which sounds pretty good. [Pajiba]
Some good/nice pieces of news this week. [Buzzfeed]
Kate Hudson wore a full Oscar de la Renta gown to a screening. [RCFA]
Review of Bros, with Billy Eichner. [Towleroad]
“Serial cheater” Shaquille O’Neal supports Adam Levine. [Egotastic]

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In 2019, there were royal reporters having complete and total meltdowns over the “secrecy” around the Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcoming baby Archie. Fully grown adults had been gleefully taking part in a massive smear campaign against a pregnant woman, then they were flabbergasted when Meghan and Harry’s people were squirrelly – for about six hours – about when she entered the hospital, when she gave birth and when she went home. During the Oprah interview, Meghan explained some of what was going on behind the scenes, and she indicated that they were not “asked” to do a hospital photocall:

Oprah raised the question with Meghan, asking if her decision to forgo the customary photos was the start of her and Harry wanting out of their senior royal roles, “It feels to me like things started to change when you and Harry decided that you were not going to take the picture that had been part of the tradition for years?”

Meghan, having already explained that it was the royals’ decision not to give Archie a title, which also meant he wouldn’t have security, said in response, “We weren’t asked to take a picture. That’s also part of the spin that was really damaging. I thought, ‘Can you just tell them the truth? Can you say to the world you’re not giving him a title, and we want to keep him safe, and that if he’s not a prince then it’s not part of the tradition? Just tell people and then they’ll understand’… But they wouldn’t do that.”

Continuing on, Oprah asked Meghan, “Was there a specific reason why you didn’t want to be a part of that tradition? I think many people interpreted that as you were both saying we’re going to do things our way?”

The Duchess then explained that she was afraid for her baby’s safety: “That’s not it at all. I think what was really hard… so picture, now that you know what was going on behind the scenes, there was a lot of fear surrounding it. I was very scared of having to offer up our baby knowing that they weren’t going to be kept safe.”

[From Cosmopolitan]

While I still have questions, I assumed that there were discussions among staffers and the family that Meghan should NOT do the hospital-pose photos and she was like “sure, okay, whatever.” As for the brief secrecy around the birth… I get why reporters were mad (they were lied to), but I also get why Harry and Meghan were like “f–k y’all, I don’t have to tell you anything, especially not about the baby.” I bring all of this up because Katie Nicholl’s The New Royals devotes a section to this bullsh-t. Much like Valentine Low and the other members of the rota, Nicholl doesn’t seem to want to include Meghan’s own words in her narrative:

Royal expert Katie Nicholl wrote about the royals’ birth experience in her upcoming book, “The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown.”

“One source described Harry as being ‘almost morbidly obsessed’ with keeping Archie’s birth as secret as possible,” she wrote, according to an excerpt obtained by Page Six. However, the secrecy broke an “unwritten contract between the royals and the public.”

“Behind the scenes, matters were so fraught that more than one official — as I know from personal experience — was reduced to tears of frustration and despair,” Daily Mail’s royal editor Rebecca English added in the book.

Prince Harry, Markle and their newborn baby were expected to pose on the steps of the hospital hours after the duchess gave birth for photos. However, the two decided not to participate on May 6, 2019.

“Harry had always enjoyed outfoxing the media,” Nicholl explained. “He and Meghan were thrilled to be safely delivered of their son in London’s private Portland hospital even before the palace press office had confirmed the duchess was in labor.”

Instead, Harry and Markle debuted Archie at Windsor Castle whenever the Duchess of Sussex felt prepared. The occasion featured one journalist and one photographer. “But it all felt stage-managed, with pre-approved questions, one journalist, and one photographer,” Nicholl wrote in the book. “It demonstrated the growing gulf between public expectations of Harry and what he felt obliged to give.”

[From Yahoo News]

Nicholl is putting the onus on Harry and Meghan, when Meghan absolutely made it sound like some of it was not her call at all. I actually liked the photocall at Windsor Castle with the baby though – it seemed less stressful for the new parents, and shouldn’t that be the priority, especially given that the pregnancy was so massively stressful? Anyway, it’s ridiculous that these people are still bitching about two first-time parents wanting some privacy on the day they welcomed their firstborn.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

This week, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe removed the royal titles and royal styling from four of her grandchildren. Crown Prince Frederick’s four children are now her only “royal” grandchildren, while the children of her second son, Prince Joachim, will no longer be HRHs or Princes/Princesses. Joachim’s four kids are now his/her excellency count/countess of Monpezat. Honestly, I like the idea of taking royal titles and leaving them with a lesser-yet-still-special title. It’s what the Earl of Wessex’s children have – his son is Viscount Severn and his daughter is Lady Louise. That seems like a decent compromise, overall. But the story in Denmark has become about HOW Queen Margrethe decided this and how she did it. The mothers of the four children seem very upset about the Queen’s decision, and Prince Joachim only had a few days’ notice. Originally, this change was supposed to happen when all of the kids were older. This is what Joachim told Danish media outlet Ekstra Bladet:

Prince Joachim of Denmark is breaking his silence on a family decision. The Danish prince, 53, reacted to his mother Queen Margrethe II’s decision to strip his four children of their prince and princess titles, which the Danish Royal House announced Wednesday.

“We are all very sad. It’s never fun to see your children being mistreated like that,” he told the national newspaper Ekstra Bladet on Thursday. “They find themselves in a situation they do not understand. I was given five days’ notice,” Joachim added.

The reporter responded that she thought he learned of the Queen’s plans in May, prompting the sixth in line to the throne to explain that wasn’t quite the case.

“In May, I was presented with a plan, which basically stated that when the children each turned 25, it would happen,” Joachim said. “Athena turns 11 in January,” he added of his youngest child.

“How has this affected your relationship with your mother?” the journalist asked. Holding for a moment, looking emotional, Joachim replied, “I don’t think I need to elaborate here,” and turned to walk away.

In a statement to B.T., another national outlet, the palace insisted that the announcement should not have come as a surprise.

“As the Queen stated yesterday, the decision has been a long time coming. We understand that there are many emotions at stake at the moment, but we hope that the Queen’s wish to future-proof the Royal Palace will be respected,” a spokesperson for the Danish Royal Palace told the outlet.

Doubling down on his argument in his own remarks to B.T., Joachim stated, “I was given five days’ notice of this. To tell my children that on New Year’s their identity will be taken from them. I am very, very sorry to see them uncomprehending about what is happening over their heads.”

The father of four — who is dad to sons Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, and Henrik, 13, and daughter Athena, 10 — added that he’s mystified why everything was accelerated.

“I simply don’t know. I originally asked for time to think and give my feedback. That would also be taken into account,” the Danish royal told B.T., adding that his kids were having a hard time processing the change. “I can say that my children are upset. My kids don’t know which leg to stand on. What they should believe. Why should their identity be removed? Why must they be punished in that way?”

[From People]

I don’t know who to believe here – I kind of doubt that Margrethe would completely blind-side her son this way and make it look so punitive out of nowhere. I also think Joachim seems genuinely hurt and he feels like he and his children are being snubbed in public by his mother. I definitely feel like there’s more backstory here, and I also think that how it’s being done – “you are only a prince for three more months and that’s it!” – is very strange and wrong. To go back to the Wessexes, I don’t think it would have been *as* big a deal if Joachim was told from day one that his kids wouldn’t have royal titles, but they would be counts and countesses of Monpezat. Doing it now – when two oldest sons are adults – feels very shady and half-assed. I also agree that perhaps Frederick’s three younger children should maybe get their royal titles yanked too, out of fairness. I mean…??

Also: Queen Margrethe’s decision is anti-Asian!! Joachim’s first wife Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, has Chinese, Iranian and Indian ancestry. Meaning, Prince Nikolai and Prince Flix are mixed-race Danish royals, only they’re being stripped of their titles. Danish racism!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

There are some interesting podcast clips making the rounds this week. The clips are from a pod called The Gal Code, with hosts Rob Gartland & Bibi Bagnall. You can see the Apple page for The Gal Code here, I don’t know which episode these clips are from. During the pod, there’s a discussion with a woman who worked on the project which became the Duchess of Sussex’s Smart Set capsule collection. In 2019, Meghan organized the Smart Set collection to provide basic wardrobe pieces (a white blouse, black trousers, etc) to her patronage, SmartWorks. SmartWorks provides professional clothing and job training for British women entering or re-entering the workforce. Meghan had made several visits to SmartWorks and thought there needed to be more wardrobe staples for the women, thus the Smart Set collection. It was a great, successful effort. But of course the British media tried to rip Meghan to shreds over it. Anyway, the conversation is about how Meghan was completely amazing during the launch event and how the snooty people were the royal advisors:

Revealing clip from The Gal Code podcast about the launch of Meghan’s #SmartSet collection for her patronage Smartworks. Meghan spent countless hours developing the collection & launch event that were never documented in the court circular in order to keep the launch secret. pic.twitter.com/WYWB88zO3d

— R.S. Locke / Royal Suitor (@royal_suitor) September 29, 2022

Further proof that the palace aides can often act more royal than the royals. While Meghan is described as lovely and graciously thanking the team behind the event, some of the palace staff are described as divas who felt they were exempt from security procedures. pic.twitter.com/SUDnAxFnjL

— R.S. Locke / Royal Suitor (@royal_suitor) September 29, 2022

I love how much this woman loves Meghan! Talking about how much Meghan glows and how prepared and nice she is, then saying the snooty ones were the “royal advisors.” I wonder about who was around Meghan at that time, because at that point in 2019, Meghan and Harry had their own team around them, they weren’t being staffed by Kensington Palace. Curious. Also: the part about the British media going hyper-negative and even flying someone out to the factory? Holy YIKES.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Instar, WENN.

Queen Elizabeth’s death certificate was released this week, which surprised me. In America, death certificates are public documents and anyone can access them. But surely it’s different in the UK, especially with royalty? I guess not. So, here’s QEII’s death certificate:

Occupation:
Her Majesty The Queen pic.twitter.com/4J8TCs9QLn

— Peter Hunt (@_PeterHunt) September 29, 2022

She passed away at 3:10 pm, and they didn’t announce it until three hours later. I get that they had to inform the rest of the family before they announced it, but jeez, I really did believe that they were supposed to announce it faster than they did. Also: on a technical level, wasn’t her surname Mountbatten-Windsor? Wasn’t that decision made by QEII at some point? And yes, I guess we’re going with “old age” as the cause of death. It was the same with Prince Philip – the death certificate isn’t going into the nitty-gritty of exactly what was going on, even though several people said “cancer” for both Elizabeth and Philip.

Meanwhile, I read this story in the Telegraph and I found it slightly amusing. There are already people talking about the “need” to build monuments and statues for QEII, and one of the proposals is that a QEII statue should be erected on the “Fourth Plinth” in Trafalgar Square. The Fourth Plinth is where, for decades now, different artists have exhibited their public work. Originally, there was supposed to be a statue of William IV, but that never came to pass. Currently, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has used the space for a revolving door of exhibitions highlighting trans issues, anti-colonialism, racial justice. Well, Mayor Khan says that right now, he has zero plans to disrupt those pieces of public art just to erect a statue of Elizabeth. Funny, right? I wonder how many monuments and statues will go up in the next few years though.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

I thought we would be discussing Trevor Noah’s new relationship with Dua Lipa, because the photos of the two of them came out in the early evening on Thursday. Then last night, The Daily Show aired and Noah made a huge announcement, one which blows the Dua Lipa news out of the water. After seven years and a massively shrinking audience, Trevor Noah is stepping down as host of The Daily Show:

Trevor Noah is nearing his last laugh on “The Daily Show.” The comedian, who came out of near anonymity to take over the program from Jon Stewart in 2015, plans to exit the flagship Comedy Central series after a seven-year tenure that saw him transform it for a new generation of viewers who are more at home on social media than they are cable outlets and broadcast networks.

Noah revealed his plans to an audience at Thursday evening’s taping of the program in New York, according to two people familiar with the matter. It was not immediately clear when his actual exit would take place, or whether the Paramount Global cable network had begun to consider a successor. Jill Fritzo, a representative for Noah, could not be reached for immediate comment.

[From Variety]

I’ll just say what’s on my mind, okay? Trevor Noah was the wrong person to take over from Jon Stewart, and Noah stayed on way too long. It was clear that the audience wasn’t buying Noah’s (Bernie Bro) shtick years ago – TDS’s audience and cultural relevance fell off a cliff during Noah’s years as host. His tenure should have been, at best, a two-year transitional gig. I’ll never really forgive TDS producers for not looking harder for a woman to replace Stewart, especially given that Samantha Bee was RIGHT THERE. Bee left TDS the same year as Stewart, 2015. I’ve always wondered if she left when it was made clear to her that she wasn’t getting promoted to the anchor desk.

As for Dua Lipa, I guess Dua and Trevor are dating now. The Daily Mail had exclusive photos of Dua and Trevor out and about this week in New York. I’m also including photos of Dua out last night, going to a Clooney Foundation event. Her dress has giant buttons, y’all know the Princess of Wales is in ruins right now.

Dua Lipa, 27, and Trevor Noah, 38, spark romance rumors as they’re seen KISSING after dinner in NYC https://t.co/KqO4GoaORE

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) September 29, 2022

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

On Thursday, the Princess of Wales had an “event” at Windsor Castle. Considering Kate is now fully doing meet-and-greets and events within Windsor Castle, my guess is that William and Kate were truly measuring the drapes the day after QEII’s death. Kate barely even moved into Adelaide Cottage, and she put the move off so long because the family all had the feeling that QEII would not make it to the end of the year. William and Kate knew that Windsor Castle would be theirs soon enough, and here we are. My theory is that William and Kate will take different wings of the castle, and that Kate will keep up some kind of appearance she sort of still lives in Adelaide Cottage, but not really.

Anyway, this event on Thursday was Kate meeting the HMS Glasgow’s company. The HMS Glasgow is a battleship and Kate was appointed the sponsorship of the big battlegworl last year. It was a weird moment too, because Kate wasn’t actually there when she was appointed the sponsorship. QEII made her take it on and then William accepted it on Kate’s behalf when he was in Scotland (without Kate). I don’t believe the HMS Glasgow is fully functional yet (much like Kate). They’re still building her and making her sea-worthy.

From the airbrushed and hyper-selective photos, I can tell that Kate’s staff just told her to show up at a certain time and she waltzed in, gurned for a few minutes, posed for some photos and then it was off to raid the Royal Collection jewelry.

Photos courtesy of Instagram.