Here are some photos from King Charles and Queen Camilla’s final event in Samoa, before they jetted off on Saturday. There was a farewell ceremony and then a little event on the tarmac, where Charles and Camilla were supposed to make formal goodbyes to various officials. I’ve seen the videos of Camilla ditching the formal goodbyes and staggering up to the plane ahead of Charles though. Camilla was also in particularly rude form at the farewell ceremony. She was given (?) a large fan and she kept holding the fan over her face to smirk and laugh at the Samoans. The Samoans were doing some kind of performance or ceremony and this horrid woman wouldn’t stop laughing at “the natives.” I’m including some of the clips at the end of the post. Meanwhile, Charles’s big farewell speech was pretty rough:

The King has bade farewell to Samoa, telling his Pacific island hosts he “hopes I survive long enough to come back and see you.” The King, who has paused his cancer treatment to travel to Australia and Samoa, told islanders “I shall always remain devoted to this part of the world”, as he was honoured with a chief title in the final ceremony of his visit. He and the Queen sat on golden chairs, under cover from tropical rain, to view a traditional ceremony, including fire dancers.

At the end of the ceremony, the King was handed a microphone and asked to deliver an unscripted “keynote speech”, during which he thanked Samoa for such a warm welcome, and spoke of his illness.

“We’ve been so impressed by the beautiful way in which all the villages have decorated the roadsides, it is something very special about Samoa,” he said. He thanked residents for their “wonderful generosity” bringing gifts of food and “other wonderful things”, and said the royal couple would take away “special memories of our time here…I shall always remain devoted to this part of the world and hope that I survive long enough to come back again and see you.”

In their final moments in Samoa, the King and Queen waved from the steps of a Royal Australian Air Force jet. They left in heavy rain, matching the conditions when they landed in Sydney ten days ago.

[From The Telegraph]

I think Charles leaned into the “this could be my last big tour” narrative because it legitimately garnered him more sympathetic coverage. Even some of the monarchy’s biggest critics pulled some of their punches because Charles is a 75-year-old man with cancer. It also sounds like the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting actually did not go well at all and the British press is trying desperately to avoid acknowledging that. More than a dozen commonwealth countries didn’t even send high-level representatives to the meeting, and the commonwealth countries agreed to a statement about the case for reparations, much to the dismay of the palace and Downing Street. To top it all off, the ten-day tour was Exhibit A of Why Camilla Is Not a Diplomatic Asset.

#royalvisitsamoa #CHOGM2024 pic.twitter.com/784mZ0TWja

— #NotMyKing (@NoKingCharlie) October 25, 2024

Everything #GoodKingHarry said about this woman was true

Camilla is in it for herself… lazy housewife who used #HarryandMeghan to make her popular and still she can’t stop laughing at people that are showing her the greatest of hospitality#RoyalTour#spare#RoyalTourAustralia pic.twitter.com/D83JnSXA3P

— Judy in da Richmond (@Judyinrichmond) October 26, 2024

Camilla has had enough. She bails on Charles and makes a run for it

For all his faults @NoKingCharlie does not remember Phil The Greek doing this #queencamilla #kingcharles #royalvisitSamoa pic.twitter.com/LnQtLzwsmo

— #NotMyKing (@NoKingCharlie) October 26, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Last week, one of the big media stories was about billionaire LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong ordering the LAT to dump their presidential endorsement because he’s tight with Elon Musk and Donald Trump. The LA Times’ editorship and staff is still in revolt. Then the Washington Post said “hold my beer.” WaPo is owned by Jeff Bezos, who is not particularly close to Donald Trump or his lil’ apartheid buddy Elon. But Bezos also wanted to hedge his bets in case Donald Trump does win. So instead of allowing WaPo’s staff and editors to stand on business against an insurrectionist, white nationalist fascist, Bezos ordered WaPo to skip the presidential endorsement.

The Washington Post, which adopted the tagline “Democracy Dies in Darkness” during Donald Trump’s presidency, has opted to not endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election, publisher and CEO of the newspaper William Lewis announced Friday in a note to readers. Lewis, who joined the Post in January, wrote that the paper is “returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” pointing to editorials from 1960 and 1972 as instances in which the paper explained its rationale for not doing so. Lewis argued that the Post “had it right before” 1976, when the editorial board endorsed Jimmy Carter for president. The Post has endorsed every cycle since then with the exception of 1988.

“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility. That is inevitable,” Lewis writes, adding, “We don’t see it that way.”

Others clearly did. “This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty,” Marty Baron, the Post’s former executive editor, said in a statement to Vanity Fair. “Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”

“These decisions are appalling, a dereliction of duty, and a disturbing statement of the priorities of two newspapers that are owned by billionaires,” Margaret Sullivan, a former New York Times public editor and Post media columnist, who currently writes a politics and media column for The Guardian US, tells me.

Inside the Post, NPR’s David Folkenflik reported, editorial page editor David Shipley relayed the decision to staff in a “tense meeting” just before Lewis announced it publicly. While staffers were reportedly taken aback by the change, Shipley reportedly said that he “owns” the decision and that it was intended to allow the paper to remain “independent,” language that was also used by Lewis in his letter to readers.

Two Post board members, Charles Lane and Stephen W. Stromberg had already drafted a Harris endorsement when the process stalled, prior to Friday’s announcement, according to Columbia Journalism Review executive editor Sewell Chan. He added that the decision, which was approved by Shipley, has “angered” staffers.

[From Vanity Fair]

I don’t doubt that both Jeff Bezos and Will Lewis had a hand in this. Bezos met with Donald Trump late last week, and there’s clearly some “business” at hand between the two men. Meanwhile, Will Lewis is a Murdoch lackey and part of the right-wing British invasion of American media. Lewis wants Trump to win – Bezos simply doesn’t want to piss off Trump if he wins. After it was widely reported that Bezos personally quashed the WaPo endorsement, Will Lewis fell on his sword in a statement to CNN: “Reporting around the role of The Washington Post owner and the decision not to publish a presidential endorsement has been inaccurate. He was not sent, did not read and did not opine on any draft. As Publisher, I do not believe in presidential endorsements. We are an independent newspaper and should support our readers’ ability to make up their own minds.” The Trump campaign has already declared the lack of endorsements a “humiliating blow” for VP Harris.

WaPo’s columnist Robert Kagan publicly resigned on Friday, saying: “This is obviously an effort by Jeff Bezos to curry favor with Donald Trump in the anticipation of his possible victory. Trump has threatened to go after Bezos’ business. Bezos runs one of the largest companies in America. They have tremendously intricate relations with federal government. They depend on the federal government.” Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein released a joint statement saying the decision was “surprising and disappointing,” and the timing of the announcement “ignores the Washington Post’s own overwhelming reportorial evidence on the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy.”

Meanwhile, thousands of people have canceled their WaPo subscriptions. There will be larger repercussions for the Washington Post financially in the immediate future. I’m sure Will Lewis will use that as an opportunity to fire a lot of journalists.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Zendaya & Tom Holland matched on their date night. [Just Jared]
Jennifer Lawrence got pregnancy bangs. [Go Fug Yourself]
Nicole Kidman simply will not stop booking jobs. [LaineyGossip]
For all of the complaints about Liz Cheney’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, it’s worth pointing out that Kamala didn’t have to compromise on anything to get it. [Pajiba]
Tom Holland’s hair is bad these days. [Socialite Life]
The evolution of goths in pop culture. [OMG Blog]
Matt Bomer with a mustache… still beautiful, but the ‘stache is awful. [RCFA]
Aw, Channing Tatum when he was little. [Seriously OMG]
Love During Lockup: Fentanyl Charges. [Starcasm]
I can’t believe Babygirl got a Christmas Day release date. [Hollywood Life]
All I’ll say is that I think it’s perfectly reasonable for someone to say they want a no-kids-allowed gathering at their home. [Buzzfeed]

I’m not ready to talk about or think about Christmas right now. I don’t get into the Christmas spirit until after Halloween. But the Windsors are different, and their Christmas plans began months ago. King Charles had a big Christmas celebration last year, his second as king, inviting some of his extended family and Camilla’s family to Sandringham and doing a big show of walking to church on Christmas day. But this year has been hard on Charles, given his cancer diagnosis and his treatment. So it’s time for Prince William and Kate to start throwing their weight around and making Christmas all about them! So says Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast, who wrote a very long-winded piece about how Will and Kate might do a social media video about their very normal, middle-class Christmas at Anmer Hall. Some highlights:

A very Middleton Christmas: Royal Christmas customs beloved of generations of sovereigns are facing the chop due to King Charles’ health crisis. Prince William, and his wife, Kate Middleton, will put a heavy stamp on the royal Christmas this year, the Daily Beast has been told. William and Kate are expected to host a “rival Christmas party” at their home on the Sandringham estate, Anmer Hall, with Kate’s family including her parents, Mike and Carole, in attendance. It will be notable for its studied informality.

A quieter Sandringham Christmas: A friend of Andrew’s told The Daily Beast: “It will be a quieter Christmas than last year, but the question is, how quiet? Usually everyone would know what bits they are invited to by now. This year, it’s just wait and see.” Some things never change, however, and sources say the bloodthirsty royal tradition of a pheasant and partridge shooting party on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) will go ahead as usual, although Charles is expected to make at best a fleeting appearance, with the honor of leading the shoot falling to William instead. The traditional, full-family Christmas walk to church is planned to proceed as normal.

Christmas is about to get less religious: One source said this means there will be much more messaging this year from William and Kate’s camp of a “middle class flavor,” emphasizing eating chocolate, movie marathons, and generally sliding off the couch in a tryptophan haze like everyone else. The source, a former courtier who worked with William and Kate, said they had been told the couple (neither of whom are especially religious) would take to social media over the holidays, sharing moments of their family Christmas. “A little social media of the family eating chocolate and watching TV would be a very effective way of showing how normal Christmas is at Anmer Hall compared to what we hear about at Sandringham,” the source said.

Abandoning the Germanic traditions: Another out-of-touch habit that it is said to be high on Kate’s list of things to change is the royal custom of handing out presents on Christmas Eve, instead of giving gifts on Christmas Day as is usual in England. The Germanic tradition was established by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in deference to his Teutonic roots. Queen Elizabeth, a great admirer of Victoria, approved of the unusual gift-giving schedule, sources have previously told The Daily Beast, as she disliked extravagance and overt expressions of consumerism. She preferred Christmas Day to have a sacred note. William and Kate have long been considered likely to scrap the custom of gift-giving on Christmas Eve, which they are acutely aware paints them as “weird” to the general public, when they ascend to the throne. The tradition is expected to survive in some form this year, but it will be depleted.

Presents are for Christmas morning: A friend of William and Kate’s told The Daily Beast: “Kate has always found the presents on Christmas Eve thing weird. It is definitely going to be got rid of when they are officially running things. I imagine it will continue this year at Sandringham in some shape or form but everything is going to be much more relaxed and have a middle-class flavor at Anmer Hall. You can bet your bottom dollar they will be doing proper presents for each other and the kids there on Christmas Day.”

The Waleses will skip Christmas lunch too: The Waleses have often not attended Christmas Day lunch at the “big house” at Sandringham, preferring the informality of a relaxed lunch at Anmer Hall, and they are unlikely to attend this year, especially if Queen Camilla again invites her son Tom Parker Bowles. William doesn’t much like Camilla, despite having made peace with his father’s choices, and is made nervous by Tom’s somewhat louche lifestyle, sources have previously told the Daily Beast.

A Christmas coup: The friend said that William was “enthusiastic about embracing Kate‘s much more normal conception of Christmas,” adding, “It’s always been a slightly covert, rival Christmas party at their house, but it’s going to be much more obvious this year. If they post pictures, it’ll be an official coup attempt.”

The “normal & boring” brand: A communications executive who previously worked with Kate and William told The Daily Beast: “William and Kate have made an incredibly successful brand out of being normal and boring, but the crazy royal customs at Christmas threaten all that. It’s particularly damaging to their reputation because Christmas is the one time that everybody in the whole country actually pays attention to the royals, and it risks getting overshadowed by stories about these strange, elitist, aristocratic habits. It’s not surprising they want to change the narrative as they prepare to take the throne themselves.”

[From The Daily Beast]

The mention of William’s dislike of Tom Parker Bowles is interesting, because I suspect that at the “big house” at Sandringham, it will be another huge showing for the Parker Bowles clan. Camilla will once again invite her kids and grandkids and maybe even her ex-husband. Meanwhile, she’s ensuring that there’s a Christmas wedge between Charles and the only son he speaks to regularly. Camilla is fine with the arrangement of Will and Kate going off to Anmer to have their private, middle-class Christmas. Charles is fine with it as well. And if Will and Kate really do post videos from inside Anmer of their Christmas celebration… lmao. I mean, it won’t be a “coup,” but it will be desperate and funny. But I’m with Kate on “presents should be opened on Christmas morning.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Kensington Palace.

The last two stories we wrote about Mel Gibson were in 2021 and 2020. In 2020, he went so far as to issue a statement calling Winona Ryder a liar after she told a story about Mel once referring to her as an “oven dodger.” In 2021, Mel also made news by saluting Donald Trump at a UFC fight. For Mel Gibson, there is a rich tapestry of violent misogyny, antisemitism, racism and white supremacy to mine at any given time. One of those times was this week, when a TMZ cameraman/paparazzo asked Mel about the election.

Kamala Harris has decidedly proven to be the more popular presidential candidate among talent in the entertainment industry this election, with recent campaign rally appearances including Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Julia Roberts and Spike Lee. But Donald Trump can now count a new Hollywood name among his supporters: Mel Gibson. In a new video published by TMZ on Thursday evening, Gibson offered a brief interview to a cameraman while heading toward TSA at an airport.

“I don’t think it’s going to surprise anyone who I vote for,” Gibson said. The cameraman, after some thought, answers with, “I’m gonna guess Trump. Is that a bad guess?”

“I think that’s a pretty good guess,” Gibson responded. “I know what it’ll be like if we let her in. And that ain’t good. Miserable track record. No policies to speak of. She’s got the IQ of a fence post.”

Gibson, one of the most in-demand marquee actors of the end of the 20th century and an Oscar-winning director for “Braveheart,” hasn’t been the most vocal political mind in the press in recent years, though he was documented saluting former President Trump near a UFC match in 2021. The actor’s jab at Harris echoes a frequent line of attack against Harris by Trump, who has been wont to call her a “low IQ” candidate in recent campaign appearances.

[From Variety]

“She’s got the IQ of a fence post” as Mel describes his support for a sundowning 78 year old Nazi who literally stopped a town hall to sway to music for 37 minutes. I mean, birds of a feather, like attracts like, Nazi fork found in Nazi kitchen. Of course Mel Gibson loves Donald Trump. They truly have the same views on women, violence, racism, antisemitism, Nazis and more.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Here are more photos of King Charles and Queen Camilla in Samoa. The only thing keeping this tour from being widely criticized is the fact that most people aren’t even paying attention to Charles and Camilla. There’s been plenty of controversy, some of it even highlighted by the British media and royal rota, but it’s like they can’t even pay people to care either way. Well, let’s see if this gets picked up outside of the royalist press – King Charles made his big speech at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, his first address as the Head of Commonwealth. He did not apologize for the monarchy’s role in slavery, nor did he directly address the calls for reparations. Instead, he told people to watch their language.

King Charles backed Sir Keir Starmer in effectively ruling out reparations over slavery today, saying: ‘None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure.’

The monarch – and new head of the Commonwealth – told its meeting of leaders in Samoa that it was important to understand and acknowledge ‘the most painful aspects of our past’.

In his first speech to the biannual congregation of leaders as the new leader of the ‘family of nations’ following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, Charles said: ‘Since this is the first occasion on which I find myself attending this gathering of our ‘Family of Nations,’ as Head of the Commonwealth, it gives my wife and myself enormous pleasure and pride to be with you for this twenty seventh Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Together, we represent a third of humanity, with all the splendidly diverse complexity that this entails. And yet we know and understand each other, such that we can discuss the most challenging issues with openness and respect.

‘That said, our cohesion requires that we acknowledge where we have come from. I understand, from listening to people across the Commonwealth, how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate.’

He continued: It is vital, therefore, that we understand our history –to guide us to make the right choices in the future. Where inequalities exist, for example, in access to opportunity; to education; to skills training; to employment; to health; and to a planet in whose climate our human race can both survive and thrive, we must find the right ways, and the right language, to address them. As we look around the world and consider its many deeply concerning challenges, let us choose within our Commonwealth family the language of community and respect, and reject the language of division. None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure.’

[From The Daily Mail]

The calls for reparations and the requests for a formal apology for slavery have been happening for years, and I always find it rather audacious for the British government and the British monarch to so consistently try to side-step both. Like, they genuinely think people will be placated with the rhetorical shrug of “None of us can change the past.” In essence, slavery happened and yes, the monarchy amassed a vast and still undisclosed fortune from chattel slavery, violent colonization and the subjugation of millions of people of color for centuries, but let’s turn the page and please don’t say mean words to me.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

I’m trying to be as peaceful and calm as possible in the final stretch of the election cycle. The media is really trying to make the “Donald Trump is finding a late surge of support” narrative happen, and I want to believe that it’s all about ratings and the tabloidization of politics. There is a larger conversation happening concurrently alongside the election/politics storyline: the conversation about how the American media is fundamentally broken and incapable of adequately informing and educating the public at this point. The past nine years, we’ve seen the American media’s inability to deal with Donald Trump. They placate him, they fetishize his cult, they soft-pedal Trump’s words and promises and they seem happy to both-sides this country into a literal fascist dictatorship. Then they wonder why Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t give a f–k about playing by their dipsh-t rules. Anyway, this situation came to a head on CNN last night, when Charlamagne Tha God appeared on Anderson Cooper’s show and called out CNN and the media writ large:

Charlamagne: I feel like I heard more on this network about “is Kamala Harris Black” than I do about Trump being a fascist

Cooper: That’s bullshit

Charlamagne: That’s bullshit to say you don’t have those conversations pic.twitter.com/145q2vRMMJ

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 25, 2024

“We talk about him being a threat to democracy but we don’t treat him like one” is profound. Like, Charlamagne has said some problematic sh-t in the past, but props to him for all of this, everything he says here is completely on point. Anderson Cooper doesn’t even watch his own network if he’s claiming that it’s “bullsh-t” that CNN doesn’t platform some of the stupidest MAGA talking-points out there. CNN absolutely did segments on “is Kamala Harris Black?” When Harris did an interview with CNN, she was even asked about Trump’s racist questioning of her race. Charlamagne is like: what is wrong with you people, can you focus on Trump’s literal fascism? I’d also like to add: journalism is more than just saying “Trump said this, what do you think about it?”

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

The Department of Justice sent Elon Musk a notice about his “campaign” activities in support of Donald Trump. At first, Musk was paying people hundreds of dollars to sign a pro-Trump petition, then Musk started giving away million-dollar checks to random Trump supporters in Pennsylvania. The DOJ and FEC were notified about all of Musk’s many messes and Musk has not been handing out million-dollar checks in recent days. There’s still an open question of why Musk decided, over the course of several months, to go all-in on Trump. Previously, I said that Musk is a loser and the Trump campaign is the mothership for losers. But obviously, there are other reasons. For instance, this new Wall Street Journal report that Elon Musk is in regular contact with Vladimir Putin.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. The discussions, confirmed by several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.

At one point, Putin asked the billionaire to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said two people briefed on the request.

Musk has emerged this year as a crucial supporter of Donald Trump’s election campaign, and could find a role in a Trump administration should he win. While the U.S. and its allies have isolated Putin in recent years, Musk’s dialogue could signal re-engagement with the Russian leader, and reinforce Trump’s expressed desire to cut a deal over major fault lines such as the war in Ukraine. At the same time, the contacts also raise potential national-security concerns among some in the current administration, given Putin’s role as one of America’s chief adversaries.

Musk has forged deep business ties with U.S. military and intelligence agencies, giving him unique visibility into some of America’s most sensitive space programs. SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service, won a $1.8 billion classified contract in 2021 and is the primary rocket launcher for the Pentagon and NASA. Musk has a security clearance that allows him access to certain classified information.

Knowledge of Musk’s Kremlin contacts appears to be a closely held secret in government. Several White House officials said they weren’t aware of them. The topic is highly sensitive, given Musk’s increasing involvement in the Trump campaign and the approaching U.S. presidential election, less than two weeks away.

[From WSJ]

WSJ points out that Musk has a high-level security clearance because of SpaceX and his relationship with Putin might threaten that. What WSJ fails to mention is the fact that Musk’s relationship with Putin would explain all of the f–king bullsh-t with the Musk-owned Starlink as Ukraine defends itself from Russia’s invasion and war. Musk refused to allow Ukraine to use Starlink late last year as they attacked Russian forces. It also appears that Musk has given Russia access, however limited, to Starlink, in violation of some significant sanctions. Musk’s communications with Putin explain a lot about how Russia is able to block Ukraine’s access to Starlink. And that’s before we even touch the rampant Russian propaganda farms operating freely on Musk-owned Twitter. Y’all pointed out that Elon is technically a dual citizen of South Africa and the US. Good – that will make the treason indictment a lot easier.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

This week, Netflix finally dropped the one-sheet poster and the full-length trailer for Pablo Larrain’s Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas. The poster is GORGEOUS and so, so striking. Before you watch the trailer, let me just remind everyone that Angelina actually trained for months with an “opera coach” so that she could sing some of Callas’ most famous performances. Then Larrain had Jolie’s vocals mixed with the Callas recordings, so that you can hear some of Jolie’s voice in there too. Within the trailer, I hear Callas but not Jolie. But the performance, from what we can see here, is incredible. Angelina is playing her age as well – she’s no longer the ingenue and no longer the badass action star. She’s a woman who is nearly 50 years old, playing (for the most part) an opera singer in her 50s.

A few superficial things… the wig work is fantastic. When you go back and look at Callas’ hair and hairstyles, they really did a good job on Jolie’s wigs. Secondly, the period clothing is magnificent. I wonder if Angelina was allowed to keep some of it, because it looks amazing on her. Anyway, for Oscar eligibility, Maria will get a limited theatrical run starting in late November, then it will stream on Netflix starting December 11.

Photos courtesy of Netflix, Cover Images.

It’s been a rough few weeks in royal gossip. While there’s plenty to discuss with King Charles and Queen Camilla’s current flop tour, Prince William and Kate have disappeared. The Sussexes have as well, although the usual suspects can’t take Harry and Meghan’s names out of their mouths. But the Wales kids are on their school holiday, and William and Kate use their kids’ school holidays to disappear every single time. All of which to say, the royalist press is getting really desperate for any kind of content, which is why they’re running stories about Kate’s princess jeggings. This new People Mag exclusive is a next-level “we’re desperate for anything about Kate” story though. Remember Kate’s bonkers DIY Hobby Lobby headpiece at last year’s coronation? Well, People has a hilarious interview with Jess Collett, who designed the custom headpiece, at great expense – Kate reportedly spent £32,000 on the headpiece alone. Sorry, according to Collett, it is a “tiara” not a headpiece.

In the world of millinery, designing a tiara for a future Queen is a life-defining moment. That was the task at hand for Jess Collett, the British hatmaker who was chosen to create one-of-a-kind headpieces for both Kate Middleton and Princess Charlotte for King Charles’ coronation on May 6, 2023.

While there was much speculation in the weeks leading up to the big day as to whether Kate would wear something befitting her status as future Queen — guests were asked to wear hats or fascinators to the event, and PEOPLE learned several weeks before the event that Kate was unlikely to wear a traditional tiara — Collett says there was never any doubt in her head what she was creating.

“It was a tiara that I made for the princess, but it was very much based on a piece that I have called ‘The Golden Crown’ — a band of leaves made from gold leather,” she tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. Of “The Golden Crown,” which has been on display in her Notting Hill atelier, “When people wear it, and many people have hired it, they always tell me after that they felt fabulous and radiant from inside,” Collett adds.

Constructed from silver leaves made from tulle, the tiara sparkled bright thanks to the tiny crystals scattered amongst the delicate leaves, each one hand embroidered with real silver thread. The striking design was considered a triumph, even by Collett’s children.

“We were at home watching it from the sofa, in my pajamas with my family. When Catherine arrived, I just … even my children went, ‘Oh wow, Mum, it looks really good.’ And you know children are not afraid to tell the truth!” Collett says. “It was so exciting and nerve-wracking, but everything I have ever dreamed of.”

While the coronation was the first time Collett worked with the Princess of Wales, 42, she’s certainly hoping it won’t be the last. “I remember thinking at the time, ‘Well, I won’t have to do this again, because she’ll be wearing the actual crown next time!’ ” Collett says. “But she always looks good. She’s confidant in her style and she’s so graceful — she’s really grown into the role.”

[From People]

As GB News points out, Kensington Palace explicitly said that Kate was not wearing a tiara and that the headpiece should not be considered a tiara. Personally, I think the confusion over what to call it is all because Camilla wanted to be the only woman dripping in stolen jewels. Camilla wanted to be the last horse standing and wear all of the diamonds she could get her hands on. I think Camilla ordered all of the royal women to not wear tiaras or lavish jewels because Camilla is also terrified of having her thunder stolen. As for Kate’s headpiece… I still find it so cheap-looking? It really does look like a fashion-school project, and I think it was really inappropriate for an occasion like the coronation.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Cover Images.