#@william @kate MOVE . the real royal couple is here

[heathersapples]

OLIVIA COOKE & EMMA D'ARCY House Of The Dragon Season 2 Premiere, June 3rd, 2024

[causeiwanttoandican]

Robert Lacey excerpt

I fully expect them to say William was the one commenting about the baby’s skin color after this. Battle stations! Book excerpt

The Times

Prince William ‘split his household from Prince Harry after Meghan bullying claims’

June 07 2021, 7.00am BST

‘So, are you saying,” asked Oprah Winfrey, talking to Meghan and Harry in their famous interview of March 2021, “that there were hints of jealousy?”

She was inquiring about the Sussexes’s wildly successful tour of Australia and the South Pacific of late October 2018, and the couple shifted uncomfortably in their plush wicker chairs.

“Look,” replied Harry, “I just wish that we would all learn from the past.”

By bringing up “the past”, the prince was venturing into an area that was almost taboo. He was making a sensational comparison between his mother and his wife. Harry was suggesting that Meghan had demonstrated in Australia the same massive star quality as Diana and was now having to face the family envy that went along with that.

“It really changed,” he said, “after the Australia tour, after our South Pacific tour . . . it was . . . the first time that the family got to see how incredible she is at the job. And that brought back memories.”

Memories of what? Again Harry shied away from putting words to the almost unmentionable. But Oprah had prepared and polished this moment, like so many others in the interview, and she had a reference ready to prompt her prince’s revelation. The latest, fourth season of TV’s The Crown had depicted Charles and Diana’s 1983 tour of Australia, showing how Diana had been “bedazzling” in her ability “to connect with people”. Episode six had depicted how the crowds would groan when they realised that Charles, not Diana, was walking down their side of the street — hence the beginnings of the “jealousy” on the family’s part.

“So is that what you’re talking about?” asked Oprah. “It brought back memories of that?”

“Yeah,” Harry finally replied in a fashion that was both dismal and unmistakably aggressive.

What on earth had happened, viewers had to wonder, to the old and once-familiar happy side of Prince Harry?

When trying to define the moment that marked the decisive rift with his brother William — the break-up and actual separation of the joint household they had established together in 2009 — Harry would fix upon his triumphant return with Meghan from their Australian tour at the end of October 2018. But if asked the same question, William would have fixed on a more specific event: the explosive argument he had had with his brother earlier that month.

Both brothers agreed how bitterly they had clashed back in the early days over William’s attempt to slow Harry’s courtship of Meghan — “Don’t feel like you need to rush this . . . ” But both of them had subsequently moved on. Harry’s transparent contentment with Meghan had relaxed the tensions, give or take the odd row over bridesmaids’ dresses. The “no speaks” had eased just a little by the time “best man” William escorted his brother down the aisle in May 2018.

Then five months later came the conclusive and determining rupture — the division that has lasted to the present day — though here the brothers�� retelling of history diverged. As Harry explained it to Oprah, Meghan’s Australian tour success sowed the jealousies that caused feelings to “change”. According to this scenario, William and Kate resented the Diana-like popularity that was generated by Harry’s wife. William had a different recollection.

We now know that Princes William and Harry were no longer on speaking terms before the Sussexes set off for Australia. Feelings had already “changed”, as Harry put it, and drastically so. The brothers had parted on extremely poor terms, with the trouble centring on Meghan’s stringent treatment and alleged bullying of her staff.

Most Kensington Palace courtiers were noted for the comparatively long tenures of their comfortable and prestigious jobs. But it came to look as if employees could not wait to escape service with Harry and Meghan. Those who left formed themselves into an informal fraternity that they titled the “Sussex Survivors’ Club”. They had finally hit back, and their organising agent had been PR man Jason Knauf.

The joint communications secretary for Kensington Palace — who was still, at that date, working on behalf of both of the brothers and their wives — had become concerned by the numerous stories of mistreatment being brought to him by colleagues whom he knew well and trusted.

Texas-born and New Zealand-educated, Knauf, 34, was a popular character in Kensington Palace, widely noted for his friendliness and loyalty towards his colleagues. He had been considered a real “catch” when the brothers snared him from the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2015, and one of his concerns was that professional management practices should be more effectively enforced inside the traditional British palace. Knauf’s American sensibilities caused him to see the Meghan situation as raising principles of human resources management in the palace system that needed to be formally addressed.

Knauf’s first priority was to set down the facts, as he saw them, for the record: “I’m very concerned,” he emailed to William’s private secretary Simon Case, in a document he drafted in October 2018, “that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year.”

Knauf described Meghan’s treatment of one aide as “totally unacceptable . . . the duchess seems intent”, he wrote, “on always having someone in her sights”. Specifying another staff member, Knauf alleged Meghan had been bullying her as well, “seeking to undermine her confidence”. His office had received “report after report”, he wrote, from people who had witnessed “unacceptable behaviour” by Meghan towards this member of staff.

“Meghan governed by fear,” claimed one courtier. “So many people said it. Nothing was ever good enough for her. [She] humiliated staff in meetings, [would] shout at them, [would] cut them off email chains — and then demand to know why they hadn’t done anything.”

As early as 2017, around the time of the couple’s engagement, according to a subsequent report in The Times, a senior aide had spoken to the couple about the difficulties caused by their treatment of staff. “It’s not my job to coddle people,” Meghan was said to have replied.

“Americans can be much more direct,” wrote the authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand in defence of the duchess, “and that often doesn’t sit well in the much more refined institution of the monarchy.”

A Brit might have raised an eyebrow at Meghan’s alleged behaviour, then looked the other way. The Yank decided to act. Knauf was actually one of Meghan’s most senior advisers — her chief adviser, in fact, when it came to public relations. Earlier that year she had gone to Knauf for help when drafting the disputed letter of severance that she sent to her father. She valued his PR expertise.

Before that, Knauf had helped Harry to word the fierce anti-media statements that he had framed to try to protect Meghan from press harassment, both as his girlfriend and then as his fiancée. The PR man had taken considerable stick from some of his non-royal contacts who criticised him as being overprotective in fighting the newcomer’s corner. Like so many people in all the palaces, Knauf had started off on Meghan’s side.

But as the months went by the American’s feelings became more ambiguous, as numerous colleagues — women whom he greatly respected — continued to bring him stories of what they said they had suffered at Meghan’s hands.

“I can’t stop shaking,” one aide had told a colleague in anticipation of an encounter with Meghan. Another reported that the prospect of confrontation with the duchess had made her “feel sick”. “Emotional cruelty and manipulation”, were the words of a third, “which I guess could also be called bullying.”

The b-word featured prominently in the accounts of several, along with an even more sinister set of initials: PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder was a deeply serious condition to allege — flashbacks, nightmares and feelings of deep anxiety — but that was how one complainant said that they had felt.

Several people maintained they had been “humiliated” by the duchess, and that criticism extended to Harry as well.

“I overheard a conversation between Harry and one of his top aides,” recalled one Kensington Palace courtier. “Harry was screaming and screaming down the phone. Team Sussex was a really toxic environment. People shouting and screaming in each other’s faces.”

Shouting and screaming? PTSD? Making people feel sick? Prince William went ballistic when he heard the “dossier of distress” that Knauf had gathered. We do not know whether the communications secretary brought his allegations directly to his boss or submitted them via Simon Case. What we do know is that the prince was astonished and horrified. He was instantly furious at what he heard.

“I remember Christian Jones [William’s press secretary and later private secretary] explaining to me how the Cams [the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge] are paternalistic with their staff,” recalls one royal correspondent. “They copy the Queen in that respect with all her Christmas parties and Christmas presents to her people. They’re proud to treat their staff like family. They recognise that they don’t get paid loads of money, so they are just really nice to them. So this was a very deep clash of philosophies, with Meghan being used to a Hollywood service culture — getting exactly what she wanted whenever she wanted in that famous way that Harry said.”

William personally knew and liked all the individuals whom Knauf had named in his dossier. The prince regarded them as assets to his household — colleagues to be cherished and for whom he was responsible. Human beings. Like Knauf, the prince was appalled that his respected staff may have been put in this position.

For William, Knauf’s allegations also clarified something that the prince had long believed — that Meghan was fundamentally hostile towards the royal system, which she failed to understand as an outsider. William wondered if she had not wanted to leave from the very start — even dreaming, perhaps, that she could whisk Harry back with her to North America.

But Meghan’s lawyers and PR representatives said this was quite the wrong interpretation of their client’s thinking and behaviour in a statement that they issued to The Times early in March 2021. They denied all allegations of bullying as inaccurate and the product of what they described as a “smear campaign”. The duchess wished to fit in and be accepted, they insisted. She had left her life in North America to commit herself to her new role.

I have never met Jason Knauf. What you have just read is based upon the published accusations that Knauf set down on paper — refuted as “defamatory”, it must be stressed again, and “based on misleading and harmful information” in the view of the Duchess of Sussex’s lawyers. It also relies upon William’s personal account of these events to one of his friends who then spoke to this author.

The moment the prince heard the bullying allegations, he related to this friend, he got straight on the phone to talk to Harry — and when Harry flared up in furious defence of his wife, the elder brother persisted. Harry shut off his phone angrily, so William went to speak to him personally. The prince was horrified by what he had just been told about Meghan’s alleged behaviour, and he wanted to hear what Harry had to say.

The showdown between the two siblings was fierce and bitter. William’s pre-engagement questioning of Meghan’s suitability had been quite reasonable, in William’s opinion. His fraternal doubts had been provisional, based upon how the new recruit appeared to be. The elder brother did not really know Meghan in those early days.

But now William had seen enough of his sister-in-law to feel sure that, sadly, he did know her and that many of his reservations linked unhappily with what Knauf’s colleagues had alleged. William believed Meghan was following a plan — “agenda” was the word he used to his friend — and the accusations he had just heard were alarming. Kate, he said, had been wary of her from the start.

Meghan was undermining some precious principles of the monarchy, if she really was treating her staff in this way, and William was upset that she seemed to be stealing his beloved brother away from him. Later courtiers would coin a hashtag — #freeHarry. It was only half a joke.

“Meghan portrayed herself as the victim,” recalled one Kensington Palace staffer, “but she was the bully. People felt run over by her. They didn’t know how to handle this woman. They thought she was a complete narcissist and sociopath — basically unhinged. Which was why the pair of them were drawn to each other in the first place — both damaged goods.”

William felt deeply wounded. “Hurt” and “betrayed” were the two feelings that he described to his friend. The elder brother had always felt so protective. He had seen it as his job to look out for Harry but this was the moment the protection had to stop. At the end of the day the British crown and all it stood for with its ancient traditions, styles and values — the mission of the monarchy — had to matter more to William than his brother did.

Harry, for his part, was equally furious that William should give credence to the accusations against Meghan, and he was fiercely combative in his wife’s defence. Some sources maintain that in the heat of the argument Harry actually accused someone in the family of concepts that were “racist”. But it must be stressed that neither brother has ever confirmed that the hateful r-word was used face to face.

Only William and Harry can know what they said to each other and they have respectfully maintained their silence on that. But Harry made clear to the world in his interview with Oprah that he considered his family’s response to Meghan to have been essentially racist — using the heavily freighted code words “unconscious bias” to provide an intellectual framework for his analysis.

Where could the two brothers go after such painful and damning notions had been thrown into their debate?

We have reached the crux of the drama. What painfully unforgettable and surely unforgivable things have been said? These are not passing differences. They are two core sets of values in conflict — love versus duty — going to the very heart and deriving from the deepest beliefs and loyalties of each man. Two opposing identities butting heads. In the months following the tragic and not-obviously bridgeable rift of October 2018 between William and Harry, the younger brother solidified his belief that his family were suffering from “unconscious bias”.

William, for his part, felt just as strongly about Meghan and the need for her subversive “agenda” to be removed from the operations of the British monarchy, which she did not appear to understand or respect. He certainly wanted Meghan removed, for a start, from the hitherto harmonious joint household that he and his brother had operated together for the best part of a decade. William simply did not want her or Harry around any more.

When accounts of the rift started seeping out through the winter months that followed, it was generally assumed that the volatile Harry must have set the pace in the splitting up of the joint Kensington Palace household. He was the brother who visibly departed, stalking off to set up a new home in Windsor, with offices for himself and Meghan in Buckingham Palace.

But the reverse was the case. It was William who made the decisive move. Following his furious confrontation with his younger brother in the autumn of 2018, the prince instructed Simon Case to start the process of dividing their two households immediately. William wished to be separated from Meghan on a day-to-day basis — and that meant being separated from his brother as well.

“William,” says a friend, “threw Harry out.”

©Robert Lacey 2021 Extracted from Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult by Robert Lacey, to be published by William Collins on June 24 at £9.99

[ingek73]

Stifling, Toxic and Racist—Duchess Meghan Never Had a Chance at The Palace

Royal editor-at-large Omid Scobie sounds off on the outdated practices and attitudes within the royal family that left the Duke and Duchess of Sussex forced to make a change.

BY OMID SCOBIE

MAR 10 2021, 3:20 PM EST

I remember the feeling of frustration well. My work on an extensive biography of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Finding Freedom, was coming to an end. After hearing countless stories from multiple people close to the couple about how they felt unsupported and unprotected by the institution of the monarchy, it was time to address the matter with the palace side. A chance for them to respond.

“This is nonsense. … We did absolutely everything [for Meghan],” the senior aide told me over the phone. I asked for examples. “Everybody welcomed her, and she was given all the support she needed,” they continued. I asked again. “They forget how accommodating we were when it came to navigating the duchess through her first steps [as a working royal],” the aide added, somewhat curtly. I had several conversations like this over the weeks that followed—each party, be they from Clarence House, Buckingham Palace, or Kensington Palace, for the most part seemingly baffled by the Sussexes’ grievances. Finally, I took what I had and moved on.

Well over a year has passed since these calls, and the full severity of Harry and Meghan’s situation has finally been laid bare. Sitting in front of Oprah Winfrey, the duchess tearfully opened up about her darkest days as a working member of the royal family. Unprotected, undefended, and left to face a near-daily barrage of hateful commentary and negative stories, Meghan revealed how her circumstances had, at times, seen her virtually stuck indoors for weeks on end. Lunch with friends could have momentarily lifted her spirits, but social outings were dismissed by royal family members and aides who said it would be better to lie low. Her image was “everywhere right now,” they told her. Her isolated existence stood out in particular to her worried mother, Doria Ragland, who during a summer 2019 visit to Frogmore Cottage was surprised to discover that neither she nor her daughter was able to go out into Windsor town to pick up coffees. “You’re stuck in here,” Doria told Meghan at the time, according to a source.

The Oprah interview was the world’s first time hearing Meghan describe the true toll of the palace’s “no comment” policy when it came to dealing with inaccurate press coverage. One report that caused Meghan particular upset was the November 2018 allegation that she’d made the Duchess of Cambridge cry during a children’s bridesmaid dress fitting for her Windsor Castle wedding. Though the palace knew the claims were untrue (and that it was, in fact, Kate who made Meghan cry), Meghan was repeatedly told that it would not be possible to set the record straight, despite it being a story that fed into a stereotype-laden narrative. Other royal family members were often afforded more sympathetic support when it came to dealing with inaccurate press (officials even issued a statement to deny Kate’s use of Botox in July 2019), but both Harry and Meghan felt they did not have access to this same privilege.

The couple’s exasperation came to a head in January 2020, when Kensington Palace urgently requested that Prince Harry cosign a statement against an “offensive” newspaper report stating Prince William “constantly bullied” the Sussexes before their decision to step away. “Well, if we’re just throwing any statement out there now, then perhaps KP can finally set the record straight about me [not making Kate cry],” Meghan emailed an aide, asking why side of the story public image was never considered important to anyone. But, as with many requests made by the couple, her suggestion was ignored. The Duchess of Cambridge, she was told, should never be dragged into idle gossip.

Meghan’s state of well-being deteriorated as the institution refused to defend or protect her during her toughest moments. Talking to Oprah, Meghan revealed that her mental health was so fragile during her pregnancy that she “didn’t want to be alive anymore.” She turned to senior staff—including the palace’s own HR department—but her plea for help in January 2019 was repeatedly shut down. It’s not a good look for the family, she was told. Even friends who wanted to help her or speak up in her defense were regularly reminded by palace aides to keep quiet. As the cruel commentary, racist attacks, death threats, and negative tabloid stories piled up—and the institution continued to ignore the problem—Meghan later likened the experience to a friend as “death by a thousand cuts.” Her reference to an ancient Chinese execution method was no coincidence.

For the millions around the world who watched Meghan share her story, some of the experiences shared were perhaps all too familiar. Princess Diana revealed in several interviews that she considered suicide during her marriage to Prince Charles and spoke candidly about her battles with bulimia and mental distress, both of which were ignored by the institution of the monarchy. Sarah, Duchess of York, was also open about how the pressures and loneliness that came with palace life led to her own struggle with eating disorders.

When Kate quickly found public adoration as the Duchess of Cambridge, the palace would proudly tell members of the press that lessons from the past had been learned. “There has been a concerted effort to ensure that history never repeats itself,” one senior staff member working for the Cambridges told me in 2014. Yet, here we are in 2021, with a very real image of Britain’s oldest and most revered establishment once again engaged in neglect and gaslighting, and dismissing mental health.

When Kate quickly found public adoration as the Duchess of Cambridge, the palace would proudly tell members of the press that lessons from the past had been learned. “There has been a concerted effort to ensure that history never repeats itself,” one senior staff member working for the Cambridges told me in 2014. Yet, here we are in 2021, with a very real image of Britain’s oldest and most revered establishment once again engaged in neglect and gaslighting, and dismissing mental health.

This time, however, race—or more specifically, racism—plays a major role. Harry and Meghan’s revelation that a member of the royal family (not the queen or Prince Philip) had expressed “concern” over how dark the skin of the queen’s great-grandson might be, left many, including Oprah herself, openmouthed. But for those familiar with the institution—which on Sunday celebrated the diversity of the Commonwealth realm’s population of 2.4 billion—it comes as less of a surprise. This is an establishment that only last week briefed The Times of London that Meghan wanted to be royal “the Beyoncé way,” and that the help offered to her included establishing the queen’s Black equerry (a senior attendant, if you will) as a “mentor.” Princess Michael of Kent’s ignorance regarding wearing a blackamoor brooch during her first encounter with Meghan is a reminder that even racial sensitivity can be lacking within the family. An establishment that, as Meghan herself explained, has yet to learn the difference between rude and racist press coverage. The stiff upper lip, no matter how painful the attacks, was expected to remain impossibly rigid at all times.

The palace has continually proven itself to be unable to empathize with any person who crumbles under the pressures of its outdated and unreasonable expectations.

But when does forced silence turn into abuse? Ignoring gossip and drama may fall under the royal family’s famed (but questionable) “never complain, never explain” mantra, but expecting the victim of racism to remain voiceless while sections of the press call her “ghetto,” “straight outta Compton,” and “un-royal” borders on complicit with the attacks. As does refusing to learn how to identify the existence of the very racism that fuels them.

If it’s not considered appropriate to acknowledge racism or racial ignorance when aimed at a mixed-raced senior royal, then how should the 54 countries of the Commonwealth and its predominantly Black, Brown, and mixed population feel about the realm’s figurehead belonging to an institution that claims to celebrate “diversity” but in practice appears to uphold white supremacy? And if the lack of awareness Harry described to Oprah is true, then were race-related public duties, including Prince William recently calling out racism in British soccer and Prince Charles speaking out about racism in architecture in 2000, simply performative? It’s hard to forget that across the full lineup of working royals, all failed to acknowledge last year’s Black Lives Matter movement, which saw just as much protesting across the United Kingdom as the United States.

A brief, 61-word statement shared on behalf of the queen by the palace on March 9 revealed that the family is “saddened” by how challenging recent years have been for the Sussexes. But with the note also admitting that the family are somehow only just learning of the “full extent” of the couple’s experiences, isn’t it all a bit late? With yet another “commoner” leaving the House of Windsor emotionally battered and bruised, the palace has continually proven itself to be unable to empathize with any person who crumbles under the pressures of its outdated and unreasonable expectations. A glass-half-full view is that recent events could perhaps serve as a catalyst for change (and I hope they are). But given Harry’s own admission that his family is trapped within a “system” so fearful of the British press and public that they’re often unable to live up to their own ideals, is it actually time for us to just finally set them free?

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Life & Style, April 26

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Khloe Kardashian is a total fake

Page 1: Lady Gaga in a wedding dress on the set of House of Gucci in Rome

Page 2: Contents

Page 4: The Top 10 SAG Awards Looks -- Mindy Kaling, Jamie Chung, Amy Adams, Sarah Levy, Kerry Washington

Page 5: Kaley Cuoco, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Morales, Viola Davis, Lily Collins

Page 6: Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen celebrated their 12-year anniversary, posting heartfelt tributes to each other on social media, but their relationship hasn't always been so rock solid -- Tom admitted that Gisele has made a lot of sacrifices for their marriage and she hated living in Boston because she had no friends there and felt so alone because Tom was never around; things got so bad they sought counseling, which was the wake-up call that Tom needed -- he promised to make changes and he agreed to quit the Patriots and sign with a team in a location that was more desirable to Gisele and Tom stuck to his word and he came the new quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and since moving to Florida, Tom and Gisele have never been happier and they have date nights every week and always make sure to communicate -- it wasn't easy, but they're both really proud of how far they've come

Page 7: After multiple delays, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc have finally filmed the highly anticipated Friends reunion special and they all got really emotional when they saw the set and being there brought back so many fond memories -- it's the first time in 17 years that fans will get to see the entire cast together since the show went off the air in 2004 -- afterwards, everyone went to Jen's house for dinner -- each of the stars was paid $2.5 million to appear in the special

* Throwback -- Dolly Parton in 1965

* Biggest Spenders of the Week -- Bobby Flay, Aaron Rodgers, Vanessa Hudgens, Angelina Jolie

Page 8: Drew Barrymore revealed that, after three divorces and a string of failed romances, she's sworn off marriage altogether -- Drew doesn't need a man to feel complete and she's happiest hanging out with family and friends -- if the right guy comes along later down the line, great, but for now, she's content with being single

* Becoming one of the most sought-after stars in Hollywood has gone straight to Ana de Armas' head -- the cast and crew are often left waiting for the actress to emerge from her trailer on the set of the new action thriller The Gray Man -- Ana's got a lot going on and she's juggling several different projects, as well as photo shoots and phone calls with her team and people don't stay mad at her for too long, but they have nicknamed her Ana de Diva, but she isn't upset by the scathing moniker because she's a big name now, and with that comes a lot of responsibility and the way she sees it, there are worse things than being called a diva

Page 10: The Week in Photos -- Orlando Bloom got a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny

Page 11: Jennifer Lopez in jeans at a photoshoot for InStyle, Priyanka Chopra dancing around her backyard in a bright yellow dress

Page 12: Animal Tales -- Gilles Marini posed for a pic with his African grey parrot Anya, singer Madison Beer leaned in for a kiss from a caramel-colored stallion, Kate Beckinsale's feline Clive seemed less than thrilled when Kate strapped him to her chest in a carrier

Page 13: Kaia Gerber and her precious pooch Milo snuggled up in bed, Malin Akerman and a goat

Page 16: Stars Behaving Badly -- Lisa Vanderpump let her parched dog drink from her water glass at a restaurant in West Hollywood, Maisie Williams went topless under a translucent jacket while shooting a new TV series about the Sex Pistols in London, HGTV Design Star host Allison Holker used a megaphone to give out instructions to Property Brother Jonathan Scott on the show's finale, Calvin Klein wasn't worried about stains when he shoved a pile of spaghetti into his mouth at West Hollywood's Mauro Cafe

Page 18: Say What?! Helena Bonham Carter who turns 55 in May, Chelsea Handler who admits she consumes mushrooms almost every day, Olivia Munn who is the proud pet parent of rescue dogs Frankie and Chance, Melissa McCarthy on doing her own stunts in Thunder Force, Brian Tyree Henry on Godzilla vs. Kong co-star Millie Bobby Brown

Page 20: Pete Davidson has officially moved out of his mother's home and into a $1.2 million luxury high-rise condo on Staten Island, and it's all thanks to his new girl girlfriend, Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor -- the Saturday Night Live star showed off his two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom bachelor pad during a Zoom call -- Phoebe is a down-to-earth girl, but she doesn't want to date a man who lives in his mom's basement and she thinks Pete's mom, Amy, is awesome and says it's a great thing that they're super close, but being in a long-distance relationship is difficult enough so Pete and Phoebe need some alone time when they're together, which was almost impossible with his mother hanging out upstairs -- Pete knew it was time; he just needed that gentle nudge

Page 21: Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell were spotted in NYC together, sparking speculation that the former Bachelor couple have rekindled their relationship -- the pair parted ways while the show was still airing after photos of the graphic designer at a plantation-themed college party in 2018 surfaced on social media -- Rachael made a mistake but she owned up to it and was willing to learn from it and it didn't change her feelings for Matt or vice versa and Matt was in love with Rachael too and he couldn't just turn those feelings off so no one would be surprised if they decided to reconcile

* Michael B. Jordan's girlfriend Lori Harvey was left reeling over photos of the actor sharing a smooch with Chante Adams on the set of their new movie A Journal for Jordan -- of course, they were just shooting a scene for the film, but Lori was still annoyed and she asked Michael about it, and he brushed it off and explained it was part of the job but Lori still has her suspicions and she's been thinking about dropping by the set just so she can keep a very close eye on them

Page 22: Cover Story -- Khloe Kardashian living a lie -- devastated by an unretouched photo leak, Khloe faces claims she's a body positivity hypocrite as she demands the viral image be taken down

Page 26: Alex Rodriguez to Ben Affleck: Back off my fiancee -- Ben gushes about ex Jennifer Lopez in a new article and A-Rod isn't happy about it (not quite Bennifer yet :)

Page 28: Prince Harry overwhelmed with work -- Harry struggles to adjust after trading his cushy royal role for a variety of normal gigs -- though his job for BetterUp is primarily remote, added stress comes in the form of Harry's Spotify and Netflix deals, plus growing charity work -- Harry finds all of his new, non-royal titles fresh and exciting, but while he's a great person, some in his inner circle say Harry's kind of dumb and worry whether he can handle the pressure

Page 30: Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli life after prison -- reunited following months spent behind bars, Lori and Mossimo try to pick up the pieces -- prison definitely took a toll on Mossimo and he doesn't expect sympathy, but he's still struggling to adjust to what he went through; it really broke him down and forced him to reevaluate his life

Page 32: Who Lives Here? Lil Nas X

Page 34: Entertainment

Page 35: Star Review -- Jonathan Van Ness

* As Seen On-Screen -- Meghan Markle wore a dark green coat while walking through Archie's Chick-Inn during her CBS interview which was J. Crew's Perfect Lightweight Jacket

Page 36: Go Green at Home -- reduce your carbon footprint even more with these eco-chic essentials, because our planet can use all the help it can get

Page 37: Beauty Crush -- get Jurnee Smollett's look from her makeup artist Emily Cheng for the SAG Awards

Page 38: Spring Beauty Must-Haves -- these product picks aim to reign as new-season favorites -- Camila Mendes

Page 40: Diva or Down-to-Earth? Rihanna bagged her own haul at Bristol Farms in Beverly Hills -- down-to-earth, Shay Mitchell worked from home with help from her most trusted assistant daughter Atlas -- down-to-earth, during a photo shoot in Malibu Brooke Burke got a makeup refresh from a personal primper -- diva

Page 42: Social Stars Posts of the Week -- Sofia Vergara sneaking Heidi Klum a chip on the set of America's Got Talent, Neil Patrick Harris finished the first season of The Irregulars while quarantining in Toronto, Jared Leto pretended to pluck the moon straight out of the sky during a masked outing in Italy, Beyonce treated her daughter Blue Ivy to a meal at Nobu in Malibu

Page 44: Horoscope -- Taurus Gigi Hadid turned 26 on April 23

* They're Not Together, But They Should Be -- Capricorn Charles Melton and Virgo Zendaya

Page 48: What I'm Into -- Kameron Westcott of The Real Housewives of Dallas

[gstqaobc]

The Royal Fascinator Friday, May 01, 2020 Hello, royal watchers and all those intrigued by what’s going on inside the House of Windsor. This is your biweekly dose of royal news and analysis. Reading this online? Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox. Janet Davison Janet Davison Royal Expert

Sophie: The royal who ‘just gets on with it

She has been packing groceries in recent days, volunteering at a kitchen and talking to paramedics. There hasn’t been much fanfare around her actions in support of those working in the battle against COVID-19 — but then again, when Sophie, Countess of Wessex, does her royal business, that’s the way it tends to be. “Sophie does everything very quietly, partly because the media don’t follow her obsessively as they do with William and Catherine and partly because the things she does aren’t necessarily very glamorous,” said Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, via email. That’s exactly what the Royal Family needs, Seward suggests: “someone who just gets on with things regardless of the attention they receive.” Seward likens Sophie, who joined the Royal Family when she married the Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward, in 1999, to her sister-in-law, Princess Anne. Seward said given that Anne is nearly 70, she thinks Sophie “will take over from her as being the hardest-working royal. [Sophie] approaches her role in an unfussy way and just gets on with it.” That low-key approach has not gone unnoticed by her mother-in-law. Sophie “goes about her duty diligently, quietly and without a great deal of fuss, and for that the Queen adores her,” said Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent, Katie Nicholl, via email. “They are very close and spend a lot of time together when they are in Windsor, and the Queen loves riding with her grandchildren James and Louise.” It’s a closeness observers say goes back years. Sophie’s arrival in the family came in the wake — and in some ways the shadow — of Diana, wife of Edward’s older brother Prince Charles. Some saw Sophie as a new Diana, Seward said, “which of course she wasn’t.” “She hated the comparison as she knew she never would or should try to live up to it.” Louise's birth in November 2003 was difficult, as Sophie almost died as a result of blood loss. “People saw how much the Queen cared about her, visiting her in hospital, which is unheard of,” Seward said. “Gradually and without being pushy, she became the Queen’s closest companion — they share a love of military history and a wicked sense of humour.” That’s not to say it’s all been smooth sailing for Sophie. After her marriage, she continued in her career, but quit as head of a public relations company in 2001 after embarrassing comments she made were secretly recorded by a tabloid reporter posing as an Arab sheik and published in the News of the World. Seward suggests the Queen remained supportive of her daughter-in-law, and ultimately decided it would be better if Sophie and Edward worked as full-time royals. “Ever since then, Sophie has appeared looking glamorous when needed and workmanlike when needed.” She has visited Canada several times, sometimes with Prince Edward, sometimes on her own. The last visit came last fall, with two low-profile days in Toronto. Much of the time was spent at Toronto Western and Toronto General hospitals. She talked with critically ill patients and showed a "great warmth" and a "real, genuine skill in listening," Kevin Smith, president and chief executive officer of the University Health Network, said at the time. With turmoil and uncertainty in the upper echeolons of the Royal Family these days —  Prince Harry and Meghan stepping back to seek their independence, Prince Andrew stepping back amid controversy over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — questions have arisen over just how the House of Windsor will approach the future. Some suggest Sophie will find herself in a more prominent role. “We are already seeing Edward and Sophie doing more to support the royals and I think that’s going to be the case moving forward,” said Nicholl.

Royal birthdays — pandemic-style

T(The Duchess of Cambridge/Kensington Palace via AP)In any family, birthdays can come in bunches. For the Royal Family, there’s a real run of them in late April and early May. And this year, the pandemic has been reflected as some members of the family marked their annual milestones in recent days. Queen Elizabeth's 94th birthday was acknowledged more quietly than usual. The gun salutes that normally sound on April 21 were called off, with the Queen feeling they would not be appropriate at this time. Photos released to mark Prince Louis’s second birthday on April 23, taken by his mother, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, showed the happy, colourful and messy aftermath of fingerpainting rainbows in support of the National Health Service. Other birthdays right around now include Louis’s sister Charlotte, who turns five on May 2, and their cousin, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, who will be one on May 6.

Harry and Meghan and the media —  again

Prince Harry and Meghan may be looking for a new life in Los Angeles, but some old issues appear to remain top of mind for them.The couple, who stepped back from the upper echelons of the Royal Family a month ago, caught observers somewhat off-guard the other day when they sent out a message saying they would no longer be co-operating with four British tabloid newspapers.It prompted some to wonder about the timing of the announcement, coming as it did during the pandemic, when such an issue might take a back seat to concerns over how to battle the coronavirus.Harry in particular has had a raucous relationship with the media, and the couple has also taken their battle into the courts.A few days ago, the first court hearing in a privacy case brought by Meghan against a tabloid for printing part of a letter to her father began at the High Court in London.Papers submitted in court included details of text messages Harry sent to Meghan’s father.The whole media swirl prompted Jonny Dymond, the BBC’s royal correspondent, to ask, “So will the real Duke and Duchess of Sussex please stand up?“There is the couple who provoke such sympathy in the court papers published today,” Dymond wrote recently. “And there's the couple who think now is the right time to exercise their quarrels with the bestselling papers of the nation that they have departed from.”

“Royally quotable“

As we approach World Immunization Week, I wanted to recognize the vital and urgent work being done by so many to tackle the pandemic; by those in the medical and scientific professions, at universities and research institutions, all united in working to protect us from COVID-19.”— 

The pandemic prompted Prince Philip to make a rare public statement on April 20. The 98-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, who has had a keen interest in science, has rarely been seen in public since he retired from public duties in the summer of 2017.

Royals in Canada

(Bill Croke/The Canadian Press)Princess Anne has been having something of a moment lately — or maybe several moments. One came late last fall, prompted by the feisty portrayal of her in Season 3 of the Netflix drama The Crown. And right now, the all-business, no-nonsense only daughter of the Queen and Prince Philip is the cover story for Vanity Fair.

But rewind 49 years, and Anne had her share of moments, too, some of them coming in Canada.

Much media attention was focused on the 20-year-old when she arrived with her parents to mark the 100th anniversary of British Columbia’s entry into Confederation.

As much as Anne was the focus of anticipation and attention during that trip in early May 1971, her royal duties were rather routine, even a bit mundane.

“Princess Anne made no official statement at the unveiling,” the Globe and Mail reported on May 5, after she officially opened Canada’s newest national park, Pacific Rim on Vancouver Island. “Her only function was to pull the cord that removed the flag from the rock face to unveil the plaque.”

Later, the Globe reported, Anne told the park superintendent “she was much impressed by the beauty and the picturesqueness of the park region.”

Our friends at CBC Archives have taken an in-depth look at the tour that took the royal visitors to Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, Williams Lake and Comox.

Royal reads 1.Prince Harry has told friends he misses his life in the Armed Forces. [Daily Telegraph]

2. Harry has also looked back on his time as a child, recording a special messageto celebrate the 75th anniversary of a book he and others loved in their younger years: Thomas the Tank Engine. [CBC

]3. King Henry VIII might not be the first person you think of as inspiration for how to live in self-isolation, but maybe he could offer some lessons on how to find comfort in quarantine. [The Guardian]Cheers!I’m always happy to hear from you. Send your ideas, comments, feedback and notes to royalfascinator@cbc.ca. Problems with the newsletter? Please let me know about any typos, errors or glitches.

[marlaluster]

Emptying the cliptray on the new phone. ....

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[sciencespies]

The True History Behind 'Six,' the Tudor Musical About Henry VIII's Wives

https://sciencespies.com/history/the-true-history-behind-six-the-tudor-musical-about-henry-viiis-wives/

The True History Behind 'Six,' the Tudor Musical About Henry VIII's Wives

Meilan Solly

Associate Editor, History

Inspiration struck Toby Marlow during a comparative poetry class at Cambridge University in fall 2016. Participating in a discussion on William Blake, he found his mind wandering and began scribbling a series of unrelated notes: “Henry VIII’s wives → like a girl group … Need Lucy!!” 

Then an undergraduate student tasked with writing an original show for the upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Marlow brought his idea to classmate Lucy Moss, who agreed to help bring his vision of a Tudor-themed pop musical to life. The product of the pair’s collaboration—Six, a modern reimagining of the lives of Henry VIII’s six wives—premiered on London’s West End in 2019 to much acclaim. (A cast soundtrack released in September 2018 similarly became an unqualified success.) Now, after an extended delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the musical is finally making its Broadway debut.

L to R: Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), BrittneyMack (Anna of Cleves) and Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr)

Liz Lauren

Six “didn’t come out of a love of the Tudor period particularly,” says Marlow, 26. “It came from us having an interest in the representation of women in musical theater, having women on stage doing funny and hilarious things.” Moss, 27, adds, “What we were interested in doing was reframing the way that women have been perceived in history and telling their side of the story.”

The Tudor period, with its “soap opera”-esque political machinations and rich cast of female characters, offered the duo the opportunity to explore contemporary issues like feminism through a historical lens. Though Six prominently features the rhyme historically used to describe the fates of the Tudor king’s queens—“divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived”—the musical moves beyond these reductive one-word summaries to present its subjects as fully realized individuals. “With all of them,” says Moss, “there was so much of interest beyond the moment they got married or divorced.”

Marlow and Moss drew on a range of sources when writing Six, including Antonia Fraser’s The Wives of Henry VIII and documentaries hosted by historianLucy Worsley. The musical’s layered repartee deftly balances references to Tudor culture with nods to modern music, like the line “Stick around and you’ll suddenly see more” (a play on “Suddenly, Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors). Still, Marlow explains, the show’s goal isn’t to convey history with 100 percent accuracy. Instead, “It’s [asking], ‘What if Anne Boleyn was like this?’ And how does that change the way you think about this very famous historical figure?”

Six frames its story as a makeshift talent competition in which the wife whose life was most tragic “wins.” The rules are simple: “The queen who was dealt the worst hand … shall be the one to lead the band.” Each wife sings a solo summarizing her experiences, engaging in acerbic banter in between verses. (During these numbers, the other wives act as both backup singers and dancers; beyond the six solos, the 80-minute show features three group numbers.) Ultimately, the women decide to form a girl band instead, leaving the king out of the narrative and imagining an alternate future featuring far happier ends for all of them.

Historian Jessica Storoschuk, who has written about Six extensively on her blog, has found that in school and popular culture, the queens are usually only talked about in terms of their fate. “[Six] is this kind of ridiculous satire of [that],” she says. “It’s a really intelligent way to explore their experiences, or, I should say, one part of their experiences, because their downfalls are not all of their lives.”

Below, find a song-by-song (or wife-by-wife) breakdown of the true history behind Six. Click through the interactive tools to learn more about specific lyrics from the show.

The song: “No Way,” a Beyoncé- and JLo-inspired “girl boss feminism” anthem, says Moss

Though Catherine of Aragon’s marriage to Henry lasted 24 years—collectively, his five other marriages spanned just 14 years—she has long been overshadowed by her successors. The daughter of Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, Catherine came to England as the bride of Henry’s older brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales. But Arthur died shortly after the pair’s wedding, leading the Spanish princess to (eventually) marry his heir, Henry. 

By all accounts, the couple enjoyed a loving relationship that only deteriorated due to a lack of a male heir and the king’s infatuation with Anne Boleyn. In the late 1520s, Henry sought a divorce from his first wife, arguing that her previous relationship with Arthur was the reason for the couple’s lack of a surviving son. Determined to protect her daughter Mary’s rights, Catherine refused to concede.

Apple News readers, click here to view this interactive.

Six’s account of these events, “No Way,” takes its cue from a June 21, 1529, meeting at Blackfriars in London. After years of debate over the validity of the royal couple’s marriage, a papal court was conceived to address the king’s so-called Great Matter. Appealing directly to her husband, Catherine fell to her knees and delivered an impassioned monologue:

Intending (as I perceive) to put me from you, I take God and all the world to witness, that I have been to you a true and humble wife, ever conformable to your will and pleasure. … If there be any just cause by the law that ye can allege against me, either of dishonesty or any other impediment to banish and put me from you, I am well content to depart, to my great shame and dishonor; and if there be none, then here I most lowly beseech you let me remain in my former estate, and receive justice at your princely hand.

A 1544 portrait of the future Mary I, Henry and Catherine’s daughter

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Portrait believed to depict a young Catherine of Aragon

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

After uttering these words, Catherine left Blackfriars, ignoring the clerk’s calls for her to return. Without turning around, she declared, “On, on, it makes no matter, for it is no impartial court for me, therefore I will not tarry.” The queen was correct in her assessment: Henry had no intention of remaining in the marriage. Determined to wed Anne, he broke from the Catholic Church in order to make her his wife.

Catherine’s Six solo could’ve been a “super emotional [sad] ballad,” says Moss. Instead, she and Marlow chose to emphasize the queen’s defiance, emulating Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls)” and setting the tone for the rest of the musical.

The real Catherine followed through on her fictionalized counterpart’s pledge to remain “queen till the end of my life,” refusing to acknowledge her marriage’s annulment even on her deathbed in 1536. Catherine’s legacy, historian Julia Fox told Smithsonian magazine last year, “is that of a wronged woman … who did not accept defeat, who fought for what she believed to be right until the breath left her body.”

The song: “Don’t Lose Ur Head,” a “cheeky” number modeled on Lily Allen and Kate Nash, according to Moss

Arguably the most (in)famous of the six wives, Anne is alternatively portrayed as a scheming, power-hungry seductress; a victim of her callous father’s vaulting ambition; or a worldly, charismatic woman who rose to the kingdom’s highest office only to be targeted by jealous men.

A near-contemporary painting of Anne Boleyn

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

The truth of the matter depends on which scholar one asks. Most of Anne’s letters and papers were destroyed following her May 1536 execution on contrived charges of adultery, incest, witchcraft and conspiring to kill her husband, so much of what is known about her comes from outside observers, some of whom had reason to paint her in an unforgiving light. Even the queen’s date of birth, writes historian Antonia Fraser, is a fact “that can never be known with absolute certainty (like so much about Anne Boleyn).”

Anne’s song in Six, “Don’t Lose Ur Head,” draws its name from her method of execution: beheading by sword. Moss says she and Marlow view the number as a playful response to historians’ continued vilification of the queen as “calculating and manipulative”: “We were like, wouldn’t it be fun to mock [that trope] and make it that she was like ‘Well, I’m just living. I did this thing randomly, and now everything’s gone crazy.’”

Apple News readers, click here to view this interactive tool.

Though the tone of “Don’t Lose Ur Head” is intentionally more irreverent than the real queen, who Storoschuk says “was incredibly shrewd, very well educated, well read and well spoken,” the broad strokes of the song are historically accurate. Anne spent her teenage years in the courts of Margaret of Austria and Francis I of France, gaining a cosmopolitan worldview that helped her stand out in England. When she caught Henry’s eyes, she was a maid of honor in service of his first wife; rather than becoming Henry’s mistress, as her sister Mary had, Anne refused to sleep with the king until they were married. To wed Anne, Henry broke with the Catholic Church and established himself as head of the Church of England. Finally, the once-besotted king fell out of love in dramatic—and, for Anne, fatal—fashion just three years after their long-awaited marriage.

The song: “Heart of Stone,” a slow, Adele-like ballad

Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, has gone down in history as the “boring” one. According to Fraser, she was intelligent and “naturally sweet-natured,” with the “salient characteristics [of] virtue and common good sense.” Historian Alison Weir similarly describes Jane as “endowed with all the qualities then thought becoming in a wife: meekness, docility and quiet dignity.” 

Moss and Marlow tried to flesh out these descriptions by highlighting Jane’s political savvy. During her comparatively brief courtship with Henry, Jane drew on many of the same tactics used by Anne Boleyn, most notably by refusing to sleep with him until they were married. Presenting a submissive front may have been a tactic, says Moss. It’s also worth noting that Jane used her position to advance causes she cared about, including restoring her stepdaughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to their father’s favor and speaking out against the closure of England’s religious houses.

Apple News readers, click here to view this interactive.

On one occasion, Henry reportedly dismissed his new wife by advising her to “attend to other things, [for] the last queen had died in consequence of meddling too much in state affairs.” “Heart of Stone” acknowledges this risk, but Six’s version of Jane chooses to remain steadfast in her love of Henry and their son, the future Edward VI.

Following Jane’s death in childbirth in 1537, Henry memorialized her as “the fairest, the most discreet and the most meritorious of all his wives”—a distinction no doubt motivated by the fact that she’d given the king his only surviving male heir, writes Weir. (Edward took the throne “Six” reflects this enviable status by identifying Jane as “the only one he truly loved.” As she herself acknowledges in “Heart of Stone,” however, Henry’s affection is conditional on her ability to provide him with a son.

Henry chose to include Jane, rather than his then-wife, Catherine Parr, in this dynastic portrait. Painted around 1545, the work depicts Edward, Henry and Jane at its center and Mary and Elizabeth in the wings.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Speaking with Vulture last year, Moss said, “The idea was about the strength of choosing to love someone and committing to someone, and that being an equally valid feminist experience.” She added, “I love that [Jane] gets to say, ‘I wasn’t stupid, I wasn’t naïve.’”

The song: “Get Down,” a 16th-century take on the rap and hip-hop “trope of being popular and bragging about your Ferrari and your Grey Goose,” says Moss

Anne (or, as the musical calls her, Anna) of Cleves was, in some historians’ view, the most successful of Henry’s six queens. After just six months of marriage, she earned the king’s enduring affection by agreeing to an annulment. Then, she proceeded to outlive her former husband, not to mention the rest of his wives, by a decade. “[Anne] did get pushed to the side in a rather unceremonious way, but she had a pretty good life,” says Storoschuk. “She was given several properties. She gambled a lot. She got to go hunting, she had the best clothes and the best food. She was loved at court.”

A 1540s portrait of Anne of Cleves by Bartholomaeus Bruyn the Elder

St. John’s College, University of Oxford, via Art U.K. under CC BY-NC-ND

“Get Down” focuses on this victorious period in Anne’s life, celebrating her independence as a wealthy, unmarried woman at Tudor court. In line with the musical’s goal of reclaiming the narrative, the number also reframes the incident that led to Anne’s annulment. Henry, enchanted by a flattering Hans Holbein portrait of his bride-to-be, was reportedly repulsed by the “tall, big-boned and strong-featured” woman who arrived in England at the beginning of 1540. Declaring “I like her not! I like her not!” after their first meeting, the king only went through with the wedding to maintain diplomatic ties with Anne’s home, the German Duchy of Cleves, and other Protestant allies across the European continent.

After just six months of marriage, Henry, eager to replace his short-reigning queen with the young, vivacious Katherine Howard, had the union annulled on the grounds of non-consummation and Anne’s pre-contract with Francis, Duke of Lorraine. Anne, from then on known as the “king’s beloved sister,” spent the rest of her days in luxury.

Apple News readers, click here to view this interactive.

Moss studied history at Cambridge and says much of her schoolwork centered around early modern German visual culture. Six actually includes a standalone song, “Haus of Holbein,” that satirizes 16th-century beauty culture and Henry’s portrait-driven search for a fourth wife: “Hans Holbein goes around the world / Painting all of the beautiful girls / From Spain / To France / And Germany / The king chooses one / But which one will it be?”

Given Holbein’s reputation for accuracy and Henry’s own declining looks (at the time of the couple’s wedding, the king was 48 years old), Marlow and Moss chose to turn the tables, having Anne proclaim herself a fan of the much-vilified portrait. Further cementing Anne’s mastery of the situation, “Get Down”’s refrain finds the supposedly unattractive queen hanging up her likeness “for everyone to see.”

The song: “All You Wanna Do,” a catchy number modeled on the work of “young pop stars sexualized early on in their careers,” like Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and Ariana Grande, as Marlow told Vulture

For much of history, Henry’s fifth wife, Katherine Howard, has been dismissed as a wanton woman of little import. Writing in 1991, Weir described her as a “frivolous, empty-headed young girl who cared for little else but dancing and pretty clothes.” Fraser, meanwhile, wrote that “[h]ere was no intelligent adult woman, wise in the ways of the world—and of course courts.” More recent scholarship has taken a sympathetic view of the queen, with Gareth Russell’s 2017 book, Young and Damned and Fair, leading the conversation. As Russell argues, “[Katherine] was toppled by a combination of bad luck, poor decisions, and the Henrician state’s determination to punish those who failed its king.” 

Katherine’s Six solo, titled “All You Wanna Do,” echoes Russell’s characterization of its subject as a victim of circumstance and predatory older men. Though her exact birthdate is unknown, Katherine may have been as young as 17 when she was beheaded on charges of treasonous adultery in February 1542. Henry, comparatively, was 50 at the time of his disgraced wife’s execution.

Apple News readers, click here to view this interactive.

The king was far from the first man to sexualize Katherine. “All You Wanna Do” details the queen’s relationships in heart-wrenching detail, from a liaison with her music teacher, Henry Manox (the song suggests that he was 23 to Katherine’s 13, but as Storoschuk points out, he may have been closer to 33), to an affair with Francis Dereham, secretary to the dowager duchess, Katherine’s step-grandmother. When each new romance begins, the teenager declares herself hopeful that this time will be different. By the end of the song, however, she realizes that all of her suitors have the same goal in mind.

According to Moss, she and Marlow wanted Katherine’s song to start out with a “sexy, seductive” tone before transforming into a “narrative of abuse” with echoes of today’s #MeToo movement. Marlow adds, “It was kind of like us talking about what happened to one of the queens and finding a way of relating it to something that we would recognize as a modern female experience.”

Katherine’s “life was so tragic,” says Storoschuk. “She was so young, and she really had very little agency over her own life. ‘All You Wanna Do’ really encompasses that.”

The song: “I Don’t Need Your Love,” a soulful, Alicia Keys–inspired love song

Often reduced to the one-word summary of “survived” or the role of nursemaid to a succession of ailing husbands, Henry’s sixth wife, Catherine Parr, was actually a renowned scholar, religious reformer and perhaps even protofeminist. In Six, she takes ownership of these attributes, refusing to be defined by her romantic relationships and instead listing her manifold accomplishments: “Remember that I was a writer / I wrote books and psalms and meditations / Fought for female education / So all my women can independently study scripture / I even got a woman to paint my picture.”

Apple News readers, click here to view this interactive.

As the last of the six to take the stage, the fictionalized Catherine has dual obligations: namely, sharing her story and setting up a satisfying musical finale. “We needed one of the queens to be like ‘Wait, we shouldn’t be competing with each other. We should support each other,’” says Moss. “Fortunately, [Catherine’s role] as a writer, educator and advocate for women helped with that.” Encouraging the wives to take back the microphone, Catherine calls for them to assert themselves outside of their marriages to Henry. “It’s not what went down in history,” the six admit, “[b]ut tonight, I’m singing this for me.”

Catherine Parr’s fourth husband, Thomas Seymour

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

The real Catherine led a rich life beyond what’s captured in “I Don’t Need Your Love.” As alluded to by the song’s first verses, which find Catherine telling a lover that she has “no choice” but to marry the king, the twice-married young widow initially had another suitor in mind: Thomas Seymour, the dashing younger brother of Henry’s third wife, Jane. (The would-be couple wed soon after Henry’s death in 1547, but their marriage was tainted by Thomas’ improper conduct toward his new stepdaughter, the future Elizabeth I.)

Despite being forced into a relationship with Henry, Catherine made the most of her position, pushing her husband to embrace Protestantism and encouraging him to restore his daughters to the line of succession. She narrowly escaped an attempt by the court’s conservative faction to have her executed on charges of heresy, winning back Henry’s favor even after he’d signed a warrant for her arrest. Catherine died just a year after the king, succumbing to complications from childbirth in 1548.

Based on a True Story

British History

Elizabeth I

England

Henry VIII

Kings

Medieval Ages

Monarchs

Musical Theater

Pop culture

Queens

Theater

Tudors

#History

[hrhduchessoflancaster]

Chapter Seventy-Three: Getting Real

As they returned to their normal lives at the end of the week, Harry and Elle were entrusted with attending the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall on the thirteenth. On the day before the performance, a week after they had returned, the couple had yet another appointment with Dr. Yates, who had informed them that Elle was going to begin feeling the baby’s movements within the week. Needless to say, the parents-to-be where very excited about this and longed to feel their child’s movements as soon as possible. From then on, Elle had her hand constantly on her lower stomach, trying to feel the baby. She often massaged her belly and hoped it lured him or her to move or kick in any way she could feel.

Knowing it was all getting closer and closer to the baby’s arrival, Harry and Elle decided on finally putting together the nursery. They had ordered a few furnitures online and they had finally arrived,Harry, William and Ed being the laboured hands who put them together, while Elle, Kate and Valerie put together the colour schemes for the nursery. The couple had decided on pale yellow as the main element, with savannah animals on the walls and a bit of toys and wooden furniture to finish the decor.

It took two days to get everything in place but, as the room was set, the furniture put where she wanted and the decorations hang according to her plan, Elle was left alone to properly unpack the baby clothes she had gotten from her mum and a few new ones she had bought herself. She was idly humming a little lullaby when she felt a kick in her lower stomach. It surprised her and she instantly put her hand on the place she had felt it.

“ Nugget? Was that you baby?”, she whispered. A few seconds later, another kick followed and Elle giggled with joy.

“ Harry!”, she shouted. “ Harry, come quickly!”

In a instant, her husband came rushing through the door, face red and out of breath. “ What's wrong? What’s happening? Do we need to go to the hospital?”, he asked quickly, coming to her side at once.

“ No… no… it’s nothing like that. We’re fine. We’re more than fine actually.”, she replied and Harry let out a loud sigh.

“ What is it, then?”, he asked her. Elle extended her hand to him, which he took, and placed it on her stomach, where she had felt the previous kick.

“ Come on, Nugget. Show daddy what you did.”, Elle said. It took a while, but he felt it. A powerful kick, just to the right of where his palm was. He looked up at Elle’s face in awe and extreme joy. His entire face lit up, feeling his child kicking.

“ Nugget is kicking? That was really our baby kicking?”, he asked her in bewilderment. She nodded her head and they chuckled together, feeling yet another kick.

“ I think Nugget likes it when we laugh.”, said Elle and they chuckled even harder. Dropping on his knees, Harry pulled her blouse up, caressing her skin and kissing her lower stomach, as his wife hand her hands on his hair.

“ Daddy already loves you so much, Nugget. So, so much. Your mama, too. We both love you… and I love you both.”, he said, bringing tears to Elle’s eyes.

************

That evening, Harry and Elle arrive at the Royal Albert Hall to the flash of photographers and a few shouts from the crowd. At the entrance, they were greeted by Laurie Mansfield and Giles Cooper, the president of the Royal Variety charity and a chairman respectively. After posing for the photographers, the couple made their way to the Royal Box.

Upon arriving there, they stood together, side by side, as the national anthem was played and sung. Once it was over, they took their seat, with Daniel, Lisa and Ronald being them, followed by John, Leo and Ingrid.

“ Your Royal Highnesses, lords, ladies and gentleman, please welcome your host for this evening, Mr. Jack Whitehall.”, said the presenter.

“ Ah, ladies and gentleman, good evening and welcome to the Royal Variety Show two thousand and sixteen!”, said Jack Whitehall and the people applauded. “ And and extra special welcome to the royal couple making their debut tonight at the Royal Variety, Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex!”, he continued and the people roared in applauses. Harry and Elle smiled and nodded their heads, Harry shaking his in amusement.

“ I’m so excited to be here tonight, specially because I’m standing in front of one of my heroes. Prince Harry is genuinely one of my heroes.”, said Jack and Elle chuckled beside Harry, squeezing his arm gently.

“ Do we have any Prince Harry fans here this evening?”, the host asked and was met by a resounding cheer from the audience. “ I knew it! But ladies, ladies and some gentlemen, you must contain yourselves. His Royal Highness is a married man now. And a future daddy as well.”, said Jack and the audience cheered again, louder this time.

“ Yes, yes, congratulations Your Royal Highnesses! We’re thrilled to have another royal baby to stamp our windows with more royal baby merchandise.”, he continued and the audience laughed.

“ No, but truly, we’re are indeed very, very happy for you both, and I also would like to thank you, Your Royal Highnesses… on behalf of the ginger population.”, he said and the audience laughed even more. “ Yes! Since you’re both ginger, our future prince or princess is bound to be a ginger too. And might I say, what a beautiful shade of ginger hair you have, ma’am. I hope he or she get’s it from you.”, said Jack and Elle and Harry laughed hard, along with the audience.

“ Oh good, they’re laughing. Well, I think I might just get on with the show then. Your Royal Highnesses, lords, ladies and gentleman, please put your hands together for the biggest band in the planet, One Direction!”, he exclaimed introducing the band. Harry and Elle clapped and listened to the performance. After a few performances and a break, which Elle was immensely thankful for, Jack Whitehall introduced Josh Groban to Elle’s delight.

“ Oh I adore his songs! And his voice…ahh…”, Elle said to Harry who rolled his eyes and shook his head. Then, as he sang, she felt a small kick inside her belly. A smiled sprung to her face and she put her hand on her protuberant bump.

“ I think, Nugget likes his voice too.”, said Elle to Harry in a whisper, close to his ear. Harry turned his head and looked quizzically at her then, when he noticed where her left hand stood, his eyes widened. Elle nodded and he smiled. He looked at Elle in amazement and she took his hand and placed on the lower side of her abdomen. A few seconds later, another kick was felt. Harry and Elle looked at each other and smiled. Their baby was happy and moving and they couldn’t be more overjoyed by the little miracle they had created.

The host continued throughout the night, making jokes and introducing new bands, artists, comedians and performers, occasionally messing with the young royal couple. Finally, when the performance came to and end, with all performers and the host onstage, Elle and Harry stood from their seats and clapped along with the audience the amazing performance.

“ Oh what a fantastic evening it’s been! And now ladies and gentleman, if you please, give me three cheers for Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex!”, said Jack Whitehall which was followed by loud cheers from the audience. Harry and Elle smiled and waved at them, nodding their heads in thanks.

Then, the couple makes their way the stage to meet the performers. They were introduced to One Direction, Rick Martin, Little Mix, the Corrs, comedians, cast members from two musicals, who all gave Elle and Harry congratulations for the baby. Then they were introduced to Josh Groban, giving Elle a bit of a fangirl moment.

“ It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Groban.”, said Harry shaking the man’s hand.

“ Oh it’s a honour to meet you both, Your Royal Highnesses.”, said Josh Groan shaking Elle’s hand.

“ My wife is a big fan of yours!”, he continued and Elle chuckled. Josh Groan turned his head to Elle with a charming smile plastered on his face.

“ It’s true. And it seems this little one is already a fan too.”, said Elle touching her belly. “ Little Nugget couldn’t stop moving while you sang.”, she continued and both men laughed.

“ Well I’m glad to have such important and wonderful fans.”, replied Josh Groban. Then, Elle and Harry finally reached Jack Whitehall.

“ Thank you for tonight, Mr. Whitehall.”, said Elle greeting him with a handshake.

“ The pleasure was all mine, Your Royal Highness. And forgive me if any of my jokes offended you.”, he said smirking.

“ Oh no… it was fine…”, Elle replied chuckling. “ They were funny. And I’m not speaking only for myself. I’m sure my husband felt very entertained as well.”

“ Well… that’s a relief!”, said Jack, sighing. Harry then came to her side and shook hands with the presenter.

“ Thank you, Jack. That was a very nice show.”, said Harry smiling. “ But, if I’m honest, I think the king of banter here it is you not I.”, joked Harry and the trio chuckled.

“ One can only hope to achieve your standards, sir.”, joked Jack and they chuckled once again. Feeling another kick, Elle smiled and put a hand on her bump.

“ Oh my… this one is a kicker!”, she said and they men turned to look at her, smiling.

“ Maybe there’s a footballer or rugby player in there, ma’am.”, said Jack smiling.

“ Oh who knows? All I know is that he or she has a very powerful pair of little legs.”, said Elle chuckling.

************

Over the next week, Elle and Harry had arranged and rearranged the baby’s room hundreds of times, always adding a little something to it. First, there were gifts from Rick and Mary; George’s and Charlotte’s rend-me-downs from William and Kate; Ed then decided to buy a super fancy, over the top stroller for the baby because, in his words, he was going to be the best uncle this child could ever had and he was determined to beat William for that title.

Then, Melissa had come for a visit with her husband and the children, and brought a notebook, full of pro-parenting tips she had compiled for her and Harry. “ Trust me, you’re gonna need those.”, she had said to them.

Finally, Elle had decided she need more books on the nursery because she was adamant Nugget would have as many age appropriate books as he or she possibly could. She stocked on the classics, which had been her own, as well as putting in the shelves a few new ones she’s gotten from Trevor, who had been such a sweetheart when he came for tea. “ If this baby is going to be half the book worm you are, he or she needs to begin well and start their reading ASAP.”, he had said to her.

All in all, the nursery had become a very good mix of her and Harry. Their likes and personalities were combined in the room, just like their child was going to be. Speaking of which, Elle had finally began with her cravings. She didn’t think she was going to have them, but boy, was she wrong. Georgiana had warned them and assured the couple it was perfectly normal and advised she’d get a nutritionist to keep her diet well balanced.

Following the doctor’s recommendations, Elle stuck with her programme but occasionally got a little off the books. From salty popcorn with chocolate syrup to watermelon juice and chewing on ice, Elle was obsessing over very different things in a matter of few days.

Harry thought it was all very amusing and, most of the time, joined her on her crazy preferences. As they neared December and the weather got colder, Elle had began craving hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows and traditional Welsh cakes. But mostly, Welsh cakes.

“ They’re just so good! The spongy texture, the raisins and sultanas… the perfect combination of spices… heaven on every bite.”, said Elle dreamingly, as she took a another bite of her Welsh cake. The Cambridges, who were currently having breakfast with them, chuckled as they watched the pregnant woman eat.

“ I’ll take your word for it, sister.”, said William grinning.

“ Oh you should try it! Here, take some!”, said Elle excitedly, pushing a Welsh cake unto his plate. He eyed the round, sightly burnt, sugar covered bun and raised his eyebrows.

“ Elle, darling, you know I can’t eat things with cloves in them, right?”, said William. Elle’s face went blank and she opened her eyes wide.

“ Oh my goodness! I had completely forgotten about your allergy! I could have killed you! I’m so so so sorry!”, said Elle, starting to panic. Seeing her stress level was raising, Harry who was sat beside her, took her hand into his and squeeze it gently.

“ Love? Look at me, please.”, he said and she turned her face towards him.

“ Deep breaths… that’s it…”, he coached her and she slowed down. “ Better?”, he asked her and Elle nodded her head.

“ Thank you, my darling. I’m sorry Will. I’m just a little over the edge. I have so much on mind, the baby’s been kicking me constantly and I haven’t been sleeping that well, so the stress level are a tad high.”, she confessed.

“ Don’t worry. I know how it gets. Kate was like that as well, right poppet?”, said William.

“ I was… Charlotte was quite the kicker. George, not as much, but I still found it bothersome at times.”, said Kate, sympathetic.

“ You know what helped calming them down whenever they went on a kicking spree?”, said Kate and Elle waited patiently for her to answer.

“ Singing to them. Or reading. Listening to the sound of your voice can really calm them down. Harry can help on that part too.”, said Kate. “ William would often read out loud to my stomach. I know it seems a little crazy but it helps.”

“ I’ll try it. Heavens now I’ve tried a lot of things this week.”, she replied.

************

That night, as they prepared to lay side by side in bed, each other’s hands placed upon her growing stomach, Harry and Elle took turns into reading to their little Nugget. They had decided on Winnie the Pooh, one of their favourites growing up. On Harry's turn, Elle rested her head on his shoulder and quietly listened as he spoke, barely louder than a whisper, to their child.

“ How do you spell love?, asked Piglet. You don’t spell it…you feel it., replied Pooh”, Harry read it. He was about to continue when he noticed his wife was passed out on his shoulder, breathing evenly and looked so peaceful, he didn’t even want to move his head. Smiling, he closed the book and put it on the nightstand, taking great care not to wake Elle up.

“ You’ve finally let your mama sleep, hun?”, whispered Harry.

“ You know, she’s been feeling very stressed lately and I know she puts on a brave face for us but she’s a little worried. Why, you ask? Because there’s a very bad group of people trying to hurt us and, although mummy says she’s confident the police will catch them, I can see in her eyes how it’s getting to her.”, he continued.

“ But I won’t let anything happen to you or her.  She’s been through so much and she’s been so brave. Your mama is an incredible woman. And you should never forget that. She’s a heroine, even when she can’t see it herself.”, Harry whispered, gently caressing Elle’s cheek.

“ So, my little Nugget, let’s give her a prove rest and let her sleep more. Try not to kick her as much, alright?”, he told his child, as he watched his wife sleep. Smiling, her pulled her to his chest and covered them both with the fluffy duvet. Turning off the lights, Harry sighed happily as he felt Elle snuggle closer to him, while his arms held her closer to him. This is precisely where he was meant to be.

***********

“ We should really start thinking about names”, said Elle one morning as they were chilling in front of the telly, Sir Lancelot snoozing on her side. The puppy had taken to lick her stomach from time to time and both Harry and Elle thought it was adorable.

“ Yeah… I was thinking the same. How about we make a list with girls, boys and neutral names and then we can discuss it?”, suggested Harry. Chuckling, Elle reached for her phone on the coffee table.

“ As always, I’m way ahead of you, darling.”, said Elle grinning. She popped open her notes and showed him the list of baby names she had compiled.

“ Alright… that works too.”, said Harry, smiling. “ Tell me the name you have there and we can decide on favourites. Sounds good?”

“ Absolutely!”, she replied excitedly. “ Are you ready? Because remember, we have to pick at least three names for the baby. You know how your father was very insistent on that.”, reminded Elle.

_______Flashback

It was a snowy afternoon when Elle and Harry arrived at Clarence House for lunch. Charles and Camilla had insisted they had not seen enough of them lately and wanted updates on their and the baby’s lives.

“ Hello you two! How’s everything? How are you and the baby?”, asked Camilla, as they stepped into the familiar hall.

“ Very well, thank you. We’re all doing very well.”, replied Elle, smiling. Her baby bump was becoming more noticeable every week and Camilla noticed that. Harry smiled and placed his hand on her waist. Just as he was about to ask about his father, Charles came strolling down the hall, a huge smile on his face.

“ Harry! Eleanor! How wonderful to see you both!”, he said, happily greeting them with hugs and kisses.

“ You look incredible, my dear. Positively glowing, doesn’t she, darling?”, said Charles, turning to Camilla, who nodded her head.

“ And you, my boy? How’s your imminent fatherhood treating you?”, he asked in a joking mood.

“ I’m good… still grasping the idea that in a few months I’ll be holding my child in my arms, but all good. I can’t wait for it, actually.”, said Harry, smiling at him.

“ Ah… children are indeed a blessing.”, said Charles. “ I remember when you were born. Quite a pack of lungs you had there…”, he joked.

“ Let’s hope Nugget isn’t as loud.”, said Elle chuckling.

“ Nugget?”, asked Camilla.

“ Oh… it’s what we’ve been calling the baby, instead of he or she. We don’t want to know the sex so we figured a nickname would be better.”, explained Elle and Camilla nodded her head, understandingly.

“ We’ll we can talk more about the baby in a minute. But first, let’s get to the dinning room, shall we?”, said Charles. “ Vanessa has prepared your favourite, Harry.”

After lunch, they gathered at the Drawing Room for some tea. Elle begrudgingly had herbal while eyeing Harry’s English Breakfast. The jam was strawberry flavoured, one of her favourites, so it helped with the temptation.

“ So, tell us, have you began thinking on names?”, asked Camilla.

“ Oh… not yet. It’s a bit early days, don’y you think?”, said Elle.

“ Nonsense, my dear! When Diana was expecting William, we had name selections pilled up from the moment we knew.”, said Charles.

“ Well… we don’t want to rush, pa. There’s no need for that. We still have plenty of time to thin about it.”, said Harry, stepping in. His hand found Elle’s and he gave her a squeeze.

“ Of course, of course. There’s no need to get defensive. But you must start soon. And there’s a tradition to be followed, you know. At least three names. And they ought to be family staples like Charles, George, Elizabeth, Alexandra and so on. It’s tradition and nor I note your grandparents will expect less than that.”, said Charles. Noticing both Elle and Harry were getting a little irritated, Camilla decided to change the subject.

“ And how are you settling in, dear? With your marriage and so soon having a baby…”, she asked kindly.

“ It’s all been very smooth, I must say. Smoother than I thought it would be. Of course I also have Harry and a wonderful support team.”, replied Elle.

“ That’s good to hear.”, said Camilla. “ And patronages? Have you started with any yet?”, she asked.

“ I visited Historic Royal Palaces. I became a patron as soon as I got married and I though it was a good place to start. I’ve known them for years and trust the people who run it.”, said Elle.

“ Fantastic choice, I must say.”, said Charles. “ I believe we should improve and preserve history and our nation’s memory as much as we can, don’t you agree, Eleanor?”, he asked her.

“ Absolutely! It’s one of my causes as a patron. I’ve stablished a few other patronages and organizations that work with history, in many different levels. For example, I’ve decided to become a patron of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Brighton Youth Choir because they both preserve our cultural history though their craft. And that’s part of what being a historian is to me.”, said Elle and the people around her smiled at her commitment and passion.

“ I believe you’ll do incredibly well with your patronages, my dear.”, said Charles, squeezing her hand.

________ End of Flashback

“ So, here’s what I’ve got. Say yes or no, alright? Boys names first.”, said Elle and Harry nodded his head.

“ Anthony.”

“ Yes.”, replied Harry.

“ Oliver”, she asked.

“ No”, he said.

“Thomas”

“ Yes.”

“James”

“ Yes.”

“Alexander”

“ No”

“ Luke”

“ No”

“ Frederick”

“Yes”

“Arthur”

“ Yes, though it’s in my brother’s name. I don’t know how I feel about that.”, said Harry.

“ It’s also in your father’s name, so chill.”, replied Elle.

“Theo.”

“ No”

“David”

“ Kinda, yeah… I have it on my name.”, said Harry

“ I know, that’s why I put it in there. Speaking of which, do you think we should consider Henry? As a middle name I mean?”, Elle asked.

“ I don’t think so… it’s too narcissistic.”, replied Harry.

“ Alright. Next one, Owen.”

“ Yes.”

“ Jasper”

“ No.”

“ Alright then. That were the boys names. The one we both like are: Anthony, Thomas, James, Frederick, Arthur, David and Owen.”, said Elle smiling.

“ Those are good names.”, said Harry.

“ They are, right? We just have to decided which one we’re gonna use and which is going to be a possible first name.”, said Elle.

“ Yeah… that’s gonna be hard…”, said Harry and Elle nodded her head agreeing.

“ But we can think about that later. Now, girls names.”, said Elle.

“ Hit me.”, said Harry.

“ Sophia.”, said Elle

“ Yes.”

“ Alice”

“Yes”

“Emma”

“ No”

“ Amelie”

“No”

“ Victoria”

“ Yes”

“ Mary”

“ Yeah... kinda.”

“Lucy”

“No”

“ Elizabeth”

“ Yes… but only if we give her a nickname because otherwise it’ll be confusing.”, said Harry and Elle chuckled, nodding her head.

“ Louisa”

“Yes”

“ Alexandra. That’s my middle name in case you're wondering.”, said Elle.

“ Yes, and I knew that.”, replied Harry.

“ Frances, for your mother and grandmother”

“ Yes. Absolutely yes.”

“ Margaret”

“No, too heavy for a little girl. And too emotional for granny.”, said Harry.

“ Sarah, for you godmother?”, asked Elle.

“ Maybe… but I don’t really fancy the name. Too biblical.”, said Harry.

“ Okay then. We have come up with: Sophia, Alice, Victoria, Mary, Elizabeth, Louisa, Alexandra and Frances.”, said Elle smiling.

“ Now we only have decide what to do with them.”, said Harry.

“ We’ll mix and match and see what combinations we like, then we choose, ok?”, asked Elle.

“ Perfect by me.”, replied Harry, kissing her cheek. “ And we don’t need to please my father, you know that, right?”, he said.

“ I know… my I like traditions. They are part of your family’s history. It would be nice to give at least one of Nugget’s name a historical baggage for me to brag about you know?”, said Elle and Harry chuckled.

“ Ahh thank God I married you. Who else would give me a speech on ‘historical baggage’ ?”, he joked. Punching his shoulder she smiled, and looked down at her baby bump.

“ Don’t listen to you father making fun of your mother, Nugget. You’ll be proud and happy with the name we’ll give you. Because it will be full of history and sentiment behind it.”, said Elle, caressing her lower stomach.

[theresabookforthat]

Friday Reads: Royal Wedding!

Will you be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle? Coverage begins as early as 4:00 am (Pacific Time), Saturday, May 19th. The couple will say “I do” at St. George’s Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle, where Prince Harry was christened. An estimated 600 guests are invited to the wedding, which takes place at noon British Summer Time. It’s been a media frenzy speculating on who will walk Markle down the aisle given that her father will not be able to attend due to his heart issues. She has asked her father-in-law Price Charles to do the honor as of this post. The bride’s bouquet will include her favorite flowers: white garden roses, foxgloves and peonies. It was also announced that the royal couple will have a lemon elderflower cake. To further indulge your interest in the occasion, we invite you to a tasting of titles on the subject of royals, past and present:  

 ROYAL WEDDING: HARRY & MEGHAN PAPER DOLLS  (Random House)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are the ultimate fairy tale for our times—bring the romance to life with these commemorative paper dolls! The perfect gift for royal lovers young and old!

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are set to marry at Windsor Castle in May 2018. With these paper dolls, you can cut them out and dress them up in their engagement outfits, the camping outfits they might have worn while hanging out in Botswana, what they might wear to a glamorous Hollywood party, the unicorn onesies we’re sure they wear at home in their cottage, and, of course, what they might wear on the big wedding day itself! Mix and match their outfits as you learn more about their whirlwind romance!

 NOTORIOUS ROYAL MARRIAGES: A JUICY JOURNEY THROUGH NINE CENTURIES OF DYNASTY, DESTINY, AND DESIRE by Leslie Carroll

“An irresistible combination of People magazine and the History Channel.”—Chicago Tribune

From the author of American Princess: The Love Story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry comes a funny and delightful history of the royal weddings and marriages of Europe’s most famous—and infamous—monarchs.

 QUEEN ELIZABETH II AND THE ROYAL FAMILY: A GLORIOUS ILLUSTRATED HISTORY by DK Publishing

Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family is a magnificent tribute to the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II and a celebration of the British royal family. Highly illustrated with photographs and timelines throughout, Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family tells the story of the House of Windsor, and includes events such as the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton and profiles on key people such as Princess Diana and Prince Harry.

 INGLORIOUS ROYAL MARRIAGES: A DEMI-MILLENNIUM OF UNHOLY MISMATRIMONY by Leslie Carroll

It’s no secret that the marriages of monarchs are often made in hell. Here are some of the most spectacular mismatches in five hundred years of royal history…. Brimming with outrageous real-life stories of royal marriages gone wrong, this is an entertaining, unforgettable book of dubious matches doomed from the start.

 THE DIANA CHRONICLES by Tina Brown

Years after her death, Princess Diana remains a mystery. Was she “the people’s princess,” who electrified the world with her beauty and humanitarian missions? Or was she a manipulative, media-savvy neurotic who nearly brought down the monarchy? Only Tina Brown, former Editor-in-Chief of Tatler, England’s glossiest gossip magazine; Vanity Fair; and The New Yorker could possibly give us the truth. Tina knew Diana personally and has far-reaching insight into the royals and the Queen herself.

 THE REGAL RULES FOR GIRLS: HOW TO FIND LOVE, A LIFE –AND MAYBE EVEN A LORD — IN LONDON by Jerramy Fine

Do you dream of moving to England, falling in love with a handsome British nobleman, and living happily ever after in his ancestral castle? Time to stop dreaming and make that dream come true!

With essential English etiquette, the do’s and don’ts of the British “Season,” advice about UK immigration, hilarious yet very real parables and lists of the best clubs, pubs, and sporting events to meet eligible Englishmen, this glamorous, must-have manual is required reading for any girl that wants to cross the pond in style.

 ROYALS by Rachel Hawkins

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins brings her signature humor, love of Americana, and flair for romance to this page-turning Princess Diaries turned-upside-down story for young adults. Meet Daisy Winters. She’s an offbeat sixteen-year-old Floridian with mermaid-red hair; a part time job at a bootleg Walmart, and a perfect older sister who’s nearly engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland. Daisy has no desire to live in the spotlight, but relentless tabloid attention forces her join Ellie at the relative seclusion of the castle across the pond.

For more on these and other outstanding children’s titles visit Royals

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Prince William “split his household from Prince Harry after Meghan bullying claims”

June 19, 2021

Allegations against the Duchess of Sussex led to a bitter row between brothers who were once inseparable, says the author Robert Lacey in this extract in The Times from his book Battle of Brothers.

“So, are you saying,” asked Oprah Winfrey, talking to Meghan and Harry in their famous interview of March 2021, “that there were hints of jealousy?”

She was inquiring about the Sussexes’s wildly successful tour of Australia and the South Pacific of late October 2018, and the couple shifted uncomfortably in their plush wicker chairs.

“Look,” replied Harry, “I just wish that we would all learn from the past.”

By bringing up “the past”, the prince was venturing into an area that was almost taboo. He was making a sensational comparison between his mother and his wife. Harry was suggesting that Meghan had demonstrated in Australia the same massive star quality as Diana and was now having to face the family envy that went along with that.

“It really changed,” he said, “after the Australia tour, after our South Pacific tour . . . it was . . . the first time that the family got to see how incredible she is at the job. And that brought back memories.”

Memories of what? Again Harry shied away from putting words to the almost unmentionable. But Oprah had prepared and polished this moment, like so many others in the interview, and she had a reference ready to prompt her prince’s revelation. The latest, fourth season of TV’s The Crown had depicted Charles and Diana’s 1983 tour of Australia, showing how Diana had been “bedazzling” in her ability “to connect with people”. Episode six had depicted how the crowds would groan when they realised that Charles, not Diana, was walking down their side of the street — hence the beginnings of the “jealousy” on the family’s part.

“So is that what you’re talking about?” asked Oprah. “It brought back memories of that?”

Harry and Meghan spoke to Oprah Winfrey in an interview broadcast in March this year.

“Yeah,” Harry finally replied in a fashion that was both dismal and unmistakably aggressive.

What on earth had happened, viewers had to wonder, to the old and once-familiar happy side of Prince Harry?

When trying to define the moment that marked the decisive rift with his brother William — the break-up and actual separation of the joint household they had established together in 2009 — Harry would fix upon his triumphant return with Meghan from their Australian tour at the end of October 2018. But if asked the same question, William would have fixed on a more specific event: the explosive argument he had had with his brother earlier that month.

Both brothers agreed how bitterly they had clashed back in the early days over William’s attempt to slow Harry’s courtship of Meghan — “Don’t feel like you need to rush this . . . ” But both of them had subsequently moved on. Harry’s transparent contentment with Meghan had relaxed the tensions, give or take the odd row over bridesmaids’ dresses. The “no speaks” had eased just a little by the time “best man” William escorted his brother down the aisle in May 2018.

Then five months later came the conclusive and determining rupture — the division that has lasted to the present day — though here the brothers’ retelling of history diverged. As Harry explained it to Oprah, Meghan’s Australian tour success sowed the jealousies that caused feelings to “change”. According to this scenario, William and Kate resented the Diana-like popularity that was generated by Harry’s wife. William had a different recollection.

We now know that Princes William and Harry were no longer on speaking terms before the Sussexes set off for Australia. Feelings had already “changed”, as Harry put it, and drastically so. The brothers had parted on extremely poor terms, with the trouble centring on Meghan’s stringent treatment and alleged bullying of her staff.

Most Kensington Palace courtiers were noted for the comparatively long tenures of their comfortable and prestigious jobs. But it came to look as if employees could not wait to escape service with Harry and Meghan. Those who left formed themselves into an informal fraternity that they titled the “Sussex Survivors’ Club”. They had finally hit back, and their organising agent had been PR man Jason Knauf.

The joint communications secretary for Kensington Palace — who was still, at that date, working on behalf of both of the brothers and their wives — had become concerned by the numerous stories of mistreatment being brought to him by colleagues whom he knew well and trusted.

Texas-born and New Zealand-educated, Knauf, 34, was a popular character in Kensington Palace, widely noted for his friendliness and loyalty towards his colleagues. He had been considered a real “catch” when the brothers snared him from the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2015, and one of his concerns was that professional management practices should be more effectively enforced inside the traditional British palace.

Knauf’s American sensibilities caused him to see the Meghan situation as raising principles of human resources management in the palace system that needed to be formally addressed.

Knauf’s first priority was to set down the facts, as he saw them, for the record: “I’m very concerned,” he emailed to William’s private secretary Simon Case, in a document he drafted in October 2018, “that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year.”

Knauf described Meghan’s treatment of one aide as “totally unacceptable . . . the duchess seems intent”, he wrote, “on always having someone in her sights”. Specifying another staff member, Knauf alleged Meghan had been bullying her as well, “seeking to undermine her confidence”. His office had received “report after report”, he wrote, from people who had witnessed “unacceptable behaviour” by Meghan towards this member of staff.

“Meghan governed by fear,” claimed one courtier. “So many people said it. Nothing was ever good enough for her. [She] humiliated staff in meetings, [would] shout at them, [would] cut them off email chains — and then demand to know why they hadn’t done anything.”

As early as 2017, around the time of the couple’s engagement, according to a subsequent report in The Times, a senior aide had spoken to the couple about the difficulties caused by their treatment of staff. “It’s not my job to coddle people,” Meghan was said to have replied.

“Americans can be much more direct,” wrote the authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand in defence of the duchess, “and that often doesn’t sit well in the much more refined institution of the monarchy.”

A Brit might have raised an eyebrow at Meghan’s alleged behaviour, then looked the other way. The Yank decided to act. Knauf was actually one of Meghan’s most senior advisers — her chief adviser, in fact, when it came to public relations. Earlier that year she had gone to Knauf for help when drafting the disputed letter of severance that she sent to her father. She valued his PR expertise.

Before that, Knauf had helped Harry to word the fierce anti-media statements that he had framed to try to protect Meghan from press harassment, both as his girlfriend and then as his fiancée. The PR man had taken considerable stick from some of his non-royal contacts who criticised him as being overprotective in fighting the newcomer’s corner. Like so many people in all the palaces, Knauf had started off on Meghan’s side.

But as the months went by the American’s feelings became more ambiguous, as numerous colleagues — women whom he greatly respected — continued to bring him stories of what they said they had suffered at Meghan’s hands.

“I can’t stop shaking,” one aide had told a colleague in anticipation of an encounter with Meghan. Another reported that the prospect of confrontation with the duchess had made her “feel sick”. “Emotional cruelty and manipulation”, were the words of a third, “which I guess could also be called bullying.”

The b-word featured prominently in the accounts of several, along with an even more sinister set of initials: PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder was a deeply serious condition to allege — flashbacks, nightmares and feelings of deep anxiety — but that was how one complainant said that they had felt.

Several people maintained they had been “humiliated” by the duchess, and that criticism extended to Harry as well.

“I overheard a conversation between Harry and one of his top aides,” recalled one Kensington Palace courtier. “Harry was screaming and screaming down the phone. Team Sussex was a really toxic environment. People shouting and screaming in each other’s faces.”

Shouting and screaming? PTSD? Making people feel sick? Prince William went ballistic when he heard the “dossier of distress” that Knauf had gathered. We do not know whether the communications secretary brought his allegations directly to his boss or submitted them via Simon Case. What we do know is that the prince was astonished and horrified. He was instantly furious at what he heard.

“I remember Christian Jones [William’s press secretary and later private secretary] explaining to me how the Cams [the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge] are paternalistic with their staff,” recalls one royal correspondent. “They copy the Queen in that respect with all her Christmas parties and Christmas presents to her people. They’re proud to treat their staff like family. They recognise that they don’t get paid loads of money, so they are just really nice to them. So this was a very deep clash of philosophies, with Meghan being used to a Hollywood service culture — getting exactly what she wanted whenever she wanted in that famous way that Harry said.”

William personally knew and liked all the individuals whom Knauf had named in his dossier. The prince regarded them as assets to his household — colleagues to be cherished and for whom he was responsible. Human beings. Like Knauf, the prince was appalled that his respected staff may have been put in this position.

For William, Knauf’s allegations also clarified something that the prince had long believed — that Meghan was fundamentally hostile towards the royal system, which she failed to understand as an outsider. William wondered if she had not wanted to leave from the very start — even dreaming, perhaps, that she could whisk Harry back with her to North America.

But Meghan’s lawyers and PR representatives said this was quite the wrong interpretation of their client’s thinking and behaviour in a statement that they issued to The Times early in March 2021. They denied all allegations of bullying as inaccurate and the product of what they described as a “smear campaign”. The duchess wished to fit in and be accepted, they insisted. She had left her life in North America to commit herself to her new role.

I have never met Jason Knauf. What you have just read is based upon the published accusations that Knauf set down on paper — refuted as “defamatory”, it must be stressed again, and “based on misleading and harmful information” in the view of the Duchess of Sussex’s lawyers. It also relies upon William’s personal account of these events to one of his friends who then spoke to this author.

The moment the prince heard the bullying allegations, he related to this friend, he got straight on the phone to talk to Harry — and when Harry flared up in furious defence of his wife, the elder brother persisted. Harry shut off his phone angrily, so William went to speak to him personally. The prince was horrified by what he had just been told about Meghan’s alleged behaviour, and he wanted to hear what Harry had to say.

The showdown between the two siblings was fierce and bitter. William’s pre-engagement questioning of Meghan’s suitability had been quite reasonable, in William’s opinion. His fraternal doubts had been provisional, based upon how the new recruit appeared to be. The elder brother did not really know Meghan in those early days.

But now William had seen enough of his sister-in-law to feel sure that, sadly, he did know her and that many of his reservations linked unhappily with what Knauf’s colleagues had alleged. William believed Meghan was following a plan — “agenda” was the word he used to his friend — and the accusations he had just heard were alarming. Kate, he said, had been wary of her from the start.

Meghan was undermining some precious principles of the monarchy, if she really was treating her staff in this way, and William was upset that she seemed to be stealing his beloved brother away from him. Later courtiers would coin a hashtag — #freeHarry. It was only half a joke.

“Meghan portrayed herself as the victim,” recalled one Kensington Palace staffer, “but she was the bully. People felt run over by her. They didn’t know how to handle this woman. They thought she was a complete narcissist and sociopath — basically unhinged. Which was why the pair of them were drawn to each other in the first place — both damaged goods.”

William felt deeply wounded. “Hurt” and “betrayed” were the two feelings that he described to his friend. The elder brother had always felt so protective. He had seen it as his job to look out for Harry but this was the moment the protection had to stop. At the end of the day the British crown and all it stood for with its ancient traditions, styles and values — the mission of the monarchy — had to matter more to William than his brother did.

Harry, for his part, was equally furious that William should give credence to the accusations against Meghan, and he was fiercely combative in his wife’s defence. Some sources maintain that in the heat of the argument Harry actually accused someone in the family of concepts that were “racist”. But it must be stressed that neither brother has ever confirmed that the hateful r-word was used face to face.

Only William and Harry can know what they said to each other and they have respectfully maintained their silence on that. But Harry made clear to the world in his interview with Oprah that he considered his family’s response to Meghan to have been essentially racist — using the heavily freighted code words “unconscious bias” to provide an intellectual framework for his analysis.

Where could the two brothers go after such painful and damning notions had been thrown into their debate?

Harry and Meghan appeared to be the ones who visibly departed after the row.

William, for his part, felt just as strongly about Meghan and the need for her subversive “agenda” to be removed from the operations of the British monarchy, which she did not appear to understand or respect. He certainly wanted Meghan removed, for a start, from the hitherto harmonious joint household that he and his brother had operated together for the best part of a decade. William simply did not want her or Harry around any more.

When accounts of the rift started seeping out through the winter months that followed, it was generally assumed that the volatile Harry must have set the pace in the splitting up of the joint Kensington Palace household. He was the brother who visibly departed, stalking off to set up a new home in Windsor, with offices for himself and Meghan in Buckingham Palace.

But the reverse was the case. It was William who made the decisive move. Following his furious confrontation with his younger brother in the autumn of 2018, the prince instructed Simon Case to start the process of dividing their two households immediately. William wished to be separated from Meghan on a day-to-day basis — and that meant being separated from his brother as well.

“William,” says a friend, “threw Harry out.”

©Robert Lacey 2021 Extracted from Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult by Robert Lacey, to be published by William Collins on June 24 at £9.99.

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New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/08/kate-middletons-nickname-branded-pathetic-by-furious-tom-bradby/

Kate Middleton's nickname branded 'pathetic' by furious Tom Bradby

Kate, Duchess of Cambridge met Prince William while she was a student at the University of St Andrews, in 2001. The following year, they moved into a student house with two other friends and, by Christmas 2003, romance reportedly blossomed when Kate split from her previous boyfriend. Their relationship became public after they were pictured skiing in Klosters together and, in June 2005, the Prince and his girlfriend looked very much in love on the day of their graduation ceremony.

However, it was not until 2010 that the Duke of Cambridge decided to propose, after dating Kate for almost seven years.

In the years leading up to her engagement, the Duchess was dubbed “Waity Katie” as it was claimed she was simply waiting for William to get down on one knee.

After the two finally sat down with ITV journalist and friend Tom Bradby to announce their engagement in 2010, the famous newsreader produced a vivid behind-the-scenes account of the interview.

In his Daily Mail column, the journalist appeared to be furious about the treatment Kate received by the press.

In particular, he harshly criticised the “pathetic” nickname she had earned.

He wrote: “As the interview wore on, I did find myself thinking about all the things that have been said about them – and about Kate in particular – over the long vacuum of the past eight years.

“Here sat a couple who know that they can never, ever divorce and who have responded to this by taking an incredibly long, hard and very, very thoughtful look at the question of marriage.

“And how did a lot of us respond?

“By dubbing her Waity Katie. Kind of pathetic, isn’t it?”

He added: “I thought of my wife Claudia, who collaborated with Kate on a series of jewellery pieces at Junior Jigsaw (Claudia is a designer) and reached a pretty firm conclusion in that period: ‘She’s a diamond; kind, loyal, decent, very beautiful. The Royal Family is exceptionally lucky to have her.’

“And I thought of the Middleton parents, so often maligned for having the temerity to be successful in business and produce a happy, stable family.

“Honestly, I wonder what’s wrong with us sometimes.”

In his column, Mr Bradby also shared a glimpse of his good relationship with the future king.

He wrote: “William and I first met almost a decade ago.

“We went out to lunch, did some filming together and slowly built up a good relationship, friendship even, based on a substantial degree of mutual trust.”

JUST IN: Piers congratulated Harry on being ‘only real royal out there!’

Eleven years later, though, that substantial degree of mutual trust seems to have faded.

Earlier this week, an insider claimed William ended his long friendship with the journalist because of “the way he’s acted” over the Meghan Markle and Prince Harry fallout.

A senior source revealed that while the Duke of Sussex still speaks to him regularly, William does not and their relationship is “very much over”.

They told the Daily Mail: “The Duke feels let down by Bradby and the way he’s acted over the past few months.

“William is a sensitive soul and believes it’s in times of crisis when you find out who your true friends are.

“It would be fair to say Bradby hasn’t been one of them.”

Most famously, Mr Bradby joined Meghan and Harry for their tour of southern Africa and filmed a behind-the-scenes documentary.

In the programme, Meghan revealed that nobody had asked her if she was okay, while admitting that she wasn’t.

DON’T MISS: Piers Morgan admitted Harry would make better king than William [INSIGHT] Prince William ‘probably caused nightmares’ for UK diplomats  [REVEALED] Australia may have referendum on monarchy when Charles is King  [EXCLUSIVE]

Harry also used the documentary to confirm a rift between him and his older brother, saying they were on “very different paths”.

The source also insisted that Palace staff are angry at Mr Bradby and the “tone of his reporting”, which they believe is in favour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

They said: “It’s well-known Bradby personally communicates with Harry on a regular basis and that is pretty obvious to royal aides who know how things work.

“But it’s been very difficult to accept given the long history between Bradby and William.”

Last month, the Duchess of Sussex spoke about the public comparing headlines about her to Kate in her extraordinary interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Speaking to the talk show host about the racist bullying she had to endure, Meghan insisted being called “Waity Katy” was not the same thing.

She said: “If members of his family say, ‘Well, this is what happened to all of us,’ or if they can compare what the experience that I went through was similar to what has been shared with us — Kate was called Waity Katie waiting to marry William.

“While I imagine that was really hard, and I do, I can’t picture what that felt like.

“This is not the same.

“And if a member of this family will comfortably say, ‘We’ve all had to deal with things that are rude.’

“Rude and racist are not the same.

“And equally, you’ve also had a press team that goes on the record to defend you, especially when they know something’s not true. And that didn’t happen for us.”

According to royal correspondent Katie Nicholl, the nickname “Waity Katie” really stuck with Kate.

Ms Nicholl told CBS news in 2009: “Kate has always been a model of what a royal princess should be: patient, loyal; when the prince has needed his time, she’s given it to him.

“She’s been exemplary, but ‘Waity Katy’ has stuck, and it’s a nickname that she absolutely despises.”

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The Simon CASE: Throw Your Brother Under The Bus!

By Kristine Welby June 16, 2020 19 Comments

The Simon Case

Pool/Samir Hussein

The Simon CASE: Simon Says…Throw Your Brother Under The Bus!

“When Someone betrays you, it is a reflection of their character not yours.”

Last summer as Harry and Meghan were being slammed by the press literally for every breath they took, came word that they had flown to France on a private jet. They were dubbed hypocrites for taking a private jet after talking about the environment. Harry never told anyone not to fly, and Meghan never spoke about the environment. But they were both excoriated in the press and on social media. Of course, no fake outrage would be complete without fake pundits on various talk shows lambasting Harry and Meghan for the destruction of the environment.

When it was revealed that Sir Elton John had paid for the flight and paid to offset the carbon footprint, the conversation switched to “debunking the myth” of carbon offsets. Harry and Meghan were declared eco-hypocrites, despite the fact that William, in his efforts to outdo Harry, has spoken of the environment as much as Harry, and had even flown by private jet to Davos climate change forum. His attendance seemed nothing but grandstanding, since all he did was interview Sir David Attenborough. An interview which could have been done remotely, since environmental degradation is such a concern for him. This might sound trivial, but underscores the fundamental unfairness of the media’s attitude towards Harry. There is no shortage of perceived “hypocrisy” if one is determined to find it. But I guess it depends on where said hypocrisy needs to be found.

There was also the fact that William and his family had only just returned from their vacation on an exclusive private island, accessible only by private jet. And if that were not enough, we had the Queen’s favorite son flying hither and yon in private jets, in the midst of renewed outcry about his connection to convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew’s alleged sexual abuse of a trafficked minor. No private jet outrage there. Instead, when they were not attempting to equate Prince Andrew’s amoral actions to Harry and Meghan flying by private jet, they were ignoring Prince Andrew in favor of berating Harry and Meghan.

Then, just as it seemed the squall was reduced to a drizzle, along came pictures of the Cambridge clan boarding a commercial flight to Balmoral. £73 flight they declared, with pictures of the Cambridge family cosplaying ‘regular’ folks, with father and children carrying their own bags. It was a double whammy! William and Kate were not only heralded as frugal but of course environmentally conscious for flying commercial. That of course ignores the fact that Meghan and Harry’s personal travel is always privately funded and Sir Elton had paid for their trip; you can’t get more frugal than free.

Rebecca English tweet

“Stunt, stunt, stunt,” cried the people. “Obvious,” said the blue check.

William and Kate flight stunt

And it was, but wait there’s more. In the fanfare of the tabloids erecting a statue in honor of William the conqueror of duffel bags, came word from a real reporter with the Scotsman – There were two empty jets. The now defunct airline, Flybe had flown two empty planes, 500 hundred miles so they would be sure to have a commercial jet befitting the man waiting for his father and grandmother to pass…on the scepter. If Harry and Meghan’s small private jet was going to destroy the planet, then two empty commercial jets should spell the end of our galaxy. Harry clarified that flying private was for security reasons, which also apply to the rest of the royal family. Remember, this was not long after two men went to prison for plotting to kill Harry, because according to them, he was a “race traitor”, not to talk about the threats to his wife.

Of course, the people who seem to embrace their role as mouthpiece for KP, came out. Fully recovered from directing their fake outrage at Harry and Meghan taking a private jet, they were ready to switch to fake outrage in defense of William and his obvious stunt.

Emily Andrews and Chris Ship flight pr stunt

As with the jet stunt, we saw the denials for what they were, “fake”.

And then nearly a year later, this happened. An article about Simon Case of Kensington Palace who is now off to support the non-elected ruler of Britain – Dominic Cummings.

The Spectator’s tweet of the article about his departure proudly proclaimed:

“Boris’s new man in No. 10 was behind Will and Kate’s budget flight to Balmoral – when Harry and Meghan were criticised for flying by private jet says Camilla Tominey”

Simon behind Will and Kate’s budget flight

What the tweet should have said was: “It was a stunt.”

And a poorly thought out and executed stunt. By any objective measure, it was a failure. People immediately knew it was a stunt, and treated it with the ridicule it deserved. It did not affect change, except with the people desperate for any excuse to think William and Kate worthy of their privileged position. For those of us who think privilege should be earned not gifted, we saw William as a backstabbing, entitled, duplicitous craven bully. In the middle of a propaganda campaign against his brother and (post-partum) sister-in-law, William decided (or agreed) that it would be an excellent idea to do that, to attempt to embiggen himself.

If, as KP’s press minions originally claimed, the flight had been arranged months in advance, why did Flybe have to scramble( moving empty jets hundreds of miles) at the last minute to position a Flybe-branded plane on a route that was operated by their codeshare partner Loganair (eastern airways) in order to “maximize press coverage for the airline”? Was there a prior expectation that their royal passengers will be pictured on the flight and hence the need to “maximize press coverage”? Had the flights been arranged far in advance as the press mouthpieces insisted it was, the airline could have positioned the planes without costing themselves money by way of 2 EMPTY flights. And why is Camilla Tominey now making special mention of Case’s role in that fiasco? Was he in his role, KP’s reservation specialist? If not normally, why did he take interest in that particular flight?

We do know that the flights arrangements were made on the eve of their departure per the Scotsman. A flight that was obviously positioned to portray William and Kate as “better” and more “responsible” than Harry and Meghan. And why are we now receiving confirmation of what we suspected from the beginning? Is it a coincidence, that revised versions of old rumors (tights-gate, private jet, KP leak) are being trotted out now? Revisions we suspect are closer to, (but still not) the truth. All these revisions still manage to position William and Kate as the victims. Apparently, Kate was justified in claiming to have a temper tantrum because the bride got the final say for her own wedding party; or that the backstabbing of Harry and Meghan via media propaganda was engineered by someone else and William and Kate merely went along? I don’t know why they think either proposition makes them look good.

If Simon Case was the ‘mastermind’ behind the media war waged by the future-future King against his brother and sister-in-law, then Mr. Case is an unfeeling, amoral manipulator. After all it was under his watch that the (pregnant) Duchess of Sussex was subjected to a coordinated campaign of harassment by the British Media. It was under his watch, that Tim Shipman of the times wrote in his famous article, excerpts below.

“This sense of embattlement has been entrenched by William’s decision to reach out to senior figures in the media as he prepares for kingship and by the apparent decision of those same newspapers to side with the palace over Meghan and Harry by peddling the most negative coverage of the duchess’s relationship with her father, Thomas Markle. “Harry sees that as part of the headwinds against him,” a friend said.”

It is Case who was credited with encouraging William to attempt to sideline Harry and his popular wife, which led to rumors of exiling them to Africa.

“…the Duke of Cambridge has been encouraged by his private secretary, Simon Case, who says he believed that a period of separation between the two brothers would help them to define themselves better and also improve relations between them.”

“In some ways it would suit William to get his brother out of the country for a few years and Meghan as far away as possible,” said one friend of the brothers.

Sending the couple to Canada was “mooted, then booted” given that Meghan spent seven years living there and for some it was “too close to the US” and the inevitable tabloid magazine coverage that would ensue. Making Harry governor-general of Australia was discussed and dismissed. The problems were obvious. “The trouble is that you effectively set them up as king and queen of a whole separate country,” according to one source. “And 24-hour media means that Australia is not as far away as it used to be.”

Here we are today, Harry and Meghan have stepped down as working royals, and moved to the United States of America, home to the media capital of the world. The public knew the economy plane trip was a stunt. We knew the leaks were coming from inside the Palace. No one but trolls believed the tights (or is it skirt length?) story. William will be remembered as a twat who on a state visit told the world that the media was hyping up COVID-19, even though at the time, hundreds were dying daily. Yet the apparent architect of the clusterf*ck, Simon Case, is credited with turning William into a statesman(yes) and it was his “success” at KP that lead Britain’s bumbling prime minister to invite him back to No. 10 Downing St.

As it were, the latest Spectator article only seeks to confirm what every rational and logically thinking person suspected was a calculated move by William’s court to hurt is brother. One has to wonder when all these facts became known to Camilla Tominey. Also is she the only reporter who is privy to these facts? Why were some in the royal rota adamant that flight arrangements were made far in advance? Did they question the seeming improbable coincidence(ahem) of the Cambridges and their brood being pictured boarding a domestic flight, whose exact price(£73) they seemed to know even after the fact? Or were they just willing to give William & Kate the benefit of the doubt, which they never extend to Harry and Meghan? So many questions still to be answered. If I were a betting woman, I will bet my last penny that there are more Cases to be unveiled. Stay tuned.

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People, January 4, 2021

Cover: HGTV’s Ben and Erin Napier 

Page 3: Chatter -- Taylor Swift on teasing information about her life in her music, Carrie Underwood on the holiday gift from her husband Mike Fisher, Viola Davis on her 10-year-old daughter asking for an iPhone and camera for Christmas, Amal Clooney joking about how her writing a book affected her relationship with husband George Clooney, Halle Berry on refusing to go out with a friend’s past romantic partner, Tina Fey advising people not to go kayaking in the New York/New Jersey river 

Page 4: 5 Things We’re Talking About This Week -- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle start podcasts, Lily James and Sebastian Stan will play Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, Rick Astley is never gonna give up his snacks, LeAnn Rimes wins The Masked Singer, a Whitney Houston biopic finds its diva 

Page 6: Contents 

Page 8: StarTracks -- following tradition members of the royal family have released their annual holiday cards and Prince William and Princess Kate’s three kids Prince George and Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte stole the show this year with the family posed on a bale of hay and matched in cozy sweaters for the shot which was taken in the fall at the family’s country home in Norfolk, England 

Page 9: For their card Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla picked a colorful shot taken in the lush garden on Birkhall which is the prince’s Scottish home 

Page 10: Carter Rubin won season 19 of The Voice marking Gwen Stefani’s first victory as a coach, First Look at Denzel Washington and Rami Malek and Jared Leto in The Little Things 

Page 11: Kate Hudson filmed a scene for Truth Be Told, Rachael Leigh Cook reprising her role as Laney Boggs in He’s All That with Addison Rae playing her daughter, Princess Charlotte of Monaco debuted a half-hawk hairstyle at the Monaco Palace’s traditional Christmas tree ceremony, Nick Cannon helped the Hollywood Food Coalition hand out 2000 meal boxes to people in need 

Page 12: Stars’ Furry & Feathered Friends -- Yolanda Hadid with some goats and a deer, Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas cuddled up by their Christmas tree with their dog Diana, Harrison Ford walking a dog in Los Angeles, Salma Hayek and her pet owl Kering 

Page 17: Scoop: Why Tom Cruise lost his cool 

Page 18: Little People Big World’s Jacob Roloff says he was sexually abused as a child by a former producer who worked on his family’s TLC series 

Page 20: Heart Monitor -- Tyler Perry and Gelila Bekele it’s over, Katie Holmes and Emilio Vitolo getting serious, Lana Del Rey and Clayton Johnson engaged, Gillian Anderson and Peter Morgan split 

Page 21: Felicity Jones on making a space epic while pregnant 

Page 22: Ryan Seacrest counts down to 2021

* Lizzo gets real about her body 

Page 25: America Ferrera’s laid-back holiday 

* How Sandra Lee is moving on 

Page 27: Passages, Why I Care -- Rainn Wilson wants people to know how global warming is affecting the Arctic and the world 

Page 28: Stories to make you smile -- a stroll back through history with cats, bringing holiday cheer to U.S. troops stationed abroad 

Page 31: People Picks -- Wonder Woman 1984 

Page 32: Dickinson, Wolfwalkers 

Page 33: Safety, Paul McCartney -- McCartney III, Q&A -- Questlove 

Page 34: On Pointe, Greenland 

Page 35: Promising Young Woman

Page 37: The year’s best books for kids 

Page 38: Cover Story -- HGTV’s Ben and Erin Napier -- family means everything to us -- they never aspired to be famous but now they’re HGTV’s biggest stars; how the Home Town couple stay grounded despite the spotlight 

Page 44: 25 Years Later -- Princess Diana’s Panorama Interview Web of Deceit -- forged documents and manipulation and paranoia: inside the stunning new inquiry into Diana’s famous TV sit-down 

Page 48: The COVID-19 Vaccines -- what you need to know -- the long-awaited vaccines are finally here; will they return our lives to normal? 

Page 50: Richie Sambora -- a rock star’s second act -- the Bon Jovi guitarist opens up about his really unpopular decision to leave the band and how he finally found joy in the love of his daughter Ava 

Page 54: Mystery and Heartbreak at a Texas U.S. Army Post -- Death at Fort Hood -- in 2020 dozens of soldiers at the nation’s largest active-duty armored military installation died by homicide, accident, suicide or unknown causes -- officials and grieving families wants answers 

Page 60: Isla Fisher -- my funny fairy-tale life -- the Godmothered star talks about movies, motherhood and how laughter keeps her marriage to Sacha Baron Cohen strong 

Page 63: Sabrina Bryan -- my baby girl is a warrior -- the former Cheetah Girls star opens up about her daughter’s terrifying battle with meningitis 

Page 66: Double Talk -- Kristen Wiig and Gal Gadot -- Wonder Women -- now playing super-rivals in Wonder Woman 1984, the stars chat about parenting during the pandemic and what they love about the 1990s 

Page 71: Paul Hogan -- Crocodile Dundee’s Wild Ride -- his hit 1986 movie made him a global sensation and now 81 the rugged Aussie looks back on the stardom he never expected 

Page 75: Winter TV Preview -- Elizabeth Olsen on WandaVision 

Page 76: Gina Torres on 9-1-1: Lone Star 

Page 77: Freddie Prinze Jr. on Punky Brewster 

Page 78: Ted Danson on Mr. Mayor 

Page 81: Beauty -- Feel-Good Beauty Finds -- start the new year on a high note with these pick-me-ups 

Page 87: Second Look -- hosts Julianne Hough and Tituss Burgess on Disney Parks Magical Christmas Celebration 

Page 88: One Last Thing -- Jon Hamm 

[nightmare-afton-cosplay]

Meghan Markle’s New Home a Dump?! 5 Huge Flaws in Nottingham Cottage

DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry‘s impending marriage has the world buzzing about their future plans, including where they’ll live after tying the knot: Nottingham Cottage, a property on the grounds of Kensington Palace. Reports abound that the royal couple have already spent some time at “Nott Cott”—even that the prince proposed in the kitchen while they were roasting a chicken. Sooo cuuuute!

But make no mistake, Nottingham Cottage isn’t as posh as you might think.

While details and interior pics of this place remain tightly under royal wrap, there are rumblings that the royal couple’s first home together has more than its share of problems. Here are a few flaws that have surfaced.

1. The cottage is tiny

While Nott Cott’s exact square footage isn’t public knowledge, The Telegraph reports that this “cozy” cottage has two bedrooms and two reception rooms. Cozy, indeed—anyone in real estate knows “cozy” is code for “so small you’ll want to cry.”

2. There’s only one bathroom

In addition to those two bedrooms, the Telegraph says the place has a bathroom. A bathroom? As in one? So the prince and his-bride to-be will have to share the loo? That seems downright unroyal.

3. Ceilings are low

The claustrophobia just got worse: no soaring ceiling here. In fact, the previous tenant, Prince William, had to stoop to avoid banging his head. He is 6-foot-3. So, that means the ceilings (or door frames, or something) are only, what, 6 feet high? That’s sad.

4. There’s no air conditioning

Come on now! Even developing countries have caught onto this modern convenience known as AC. But Nott Cott, not yet. And fine, London may not be quite as sweltering as, say, Markle’s hometown of Los Angeles, but according to Vanity Fair, Prince William’s wife, Kate Middleton, found Nottingham Cottage so stiflingly hot, they had fans installed in every room to compensate … somewhat.

5. The yard is also tiny

It turns out Markle’s two rescue dogs—Guy the beagle and Bogart the Labrador, who are undoubtedly coming with her—won’t have much room to roam, either. The yard is so small, it was marked by royal watchers as one of Middleton’s biggest disappointments about the place. The only upgrade we’ve heard of is that soon after moving in, Prince Harry hung up a hammock.

Maybe that’s all there’s room to do.

Nottingham Cottage location

Google Maps

All we can say is, Markle has her work cut out for her to make the most of her new “royal” digs. This explains why reports also bound that the future newlyweds likely won’t stay in this royal “starter home” long, and will move to one of the bigger apartments at Kensington Palace soon enough.

Still, it begs the question: Is this stint at Nottingham Cottage some weird form of royal hazing? That is, “Before we let you into Kensington Palace proper, you’ve gotta sweat it out at Nott Cott, HAHAHAHA!”

All that said, though, the place has also been dubbed a “love nest” where this couple began their life together—sweating, stooping, and sharing the loo. Who knows? Maybe they will one day look back on Nott Cott as the place where they shared some of their happiest times together—even without AC.

The post Meghan Markle’s New Home a Dump?! 5 Huge Flaws in Nottingham Cottage appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/meghan-markle-new-home-nottingham-cottage-dump/

[airsoftreview]

The Guide to Denver Real Estate (for the Design-Obsessed)

Illustration by Claire Rollet

Most home-buyers call their real estate agent with a “must” list at the ready—a catalog of wants and whims ranging from the number of bathrooms needed to retain familial sanity to walkability to the newest hipster bar. But the aesthetes among us are on the hunt for even more: a bona fide architectural gem—an antidote to the soulless new builds popping up around town. “There’s this shift happening in that people are wanting homes with more detail and charm, and not just a blank slate,” says real estate agent Heidi Cox of Distinct Real Estate.

To help you find those homes, we’ve created the following rundown of where to look for architectural beauties in and around Denver, the drawbacks and benefits of six common styles, how to maximize your MLS search, what to know about historic designations, and much more. Whether you’re dreaming of waking up each morning in a classic Denver Square, or you’ve already furnished a mid-mod ranch in your mind (Eames forever!), there’s help for you here.

Our panel of real estate experts:

Ron Buss, Realtor at Coldwell Banker Dee Chirafisi, broker and founder of Kentwood City Properties Heidi Cox, Realtor at Distinct Real Estate Lane Walsh, broker and owner of Dwell Denver Real Estate

By the Numbers: So, What’s It Going to Cost You? A renovated Victorian in Congress Park. Photo by Raul Garcia. Styling by Kerri Cole.

Short answer: It varies, but be prepared to pay more for less. For example, “midcentury moderns usually don’t have basements, which means they’re typically lower square footage,” says Realtor Lane Walsh of Dwell Denver Real Estate. “And architectural styles with smaller floor plans sell for a higher price per square foot simply because of the math. If a 900-square-foot bungalow in West Highland sells for $530,000, the price per square foot is about $588. If a 2,000-square-foot Denver Square in Park Hill sells for $900,000, the price per square foot is $450. So even though the Denver Square is more expensive, the bungalow has a higher price per square foot.” Ultimately, says Realtor Dee Chirafisi of Kentwood City Properties, the cost of a historical property is often determined by how much it has been renovated: “A Victorian with original electrical, plumbing, and kitchen is likely going to be much less expensive than an [updated] midcentury modern.”

Know the Lingo: Denver Architecture 101

Presenting six historical home styles that are iconic to Denver—plus where to find them and what pitfalls to expect.

Queen Anne Victorian Queen Anne Victorian. Photo credit: Getty Images.

Leave it to an architectural style named for a royal to be ornate. From 1880 to 1910, these amped-up Victorians were the ne plus ultra in modern living, with scalloped shingles to draw eyes up to gables, turned spindles zhushing up porches, and interiors so cinematic you’d think you were on a movie set.

Expert Intel: “Victorians can have very challenging floor plans,” Realtor Lane Walsh says. Kentwood City Properties’ Dee Chirafisi agrees: “It’s difficult to do any kind of main-floor master suite because they just weren’t laid out that way—although a lot of people do really lovely additions on the back.”

Where to Look: Baker, City Park West, City Park South, Curtis Park, Sloan’s Lake, Washington Park West

Denver Square Denver Square. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.

As the 20th century got rolling, Foursquares (known locally as Denver Squares) were the hot home type: two stories and generous porches all contained in the form of a—you guessed it—square. This grand home style’s distinct rooms are the opposite of open-plan living, and that’s just how homeowners liked it.

Expert Intel: “One drawback of these homes is that they have a central staircase that tends to break up the floor plan,” Chirafisi says.

Where to Look: Baker, Capitol Hill, Cheesman Park, City Park West, City Park South, Five Points, Highland, Washington Park

Craftsman Bungalow Craftsman Bungalow. Photo by Emily Minton Redfield.

These charming odes to the Arts and Crafts movement flourished in Denver between 1900 and 1930 and are best known for their clapboard or brick exteriors, gable rooflines with exposed rafter tails, and wide porches perfect for whiling away an afternoon. Interior layouts are cozy as can be (read: often cramped).

Expert Intel: “Since they’re typically one-level [floor plans], there’s a bed and bath on the main floor, which can be a plus,” Chirafisi says. “The drawback is that some people think they’re dark because they have large overhanging roofs, which were done intentionally to create shade and keep living spaces cooler.”

Where to Look: City Park, Congress Park, Platt Park, West Highland, Washington Park

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival House. Photo courtesy of zsiteportal.

Hansel and Gretel would feel at home in a Tudor, thanks to the straight-out-of-a-fairytale decorative wood—called half-timbering—that adds interest to the brick, stucco, or stone facades. A coveted style in the 1920s, Tudors are also known for their hipped and gable roofs and decorated chimneys. Inside? Details galore, including arched doorways.

Expert Intel: “The upstairs is often not a true second floor, because the roofline is not dormered—so a tall person can stand in the middle of a room, but might hit his head on the ceiling if he moves four feet in either direction,” Walsh says. “Also, [Tudors] don’t have the open floor plan that many buyers these days are looking for.”

Where to Look: Belcaro, Bonnie Brae, Mayfair, Montclair, Park Hill, Washington Park

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival. Photo credit: TheWBBA

Silver Screen aficionados obsess over these tile-roofed gems, which call to mind the artful architectural wonders of Old Hollywood. Trendy in Colorado in the 1920s, the beauties are known to feature white stucco facades, low pitched gable roofs, and arcaded entry porches.

Expert Intel: “Mediterranean Revivals tend to be modest in size, around 1,200 square feet,” Walsh says. “Those tile roofs can be a pain to replace—the average replacement cost of a regular asphalt shingle roof is about $10,000-$20,000, and a tile roof is $35,000-$40,000, depending on whether you choose clay or concrete. However, tile roofs can last up to 100 years! So I guess, in the long run, the price evens out.”

Where to Look: South Park Hill and Sloan’s Lake

Midcentury Ranch Midcentury Ranch. Photo by Daniel O’Connor.

You can thank California for this oh-so-popular style. Single-story midcentury ranches have been beloved since the postwar boom for good reasons: stair-free ease of living, open floor plans, and—key for Denver—attached garages.

Expert Intel: “Midcentury-modern homes have flat or slightly slanted roofs, and as such have very little insulation between the ceiling and roof,” says Ron Buss, Realtor for Coldwell Banker. “They also tend to have larger, single-pane windows; unless they’ve been replaced, they can lose heat in the winter.”

Where to Look: Arapahoe Acres (Englewood), Arapaho Hills (Littleton), Bel Aire (Wheat Ridge), Bonnie Brae, Harvey Park, Hilltop, Krisana Park, Lynwood, Montclair, and South Dahlia Lane

Find Your Dream Home Style

Not quite sure which architectural style is for you? Check out our fun key to find your home-design soul mate.

You might like a Queen Anne Victorian if … Queen Elizabeth II is your favorite royal and your idea of bling is an Art Deco emerald-cut diamond ring.

You might like a Denver Square if … you imagine making conversation with Prince William while trimming your rose bushes (and picking a few to put inside).

You might like a Craftsman Bungalow if … your jaw drops at the sight of a Patek Philippe pocket watch on Antiques Roadshow and Seattle is your dream vacation destination.

You might like a Tudor Revival if … Kate Middleton is your favorite royal, you dream of a long trip to Cheshire, England, and your idea of comfortable seating is a tufted chaise.

You might like a Mediterranean Revival if … you prefer succulents over roses, recently booked a trip to Seville, Spain, and want an Alexander Calder mobile in your home.

You might like a Midcentury Modern if … you want to kick back in a Scandi recliner next to a shelf of succulents with Prince Harry and Megan for company.

Q&A: What’s the Deal with Historic Designations?

To suss out whether historic designations might be worth the work to a homeowner, we asked Tom Hart. The architect behind Hart Studio is also on the board of trustees at Historic Denver, a nonprofit, urban historic preservation organization whose first major win was saving the Molly Brown House from the wrecking ball in the 1970s.

Popular architect William Quayle designed the H.H. Thomas House in the 1870s. Photo courtesy of Historic Denver, Inc.

5280 Home: OK, tell us the truth. Is a historic designation a smart thing for a homeowner to apply for? Tom Hart: It’s certainly worth doing. Part of it is intangible: These old buildings are what make Denver Denver. Our neighborhoods each have a different character, and that’s why people like them. I don’t want to slam suburbs, but they all just look the same.

How old does a house have to be to qualify? The general rule of thumb in the historic-preservation community is 50 years, but some homes are younger.

Is there a financial upside? There are Colorado preservation tax credits you can get if a building is individually landmarked or part of a neighborhood that’s landmarked. You’ll be able to recoup 20 percent of any qualified renovation costs up to $50,000. There’s an application process with the Landmark Preservation Commission, which is part of Denver’s Community Planning and Development department. The forms can be daunting to the layperson; the proposed landmark needs to meet certain criteria regarding history, architecture, or geography. There are a couple of hearings, and it takes several months. A large percentage of the applications go through on the first try.

That doesn’t sound too bad. What’s the catch? Can I still paint my house Hermès orange? You can paint your house whatever color you want. You can gut the inside if you want to, too. [A historic designation] only affects the exterior architecture of the building. Things that need to be reviewed are roof modifications; window, roof, and door replacements; additions; changes to siding; retaining walls in landscaping; and solar panels. You’re allowed to add storm windows and security doors without approval, however.

Old Homes, But New

If you love the idea of an old house but could do without the creaking floors and miniature closets, hire these builders whose new homes look just like the historical homes we all know and love.

“My specialty back in the day was creating ‘revival new old houses,’ and some of what we’re doing today is part of that same recipe,” says John Mattingly, principal of this Denver architecture, design, and construction firm. Because people are drawn to older homes for their durability, he notes, his team’s designs emphasize time-tested architectural ideas, like thick interior walls and dropped beams and coffering. 720-473-5498, chaletcolorado.com

Prairie-style homes inspire the designs created by this Denver-based firm. “We put our modern touch on [historical styles] while still being timeless,” says principal Bryan Bozeman. One secret to an age-old vibe in new construction: reclaimed wood from barns and old houses and/or recycled antique brick for a touch of true history. 720-722-4040, stonecloudco.com

How to Maximize Your Search Online

Unfortunately, searching by architectural style on the MLS (Zillow, Redfin, and the like) might lead you astray. “On the MLS, Realtors are inputting the information, so it’s often inaccurate,” Cox says. So Chirafisi recommends plugging in the years when your dream home would have been built. “For example, you can search for the years 1890 to 1910 and get a lot of Victorians,” she says. And then, in this real estate market, hope that your dream home doesn’t get snapped up before you can make an offer.

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[gyrlversion]

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Esther Freud and David Morrissey split

Actor David Morrissey and novelist wife Esther Freud has announced their separation after 13 year together

With his brooding good looks and her fascinating family history, actor David Morrissey and novelist Esther Freud were one of society’s most celebrated showbusiness couples.

So I am sad to report that the couple, who met at drama school 26 years ago, have separated. They had been married 13 years.

‘It’s a great shame, but they just couldn’t make it work any longer,’ one of their many friends tells me. ‘They are making sure that the interests of their three children come first.’

The couple, who shared a house in Hampstead, are now living separately in North London.

As recently as last year, Esther, who is the 55-year-old daughter of late artist Lucian Freud, was talking affectionately in interviews about Morrissey, 54, the star of television dramas including The Walking Dead and The Deal, in which he played Gordon Brown.

Morrissey, who has been hailed as one of the most talented actors of his generation, did, though, highlight the great differences in their backgrounds. While he is the son of a Liverpudlian cobbler and a mother who worked for Littlewoods, Esther’s bohemian childhood formed the basis of her acclaimed novel Hideous Kinky, which was turned into a 1998 film starring Kate Winslet.

David Morrissey and Esther Freud at the start of their relationship attending the premiere of Basic Instinct 2 in 2006

The great-granddaughter of the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, Esther is one of Lucian Freud’s 14 children. Her mother is the writer and gardener Bernardine Coverley.

Morrissey has credited Esther with helping to teach him self-discipline.

‘Suddenly,’ he said, ‘I was with someone who imposed a work structure upon themselves.

‘There we were, we’d just met and fallen in love and suddenly, even in my own flat, I was outside my bedroom waiting for two o’clock so I could go in and kiss her.’

Freud and Morrissey declined to comment.

The smart set’s talking about… The Sultan of Brunei’s party-loving prince

As the international outcry intensifies against the Sultan of Brunei after his decree that gay men in his country are to be stoned to death, spare a thought for his exuberant son, Prince Azim.

The party-loving prince — one of the Sultan’s four children by his second wife, former air hostess Hajah Mariam — would be heartbroken if Brunei became a pariah state.

Blessed with a playful spirit, Prince Azim, 36, is pictured here in characteristic pose at a London party, enjoying the company of Pamela Anderson.

Party-loving Prince Azim, son the highly controversial Sultan of Brunei, is spotted enjoying a night out in London with actress and campaigner Pamela Anderson

While the evergreen Baywatch babe favoured a mask and little black dress crafted from PVC, he opted for snakeskin-effect sheer T-shirt. It was offset by powder-blue feather boas, ripped jeans and a pert top hat with a fan-veil of the sort that milliner Philip Treacy might design for Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot — plus a key, dangling from his neck.

Azim, who followed his father to Sandhurst but lasted only a week, has a serious side, of course, once designing a unisex suitcase for luxury goods brand MCM.

Described as a chic travel bag, it was, said one report, ‘destined to bring out the princess within’.

The Queen cancelled her visit to Newbury, where she had a runner in the 3.40 yesterday, after the death of one of her best friends, Jeannie, the Dowager Countess of Carnarvon, at the age of 83.

Her Majesty had been due to stay for the weekend with the American-born Countess’s family, who live near Newbury racecourse. Jeannie’s late husband, Porchy, was Her Majesty’s close confidant and racing manager. A lively character, she was played by actress Andrea Deck in TV’s The Crown.

Even last year, she was still doing Pilates at her dower house on her family’s Highclere Castle estate, where Downton Abbey is filmed.

Fleabag’s naughty priest breaks up with boyfriend

As the ‘hot priest’ in BBC hit comedy Fleabag (right), Andrew Scott leaves Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s character desolate at a bus stop.

In real life, he’s nursing his own broken heart. I hear Scott, 42, has split up with his partner of ten years, the actor and writer Stephen Beresford, 47, inset.

They had shared a London home. ‘I live alone now,’ Scott has confirmed. Asked if he had a new companion, he replied: ‘I have a lot of love in my life, but I prefer not to talk about that.’

Previously best known as Benedict Cumberbatch’s antagonist Moriarty in BBC hit Sherlock, Scott has been hailed as the ‘sexiest man on TV’ after his charismatic turn as a Catholic priest who breaks his vows in a fling with Fleabag’s dysfunctional heroine.

Fleabag’s ‘hot priest’ Andrew Scott (left) has revealed he has split his partner of 10 year Stephen Beresford (right)

If you bump into Dame Vivienne Westwood, who turned 78 this week, best not wish her a happy birthday.

‘I didn’t celebrate,’ the queen of punk-turned-eco-campaigner tells me at a private viewing of Demelza Kids, a show of works by fashion photographer Juergen Teller at Bonhams in Mayfair.

Dame Vivienne Westwood by cartoonist Gary Smith

‘I just stayed at home with my secretary and worked on saving the world. There’s so much to do.

‘I did think it would be nice to go to work — people would like it — but then I don’t like cake or champagne much.’

The eccentric designer, whose clothes are worn by everyone from Theresa May to Angelina Jolie, even banned her husband, Andreas Kronthaler, 67, who now runs her fashion label, from giving her a gift.

‘I don’t need any presents. He gave me a lovely card.’

Now two’s company for Prue

Cookery queen Prue Leith is changing her recipe for a happy marriage.

Until now, twice-married Prue, 79, has extolled the joys of keeping apart.

But the genial Bake Off judge has decided she wants to live with her husband of three years, the retired clothes designer John Playfair, after all.

And she plans to build a new home on her farm in the Cotswolds so he can move in.

Prue Leith plans on converting farm buildings on her Cotswold property so that husband John Playfair can move in

‘The time has come when she and John want to live together, but in a place where they can each have their own quarters,’ one of her friends tells me. ‘They have designed a place themselves, which they are making out of a big old farm building on the land she owns.’

Her agent confirms: ‘Prue and her husband do have plans to convert some redundant farm buildings on her land into a single property.’

‘He lives a mile away from me,’ Prue said, after marrying John, 71.

‘He’s got a lot of stuff and I’m rather anally neat and tidy and I don’t want all that stuff in my house. And he doesn’t want me tidying it up.’

London is to be the scene of a reunion between former U.S. presidents this weekend. I hear that Barack Obama, who is over for his wife Michelle’s talk at the huge 02 Arena tomorrow, is planning to meet up with Bill Clinton, also in the capital with his wife, Hillary.

I wonder if the Obamas will pop into Frogmore Cottage to see their friends Prince Harry and Meghan while they’re here?

Princess Diana would be touched to see how close Prince William has stayed to her old friend Julia Samuel. I hear the Duke of Cambridge asked Julia, a grief counsellor, to be his official representative at the Chelsea memorial service on Thursday for cancer expert Professor Martin Gore, whom William described as an ‘inspiration’. In 2013, William asked Julia to be a godmother to Prince George.

Duchess gives her blessing to Missy’s new man

When Lady Melissa Percy married Thomas van Straubenzee, the ceremony was attended by Princes William and Harry.

Could wedding bells soon be heard again at her family seat, Alnwick Castle, which doubled as Hogwarts in Harry Potter films?

‘Missy’, as the 31-year-old is known to chums, divorced Tom in 2016. And her new romance with American hedge fund boss Remy Trafelet, 48, is going so well that he has already met her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. ‘We really love Remy,’ her mother, Jane, tells me at the launch of Tim Bouverie’s book, Appeasing Hitler, at China Exchange in Soho.

‘We’re just happy for them because they both had marriages that didn’t work and they now have a second chance at being happy. I would be happy for them to get married when the time’s right.’

Macca’s boy brings the church down!

With his cherubic cheeks and twinkly smile, James McCartney was the image of his father as he performed a secret gig on Thursday night.

Sir Paul’s 41-year-old son received a standing ovation at Heath Street Baptist Church in London’s Hampstead, where he sang and played guitar and piano at an exhibition by photographer Danny Clifford called Rock Stars Don’t Smile.

One of his most moving songs, Angel, was written around the time of his mother Linda’s death from breast cancer in 1998.

At one point, James joked that he sounded less like his father and more like his fellow Beatle John Lennon.

Like father, like son: James McCartney (left) received a standing ovation for a performance at Heath Street Baptist Church in London’s Hampstead, taking after father Sir Paul (right)

Has Prince Charles secured a powerful ally in his crusade for alternative medicine?

I ask because the Health Secretary and prime ministerial wannabe, Matt Hancock, made an 800-mile round trip to hold private talks with the heir to the throne on Wednesday at one of his Scottish residences, Dumfries House.

Officials decline to comment on what the two men discussed. But their meeting took place a week after Hancock, 40, spoke at a reception in support of ‘social prescription’ therapies hosted by Charles at Clarence House.

On that occasion, Hancock — whose wife, Martha, is an osteopath — lamented that doctors were ‘dishing out’ too many pills. Music to Charles’s princely ears.

(Very) modern manners

Brexit is a no-go subject at most dinner parties, but imagine what it’s like at Boris Johnson’s family get-togethers.

The Brexiteer MP’s sister, Rachel, is an ardent Remainer. And she tells me: ‘Our house rules are don’t talk about Brexit at meals. If it does [come up], it all goes wrong and my mother sits there crying gently.’

Speaking at an Amnesty International bash at L’Escargot in London’s Soho, Rachel adds: ‘There is a liberal side of the family that is overlooked in the narrative of the Johnsons being this ambitious, power-hungry, blond tribe.’

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