Welcome to The Royalist—all the latest royal news and gossip with Tom Sykes and Tim Teeman. For Beast Inside members only.
Harry and Meghan’s House Move Delayed
Trying to get in to a new house before the arrival of a baby is always a challenge, and, even if you are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the immutable laws of building to a deadline (you’ll miss it) apply, it would seem. The renovation of Harry and Meghan’s new Windsor pad, Frogmore Cottage, was due to be completed this week but is said to be running well behind schedule, due in part, The Sun says, to constant changes of mind by the couple.
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A royal source told The Sun: “It’s been all hands to the pump. The builders have worked all week whatever the weather. But they keep making changes, particularly on the layout.” Latest speculation is that the expectant parents will be in the house at some point next month, just days before their due date at the end of April. If the timetable slips again, then thank goodness granny has a house in central London with 775 rooms.
Harry and Meghan Mull Hollywood Godparents
The Daily Beast suggested last week that it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if either George or Amal Clooney found themselves called on to renounce the devil and act as godparents to Harry and Meghan’s first born. Now, add Serena Williams' name to the list, alongside Oprah Winfrey's and—of course—close friends of Meghan like Jessica Mulroney.
Williams it has been reported, has helped Meghan decorate the gender-neutral nursery at her new home, Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, and, of course, helped organize the extremely glamorous New York baby shower (special guest: Amal's red jumpsuit).
The Royalist’s prediction is that Meghan will steer the godparent list firmly in the direction of her glamorous circle and the van Cutsems, Inskips and Windsors of this world will not be getting a look in. If you can give your kid Oprah as a godparent, why wouldn’t you?
When Former Staffers Go Bad
Speaking of that luxurious New York baby shower, the unfair criticism of Meghan for allowing her friends to throw her a big party continues.
The latest to chime in is the queen’s bitchy former spokesperson, Dickie Arbiter. The gamekeeper turned poacher told Us Weekly: “Baby showers, it’s very much an American thing. We don’t do it here in the U.K. It was a bit over the top in terms of expense and the way she got there.”
For Arbiter to sit in judgment of Meghan is hugely hypocritical. He is loathed by the royal family for having betrayed their trust in the most spectacular way by making a career as a royal commentator trading off his previous professional life and writing a tell-all book about his time working for the royals. His daughter, Victoria, is in the same business.
The latest attack fits a depressing pattern; Dickie has been diligently working an anti-Meghan furrow for some time now, never losing an opportunity to stoke resentment against Meghan. This week he sent an extraordinarily nasty tweet after Harry visited a school without his wife, saying, “Is it my imagination or is The Duke of Sussex really more relaxed on a solo engagement?”
Winging It
There have been rumors that Meghan Markle will not choose the same hospital as Kate Middleton and Princess Diana did—the private Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in London—to give birth. We suggest you discount these, with sources saying the Lindo is a slam dunk for Meghan. However we won’t really know for sure until the ultimate unofficial confirmation is provided; the British Transport Police putting up signs to suspend car parking in the surrounding roads.
Royal Fashion Watch
No fancy frocks this week. Just Prince Charles, a glistening royal hunk and future-king at 70, in swimming trunks in Barbados. He may well have done it for attention. He succeeded.
In accordance with Charles’ environmental beliefs, the cool, faded trunks, by Vilbrequin, are reportedly 16 years old. “This particular style went on sale in 2003 and designs tend not to stick around beyond a season,” a Vilbrequin spokesperson told The Guardian.
This week in royal history
On March 26, 2015, a long-overdue salvo for equality was struck in the royal family. The Succession to the Crown Act came into force, establishing gender-blind succession, ending “the system of male preference primogeniture under which a younger son displaces an elder daughter in the line of succession.” This rule affects any royalty born after October 28, 2011.
The Act also made it OK for a Royal to marry a Roman Catholic and not lose their place in the line of succession—although the ban on a Roman Catholic being king or queen remained in place. The Act also repealed the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which (with some exceptions) rendered void any marriage of a member of the royal family who had not obtained the Sovereign’s prior permission for the union.
Coming up
Prince Charles and Camilla will become the first ever royals to visit Cuba when they touch down on the island Sunday afternoon for a four day visit to the nominally Communist state.
The trip will feature a meeting with the Buena Vista Social Club and dinner with President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who succeeded Raul Castro last April.
The trip represents an intriguing slight to Donald Trump, who has done much to reverse Obama’s attempts to normalize relations with Cuba.
Trump-supporting Florida senator Rick Scott, wrote to Charles saying, “a trip of this magnitude by the crown provides unwarranted legitimacy to a dictatorship with a decades-long history of persecuting and imprisoning its defectors and repressing its people.”
Charles has seemingly totally ignored Scott.
