If you love The Daily Beast’s royal coverage, then we hope you’ll enjoy The Royalist, a members-only series for Beast Inside. Become a member to get it in your inbox on Sunday.
Harry and Charles’ secret talks” to heal rift
Prince Harry and Prince Charles are reportedly holding “secret talks”—now not-so-secret—in a bid to heal their fractured relationship ahead of the queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
ADVERTISEMENT
“There has been a definite thaw in relations between Harry and Charles,” a source revealed in the Sun on Sunday. “They are on much better terms and have been having friendly chats and video calls. “It has been suggested to Harry he may live to regret any lingering family bitterness, and he has taken that on board. There is a feeling he is coming back more into the fold and wants to be closer to his family.”
The Sun says Harry may return for the celebrations in June, but likely not with wife Meghan Markle, and children Archie and Lilibet. It is unknown if he will return for Prince Philip’s memorial service, scheduled for earlier in the spring.
News of the talks follow other reports of Charles reaching out to Harry and Meghan to invite them to stay, and Harry claiming not to feel safe enough to return to the U.K. without adequate Metropolitan Police protection (which he has offered to pay for himself, he says). Harry is also threatening legal action against the U.K. government over the issue.
The U.K. Home Office is pushing back against Harry this weekend. A senior source told the Mail on Sunday: “I’ve not seen anything in writing that suggests this is about whether or not he pays for it. It’s about whether or not the security is granted here that is the issue.”
A security source said: “When Harry left The Firm the terms of his divorce were clear. Like other members of the public, he and his wife are not able to hire armed cops at will—no matter how much they offer to pay.”
Protective security was “based on role and risk,” the role added, what Harry and Meghan enjoy in terms of protection in the U.S. could not be mirrored in the U.K. because “we don’t allow people to wonder the street with guns here.”
“Other minor Royals manage to function in normal life without armed guards. The Home Office is refusing to blink,” the source added.
Meat Loaf told Andrew: “I don’t give a shit who you are”
One of the stranger alleged incidents around Prince Andrew is the revelation that he and recently deceased rock star Meat Loaf once fought over Andrew’s then-wife Sarah Ferguson. It happened during filming of It’s a Royal Knockout, a mesmerizing, infamous mess of a TV show broadcast in 1987, combining the royals and the popular British entertainment show of the era, It’s a Knockout, in which people ran around playing ridiculous games outside and getting covered in water.
Meat Loaf told the Guardian in a 2003 interview—resurrected from the vaults by the Daily Mail—that Andrew had warned him off flirting with Fergie, and told him “You can’t touch me. I’m royal.”
Meat Loaf performs on stage, Hammersmith Odeon, London, 1985.
Erica Echenberg/Redferns“I don't give a s*** who you are,” Meat Loaf responded and pushed him back. This apparently angered the queen, who subsequently “hated him” Meat Loaf said.
“Fergie wasn't exactly flirting with me, but she was paying attention to me, and I think Andrew got a little—I could be wrong, I'm just reading into this—I think he got a little jealous. Anyway, he tried to push me in the water. He tried to push me in the moat. So I turned around and I grabbed him and he goes, "You can’t touch me. I’m royal.’ I said: ‘Well you tried to push me in the moat, Jack, I don’t give a s*** who you are, you’re going in the moat.’”
Royals would be “relieved” if Harry and Meghan don’t show up for Philip’s memorial
The Sussexes would turn Prince Philip’s memorial service into “the Harry and Meghan show,” the royal family fears. They would “breathe a sigh of relief” if the couple failed to show, according to Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine, quoted in the Sun.
The idea of a visit—or his dad Prince Charles hosting Harry and Meghan and their two kids, as Charles has allegedly offered—seems unlikely. As stated above, Harry feels he doesn’t feel safe bringing his family to the U.K. without Metropolitan Police guards, which Harry says, he has offered to pay for himself, but been denied.
“I think if they choose not to come then everyone will breathe a sigh of relief,” Seward said. “It is thanks-giving for Prince Philip and we don’t want it turning into the Harry and Meghan show.”
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge smiles during a meeting with Galway Community Circus performers, local artists and young musicians on March 5, 2020 in Galway, Ireland.
Peter Morrison-Pool/Getty ImagesWill Kate replace Andrew at the Grenadier Guards?
The Grenadier Guards want Kate Middleton to replace Prince Andrew as their colonel. If this comes to pass, Kate will be the first woman to hold the position in the regiment’s 366-year-old history, says The Sunday Times.
A source told the paper: “From straw polling through the ranks, they would all love it to be Kate. We all admire the way she has fitted in and behaved, she never seems to put a foot wrong.” Andrew lost the role after being stripped of all his titles recently, as he prepares to fight Virginia Roberts Giuffre through the courts, and the queen currently holds it by default.
Andrew should be investigated over bullying, says former employee
Paul Page, a former officer who worked with Royal Protection Command from 1998 until 2004, says about a dozen colleagues, as well as himself, complained about alleged bullying at the hands of Prince Andrew.
“Buckingham Palace launched a bullying investigation against Meghan last year after she was accused of wrongdoing, Page told the Sunday Mirror. “If it’s a fair organization that looks after its staff, an investigation should be started to confirm whether or not Andrew is guilty of being a bully and of intimidating staff… The Palace have a problem because there are instances and evidence of Prince Andrew being overbearing and verbally abusive.”
One former maid this week recounted how Andrew made her ascend four flights of stairs to close his drapes for him, even though he was next to them, while another former maid recalled the prince’s demand that his teddy bears be rigorously aligned.
Queen Elizabeth II tours Queen Mother Square on October 27, 2016 in Poundbury, Dorset.
Samir Hussein/WireImageQueen prepares for “special pilgrimage” to Sandringham
The Mail on Sunday reports that the queen is preparing to go to Sandringham in the coming days, to mark both the 70th anniversary of her father George VI’s death—he died there aged 56, from a coronary thrombosis, on February 6, 1952—and the anniversary of her husband Prince Philip’s passing.
The Mail says the queen will reportedly stay at Wood Farm, which was Philip’s bolthole after he retired from public life. Here, the Mail says, the queen and Philip felt they could be a “normal” couple, and where Philip decreed the servants wear their own clothes rather than royal livery.
“Everything is being put in order for the queen’s visit,” a source said. “We’ve been told that she will stay at Wood Farm, rather than the main house, which is nice as that always had a special place in his heart.”
The queen and royal family typically spend Christmas at Sandringham, but COVID has meant the queen has been at Windsor Castle since the fall. The Christmas decorations, the Mail reports, remain twinkling at Sandringham ready for her arrival—they traditionally stay up until February 6, the queen’s “quiet tribute” to her father.
This week in royal history
This week marks the anniversary of one of the most iconic royals of all time, Henry VIII, famous for his six wives, who are now wittily remembered themselves—long-overdue reclaiming their own histories—in the hit musical Six. Henry VIII himself died on January 28, 1547.
Unanswered questions
Are Harry and Charles really making up, and how can Harry return to the U.K. if he doesn’t feel safe to? And if the Home Office isn’t budging on the issue of his security provision, is his legal battle with the U.K. government about to get even trickier?
