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Not so many happy returns
The depth of ill-feeling between the Sussexes and the Cambridges was revealed in quite extraordinary detail in the biography of Harry and Meghan, Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family.
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Were it not for the granular account of resentments and snubs detailed in that tome, it would be easier to discount a story circulating in the U.K. this week that Prince William did not deign to join a family Zoom call to wish his brother prince Harry a happy birthday.
The Sunday People reports that William and Kate were absent from the virtual celebration for Harry’s 36th birthday. Prince Charles and the queen were joined by Camilla on the Zoom call to Harry, Meghan, and Archie in California. A source said: “William sent his birthday best wishes. There was some excuse made about why he wasn’t there. The boys love each other and there will always be a close connection. It’s just been difficult of late. It’s unfortunate that William could not be on the call.”
Of the call, the source told the People: “It was very pleasant. Harry told the family how much he missed them. Meghan baked a cake and Harry blew out candles. Archie made them laugh when he also blew them out.”
Archie, now 16 months old, said “Pa”, short for grandpa to Charles. “It was a bit awkward that William and Kate weren’t there,” the source said.
Such petty behavior seems an odd way for the royal family to move forward. Unfortunately, it also seems all too believable: The usually very careful William and Kate didn’t include Meghan in a picture they posted online to wish Harry a happy birthday (they are also believed to have chatted privately).
The latest bout of familial bad feeling—following all the fallout from Finding Freedom—is over a rumored beef around Harry and Meghan’s Netflix deal, while Netflix is also showing The Crown, soon to feature all of Princess Diana’s many dramas.
The Daily Beast has requested comment from Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace on the People’s account of the call.
Bitchy Kate profile is amended
A bizarre resolution to the legal action of Kensington Palace against Tatler magazine emerged this week. The glossy for posh people has cut huge chunks of text from the online version of a bitchy profile it published of Kate Middleton, but left the filleted piece up on its website.
Tatler has removed almost a quarter of the piece, aka the juicy bits—in particular, classist criticism aimed at Kate’s mother Carole Middleton and sister Pippa.
The story was published in May under the title “Catherine the Great.” Tatler has deleted claims that Kate, 38, felt “exhausted and trapped” following Harry and Meghan’s decision to step back from royal life. However, the Mail on Sunday reports it was the criticism of the Middleton clan that upset Kate the most.
Tatler, having originally refused to remove anything from the internet, has now been forced to eat humble pie. One of the claims that most angered the Cambridges was a comparison of “perilously thin” Kate to Princess Diana. At the time, a royal source said: “That is such an extremely cruel and wounding barb. It’s disgusting. It’s sexist and woman-shaming at its very worst.”
The blow-up was also personal. Tatler editor Richard Dennen was a fellow student of Kate and William’s at St Andrew’s University, even being close enough to Kate to go on holiday with her twice.
Charles was “frightened” of Philip
Prince Philip “tolerated Charles but he wasn’t a loving father,” Eileen Parker, the former wife of one of Philip’s closest friends, Mike Parker, told royal biographer Ingrid Seward, Seward reveals in the Mail on Sunday. “I think Charles was frightened of him. He became very quiet when Philip was around.”
Seward, author of the forthcoming book Prince Philip Revealed, writes: “Philip was only 26 when Charles was born and harbored a young man’s ideal that he would like his first-born to be in his own image.
“As Charles grew into a shy, diffident child, Philip was determined to make a man of his son and organized for him to be driven three times a week to a private gym in Chelsea where a small class of boys were instructed in physical training and boxing.”
Philip’s method of teaching Charles to swim was “to drag, or sometimes throw, him into the Buckingham Palace pool.”
Seward reveals that Philip attended only two of Charles’ first eight birthdays, symbolic of “a series of separations that were to blight Charles’ young life,” Seward says. The queen also left her son frequently, including once over Christmas, separations Charles found “very upsetting and bewildering.”
As The Crown showed, Philip also sent Charles to Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun to (in his eyes) toughen him up, which was a miserable experience for the young Charles.
Princess Diana told Seward what she called Charles’s “emotional retentiveness,” was down to his childhood.
“Diana reckoned that if Charles had been brought up in the normal fashion, he would have been better able to handle his and her emotions. Instead, she said, his feelings seemed to have been suffocated at birth. According to her, he never had any hands-on love from his parents. Only his nannies showed him affection.”
His parents expressed affection only in the most formal terms, Diana told Seward. “The only thing he learned about love was shaking hands.”
Meghan’s tribute to RBG: “a true inspiration”
Meghan Markle has issued a powerful tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday aged 87 from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. Meghan’s tribute was both warm and personal, while also a direct call to action on the part of voters, saying that they should not just “honor” Ginsburg, but also “act for her.”
“With an incomparable and indelible legacy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg will forever be known as a woman of brilliance, a Justice of courage, and a human of deep conviction,” Meghan wrote. “She has been a true inspiration to me since I was a girl. Honor her, remember her, act for her.”
Princess Anne, mask queen
Princess Anne wore a face mask on a visit this week to Citizens Advice Harlow, in Essex, emblazoned with her royal monogram. Witness.
This shows, yet again (The Daily Beast will happily restate this as many times as necessary), what a supreme royal badass Princess Anne is. The mask also looks super-comfortable and not chafing on the ears!
Harry and Meghan hit primetime
Many eyes will be on Harry and Meghan’s primetime TV debut, happening not on Netflix (with whom their deal is reportedly the subject of a renewed royal feud that may have led to the exclusion of Meghan from a birthday message to her husband from William and Kate) but on ABC Tuesday night, when they feature in the Time100 “special television event.” They will be appearing alongside celebrities including Trevor Noah, Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani and John Legend, E! News says.
It is the first time that Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world will be broadcast, with the magazine publishing the full list shortly afterwards. The issue will then be on sale a few days later, on Sept. 25.
Whether or not Harry and Meghan are actually on the list, or introducing others who are, is unknown. What is known is that they are listed simply as, “Harry and Meghan.” Does this presage the couple ultimately giving up their royal “Duke and Duchess” titles?
Meghan’s book shelf
Meghan Markle is apparently a fan of erotic fiction writer Anais Nin. According to a report in the Sun, when she started dating Prince Harry in 2016, she used an email which featured a term which was a nod to the French author’s autobiographical novel The Four-Chambered Heart.
A source said: “Meghan was a big fan of Anais’ work when she met Harry and was using this email address then. A lot of Anais’ books are quite explicit but Meghan likes the arty way they are written. Anais is a feminist icon and Meghan found what she wrote very interesting and liberating. She used that email address for ages but I don’t think she ever thought anyone would realize what it was in relation to.”
Barbados dumps the queen
Barbados declared its independence from Britain in 1966, and now plans to remove the queen as head of state as it prepares to officially become a republic next year.
Barbados’ governor-general Dame Sandra Mason said: “The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind. Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state. This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving. Hence, Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a republic by the time we celebrate our 55th anniversary of independence.”
Sky News quoted a Buckingham Palace statement, saying that Barbados’ plan to remove the queen as its head of state was a “matter for the government and people” of the country.
Meghan and Harry home costs saga continues
Getting the British taxpayer to stump up the $3 million bill for transforming rundown Frogmore Cottage into a luxury pad suitable for a young and dynamic royal couple must have seemed a brilliant wheeze at the time.
Readers blessed with good memories may recall that Harry and Meghan originally proposed, when their blueprint for departing the Firm landed, that they should simply be allowed to keep Frogmore as a handy little base back in the U.K.
But, having stuck two fingers up to the monarchy and fled the country, this didn’t fly. And the cost of restoring a now-unused Frogmore to their specifications became a convenient hook on which to hang public outrage at the couple.
So, the next plan was that Harry and Meghan said they would pay back monthly installments on the place; $23,000 a month for 11 years.
Netflix came to the rescue, of course, sending a truckload of cash to Meghan and Harry for their production expertise, $3 million of which was promptly sent to the queen’s accountants to settle the Frogmore bill.
The Royally Obsessed podcast, however, suggested this week that if the couple simply gave the property back to the queen, relinquishing all claim to it, they might be able to claim the money back.
It’s not hard to imagine how badly this would go down. The Star reports that Graham Smith, CEO of anti-monarchy group Republic, had a few thoughts on the issue, saying: “They may argue that the Crown Estate is getting the house back and they ought to pay for the refurbishment, but that refurbishment was done for Meghan and Harry to their specifications.”
This week in royal history
Romance!!! On Sept. 24, 2017, Prince Harry launched the third Invictus Games, where he was photographed (extremely cutely) with then-girlfriend Meghan Markle.
Unanswered questions
Why did William and Kate seemingly snub Meghan in their birthday message to Harry, and miss that royal family birthday get-together? Will royal displeasure at Harry and Meghan’s deal with Netflix affect already strained relations?
