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More revelations from Princess Diana tapes?
The royal family is bracing not just for season five of The Crown, and likely more damning drama around their treatment of Princess Diana. They can also look forward to more revelations from Diana’s voice itself, according to the Daily Mail.
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Producers of Diana: In Her Own Words are planning a Netflix sequel tied to the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death next year. Filmmaker Tom Jennings told the Mail he has “six more hours of unheard recordings, made for use by Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton as prep for his infamous book Diana: Her True Story. The film will come out to also tie in with the 30th anniversary of that explosive biography.
“There are seven hours of tapes that Diana made for Morton,” Jennings told the Mail. “We wound up in our two-hour film only using about one hour of them…. There will be renewed interest, and season five of (fellow Netflix show) The Crown will be coming out.”
“There are about 140 story points that Diana talks about over the seven hours,” Jennings told the Mail. “We called it the seven pillars of Diana’s life.”
In Diana: In Her Own Words, the princess was heard discussing such things as Charles and Camilla’s affair, Charles allegedly commenting on her weight, their sex life, and a suicide attempt. The new Diana documentary will inevitably again put a spotlight on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who have a reported $100 million deal with the streaming giant.
Meghan might have been wrong about Archie’s title
Meghan Markle may have been “wrong” when she told Oprah Winfrey her son was entitled to be named a prince but was not made one, her confidante Omid Scobie has told a new documentary.
In her interview the duchess shared her upset at the idea “of the first member of color in this family, not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be.”
Oprah asked: “Do you think it’s because of his race? I know that’s a loaded question.”
Meghan replied: “In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, so we (had) the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title.
“And also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
However those seeking to punch holes in Meghan’s interview have argued that Archie was not entitled to be a prince because of rules set down by King George V more than 100 years ago, and pointed out that being a prince or princess does not automatically mean royals have police protection.
For example, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie’s security is no longer paid for by the taxpayer.
At the time of his birth, it was widely briefed that Harry and Meghan had decided he should be a regular Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.
But Meghan said this was not correct, adding: “It was not our decision to make.”
Asked if Archie being a prince was important to her, she replied: “If it meant he was going to be safe then of course.”
However their biographer Omid Scobie admitted Meghan might have been wrong in a forthcoming Discovery+ documentary, Harry and Meghan: Recollections May Vary.
“If we are only going by what Meghan said to Oprah and what the palace have said so far about the situation with Archie, perhaps one can assume that Meghan was wrong in her interpretation of it.
“But we also know that there is much more to this story that we don’t know about,” he said.
Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah is being analyzed by a range of body language, linguistics, and forensic psychology experts in the film.
It will examine the couple’s speech, tone of voice, movements, and expressions frame by frame.
William nearly praised sex suspect Noel Clarke
Talk about missing disaster by a cigarette paper. Prince William came within hours of issuing a glowing tribute to British actor-producer Noel Clarke, who has been the subject of multiple lurid and extremely credible allegations of sexual impropriety in recent days.
Clarke, 45, made his name with the trilogy, Kidulthood, Adulthood and Brotherhood. He was handed the award for outstanding British contribution to cinema on April 10, but British film academy BAFTA had been made aware of serious complaints about Clarke’s behavior as early as March 30.
The award was suspended on Thursday night after at least 20 women made allegations in the Guardian of sexual harassment, unwanted touching or groping, bullying and secretly recording naked auditions between 2004 and 2019.
However, BAFTA officials failed to stop the award—and failed to inform William, who is president of BAFTA, of the allegations.
William’s presidential address was cancelled because of the death of his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, the day before he was due to give it.
After initially issuing a 29-page legal rebuttal to the Guardian, Clarke publicly apologized on Friday, but denied any criminal offenses.
Another security scare at Andrew’s home
Two intruders, reportedly a 31-year-old man and his 29-year-old girlfriend, broke into the grounds of Prince Andrew’s home, Royal Lodge, on April 25, close to where the queen goes for walks with her corgis and rides horses.
The breach occurred despite the fact that security was supposed to be on “high alert” at the time, as just days earlier a woman talked her way into Royal Lodge while Andrew, 61, was home, by pretending to be his girlfriend.
Andrew is understood to have been home during the latest incident as well.
A source told the Sun: “This is an astonishing lapse. Everyone was on high alert after the first intruder, now this happens. Heads could roll. It is unforgivable.
“The couple wandered around for ages before anyone spotted them and police were called.
“Andrew was at home at the time. You have to wonder what on earth is going on up there.”
Harry hid girlfriends under blankets on dates
Prince Harry went to extreme lengths to hide his relationships after becoming frustrated and upset by the public interest in his romantic life, a royal biographer has claimed.
Romantic Harry was the “opposite” of brother William when it came to matters of the heart—and “wanted to marry every girl he loved,” Ingrid Seward wrote in the Sun.
But although he “wore his heart on his sleeve,” he faced difficulties in his relationships as a result of the scrutiny.
And he became so concerned he would ask his partners to hide on the way to dates, Seward said.
“When he took girls out, he was so paranoid about being seen that he would make them sit in the back of the Range Rover under a blanket en route to the restaurant,” she said.
Royal relations remain stuck
Harry spent time with his father and brother following his grandfather’s funeral service, but more evidence has emerged that little progress was made and relations remain icy.
Us Weekly quoted a source as saying: “Prince Harry and Prince Charles did not resolve their differences when Harry returned to the U.K. They barely communicated. Charles is still fuming about Harry throwing shade at him and the Royal Family in the big interview and won't let it drop.”
The report tallies with The Daily Beast’s understanding of the current state of royal relations.
Taking on the Mantel
Booker Prize winner Dame Hilary Mantel has described the monarchy as a “self-punishing institution” facing its “endgame.” Mantel, 68, famously described Kate Middleton as a “plastic princess” whose “only point and purpose” was to give birth in a 2013 lecture.
Mantel, known for her Wolf Hall trinity about King Henry VIII told the Daily Telegraph magazine the queen should have abdicated to make way for Prince Charles.
“I understand she thinks of this as a sacred task… It’s a conflict because most of the world sees the Royal Family as a branch of show business,” she said.
Reflecting on the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, Dame Hilary said: “What recent events bring home is how far the monarchy’s arrangements with the media have turned it into a self-punishing institution.
“No other family would be expected to parade a very elderly, newly widowed lady before the TV cameras, and yet it’s taken for granted that’s what will happen—just as it’s taken for granted that a new Royal mother will appear beaming on the hospital steps within a day of giving birth.
“There’s no legitimate public interest behind it.”
Asked about the monarchy’s future, she said: “I think it’s the endgame. I don’t know how much longer the institution will go on. I’m not sure if it will outlast William. So I think it will be their last big era.”
This week in royal history
Princess Charlotte turns 6 today, May 2. Her parents released a new picture of her yesterday, taken by Kate Middleton, to mark the occasion. The solo photograph reminds us how much she mischievously steals the show in pretty much every photograph taken with her brothers, Prince George and Prince Louis, and parents, Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Unanswered questions
What is Princess Diana set to reveal from beyond the grave? Why does Prince Andrew appear to have such terrible security? Was Omid Scobie authorized by Meghan’s camp to make the concession of a possible mistake in the Oprah interview?
