Nutty Flavor Blog

One of the things you learn quickly when writing about the Royal Family is that many other people do it better. One of those people is a Lipstick Alley font named Aunt Jane, whose comments are always perceptive and thoughtful. I know nothing about Aunt Jane, who doesn't even use a profile image, but Lipstick Alley is primarily a site for Black women plus a few other women of color; white participation is discouraged. Lipstick Alley's Meghan Markle Unpopular Opinions Part 2 thread is now on 889 pages (with about 20 comments per page) and counting. The thread is public and anyone can read without participating. Today's comment from Aunt Jane was particularly good, so I am reproducing it here. (Aunt Jane, if you would prefer that I take this down, drop a quick comment below and I will do so.) The BRF is ultra dysfunctional thanks to the example set by HM. It also seems to me that the toxic example set by Diana - using a much too young William as a principal counse...

What does a gold digger do when she (or he) worries that the money train may soon be coming to a stop? A smart gold digger thinks about the assets she (or he) will be able to take along when headed out the door. Like jewelry. Meghan has been spending a great deal of money on jewelry recently; she just  redesigned her 18-month-old engagement ring , adding pavé diamonds plus a new, thinner band. She also showed up at the Trooping of the Color in early June in a new eternity ring , supposedly from Prince Harry. The Daily Mail, never adverse to an inflated figure, estimates that Meghan has worn 600,000 pounds worth of jewelry in the past 6 months, more than Kate has worn in the 8 years she has been married to Prince William. Kate is not heading for a divorce. But Meghan probably is. Making the jewelers bid Enty mentioned Meghan's jewelry habit in his June 24 "Gossip Galore" podcast, available on Patreon. "Apparently she is spending money right and left -...

Two foundations, two office spaces, two sets of administrators, two sets of accountants, two sets of expenses. This week the Royal Foundation, the charity project that Prince William and Prince Harry founded together in 2009, was split into two. Harry and his wife Meghan will run a separate charity that has not yet been named, although some fun-seeker set up a Royal Sussex Foundation account on Instagram. A digital squatter has taken @Royal SussexFoundation  Meghan apparently got what she wanted: her own version of the type of celebrity foundation run by Jennifer Lopez, John Mayer, Lady Gaga and others she sees as big stars like herself. (Not to mention the foundations of Meghan buddies like George Clooney and Oprah Winfrey.) Celebrity foundations aren't popular just because famous people want to "give back". They are popular because they can make you look charitable without having to actually be charitable. If The Nutty Flavor Foundation sponsors, say, an a...

The Instagram account @SussexRoyal, generally assumed to be run by Meghan Markle, posted a new photo of Baby Archie today to commemorate Father's Day.  Although the photo is sepia-toned - a nod to Markle's beloved black-and-white - at least the baby's back isn't to the camera, as Meghan is so fond of posing in photos of her and her husbands.  Strangely, the baby's face is half-obscured, covered by Harry's hand, which is shot from an angle that makes it appear larger than the baby's head. The real centerpiece of the photo is Harry's wedding ring, which is right in the middle of the frame.  A cold and loveless photo Baby pictures with a parent are a classic that dates back to the Renaissance painters and before. Sometimes the mother and child (or, less often, father and child) both gaze out at the viewer; in other images, they look lovingly at each other.  But unfailingly, they interact . Part of the visual story is the interaction ...

The PR elves were clearly at work when the publicist-friendly magazine US Weekly reported this week that Meghan Markle, best known as the Duchess of Sussex,  will be editing the September issue of British Vogue.    According to US, Meg will "w ill be writing an opinion piece of her own as well as bringing a selection of female change-makers on board to write their own personal essays." In addition, she will be posing for a fashion shoot at  Frogmore Cottage  with her child  Archie  - the first public appearance of the renovated home, and Archie's third public appearance, provided that some portion of him does not show up on Instagram on Father's Day. ( A close-up of Archie's feet  was posted to celebrate Mother's Day) But why has one of the world's worst-dressed celebrities been chosen to edit one of British fashion's best-known fashion magazines? Industry doldrums Vogue UK isn't the cultural force it was 15 years ago, or...

It was about a month ago that the birth of Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was announced in a rather strange fashion , and as of this writing, the public has seen only one photo of the child's face. This is unusual in itself - most new parents, particularly those who love social media, err on the side of too many pictures of their newborn instead of too few. But there are several other odd aspects about the new baby, or at least what we've been told about him. The other Archie First of all, Archie's name is unusual for a Royal, and makes an unfortunate historical reference. There has only been one Duke of Sussex before Harry, a man who also married an older woman against his family's wishes. The marriage was not successful, in part because the Duke's wife was in love with another man - named Archie. In fact, Archie was probably the real father of the Duke's children. (Here's a Daily Mail piece from 2018 about Archibald Hamilton; here...