Nutty Flavor Blog

CDAN's Enty must not have much free time. In addition to publishing a dozen short pieces on his website seven days a week, he also puts out roughly five podcasts per week. (You can subscribe to Enty's podcast via Patreon for $5 plus tax per month.) Anyway, Enty admits his Royal sources are not particularly good - that he can only get exclusives when something related to the Royals happens in his home town of Los Angeles, New York City, and occasionally Toronto, where he has sources in the entertainment industry. His one big scoop was that someone representing the Royal Family has been looking at California real estate. Nevertheless, he answered a reader's question about Meg in a podcast released late Wednesday or very early Thursday Los Angeles time. This is what he said. Transcript of Enty's comments on Meg and Harry Somebody asked about Meghan Markle and what kind of mom she is and then somebody asked, is she a cokehead.  Does she pass the child off to...

This weekend's media are promoting a curiously uniform line about the Sussexes trip to South Africa. Finally, Harry and Meghan have a PR Success! writes the Daily Mail. "New team of aides have orchestrated some 'magic' moments with adorable photo opportunity with Archie." At the Telegraph, the headline read  Harry and Meghan's Africa Tour is a storming success, but have they turned the corner with the public yet? "Beaming and tactile, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have summoned the spirit of Diana with their effortless ability to win hearts and warm souls during their first official trip abroad as a young family, in Africa," Telegraph writer Angela Epstein effused. Across the pond, Page Six at the New York Post wrote: "The trip, so far, has been a true master-class, reminding the once-adoring public why they fell for Meghan in the first place." Bizzaro world But the tour has not been a success, as anyone following the comment...

Many commenters have noted that they have had trouble posting, and I am sincerely sorry for that. I know how frustrating it is to write out a thoughtful post and have it eaten by Blogger, because it has happened to me as well. We're going to do a quick experiment with non-embedded posts, which may make the site more stable. The negative is that on some platforms, it is not immediately clear which comment you are replying to. Therefore, you'll have to @ the previous poster - ie "@Mischi, I agree with you on this point." You can also refer to a specific previous post by putting it into italics: You said: The Royal Family must know what is going on.  To do so, just put a < i > at the front of the italicized area (eliminate spaces) and < / i > at the end. Let's give it a go.

As I write, it's roughly 5pm London time, which means that Archie Mountbatten-Harrison's apparently paid promotion for H&M Baby has been live for nearly 24 hours. Yet I can find no major media organization that has reported on the unusual circumstance of three members of the Royal Family (Meghan and Harry appear in the ad) being used as a spokesmodels for a commercial business.  Strange. Why no coverage? Why are no outlets reporting on the ad? It's not a common thing. According to Royal Family protocol, working royals - in other words, royals who are receiving a stipend from the taxpayers - cannot endorse commercial products. (Zara Tindall, who is not a working royal, is an "ambassador" for Land Rover .) One could argue that Archie is an untitled private citizen, but his parents certainly aren't. In fact, they're currently on a taxpayer-funded tour of South Africa. And it was during that taxpayer-funded trip that the endorseme...

The website of clothing retailer H&M is currently featuring an image of Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor wearing H&M clothes . "A Royal Baby First," says the ad copy. "Archie Mountbatten Windsor wears H&M Baby." It certainly is a first for the Royal Family, who are generally not celebrity endorsers. In addition to Archie, Prince Harry appears prominently in the photos. But it's also certainly a first for Most Reverend Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a brave man who helped broker the peaceful transition to a post-apartheid South Africa and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Is that what the Sussexes' meeting with Desmond Tutu was about? To sell some baby clothes? And did the elderly Archbishop know this was what he was participating in? Did he get a cut? Or was his family merching out their 87-year-old-patriarch for a payday? H&M sent the stylist No wonder Harry looked unusually well-groomed in the photos. H&M must have ...

Day 3 of Meg and Harry's South Africa Trip was an exciting one: we were introduced to the current incarnation of Archie, who was unveiled during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize. Meg was apparently saving up Archie's video debut in order to use the pun headline "Arch meets Archie" - as if it was the 87-year-old anti-apartheid campaigner's great honor to meet the untitled 7th in line to the British throne. Unfortunately, she waited too long: few people in Meg's under-40 target group have any idea who Desmond Tutu is. If she'd wanted their attention, she could have introduced Archie to Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, or maybe to UK rapper Stormzy. Looking good for the meeting At any rate, at least Meg's hair looked good for the meeting: perhaps her hairdresser finally got his glam kit through South African customs. Harry looked good too, with a clean, pressed blue suit. Archie appeared healthy and happy in...

Well, the good vibes of Meg and Harry's first day in South Africa were apparently too good to last. Day 2 became yet another of their patented car-crashes. The most photographed moment, of course, was Meg's very bad imitation of Islamic modesty while visiting a local mosque. In Meg's hands, the usual dress code - long sleeves and high neckline, long dress or trousers, and covered hair - was tossed aside for a short-sleeved, open-neck dress beneath which Meg appeared to be wearing Kardashian-style butt pads. She did wear a scarf over her head, but very loosely draped, with hair bursting out all over. As commenter Elle said yesterday, she looked like she was playing Mary Madgalene in a low-budget production of Jesus Christ Superstar . Perhaps since the hair isn't Meg's real hair - it seems to be some extentions or a wig - she thought it didn't count. Rewear and Rewear and Rewear Meg's doing a lot of rewearing of previous fashions on this trip, sup...

Day One of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's official trip to Africa went surprisingly well. Meg's wardrobe was better than usual, although she did show a slightly excessive amount of decollatage, at least for daytime, in a black-and-white cotton wrap dress made in nearby Malawi. Prince Harry, unfortunately, appeared to be freeballin' it beneath his crumpled trousers. His continued poor grooming suggests larger health problems, mental or physical or both. He trailed behind Meg all day. Anyway, Meg's second dress of the day was a rewear of a blue shirtdress that first appeared on the Sussexes' previous tour of Oceania. Meg likes this dress; a photo of her wearing it graces the Royal thank-you notes she sends out to her fans. The ring question The only sour note was the apparent absence of Meg's diamond engagement ring, although some commmenters suggested that perhaps she had just turned it around. Diamonds are a fraught topic in Africa due to the ...

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have touched down in South Africa with what appears to be a live, appropriately-sized baby. Meg was carrying the child correctly, which suggests she has been practicing. She was photographed in a white blouse and white trousers, an unusual choice for a Mom with a messy baby in diapers, but we'll let that go for now. Harry was his usual rumpled self in a grey wrinkled trousers with a large phone (or passports?) visible in the front pocket, plus those battered brown suede shoes he insists on wearing everywhere he goes. What are your thoughts?

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex fly to South Africa tomorrow to begin a 10-day tour of the continent. They'll be  taking along coloring books and markers for the local children  (markers that were probably made in China and imported to the UK). However, there are no play dates planned with local kids and the Sussexes' own rarely-seen son Archificial. (Prince George famously enjoyed a play date with the locals when his parents toured Australia, although he was a bit older than Archificial at the time.) Archie comes first  As they so often do, the Sussexes are putting Archificial's needs first when it comes to planning. " Although the Duke will attend several receptions at British High Commissions to celebrate the UK's ties with the countries he is visiting, with the Duchess joining him in South Africa, there are few evening events in a programme designed in part to take into account the needs of Archie," the Telegraph reported today .  "The de...

What do you think of Meg's dress for Misha Noonoo's wedding ? It has been identified as being from Valentino. Price: 9000 pounds, or $11,200 in US currency. So far I've heard: "Malificent", "I Dream of Jeannie at a Funeral" "Endora from Bewitched" and "Fredericks of Hollywood Catalogue 1987." (British readers, I'm sure you have something similar in your entertainment history. Could we say that it looks like something Diana Dors sold off at a jumble sale?) At any rate, the dress also reminds me of some fancy perfume bottles my mother used to have back in the day. High-end, bedazzled mosquito net for her trip to South Africa?

When she was being introduced to the world as Harry's new girlfriend, Duchess Meghan was frequently described as "highly intelligent", "whip-smart" and even "the smartest member of the Royal Family." In the wake of yesterday's release of photos of the Harkles dining at a pub - photos that were supposedly taken in August but included metadata showing they were taken on September 17 - does it still make sense to call Meghan "smart"? UPDATE: Apparently I misunderstood the metadata situation. The metadata was stripped from the photo , suggesting that the photos were not taken during the August Bank Holiday as advertised. However, they did not have metadata suggesting they were taken September 17. My apologies. As some of the comments have pointed out, Bank Holiday weekends tend to be very busy times for pubs. In addition to the missing metadata, it's suspicious that there are no other people dining. Also, what's with the very...

There's been a great deal of discussion about a Blind Gossip article from Monday suggesting that Meghan is holding off sharing images of Archificial until she can find someone willing to pay for them. According to the article, Meg hopes to "monetize" the first full-face and full-figure images of Archie, which is why she has been partially hiding his face in his rare public appearances. Unfortunately, she's been unable to put together a deal, according to Blind Gossip, in part because too many people knew about her plans to donate just some of the income to charity and divert the rest to a private account. But the question I'm intrigued by is : what type of company would consider paying to feature the first clear images of the seventh-in-line to the throne, and what would they hope to get from it? The magazine industry has been in crisis for more than a decade, so it seems unlikely that Meg will be able to sell her Archie images to a publishing house. And t...

Not quite four months ago, this blog posed the question of Frogmore Cottage , where Meghan and Harry supposedly live but where none of the locals has seen anyone come or go. No construction vehicles, no supply vehicles, no waste removal vehicles, and certainly no Royals. Since then, there have been numerous articles detailing the Sussexes' glamorous life in the cottage, which is located on a swamp, looking out on a graveyard, directly under the Heathrow flight path and perilously close to a public road. (An odd location for a family so worried about security that they are forced to fly on private planes.) However, I've yet to hear about any local sightings of the Sussexes. Have you? More money put into the cottage Instead, the past week has brought two new stories about ongoing improvements at Frogmore Cottage. One suggested that Harry and Meghan were putting in an 4000 pound outdoor barbeque area at Frogmore . Barbeque areas work great in Mailbu, where Meghan sup...

How interesting to receive this "promoted Tweet", aka paid advertisement, today September 13. The date on the Tweet is June 10, and it comes from an account with only 333 followers, managed by someone called "Axe Publications Ltd." A quick Google search turns up no company by that name. Clearly, the photos have been chosen to make the Duchess of Cambridge look a bit louche . (The article itself is quite tame. Among the facts you didn't know is "she is a skilled athlete" and "she is allergic to horses") Who would be interested in paying for this three-month-old Tweet featuring 10-year-old images to be promoted right now? Having worked with Twitter Ads myself, I know that you target specific age groups, genders, and locations. Who is paying to reach European women aged 25-60 and why? I should add that this article was served to my business account, which intentionally does not follow any Royal-related media. Meghan's new PR...

Sorry, people of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, you don't get to see Meghan Markle's baby Archificial, but Ellen DeGeneres does. DeGeneres states in a promo for her new season that "I fed Archie, I held Archie" during a visit to the UK where she and wife Portia also discussed elephant conservation with the Sussexes. Ellen doesn't mention whether she communed with Archie at Frogmore Cottage, where Meghan and Harry supposedly live but have never been seen. (One might wonder why neither Ellen, who is happy to share her wife and her life with her 78 million Instagram followers, nor Meghan, who is eagerly trying to build her Instagram follower count, chose to share a photo of this happy meeting with the public. But that's a question for another day.) Ties to Meg's PR agency It goes without saying that Ellen has ties to Sunshine Sachs , Meg's high-powered PR agency. For those of you without Sunshine Sachs connections or popular talk show, ...

For those of us following the Duchess Meghan drama, one of the most common questions has been " Why doesn't Queen Elizabeth do something? Doesn't she care about her legacy? Is she hiding her head in the sand ?" An answer to this question came in today's issue of Mail on Sunday , which directly addressed Meghan's decision to go watch her friend Serena Williams play tennis in New York City instead of joining the Queen and Charles at Balmoral: If the couple’s absence from Balmoral might have initially seemed as merely disappointing, now it has all the appearance of an outright snub. The Mail on Sunday understands the Queen is ‘hurt and disappointed’ at a time when she likes to bring her friends and family together. The annual Highland holiday is the Queen’s favourite time of the year and she was, according to a source, looking forward to ‘a few days of merry chaos’ with the great-grandchildren, including Archie.  It is understood Her Majesty is already...

Duchess Meghan is in the US today, supposedly to watch Serena Williams play tennis. But she may also take a meeting with her PR team at Sunshine Sachs and the US-based  agent, manager, and lawyer she has retained to help guide her future Hollywood career. Meg didn't have much of a career before marrying into the British Royal Family, except for her minor role on cable drama Suits, but she's apparently hoping to do better now that she has the Duchess of Sussex brand name behind her. What showbiz roles would you like to see Meghan take on? Game show host? Meg has experience on game shows - she started out famously as one of 26 miniskirted suitcase girls on Deal or No Deal . But would she be suitable as a game show host? Hosting game shows is an easy and lucrative gig - generally it's just a few days' work per month for a very attractive salary, the sort of schedule that would appeal to any member of the Royal Family. That said, game show hosts are generall...

It hit The Sun late Wednesday evening, UK time: Meghan and Harry won't be visiting the Queen at Balmoral this year. The story was framed as the Sussexes' own decision, because they felt their son Archificial is " too young " to enjoy the experience of salmon fishing and grouse shoting on the vast Scottish estate. (Archificial is apparently not too young to enjoy the infinity pool at their rented villa on Ibiza, or a private jet flight to visit Elton John's costume collection in the South of France, or an upcoming journey to South Africa. But, you know. Scotland is cold and the wifi is really bad at the castle. All those thick walls!) Surprising change of plans This was a surprising change of plans, since as recently as last week well-connected Royal correspondent Richard Eden was reporting that Meghan and Harry had solid plans to visit Balmoral for an end-of-season trip after all the other royal children and grandchildren had returned to England. And i...

It's been quite a day in the Harry and Meghan world - and the previous installment of the blog is collapsing under the weight of numerous comments. Accordingly, here's a placeholder new post with plenty of room for new comments. What do you think of the "Travalyst" initiative, the Sussexes' hiring of Sunshine Sachs with Sussex Foundation (Disney) money, and Harry's insistence on turning up in the same crumpled grey suit and musty brown suede shoes for every Royal engagement? Poor Edward Lane Fox (Harry's former private secretary and de-facto keeper and valet) must need a prescription for Xanax.

Have you ever seen a home whose owner attempted to "do it yourself" without the proper training? Pipes that leak, floorboards with gaps, patterned wallpaper that doesn't match at the seams, ceiling fans hung so low that they give tall people a haircut. As a media professional, that's what I see when I look at Meghan's press campaigns over the past ten days. Despite her vaunted "all-female team", from what I can see, this is a one-female team: Meghan herself. She is engaged in DIY public relations, and she is doing a terrible job. The pub trip that never was  First, there was a story attributed to an unnamed "53 year old businessman" about how Meghan, Harry and Archificial had dined at the Rose & Crown pub in Winkfield, Berkshire, choosing a table inside on one of the hottest days of the year. (Does the Rose & Crown have air conditioning? It's not clear from the website.) Anyway, the idea behind this planted story was a...