Several sources (Scobie and Morton, possible others) have raised a point about how wonderful Meghan was able to handle and parade about in the tour in Australia and that this is when (unnamed) people allegedly began to worry that Harry and Megan would outshine William and the rest of the family just as there had been similar concerns about Diana.
Their popularity was explosive - Sussexroyal on Instagram hit gained a million followers in the first six hours. The crowds on tours were huge (or so the Scobie's book says).
But was this fear realistic - the concerns, comparisons?
Could someone really outshine The Queen? William and Catherine? Prince Charles?
Consider the structure of the British Royal Family - the title (jewelry, land, power, money) have gone to the first born son (and only recently amended to daughter)? All the ceremonies show rank (status). Just how could they have done this - outshine everyone around them? Would some cause they got funding for suddenly unite people who were ununited before? What cause or idea could do that? And where could you go with it since the line of succession is fixed?
Being popular seems to come off as being very important. Outranking
people in numbers on Instagram or crowd numbers greater than someone
else but does that show what is truly popular or important?
Or it just a comment/data point about the happening today compared to
some other time in history in some segment of interests? So ... so
what? What does it matter? or why should it matter? Is this temporary
ranking all that important in the grand scheme of the future of the UK,
the world? What happens when someone passes you? Then what or where are you?
What can be considered the true scale of how to define popular in the
world? and how much should it sway the future of the monarchy?
Comments
And furthermore--it didn't take long for the myth of the success of *'s (love this usage!) Down Under tour to crumble. Someone correct me if I'm wrong--it was NOT seen as a success at the time, was it?
The whole idea of their Australian tour being a success is also ludicrous. She made faux pas after faux pas.
The idea of their Australian tour being a huge success is ludicrous! There were so many faux pas especially by TBW. Allegedly hot tea thrown at staff, reports of shouting matches between the “happy couple,” there was a photo of 6 sitting outside the front porch alone looking forlorn, the Banana bread supposedly baked by TBW that staff was forced to bake, the hanging price tag off a dress, dirty shoes, protective wrapping on purse, laughing inappropriately, ducking out of engagements to receive spa treatments, allegedly paying off JM for services rendered with a Jaguar to name a few. Andrew was sent down under afterwards to make amends.
What I remember was Prince Andrew having to go to Morocco because * so deeply offended King Mohammed VI. But perhaps I just missed the Australian news the first time. Imagine being so messy that Prince Andrew has to clean up after you!
Perfect comment!
I have been grappling with the idea of popularity and what do you do with this information if you are the BRF?
Gone are the days when a more popular younger brother could lead an uprising and take the throne. At least one would like to think so. In any case, Harry's popularity is sunk, and enough people will remember having foolhardily preferred dashing Hero Harry over boring Work-shy Wills when Princes George and Louis are in their 20s that they won't want to pit brother against brother in the news again.
To answer the question more generally: I think they value popularity just like anything else that could be an asset or a liability. Catherine is very popular now and she's a team player; therefore, she's a huge asset. Prince Andrew is very unpopular now, so despite anything else that may recommend him, he has to fade away quietly.
While popularity has no effect on succession, rank or even salary, I think all the crowned heads of today are well aware that they're competing not with each other for the hearts of their subjects, but with republican politics.
Thank you! And if Prince Andrew did go to both Australia and Morocco, then he cleaned up after her twice!
People used to hotly speculate about what kind of dirt Andrew must have on * -- since his dislike of her was so obvious -- and the favored explanation was that he had met her when their yachting days overlapped. Well, what if it's a much simpler explanation? He despised her because he had had to follow after her with a mop and a bucket.
A few days ago, I came across a statement about how so many of today's young are obsessed with the number of likes they get on their social media accounts - how shallow, as if that's any measure of their moral, or any other kind of worth. So very shallow. I wish I could remember where I saw/heard it. * is stuck in her teens mentally.
Blogger Enbrethiliel -May I suggest a shovel as well, to go with the bucket?
Perhaps the people Andrew met on his sanitising mission told him exactly what had gone on, even though the rest of us have just had to read between the lines?
@WildBoar
Modernise was a typo,
she meant Monetise 😵💫
The Sussexes completed 76 engagements over 16 days in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga to a rockstar reception
And now with his new wife on his arm, Harry’s currency just hit the jackpot. Indigenous Australians and young women who met Meghan saw her as a symbol of female empowerment.
If measured by the huge crowds following their appearances, the 16-day-tour through Australia, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand has proved a massive hit for the royal couple ..... They have been continually praised for their modern, easy and natural approach.
I think we can concur that what was seen with praise for the 6s at the time can be seen very differently 3 years on. TBW wasn't so infamous then and was still 'new' on the scene but a lot of people have since seen her for what she is. So I think the Queen,Charles & Camilla and, of course, William & Kate can sleep easy. Just look at the 6s in NYC and W&K at the Bond premiere. Any comparisons?
@OCGal
Thank you,
your words are much appreciated,
glad to be of service ☺️
@Swampie
Thanks for asking, all good here,
the only danger is boredom 🥴
Overseas media appears to be portraying
a land of jackboots and AK-47’s…
As for crocs/snakes/poisonous spiders,
never seen one, the sharks ate em!! 😉
Magatha - Quite! I interpreted `modernise' as `destroy' - it became clear after the 1969 documentary and the cringe-making `It's a Royal Knockout' in 1987 that any attempt to make the RF `modern' needed great care if it wasn't to backfire. Yet here was a little madam, not even a Commonwealth citizen, who clearly knew sweet Fanny Adams about how things work, proposing to wade in.
Perhaps we're both right - she intended to monetise them out of existence and scoop up all the boodle for herself. Nothing matters to her except money and power - s*d everyone else.
@Maneki
Lest we forget there were grumbles
about Harry not being as committed
to Invictus.
Their hand in hand stroll leaving the
Queensland Premier to trail behind
playing gooseberry.
Grabbing hazs crotch whilst seated
front row, noticed by ex Govenor General,
at Invictus finale.
Bored and uncomfortable at the
‘Banana Bread’ visit.
Fleeing from the Fiji market.
Lack of crowds at Bondi.
Just not widely reported at the time.
These were 2018 fawning articles that didn't deceive us. We know different but this is how they were reported in the press, still giddy and full of adulation after the fairy tale wedding 😉 and the birth announcement.
On another note, I hope you can travel to the UK next month when Australia reopens its borders 😀
And may I bring up something that has bothered me this whole time? I used to make a lot of banana bread. I think we all know that the recipe requires 2 to 3 OLD bananas, black in the skin, that you've had for probably a week. So what were the chances that the Australian Embassy (or whoever it was) just happened to have bananas of the proper vintage lying around, visible? If they DID have them, wouldn't they have put them out of sight of their elite visitor?
Phooey! I knew at the time that this story was a lie.
(I just did a search and found out that there's a method to quickly "ripen" fresh bananas if you need to, basically by baking them for 40 minutes on a lined baking sheet. Oh well. Live and learn!)
The sentences from articles I quoted were were from various publications. It may well have been PR but at the time a lot of people liked the 6s. If you Google their recent visit to NYC, the articles are a lot less flattering.
Good point about using ripe bananas for banana bread. I don't bake so wouldn't know. Don't forget that Admiralty House staff had to work all night to make a couple of banana breads and try again when they were not to TBW's satisfaction (IIRC).
I use jars of baby food. It's already mushed, no seeds hasn't passed the point of no return.
As for the glowing articles at the engagement (loved the had it been an interview observation WBBM) maybe people were also just happy that it looked like Harry had now found happiness so they weren't thinking about needing to look deeper?
---
The Dumbarton's spend waaaay too much money trying to convince everyone how popular they are. It's joke BS that the majority see right through.
Chasing popularity is a fool's errand...
Start watching at 4.12mins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNKTVZ791XI&t=591s&ab_channel=UNWINEWITHTASHAK
Also, the outrageously expensive earrings with the blue evening gown.
And, let's not forget, she asked to borrow a tiara before leaving and that became public.
Then, the problems with the staff started becoming evident at that time.
While the brouhaha about her trying to upstage Eugenie still lingered.
Of course, it's nothing to do with philosophy or ethics, it's all about sales/marketing, so it's right up their street, even if she doesn't understand the difference between flogging something and finding out what people need and then working out what to flog to them.
I get very frustrated with Zoom - signing on to it seems to never to be the same twice - I get in quite a state, especially as it's really important for a couple of courses I'm doing. Even if the couple I saw are lookalikes, I don't appreciate `them' butting in when I'm already a bag of nerves as to whether I'm going to sign on successfully. Do other Nutties have this problem?
A very good list. The dress split to the thigh was on Fraser Island where TBW had her hand on her non-existant bump. There was also a weird striped dress in Tonga and remember the arrival at Sydney airport with TBW clutching a prop, sorry, purple folder, in front of her stomach - suddenly coy about her pregnancy.
As for the pot of tea and her demands at Admiralty House, I'd love to know all the details.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/g23846464/meghan-markle-prince-harry-royal-tour-photos/
Cuz we all know it's the number of likes that count.
When I make a small carrot cake for my husband (I don't like it) I use strained baby food carrots. No chopping!!! much easier.
I think that Meghan thought that she could become Queen of England (I know it's the UK) for that reason.
People who are still on her side are there for that reason alone.
------
Kind of funny because that girl's probably one of the least black people you'll ever meet.
I know. They thought that that fact would help us swallow the idea.
Considering the majority, during and after, media was negative regarding the NY grubbing trip. How can they expect positive media for the toy soldier handing out awards to real soldiers? He couldn't even be there for his own country's real soldiers! Well it's near Halloween and I suppose he could find a military costume rental.
Noticed they weren’t invited to
George Clooney’s movie premiere
Oh dear!!
@Maneki
Yes, hopefully I can get over there soon 🤞
Hoping to get my hair done next week,
and trawl non food related shops 👗
followed by dinner in a restaurant !!!
@Deer
The Observer has a 2020 article
re Will and Kate’s chicken coop
at Anmer Hall.
Fowl play to the Harkles 😉
@WildBoar
Zoom and doom!!
@Peppa
I’d never heard of Vicky,
but you’re right, another madam.
Same black soulless eyes, rat pack.
Kudos to William if he had the cojones to oppose the 6s.
@Peppa
I'd never heard of Chris Cornell until your post. I googled him and the wife (widow) has long black hair like another wife. I don't know if he committed suicide because of the way the wife treated him (there's a lesson there for H) but I saw this in Wikipedia: 'Cornell's widow contacted insurance lawyer Kirk Pasich within a few minutes after her husband's death.' (my italics). I don't want to sound nasty but I can imagine TBW doing the same.
@Magatha
It will be wonderful for you to get your hair done and trawl the shops. Very liberating. Enjoy yourself.
`Compassion, if it is real must result in deeds.'
Are you listening, Harkles?
Mind you, he also says that we should help those whose problems are of their own making -but he doesn't say anything about what do when those with problems think they know best and refuse any wise counsel.
Combine that with the talk on DM about plans for the Platinum Jubilee, will there now be talk of trying to tack on the christening?
Carrots? hadn't thought of that. Thanks
the wife (widow) has long black hair like another wife
---
Thanks be to God not all women with long dark hair (all bazillion of us) fit the TBW/Vicky Cornell profile. Though I'm mostly salt and pepper now.
✌️ 😀
Guess Amal and George decided to back peddle on their love affair with the Dumbarton's. They took the wedding invite and ran lol 😆
Hairy and Maggot must be absolute poison in knowing circles.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10058105/DAN-WOOTTON-Unless-Harry-resigns-Netflix-Diana-Musical-Prince-Hypocrisy.html
no, just quiet. Post Traumeghan Stress Disorder maybe
Where is everyone? Is Blogger a product of Facebook or something?
___
It's always good to have some down time to reflect...
On the other hand, and more likely, they're working on something even nastier. Perhaps we should just treat it as a chance of recuperation before the next onslaught starts, as surely it will. (. There'll be plenty to talk about as the Jubilee approaches - and just under 6 weeks to PC's birthday
I hope nobody has withdrawal symptoms and that you have other projects to occupy you - my online History Certificate course starts formally this week - the Reading List is very daunting and I'm praying that Zoom behaves itself for the online sessions. I could do without the Harkles/their Lookalikes.
That'll annoy her.
Wouldn't it be nice if, for the rest of our lives we, never saw or heard from them again?
Also at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/05/global-citizens-assembly-to-be-chosen-for-un-climate-talks
Uh-oh...
I'm still looking in each day but there's not much to say - that may be good in that it may mean they're just bashing their heads against the wall in frustration that they're getting short of options.
____
Or maybe they are just living their miserable faux Royal lives.
As much as I do not like them, I have not allowed them to become the center of my Universe. They are just a funny meme or joke to me.
When you don't live for just one thing, when you have a solid community and family experience, in real time, then what dysfunctional people do or don't do does not really matter; in the big picture.
I have stayed detached from anything to do with the Dumbarton's because it's kind of sad to see grown adults allowing themselves to become so affected by faux celebrities, it actually can become a form of idolatry, to sugars and others. I decided a good while back to refuse to allow hatred to be part of my existence. We become what we hate.
The BRF have been around for what 1000 years? They will continue. They will be fine. But will I be fine? This is my main concern now as a woman in my 60's. The rest is fluff.
And this following the Clooney party.
Granted it is a piece about the long, long-term friendships but not recent (notice no Steadman but her trainer) but maybe the tide really has started to trickle out a little.
It is also an interesting piece when you look at the pictures. What the smiles look like and how they stand/lean, hug? Not in sexual way but in a power power way. I started looking at the historical pictures of her and now look at the people swirling around her now through the same lens.
I was going to post about the same thing about Oprah and her friendships.
I remember reading somewhere that Oprah had said that * was the daughter she never had. I wonder if she really said that or if Sunshine Sachs made that up. You never know.
We may howl with mirth at the ridiculous things the H$Ms do but, believe me, it's no laughing matter over here. They are attacking our hard-won Constitution, which, on the whole, works well.
“I'd just like to say that some of us take the H$Ms and their attacks on the RF v.seriously because it's an attack on our hard-won constitution”.
I, in turn, will never again give Harry sympathy or the benefit of the doubt, due to him in May 2021 showing his true sniveling colors on Dax Shepard’s podcast when Harry airily dismissed the USA’s First Amendment as “bonkers”. His sticking his nose into USA’s affairs is outrageous, indefensible, and deeply offensive. H$M are trying to disrupt both the UK and USA. They are merchants of chaos.
As much as I would wish Harry and his handler to be irrelevant, sadly they are relevant and will continue to be so until their titles are taken away, at which time the press and status-seeking people with money to burn will (hopefully) drop them like the proverbial hot potato.
We may howl with mirth at the ridiculous things the H$Ms do but, believe me, it's no laughing matter over here. They are attacking our hard-won Constitution, which, on the whole, works well.
___
Brief O/T comment
Very true but I've learned the hard way (through my therapist) that I can only control me and what I do. When I try to control outcomes then my well being becomes jeopardized.
Too bad we can't control powerful systems. We can't. Used to be here in the states "We The People" now it's "We The Moneyholders". I can get mad but even my vote does nothing in the majority of issues. Or, I can go looney and start protesting with loudspeakers, or...
the list goes on.
Many of us have seen our traditions trashed. For years I've been so pissed at all the Californians, Portlanders, and Seatlle-ites, moving here and changing the very fabric of my hometown. I got very angry and then realized I can't stop it. I don't' like it but I can't stop it. Our mayor wants the wokies here.
Things change but God stays the same. I heard this in church once. So true. This is where I am placing my trust. Not in politicians not institutions but in the Almighty Great Spirit, God etc.
So, now I focus only on what I can control.
Ok back to the topic.
One of the Nutties pointed out that Oprah loves using "the ____ I never had" line for lots of people. And it's something a narc would say in the love-bombing stage. * just happened to be young enough for "daughter" to fit in the blank.
Like Harry saying that the BRF was the family that * never had, I guess.
I can definitely imagine * trying to tug on Harry's heartstrings by saying she never had any warm family experiences until she met the BRF.
With both Oprah and * using it, I now have it marked as a "narc tell."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxZLKdO2pvY
Now, I don't know how good River's sources are. (To be honest, River's insistence that * carried both her supposed pregnancies to term is the first mark against those sources.) But the story is both hilarious and very credible, given what we know of * and narcs in general.
Apologies if this was addressed earlier.
Does anyone remember any specifics? Anything she advertised would be quite a dis-recommendation to me, just as I would not buy Oxy-Clean because the spokesman, Billy Mays, shouted his entire commercials. (U.S. reference)
We did discuss it a bit in the last thread. I thought it was such a weird association. Guthy-Renker may not be doing well these days, but you'd think a company that has done business with Cindy Crawford, Heidi Klum and Jennifer Lopez would know better than to pick * to market cosmetic products.
Perhaps the company's plane was just a favor someone else called in for her and there's no real business connection. That's all I've got, really, until more details (if any) come out.
I believe nothing was pinpointed as far as what she will be hawking. Just speculations and funny comments like @Magatha said wart remover including genital warts.
I think it was her. I remember that as a really good laugh. Apologies if it was someone else who posted it.
@Enbre,
I saw this yesterday.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10058425/Meghan-Markle-Guthy-Renker.html
"The firm, Guthy-Renker, has been fined over illegal business practices in California, was sued for $26million by thousands of women who claim its shampoo made their hair fall out, had commercials banned in the UK for 'misleading' consumers, and launched the career of self-help guru Tony Robbins was accused last month of spreading Covid misinformation".
Tony Robbins was outed for sexual abuse and other indiscretions. So there's that as well...
I’ve skimmed the comments on this new thread but haven’t noticed (possibly missed?) the speculation that TBW will work with Guthy Renker on a makeup line? I think it is laughable that some may believe she could earn the kind of millions off such a deal that much better known and liked celebs (ie Cindy Crawford) raked in. Guthy Renker also strikes me as being very down market—the company has been embroiled in all kinds of legal scandals.
___
What's an interesting twist is now Doria is involved in the alleged make up business (or other products)? Why else would she go with them to Guthy's house?
I am here because I do not like what the Sussex's are doing. I may not fall in the die hard category but I find it fun and relieving to vent and rag on them.
I am aware that my past mistakes on this blog come back to haunt me now and then and that a few on here don't care for my presence because I am not afraid to speak my mind. I think astute posters can see that I have moved on and have grown to be a better poster.
The moderators of this blog have been very kind and recognize my desire to be a better member. They tell me I am welcome here. That's all I need to concern myself with.
I have made a commitment to God to be a better person and allow myself to grow. I read this today in my meditation time:
2 Corinthians 5:17
New American Standard Bible
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new [a]creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Meanwhile, back to the ranch take 3.
Apparently an overhead drone took a picture of the property and there seems to be an area that looks very similar to where the filming took place.
Also Harry was seen leaving the place around the time of the filming.
Interesting because reporters had never really nailed down where the filming took place. It seemed like they never could find a place that completely fit what we saw.
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a37866282/prince-charles-meghan-markle-prince-harry-clarence-house-plans-canceled/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10058425/Meghan-Markle-Guthy-Renker.html
Also, thinking about `third person in their marriage':
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10052565/Why-Diana-wheel-Harry-Meghans-marriage-ANDREW-MORTON.html
And Doria makes 4...
I can't see anything about Clarence House though.
Did the neighbors in Monticello have an uprising about the 6's. Did they get evicted again!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
We heard some time ago that Charles that Charles didn’t want to live in Buck House but use it for admin/offices – I can’t recall where he did want to live. Windsor might suit him, and I can understand why, but I wouldn’t have thought that distancing himself from the seat of government was a good idea, from both practical and political viewpoints. It could be seen as an abandonment of the capital.
During the War, the King and Queen stayed in London, although I understand that they would spend the night aboard the Royal Train in a tunnel somewhere; the 2 princesses lived at Windsor and the royal dukes lived in distant country houses not usually associated with royalty.
Of course, there was a time when Winchester was a capital, rather than London, before the Conquest. The Danish king Canute set up court in Alfred’s capital. It’s very strange to think of Old Norse being the `official’ language spoken there – in York, yes, but Winchester ?!
Charles II wanted to base himself in Winchester (very handy for popping over to France to see Louis XIV on the QT) He had grand plans to make it a second Versailles - him in his palace up by the Castle, dominating the town and the Cathedral , symbolising his vain hope of Absolute Rule over both temporal and spiritual realms.
-----------------
I dread to think what * could do to Clarence House – might C’s concern for the architecture deter him from letting her have the run of the place?
I thought Charles stated a while ago
that he would remain in Clarence House,
use BP for his official office, when King?
@WildBoar
What history course are you doing?
I'd rather not to say more about the course, lest it identify me. Sorry.
I have read many times that Charles wants BP as part offices but open it to the general public (museum etc) too. I also read William thinks there are far too many royal residences. Having less is a modernist move, along with radically scaling down the royal court and listed members within the royal family. 🥴
The DM posted this last Saturday.
Prince Charles will live in 'flat above the shop' and Buckingham Palace will be thrown open to the public in a radical overhaul of the royal estate when he becomes King.
Snippet:
*Monarch's living quarters will be reduced to nothing more than 'flat above shop'
*It is part of a plan to overhaul Buckingham Palace when Prince Charles is King
*Other changes being considered include turning Balmoral Castle into a museum
*The Prince of Wales plans to slim down the Monarchy once he ascends throne
The friend added that the Cambridges are likely to move to Windsor – a relocation the family are said to want.
'Charles is not keen on Windsor because it is quite noisy,' the source added: 'His view is that if he's heading to Windsor, he may as well carry on to Highgrove in Gloucestershire.'
Charles is expected to keep his beloved Highgrove as his family home. It is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, which William will inherit when Charles becomes King. Then William will be his father's landlord, taking £700,000 a year rent.
In London, Charles's official Clarence House residence was originally earmarked for Harry but his departure to California means that is 'no longer on the cards'.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10052791/Prince-Charles-live-flat-shop-radical-overhaul-King.html
There are dangers in shrinking the RF too far, I feel - not all families increase exponentially these days.
Charles's 2 offspring created a narrow bottleneck - we've dodged a bullet there(DV) but there was a 50% chance of being hit.
Looking back over the Windsors of recent times (the offspring of Geo V, Geo VI, Elizabeth and Charles) there's a significant proportion of `unreliable' characters high in the Line of Succession. Before that there was `Eddy', son of Edward VII (who himself had been problematic!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Albert_Victor,_Duke_of_Clarence_and_Avondale
Yes, Heathrow can make life in the Windsor area miserable - I used to know people who lived between Windsor and the airport, right under the take-off path. Jumbo jets, as they were called in those days (ie 747s & similar), went over very low, every 45 seconds, engines roaring as they climbed...
Thank you for the link! It's a much more interesting connection than I realized. And likely much shadier than first assumed.
We were all baffled by what use Guthy-Renker would have for * -- who has nothing close to the celebrity status and credibility of its past endorsers -- but our thinking has been "in the box" on this. Even the genitals wart cream is above board, in the sense that it could be a legitimate business proposal. But we know that * is sneaky and mean. And if Guther-Renker provided not just a plane to * but also the filming location for the Oprah interview, then something much more underhanded is going on.
So now the obvious question is: Why? Cui bono? What benefit would a controversial beauty company get from not just supporting two of the BRF's biggest liabilities, but also helping them to strike at the Queen?
As far as I can tell, the British people welcome a slimming down of the working royals and getting more "public use" out of the royal residences -- though, of course, I could be wrong! @WBBM, what would you say public opinion actually is?
But the show-stopping impact of four senior royals dressed to the nines at the Bond premiere was something a lot more traditional. They may not have been in furs or dripping in antique jewels, but they brought that extra something that even the most glamorous of so-called "Hollywood royalty" could never replicate. And the whole world's response to that was overwhelmingly positive.
While Prince Charles's plans might be economical and practical in the long run, they might throw the baby out with the bathwater. And if he's doing it not just because he believes in it, but because he hopes it will make him more popular, he might be in for an unpleasant surprise.
So now we're back to the proposed topic of this thread: Popularity in the BRF. And more specifically, how the next monarch might see popularity. (At any rate, he seems far more sensitive to it than his mother is.)
Again, what do the British Nutties think? My personal (non-British!) preference is for tradition. I don't like drastic change much, because I think that some things, once lost, simply cannot be restored. And I think there are many things about the British monarchy in particular that are very good and worth preserving, even if they don't seem to make sense "on the books" or be popular in the latest opinion polls. And I believe that steps taken to maintain popularity in the short run can end up irreversibly damaging popularity in the long run.
I think taking a leaf or two from other European royal families particularly the Swedish one would be a far better and wise move towards modernising our own royal family. Only having the direct heir and their offspring (issues) to the throne having styles etc, Anyone who either marries out of royalty or doesn’t want to participate in royal duties has no style or title, and not considered part of the royal court (and this can include not being in the line of succession). Only going as far back to the current King’s Uncles etc one can see when the changes started.😉
Lady C recently went into greater detail regarding when changes to Sweden’s royal family were introduced (in between the two WW wars I believe). 🥴
@ Miggy Many thanks for sharing they DM article. 😀
As a fellow Brit no one speak for an entire country, 😀but generally, hearing and reading over many years, I would say yes, Brits would most definitely welcome a slimmed down monarchy with less upkeep and maintenance overall; rather less cost to the British tax payers. 🥴
Thanks for the reminder that no one citizen speaks for the entire country! ;-) In any case, you're closer to the pulse of things than I am.
While we're on the subject of popularity, I do wonder whether it's something Prince Charles genuinely wants for his reign or something he's mostly hoping will make him more beloved. (We might also ask: Would he still do it if he had evidence that it would be supremely unpopular?)
My own hunch is that he would have been okay with keeping his siblings and their children among the full-time working royals until he started clashing too much with Prince Andrew. And then the slimmed-down monarchy started to look appealing for a very personal reason.
You are every welcome. I'm always happy to contribute where I can :).
As far as the Guthy Renker question, I think it's just more playing the mysterious card that we all know she likes to use to manipulate and mess with people's heads. I have no inkling what they have up their sleeves that would include Doria, but knowing their MO it could be anything. Like all the other schemes they've tried, it's probably a nothing burger; all we can do is wait and that is exactly what they want!
Your comment:
For all H and *'s tooting about "modernizing the monarchy," we realize that it's actually Prince Charles who has been a steady modernizing force for years. But will his proposed changes be any more welcome than those of *?
This is an excellent point how Charles has been modernizing for years if not decades with his environmental emphasis, organic gardens, his inclusiveness with Muslim interests etc. His supposed changes will be welcomed is my thought. He's a real Royal not a faux Royal like TBW is. Harry is too but he's gone rogue so he's out on his bum in the eyes of his own people.
The changes that Charles has been doing have been happening very slowly and over time. So they are easier to digest. Is it possible this is what the BRF are doing as well as far as the Dumbarton problem?
Chas will be 73 in just over a month and Camilla is now 74 and wearing well. and I've long thought that HM is determined to outlive her son - if she does as well as her mother, it'll be another 6 years at least before she departs this life. Anything could happen in that time. If Chas then has to choose between the Crown and Camilla, thanks to public opinion, might he choose her? I don't know.
How much importance can we attach to William's rising star? Again, I don't know.
Given that relationships with our nearest neighbour is somewhat strained at the moment, in addition to other issues as well, the country may see the benefit of the monarch as a unifying influence, away from party politics. Unfortunately, constitutional matters are now also likely to be entangled with nationalist sentiments in 2, possibly 3, of the constituent nations of the UK.
It's all in the air and nobody knows how the bits will arrange themselves when they fall to the ground.
BTW, in the first half of the 20thC, only one out of the 3 Princes of Wales made it to the throne - a remarkably high attrition rate - twice the throne went sideways to the second son.
Very good point and very good question.
Chas will be 73 in just over a month and Camilla is now 74 and wearing well. and I've long thought that HM is determined to outlive her son - if she does as well as her mother, it'll be another 6 years at least before she departs this life. Anything could happen in that time. If Chas then has to choose between the Crown and Camilla, thanks to public opinion, might he choose her? I don't know.
___
Excellent post all around but this part struck me. It is known here that I adore William. I would love to see him become King. He's strong, noble, wise, loyal, decent, so many traits I won't blubber on. I am not too sure Charles would let go of the opportunity to become King; he's been waiting so long. Plus he has scores to settle with Andrew once HM is gone. Unless he and William work in tandem on those issues? I have also read that Camilla wants to be Queen.
Any thoughts British Nutties?
Loyal, decent and strong aren’t traits I’d attribute to Charles. He was unfaithful to Diana. 🙁
My comment: "It is known here that I adore William. I would love to see him become King. He's strong, noble, wise, loyal, decent, so many traits I won't blubber on".
I was referring to William.
Guthy Renker distributed the hair care line Wen by Chaz Dean. They were sued by many purchasers who claimed the product made their hair fall out. My ex-boss's daughter bought the product and claimed it didn't work well for her hair type (long, thick and curly) so she cancelled her subscription (it was one of those deals where they send you product on a regular basis and charge your credit card until you cancel) and gave whatever she had left to me (my hair being shoulder length, straight and fine.)
She didn't give me any of the shampoo, but the conditioners were awful. It was like putting Crisco on your hair. And it would not wash out. I was careful to only put it on my hair and not my scalp. Did nothing for me. Yuck.
I'm not surprised becaue they are shysters. I remember back in the 70s when I was a teen/ very young woman, we had some type of mail subscription service for cosmetics and records (music). Today it's for groceries, pets etc. There could be money in it if done correctly and ethically. Unfortunately, the Harks just want a fast buck because they are hemorrhaging cash.
Loyal, decent and strong aren’t traits I’d attribute to Charles. He was unfaithful to Diana.
And Diana was unfaithful to him. In the aristocracy almost everyone steps out on their spouse, and the Royals are no different (Philip carried on for decades, and no one doubts that he adored his wife). It's not the lifestyle for me, personally, but I won't judge anyone's full character based solely on their fidelity or lack thereof.
Yes Diana was unfaithful too, but only after she found out Charles was. I’m not judging anyone’s full character solely based on their morals, please don’t assume I was. 🤔
`Pathology. a benign encysted tumor of the skin, especially on the scalp, containing sebaceous matter; a sebaceous cyst.'
British: used metaphorically by Wm Cobbett -London as the `Great Wen' of England.
------
I like Camilla and think she's much the sort of C should have married in the first place. Yet many people are still strongly against her although I couldn't estimate the proportion of the population involved. I just hope that C will continue to be firm with * and her poodle.
Would that be the knife?
Ringo Starr is a pretty chill dude. He loves the peace sign.
✌️😀
WBBM - and where was that knife placed - in the heart of a kate middleton doll with a peace sign scrolled at the bottom ;-)
---
Damn that *! With all her schemes on the BRF. What a 🤬.
Oh if only peeps figured it out once and for all that the solution is to quit stirring the chamber pot.
Things would be so much better for everyone involved. Confucius said, "kindness changes everything" I'm pretty sure the Big JC said something like that too.😊🙏✌️
Maybe we become who we hate so we stop listening...
Noted. Thanks! :)
From the New York Post:
‘Diana the Musical’ is the legendary flop Broadway deserves
Broadway wouldn’t really be back unless there was one show playing that’s so ridiculous, we’re baffled by its very existence.
Disgusted. Mesmerized. Offended. Addicted. Nose up. Eyes wide. Stop! Keep going …
A proud piece of trash that was somehow developed and tweaked for years with the support of egomaniacal producers, who, like Harold Hill rapping in the River City town square, convinced salivating investors to pony up millions of dollars to slap a defective disco ball onstage and then have the gall to beg for Tony Awards.
Well, here she is, boys! The flop of the year is “Diana the Musical,” which just premiered on Netflix prior to its official opening night Nov. 17.
To quote “Evita,” which this Princess Di-bacle borrows liberally from: “Oh what a circus! Oh what a show!”
But, my fellow show queens, this column is not meant to be an angry, tut-tutting Di-atribe on why “Diana” is an abomination and what rules good art must follow. I don’t care what Bertolt Brecht would’ve thought, nor do I care what The New Yorker thinks. During this taped production about one of the world’s greatest collective mournings of the last half-century, I laughed harder than I ever have in my life.
And I cried. Not because of Princess Diana’s death, no, but because of David Bryan and Joe DiPietro’s lyrics.
Here are some modern classics from the “Diana” book.
Cradling baby William, Charles (Roe Hartrampf, excellent, truly) croons, “Diana, I’m holding our son. So, let me say, jolly well done!”
At the start of Act Two, Diana’s extramarital side saddle James Hewitt — given a wig so red, it would stop traffic — enters shirtless, from a hole in the floor, and wails, “You don’t need a messy divorce! All you need is a man on a horse!”
Later, at a soiree with both Di (Jeanna de Waal) and Camilla Parker Bowles (Erin Davie) in attendance, the upper-crust crowd goes, “I just got a ticket to the main event! It’s a Thrilla in Manila but with Diana and Camilla!”
This is the stuff of legend.
When Broadway buffs discuss the flop posters on the wall at Joe Allen, they point out the usual offenders: “Lestat,” “Carrie the Musical,” “Moose Murders,” “Lennon.” But none of those money-losers ever had the stroke of genius to rhyme Thrilla, Manila and Camilla.
The show is a scream — and pairs with rosé better than any entree could ever hope to.
Part of what makes “Diana” such high camp is that the talent is top-notch (“Diana” marketers, clip all the out-of-context quotes you want. You’re gonna need ’em.); the production value is impressive (William Ivey Long’s ornate costumes are a Di-light); and it takes itself more seriously than “60 Minutes.”
I’ve watched “Diana,” beginning to end, three times. A friend who was cackling along with me — the Statler to my Waldorf — texted that it’s “compulsory viewing for the industry.”
He’s right. Everyone is already streaming the musical — directed by Christopher Ashley of “Come From Away,” which is a-way better — and the newly reopened watering holes around Shubert Alley are full of catty whispers.
In the movie “Amadeus,” after Mozart unexpectedly dies, the gossiping and suspicious Viennese chant “Salieri!” on the street. Meanwhile, on Broadway, the word on everybody’s lips is “Diana!”
@Wild Boar
I've just seen there is a programme tonight 9 pm on Channel 5, 'Iceland with Alexander Armstrong'. It's in 3 parts starting tonight.
The commentary on the lyrics reminds me so much of Spring Time for Hitler (and Germany) and that quite a show stopping opening scene from The Producers.
I was going to post when I saw your post re Diana the musical. It sounds absolutely dire. The DM has this headline:
Diana: The Musical is slammed after its Netflix release: Critics and viewers mock 'hysterically awful' lyrics including: 'Harry, my ginger-haired son, you'll always be second to none'
....
The Evening Standard, The Times and the Chicago Tribune gave Diana: The Musical damning one-star reviews, while viewers have mocked the ridiculous songs - including a number where paparazzi sing 'better than a Guinness, better than a w**k/snap a few pics, it’s money in the bank' - on social media.
Commentators have called on Prince Harry, who has an estimated $100million deal with Netflix, to cut ties with the streaming giant over the 'degrading' and 'exploitative' depiction of his mother and the royal family.
MailOnline's Dan Wooton wrote: 'If he fails to speak out against such a horrendous depiction of his mother, then he is tacitly endorsing it.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10064727/Diana-Musical-slammed-Netflix-release.html
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And Mm firmly agrees.
"If you are complacent, you’re complicit."
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a33667680/meghan-markle-when-all-women-vote-speech-complicit/
@Magatha - yes, we're recording it right now - I caught the bit about a survey that found that 50% of Icelanders believe in the Hidden Folk ie fairies. I've asked one two about it - they haven't answered as such, just shifted uncomfortably. I think pt 1 may have been shown before as stand-alone. We shall see.
The musical is atrocious, but those lyrics! 😮😫Agree with Dan, if Mole doesn’t speak out and cut ties, we know he’s complacent and complicit! 😖 It’s just gross.🥺
I’m recording the Icelandic series too. I saw it advertised earlier in the week and from what I’ve seen already, it looks good. 😋
this is total speculation…..
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10057541/Oprah-Winfrey-recalls-divine-moment-met-Maria-Shriver-TV-station-bathroom-42-years-ago.html
part way thru this article aboutt O’s small circle of friends ( Maria Shriver, /gayle, and Bob the trainor), she mentions in her adult life , the last five years or so , there are a COUPLE of more people in her close circle. I wonder those couple of people are the Harkles?
they moved to the same neighborhood as Oprah, O was “friends” with #6 long before TBW. TBW is a meglomanic narc, probably love-bombing Oprah to get contacts/ leads/ etc to make a quick buck. Oprah’s interview was totally one sided towards Harkles speakng their “truth” haha. could the Harkles be her newest besties?
The wheels are coming off the Couric bus. If only an ex nanny of Spare n Snare would spill such tea! This was quite the read to say the least. Oh my gawd...
Comment from the UK, Bizbody said,
"KC has now cemented herself as the most loathe 'public person' in the country...trashed anyone who crossed her path....Harry & M have found a common friend. They all belong together".
Apparently according to the nanny, Couric was just as smelly as she (Couric) accused Harry to be.
Apparently according to the nanny, Couric was just as smelly as she (Couric) accused Harry to be.
Well, if it isn't another case of narcs accusing others of what they themselves are guilty of!
I was a little shocked that the nanny "went there," to paraphrase the title of Couric's book. Nancy Poznek must have really felt betrayed to have spilled all that damning tea -- and to provide photos, too! But Poznek also had her own reputation to salvage and going nuclear was probably the only recourse for her. I hope she has a good lawyer.
If only an ex nanny of Spare n Snare would spill such tea!
We may have to wait for * to write her own tell-all autobiography. Everyone she smears will have to come forward to defend themselves. I hope that they, like Poznek, have receipts!
*Fiddle Buffoon
Just another diddle
Cows back on the fiddle
Doria on the make too
A Brand new venture
With sugar soap Renker
More flogging of bilge, Sham-Poo
*Vidal Sassoon she ain’t 🤦♀️
No worries WildBoar, great way
to keep the grey cells active.
Modern histrionics,
Megxit 😉
Enjoy!!
@WildBoar
It was Maneki that mentioned
Iceland, not me.
I’m intrigued by the “Hidden Folk”
Tell me more, I still like to believe!!
@Magatha & @RR
The date on the TV prog was 2020 tho I think AA has done something similar in the past. We saw most of it yesterday and kept shouting `Been there!' altho' we've never been out on the town in R'vik - alcohol prices are horrific. Last time, we did the tour of the microbrewery behind the Beer Spa - the real product is very acceptable, made in the far north near Siglufjordur, where `Trapped' was filmed (not`Seiđisfjordur' -that's in the NE).
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I love this exchange in the DM comments about the `musical':
SueSP, Singapore, Singapore, 5 hours ago
A comment from Harry would be good to hear what he thinks of his paymasters insulting his late sainted mother Aaah yes I hear a no comment ..
ReplyNew Comment
299Click to rate
greenpeso, london, United Kingdom, 5 hours ago
meg took the batteries out
@Rebecca
Thanks for the “Diana the Musical”
article, love it, hahaha!
Food for thought 🧐
O/T Iceland
Have you been inside that rather magnificent church? I’ve seen it before, but both the exterior and interior is breathtaking to look at, just on a telly screen, I can only imagine what it’s like in real life. 😃
Dia-bollockal!
Megiana the Musical, you’ll see
Appearing soon on Negfix TV
Hands firm on the tiller
Owning both Haz, and Godzilla
They’ve sold out his mum for a fee
Featuring the Megiana Mantra:
“Meghan I’m holding our ‘son’
are you sure that’s the bun that was done”
Thanks for the Diana musical link. I can't even fathom a musical farse about Diana. All because her bonehead son brought the BRF into the Hollywood/celebrity spotlight. Isn't this exactly why that institution put the kabosh on that sort of thing? Gastly, is all I can say about it.
@Enbre,
Wasn't that article on Couric a corker? The nanny was really backed into a corner and came out swinging full Monty lol. This alone should prevent * from thinking twice about putting her "memoir" out there. The nannys will line up to rebut. Lol. 😂😂😂
@At Magatha,
Your in top form lady. Thanks for more of your brilliantly crafted musings. I never tire of reading your latest👍
Forgot to say your thoughts on Doria and the the alleged Guthy Renker deal are SPOT ON!!
Wonder if she will sue the nanny for copyright infringement?
I belive the nannys account much more than courics. Sounds like couric is a self centered fake and the couple used the nanny as a buffer during their marital troubles. There literally eere 3 people in the marriage haha
Since then, we've visited the completed building and been up the tower - magnificent view from the top of course. So far, we've not been in R'vik at the right time to go to the English service (the church in Iceland has had strong links with Lincoln Cathedral since the Middle Ages, before the reformation and this continues to this day). My favorite choir (of Clare College Cambridge) has sung there and we'd hoped to go back in September when they'd hoped to be there again but it didn't happen. They've got a disc with some very haunting Icelandic pieces coming next year -
See www.clarecollegechoir.com
Elin Manahan Thomas, the soprano who had the dubious privilege of singing for the H$Ms wedding, was a member of this choir but I notice that her CV among the Alumni doesn't mention this performance - I wonder why not? I think it was the congregation who had the privilege, that of hearing her.
@WildBoar
Clarecollegechoir
Sublime, thank you.
@LL thanks.
The news that Doria was seen entering the estate of the Guthy Renker co-founder/owner with TBW and her ginger lapdog makes me wonder if the goal might be to develop a line of cosmetics for women of color?
If Guthy-Renker only wanted Doria, that would make more sense. She was hugely popular around the time of the wedding and hasn't done anything to turn anyone off since then. She may have a few skeletons in the closet, but because she doesn't stir up trouble, her "brand" is mostly okay.
But of course * would want a cut of whatever her mother is getting. And she might be pitching a mother-daughter team to Guthy-Renker, to get an even bigger share.
I was very skeptical of this for a while, because I couldn't see why a seemingly successful company that has worked with A-listers would want to work with either * or Doria. Although Doria's stock was high after the wedding, she hasn't been very visible since then. But as stories of Guthy-Renker's business troubles started coming in, the company started to seem like the corporate version of the Harkles. Both have had huge, glittery successes in the past and have rubbed shoulders with some really big names. It's enough to make them still seem glamorous today, despite poor performance in the last few years. If this is the case, it's no surprise that they're working together. Four peas in a pod.
Doria was popular at the time of the wedding but hasn't really had a media presence and is a complete nonentity. I'm not sure how she could help sell cosmetics to women of colour. Surely it would make more sense to use better known women? TBW might have involved her in one her schemes, though.
@Wild Boar OT
I haven't watched the programme on Iceland I mentioned yesterday but will watch it on iPlayer.
Very expensive idea (presuming they own the house in CA).
Both are expensive to live in but
They would need to sell the house and sellers pay, pay, pay. The realtor fee alone goes between 5 and 6% to come out of the final sale. This is why they say to wait if you are only going to stay in a place for a couple of years because you can otherwise lose money even if the value has gone up a little bit.
The royal aura of taking that particular house off their hands as a good reason to buy it won't fly. It could bring lots of lookers but if there were limited buyers before, chances are that the supply pool at that price range probably has not altered dramatically.
As for NY, getting into a building is not easy. A lot of places are not likely to want drama outside their door on a daily basis and would likely thumb down the application. I suspect a lot of places require financial documents showing that you can afford to live there (knowing the cost of that lifestyle).
In that city, it isn't just which street you are on but where in the (right) building you are for letting people know your social standing.
Not only is it harder to maintain any sort of facade under such tight living conditions but so many more people just around - delivering food/the nanny three floors down/the dog walker who can talk to their cousin/hairdresser/paps because they aren't limited by an NDA with them. Are they so important to require everyone sign an NDA to enter the building? Much easier in the size of the current casa.
So as successful as the recent trip was (or so they say), doubt they would make such a move where she is comfortable and has her ducks in a row.
As for NY, getting into a building is not easy. A lot of places are not likely to want drama outside their door on a daily basis and would likely thumb down the application. I suspect a lot of places require financial documents showing that you can afford to live there (knowing the cost of that lifestyle)
___
Agreed.
I also doubt an application for digs in say, the Dakota would be accepted for the two. Too much drama, flakiness, questions about their earning potential and not enough stature. And people of that caliber (money wise) talk and she's been blacklisted. He may be a Prince but he's no Beatle.
Woko Ohno * wishes she had the clout.
BS. She was a crap collaborator/leader with the people who mean the most. Family; her's and her husband's.
Blind Item from the Wednesday, October6, 2021 Crazy Days and Nights:
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 06, 2021
Blind Item #10
The streaming service is not happy with the alliterate one or her puppy husband. They are way behind schedule and what they have done isn't going to work in the context of the project they pitched.
*********
In the last two or three months, I recall I reading that the executives at Netflix were concerned about the lack of any content from the Sussexes. The other concern is that the content Netflix will receive from H&M will not meet Netflix’s quality standard or have the marketability that Netflix desires.
They already have a flop with the Diana musical, and they likely do not want more royal egg on their corporate face due to less-than-brilliant submissions from the Sussexes. Yes, Netflix generated a lot of hype and buzz in 2020 when the deal was signed with the runaway royals, but they aren’t going to accept just any old garbage that Meghan and Harry throws at them just because they are royals.
Narcissists are notorious for a behavior known as future faking. This behavior is basically making all sorts of big promises of unicorns and rainbows, but not delivering at all, or, if they do deliver, it falls far short of what was originally promised.
Meghan is so full of herself that her overblown senses of grandiosity and entitlement have taken over, leading her to believe she and Harry can toss any piece of trash at Netflix expecting them to greet it with sycophantic applause. In effect, they will probably be Markled.
Surely it would make more sense to use better known women?
I agree. The point I was clumsily making in my previous comment was that Guthy-Renker can't sign any better-known women. Doria and * are the best they can do. Which is similar to the Harkles' predicament. They have to keep aiming lower and lower, and the only glamour they have left is from past triumphs that are becoming more forgettable each day.
Love the Netflix blind "puppy husband" ha! And explains why Elton John's husband is out talking about what a great leader 6s wife is, probably because he doesnt want his production to sink either.
Nothing was going to come of two narcissistic slackers who prefer to smoke weed all day.
"Future faking." What an interesting phrase, and must be the star selection of strategies in Maggot's wheelhouse of professional level hustling.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10067333/Crown-Princess-Mary-Denmarks-best-outfit-repeats-2021-royal-engagements.html
Oh, wait, doesn't Iman have a makeup line? And hasn't she had it for 27 plus years? Rihanna's Fenty Beauty has shades for all races because why confine yourself to a niche market? And haven't a lot of other black women started their own cosmetics line with some bright colors that are (gasp of horror) being used by young people, even those of no discernable color, to brighten and highlight?
Oh, well, not to worry. Halloween is still coming. Perhaps she'll be papped taking 6 trick or treating.
While the a partnership between both sets of barrel scrapers makes sense now, I'm honestly befuddled about what cosmetic product * could plausibly shill. And I'm genuinely trying here! Even being as generous to her as possible, I wouldn't say her "brand" has anything to do with beauty or skincare. Unless we're talking about home botox kits.
Perhaps Guthy-Renker liked her "crunchy California casual" look from last year and thought she'd be a great face for a super "organic" skincare line made with essential oils. (With a mother who is a yoga instructor, * might have seemed like a complete package.) In that case, though, they're way too late to her game. * has dropped that mask and is now trying to be a New York politician. Another group of people whose image has nothing to to do with beauty. Guthy-Renker may still save themselves if they drop her now.
I used to love (still do!) A Whiter shade of Pale by Procul Harum.
In the UK, most if not all makeup companies offer a vast range of foundation shades from ivory to brown and in a lot of cases, very dark brown. And of course, as you said,Iman started her own makeup range, as did Rihanna. TBW used a lot of bronzing powder to darken her face slightly but as she presented as 'Caucasian' I can't see her endorsing/creating a makeup range for WOC. She'd be contradicting herself but as a practised liar wouldn't care.
It's actually the perfect papping opportunity! She wouldn't even have to worry about casting plausible child actors because they could be masked!
I wonder what the children will be dressed up as. Suggestions for Archie: A king. A crocodile. A waffle. James Bond.
(I would have suggested a soldier, but I don't think * is pushing Harry's veteran status any longer. Maybe a soldier from America's Revolutionary War would do. She's not very creative, so that would be her idea of shade.)
Suggestions for Baby$2: A queen. A princess. A Disney princess (preferably Ariel).
And wouldn't it be fun if * tried that and then Princess Beatrice released a photo of Sienna on the same day?
as she presented as 'Caucasian' I can't see her endorsing/creating a makeup range for WOC. She'd be contradicting herself but as a practised liar wouldn't care.
Maybe she'll make a case for biracial skin being absolutely unique and say she hasn't been able to use products marketed for "just" white skin or "just" black skin. Until Guthy-Renker came along, that is!
But I'm still betting on home botox kits. Why go to a dermatologist to get it done, when you can give yourself the shots at home and look just like *!
And yes, to NOW do a 180 and pick up (or would it be drop??) the race card again and develop makeup for, what, women who are 70% white? While it DOES seem that bi-racial skin (of all components, not just B + bW) is the way of the future, surely those makeup shades exist already.
It's gotta be some other product. Or nothing.
It's gotta be some other product
---
Looks like so far it's just beauty products/cosmetics re: their website. Maybe they are expanding into shoes or shape wear. Lol. SquareShapes sounds about right for TBW.
Or...
https://www.guthy-renker.com/home/our-culture/
Maybe they are recruiting her for !gasp! their new spokes person. She certainly fits the bill according to the woknesss in the above blerb.
Guthy-Renker also sells exercise equipment. Maybe she'll be debuting a triumphant post-birth body in a few months. She can use the New York photos for the "Before" images.
____
Ha! During the NYC/fat comments fiasco, I commented here how her weight loss program will be next to be merched. I also said she's lazy so let's see how long it lasts.
Lol. We'll see...
`For all the declared wokery, the photos on the G-R site tell another story.'
My wrist Had caught a key on the RHS of keyboard that inserted a vast amount of space!
if the celebrity was not really all that nice to deal with, the scent options they were offered were not all that great
Ha! Now I'm imagining someone at Guthy-Renker telling his boss: "Hey, good news! Remember those awful perfume formulas we thought we'd have to take a loss on? Well, I think we've finally found someone who'll take them, as long as we kiss her butt long enough!"
@LavenderLady
During the NYC/fat comments fiasco, I commented here how her weight loss program will be next to be merched. I also said she's lazy so let's see how long it lasts.
Well, she doesn't actually have to follow her own program. A little liposuction here. A little photo editing there. (She has already done the latter before!) Who'd be the wiser? Not the sugars, who still insist the Christening photos are legit. And they're the only ones she could sell anything to, anyway.
When I think of dropping post-baby weight, I think of Hilary Baldwin. Yes, she's a huge liar and possibly also a narc, but her "brand" in this area is solid. And unlike Chrissy Teigen, she at least never lashed out at other people. If Hilary ever bounces back from her scandal, she'll have some credibility left in this area. I couldn't say the same about * in any area.
Ha! During the NYC/fat comments fiasco, I commented here how her weight loss program will be next to be merched. I also said she's lazy so let's see how long it lasts.
--------
That was my thought, too. She was doing something to make herself look hefty in that red outfit. Thus the coat flicking. I'm waiting for a weight loss merch opportunity to come up.
Although they're too lazy to do the work of setting it up. They want to waltz in at the last minute and slap their names on a program someone else set up, for which they'll take the credit.
See their latest stunt trying to attach Travelyst to the newest Google program.
We all know her Future Faking cosmetics, perfume, and weight loss schemes will go the way of her other schemes. It will all go to nothing; and, people/companies supporting her will be left holding a bag marked, "Financial Loss," never to be recovered.
Lady Colin Campbell thinks the wife might be padding herself so she can sell some weight loss program.
---
I hadn't watched that Lady C vid when I had that thought. Then I heard her say it too!
We're on the same wave length she and I. She's my fave because she's strong, funny, smart, articulate and takes no BS. One of my favorite Leos. I see her as a role model🤓
I bet #6 has plenty of questionable/ potentially illegal shenangians in his past just like Prince Andrew. That will come out as well.
Oh, ")#%!!!!!
Maybe * did try to get a Weight Watchers deal through Oprah, but it fell through, and now she's courting Guthy-Renker so that her investment in the body padding doesn't go to waste?
Thank you so much for the info about Hallgrimskirkja. 😁I’ve seen the first episode and what a truly eclectic nation the Icelandic’s are!
The DM have since altered the headline about Maggot and Mole and now claim they could return to Britain next month. Just another PR bluff piece. 🙄
https://www.moneypail.com/these-netflix-shows-have-recently-been-canceled-and-renewed/
They do seem capable of making chop decisions.
On average then, * will keep going until 2061. Given how Diana is still with us, 2y yrs after her death, that could mean * will still be in the news in 2100AD and beyond. Thank goodness I shan't still be here.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10074483/EDEN-CONFIDENTIAL-Kate-Middletons-hush-hush-TV-pow-wow.html
Singalong 🎤
Apologies: Hot Chocolate
Emma
M’urghbean Spanxburst
She’s bean a brat since she was five
Plain and petty
M’urgh was a star in her own eyes
When she said she’d be a movie queen
Everybody laughed
A face like a devil
She cursed everything
M’urghmean
M’urgh, M’urghmean
You’re never gonna make it on
that silver screen
M’urghfiend
M’urgh, M’urghfiend
You’ve made yourself the biggest
ho-ax this world has seen
M’hasbean
Well done again! 'She's been a brat' etc., yes, you've described the strumpet perfectly 😁
@Maneki@DesignDoctor
Cheers me dears,
bit of a rush job,
was trying to fill the “void” ☺️
Since there isn’t much news on the Sussex front I thought I’d offer this article from the Sunday Times:
William sees Prince Andrew as a ‘threat’ to the royal family
The royals never want the Duke of York to return to public life, insiders say — as one source reveals: “William is no fan of uncle Andrew.”
By Roya Nikkhah, Royal Editor
If a picture speaks a thousand words, there is one set of images that talks volumes about the Duke of York’s spectacular fall from grace. Of the official photographs issued by Buckingham Palace for Princess Beatrice’s wedding last year, none featured Prince Andrew. In one the newlyweds beam alongside the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, but no other guests made the cut, and Andrew — the father of the bride who walked his daughter down the aisle that day — is most conspicuous by his absence.
Things have since gone from bad to worse for Andrew, 61, a prince unable to escape the fallout from his friendships with Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted paedophile, and Ghislaine Maxwell, who will stand trial in New York next month accused of sex trafficking and assisting Epstein in the recruitment and sexual abuse of young girls. Maxwell pleads not guilty.
Andrew faces a protracted legal nightmare of his own, after Virginia Giuffre, 38, one of Epstein’s victims, filed a civil case against the duke in August, accusing him of rape and sexual assault when she was 17 — claims that she has made for several years and which he has always vehemently denied. His lawyers say the accusations are “baseless” and initially appeared to use every loophole in the book to stall proceedings. “Not a good look for him,” says Lisa Bloom, the US lawyer who represents several of Epstein’s victims.
Andrew twice bolted up to Balmoral, the Queen’s Scottish retreat, after Giuffre filed her case, leading many to suggest that he was hiding behind his mother’s skirts to avoid service of court papers. He hosted a shooting party the weekend before the first pretrial hearing last month and not even the birth of his first granddaughter — Beatrice’s first child — on September 18 brought him south of the border with any haste. Andrew returned to Royal Lodge 12 days later. The Queen and her second son are likely to have held some uncomfortable conversations as the 95-year-old monarch assesses how much more damage the scandal will inflict ahead of next year’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Andrew’s legal team finally accepted service of the court papers on September 21. Sources close to the duke say his recent hiring of the Hollywood lawyer Andrew Brettler, who has represented celebrities accused of sexual assault and harassment, indicates a change in strategy. “The decision to bring in Andrew Brettler to fight the civil case marks a significant turning point in approach, and the US team will be looking to robustly engage and challenge the claims from Mrs Giuffre in an attempt to provide the duke with a platform to finally clear his name,” says a source close to Prince Andrew. “They will be looking to examine and dismantle the claims one by one. By launching this civil case, Mrs Giuffre has actively invited legal scrutiny of her own version of events. This provides an opportunity for the duke’s team to scrutinise properly the multiple inconsistencies in her narrative that have emerged over the years, and you can expect to see a rigorous defence of all her allegations.”
How has it come to this? Most observers thought things could not get any worse for the Duke of Hazard after his catastrophic interview with Emily Maitlis on Newsnight in November 2019, in which Andrew sought to explain his friendships with Epstein and Maxwell, and prove once and for all that Giuffre’s allegations against him were nonsense. Instead it went down as one of the most bizarre and misguided attempts at exoneration ever seen on television, thanks to his “Pizza Express” alibi, his comment about inviting Epstein on a “straightforward shooting weekend” and his claim that he had a medical condition after being “shot at” in the Falklands that made it “almost impossible for me to sweat”. Not to mention his failure to express any sympathy towards Epstein’s victims, which a source close to the duke said he later admitted was “a source of regret”. Would Giuffre have even pursued Andrew through the courts if he had not sought to so publicly discredit her? He insisted he had “no recollection of ever meeting this lady”, despite the now infamous photograph of his arm around her 17-year-old waist at the London home of Maxwell, who grins behind them in the picture.
Andrew is said to have told his mother the interview was “a great success”. Within days the Queen sacked her son from the firm, booting him out of his private office at Buckingham Palace, proving she can still be ruthless when it comes to the business of protecting the monarchy. Andrew withdrew from public duties “for the foreseeable future”, admitting that “the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work”. Most of the charities and organisations he previously worked with agreed, with dozens severing ties and Andrew relinquishing most of his remaining patronages.
He used to clock up hundreds of royal engagements annually, so what has he been doing for two years, hunkered down at Royal Lodge, his home on the Queen’s Windsor estate? “A lot of thinking and work on himself,” according to a friend. He has been liaising with his “working group” of solicitors, barristers, QCs and crisis management experts on the bid to clear his name, which has yet to make it into first gear. Once a regular in London’s finest dining rooms, he is now rarely, if ever, seen publicly socialising, with only the occasional photograph of him on a horse in Windsor Great Park as evidence of his daily activity. “Riding is on the ‘allowed list’,” says the friend. “He is climbing the walls.”
The Prince of Wales was understood to be furious about Andrew’s claim of family support for a future role. After Giuffre filed her lawsuit, a source close to Charles said that while “the prince loves his brother”, the matter continues to bring “unwelcome reputational damage to the institution”, convincing Charles that “a way back for the duke is demonstrably not possible, because the spectre of this [accusation] raises its head with hideous regularity”.
Prince William, who joined crisis talks with his grandmother and father over the decision to remove Andrew from public life, agrees that the change should be permanent. “There is no way in the world he’s ever coming back, the family will never let it happen,” says a royal source. “William is no fan of Uncle Andrew,” says a friend of the Duke of Cambridge.
Another source close to William says that one of the “triggers” that “really gets him” about Andrew is his uncle’s perceived “ungracious and ungrateful” attitude towards his position, which William considers “a risk” and “threat to the family”. “Any suggestion that there isn’t gratitude for the institution, anything that could lead anyone in the public to think that senior members of the royal family aren’t grateful for their position, [William thinks] is really dangerous,” says the source.
The royals are reading the room — a YouGov poll last month found that 69 per cent of people think it would not be appropriate for Andrew to return to public life as a working royal in the future.
Alarm bells sounded in palace circles in the immediate aftermath of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death in April, when Andrew made it known that he intended to pay a public tribute to his father. “He was literally gunning to be in front of a camera and was making it clear to the households that he was going to be in front of a camera asap,” says a royal source. Once again Charles was not amused, and hastily recorded a tribute to his “dear Papa” the day after his death, ensuring that Andrew, who spoke to cameras the following day, did not get there first.
There is some feeling in Andrew’s camp that the royal machine could be “much more supportive and engaged”. Instead, claims a source close to Andrew, “they have just stuck their fingers in their ears and gone, ‘Make it stop, make it go away.’ But Harry and Meghan should have taught them that even when a problem ‘goes away’, it doesn’t go away. The duke can no more be disinvested as a senior member of the royal family than Harry and Meghan can. It is who and what they are. If they don’t engage at all, it is going to become like Harry and Meghan on steroids.”
And while escaping the palace confines has liberated the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to strike multimillion-pound deals and give bombshell television interviews, Andrew is finding it harder to adjust to the absence of royal protection and flummery he has relied upon for six decades.
As well as continuing to offer Andrew private support and a home on her estate, it is thought that the Queen is assisting him financially from her private Duchy of Lancaster income. The duke no longer receives any public funding from the Sovereign Grant, and his £20,000 annual naval pension is unlikely to touch the sides of paying for the lifestyle to which he is accustomed. But a source who has spent plenty of time with the royal family disputes the regularly reported theory that Andrew is his mother’s favourite son: “The Queen doesn’t have favourites — you see the interaction and feel the dynamics and I’ve never felt favouritism there.”
One of Andrew’s problems is that he is not very popular. Mention his name in royal circles and courtiers roll their eyes. As one former aide explains: “He’s not made any friends on the way up, so no one is helping him on the way down.” One Whitehall source describes him as “a self-important bore”. A military source who has dealt with Andrew on several engagements does not mince words: “I’ve got no time for Andrew. He’s a total dickhead, an arrogant shit.” A source who assisted with Andrew’s 2012 charity abseil down the Shard in London recalls his less-than-Prince Charming behaviour: “He was a total diva, lashing out at everyone.”
A former member of the royal household says that an incident in 2001, while he was walking across the forecourt at Buckingham Palace with colleagues, sums up the duke’s approach to staff: “Andrew’s Aston Martin shot through the front gates and we were forced to make an abrupt halt to avoid colliding with him as he shouted, ‘Get out of my way.’ ” Another former staff member says: “He’s quite an arrogant chap with a tendency to blame other people when things go wrong, instead of looking at his own behaviour. The Duke of York has never been one to take advice that doesn’t suit him, and he doesn’t hold back in letting you know what to do with that advice that he doesn’t want to hear.”
Yet another former royal aide who worked for him says: “He’s a deeply unpleasant man. The difference you see between him and the way Prince William and the Prince of Wales treat their staff with respect, straight out of the Queen’s handbook, is stark.”
When Prince Harry was forced to relinquish his honorary military roles and his HRH styling after stepping back from royal life, a slew of tributes to his service and commitment ensued from across the armed forces. There has been no such outpouring for Andrew, a former naval helicopter pilot who fought in the Falklands war, who retains his HRH styling and still holds his military titles. There is widespread astonishment among senior defence chiefs that he has kept the prestigious role of colonel of the Grenadier Guards, which he took on from Prince Philip in 2017. He is hanging on by a thread at his mother’s request, says a military source: “The Queen has let it be known to the regiment that she wants the Duke of York to remain as colonel and the feeling is that nobody wants to do anything that could cause upset to the colonel-in-chief. It is a very difficult, unsatisfactory situation. His position is not tenable or viable. How can you have a colonel who can’t perform the role?”
It is clear that many in the armed forces think Andrew should fall on his ceremonial sword, which is collecting considerable dust.
Fergie has said of their unconventional arrangement: “We are the most contented divorced couple in the world.” They married in 1986 but she struggled as a naval officer’s wife, with Andrew away at sea for more than 300 days a year. Fergie fell in love with the helicopter hero who returned from the Falklands with a rose between his teeth, but later admitted, “What I got was not the man, I got the palace and didn’t get him.”
In January 1992 photographs emerged of Fergie with Steve Wyatt, a Texan millionaire, and the Yorks announced their separation two months later. Divorce became inevitable later that year when a topless Fergie was photographed having her toes kissed by John Bryan, her American “financial adviser”, while on holiday in France with her daughters.
No scandal seems to weaken their bond, however. Andrew stuck by Fergie in 2010, when she was filmed in a tabloid sting offering to sell access to him for £500,000. “Look after me and he’ll look after you,” she was quoted as saying. The duke categorically denied having any knowledge of the meeting between his ex-wife and the undercover reporter. Fergie later admitted that she had made another “gigantic error” in allowing Epstein to pay off £15,000 of her debts in December 2010.
Neither has had a significant other in their lives since they divorced in 1996, and Fergie’s recent comments suggest they will remain life partners. A friend of the couple who often sees them together says: “He loves her and she loves him.” Rumours abound they will eventually remarry.
Another of Andrew’s problems is that, as a former aide puts it, “he has a supreme overconfidence in his own judgment” — even though his judgment has often proven to be woeful.
As well as his friendship with Epstein, Andrew’s judgment came into question again earlier this year when it emerged that another friend, the disgraced financier Harry Keogh, was his joint partner in the now-defunct company Lincelles, thought to have been a vehicle for Andrew’s family investments. Keogh was believed to be Andrew’s long-term private banker. He attended Princess Eugenie’s wedding in 2018 and resigned the same year from the Queen’s bank, Coutts, after he was accused of touching a female colleague inappropriately. Keogh denied the claims.
It is difficult to gauge whether the vast sums of taxpayers’ money spent on jetting Andrew around the world for a decade in his role as the UK’s “special representative” for trade and investment were value for money. He was forced to relinquish the role in 2011, as concerns grew over his friendship with Epstein.
Andrew’s arrogance and lack of judgment have been on display abroad as well as at home. In 2010 WikiLeaks published a secret cable in which a US ambassador wrote that the duke had spoken “cockily” at an engagement and “verged on the rude”. Chris Bryant, the former Foreign and Commonwealth minister, has said: “When
I was in the Foreign Office, diplomats used to groan every time anybody said, ‘Shall we get Prince Andrew in?’ because they would think, ‘We are going to have a very expensive hotel, we are going to need flunkies and he will probably offend somebody.’” A Whitehall source recalls having breakfast with Andrew in his hotel suite on a jaunt in Qatar: “He had all the trappings with him, even his own jams with silver lids.”
Andrew was not shy in blowing his own trumpet in an interview with this magazine in 2017, describing himself as “an ideas factory” and the “entrepreneur-in-residence at Buckingham Palace”. But Pitch@Palace, which Andrew is no longer associated with, faces as uncertain a future as its founder. A statement on the website of its global arm says it is “taking time to reassess its future direction and strategy, together with a brand update”.
So where next for the prince who royal sources describe as “a busted flush” whose presence is “toxic”? The royal family will weather the storms swirling around Andrew, but with no room at the inn under the future reigns of King Charles and King William, what can he do? When Prince Harry publishes his memoirs next year, he is unlikely to give his uncle a free ride.
A royal source who knows Andrew believes he has limited options: “No business or brand in the country would touch him. He should go and manage one of the royal estates, or do something within the royal set-up that provides him with an entirely private role. He has to come to terms with a position as a private member of the royal family and stop trying to get back what he once had. He has to embrace a different role for the rest of his life. That will probably crush him, but he has to come to terms with it.”