If you enjoy royal watching and are a fan of The Great British Baking Show, then I hope you caught last night’s Christmas special with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Mary Berry. I only watched snippets of it, but it was full of family tidbits, festiveness, and of course, baking.
Continue reading “The Cambridge Christmas Special With Mary Berry”
Last night the Queen hosted this year’s diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace, an annual to-do that convenes thousands of representatives from over 100 countries. Members of the Royal Family always attend, and given that the event is white tie, we are always gifted tiaras, family orders, and all the other royal trappings.
This is technically a private reception, and as such, historically, we have had to make do with arrival shots of family members going through the BP gates. Last year, however, photos taken from the party were shared, a shift the Palace has doubled down on this year. It’s a subtle change, but I think an important one – opportunities to allow access in a controlled way are almost always a smart move in the long run, in my opinion.
The Duchess of Cambridge inherited the patronage of Family Action from her grandmother-in-law, the Queen, it was announced earlier today. Queen Elizabeth served as patron for 65 years, but transitioned the organization to Kate as part of her ongoing efforts to divvy up portions of her work commitments to the younger generations. Given the charity’s focus on children, it’s a perfect fit for Kate given the rest of her portfolio.
Continue reading “Kate Takes Over Family Action From the Queen”
That’s a lot of acronyms in a title, but last night the Queen hosted a reception celebrating 70 years of NATO at Buckingham Palace. Guests included Presidents Trump and Macron, Canadian PM Trudeau, the UK’s Boris Johnson, among many others. And while the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall were in full host mode, the Duchess of Cambridge was the only representative of the “younger” royals thanks to the Duke of Cambridge’s visit to Kuwait and the Sussexes’ extended break from duties.
A significant piece of the York puzzle last week was the absence of the Duke’s elder brother, the Prince of Wales. Charles was in the midst of a long-term tour of India, New Zealand, and the Solomon Islands with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, while Andrew sat down for his disastrous BBC interview that roundly ended his royal career. An interesting narrative is now emerging from the fallout – amidst the rubble of whether Andrew will be roped in by the FBI, or whether his daughter’s wedding will be downgraded, and who exactly from his camp should be blamed, Charles’s hands are remarkably clean and his popularity is on the rise.
I changed my mind last weekend about writing my final summary of The Crown’s third season because I wanted to re-watch certain episodes and let it all gel a little more. I’ve done so, and with all ten episodes recapped, I think it’s finally time to take a look at them as a complete package. At the close of the first and second seasons, I focused primarily on the question of whether or not the series was focused too much on side characters to the detriment of its lead. This season, I think they did a good job of shading Elizabeth in, but I’m surprised by the direction they took. To be blunt, their portrait of the monarch isn’t very flattering.
As some of you may have noticed (and for those who follow along on Instagram, I posted to stories about this), the Duchess of Cambridge pulled out of the annual Tusk awards event last night. The reason given was something due to the children, with the general consensus being that there was a last-minute childcare issue.
That might sound strange from a household that obviously contains a multitude of staff, but in reality, the Cambridges employ only one nanny, and my guess is that she was unexpectedly pulled away and given the timing, William and Kate were unable to find backup. Given that the Tusk organization is William’s and Kate joins him only in a supporting role, it made sense for her to stay behind.
Continue reading “William & Kate Host Private Tusk Awards Reception”
I’m not sure what I expected from the Season 3 finale. I knew it would cover the dissolution of Princess Margaret’s marriage, but given that the penultimate episode covered events in 1972/1973, I had no idea how they were going to cram four to five years into one episode. Well, they did, but only by once again mashing up a lot of events and ignoring others.
Season 3’s ninth episode essentially covers the breakdown of Charles’s relationship with Camilla. Or, as we’ve now come to see it, the ending of Part One. In The Crown’s world, their demise was taken out of their hands slightly, or at least out of Charles’s, thanks to palace machinations directed by the Queen Mother and Earl Mountbatten. The events depicted are a mash up of those from 1972 and 1973, but per usual for this season, there’s quite a bit of fiction.
Well. Let’s start at the end and work our way back, shall we? A couple of hours ago the Duke of York released a statement that the Queen gave her assent to a request that he be allowed to step down from royal duties for the foreseeable future. This news comes on the heels of several days’ worth of blistering coverage of his recent sit-down interview with the BBC on his former friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
My thought? Good.
