Royalist

Royalist is The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday. Prince William used his 40th birthday to let it be known that he intended to become the country’s most prominent campaigner on homelessness. Wearing the outfit of a vendor of The Big Issue , the British magazine sold by the homeless, he posed not just for selfies with members of the public, but also for an official birthday photo. William in a red hat and hi-viz vendor’s vest was a long way away from the traditional reverential images more usually disseminated by the palace on such occasions. Less than three weeks previously, William used his only platinum jubilee speech to call for action on the environment, saying, “The pressing need to protect and restore our planet has never been more urgent.” And a few weeks before that, on 28 March, another public statement was issued, this time in response to criticism of colonial … [Read more...] about Prince William’s Royal Reboot Has a Harry-Shaped Hole

Welcome to this week’s edition of Royalist , The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday. Charles’ judgement under fresh scrutiny over bags of cash The cartoon image of Prince Charles rubbing his hands with glee while chucking shopping bags stuffed full of banknotes into the back of his wine-powered Aston Martin like something out of the irreverent British comedy The Windsors is on the Royalist’s mind today. The image follows the astonishing revelation that the heir to the throne was personally handed a suitcase containing €1m (just over $1.05m) by a politician representing a rich oil-producing Arab statelet. “It was one of three lots of cash, totaling €3 million ($3.2m), which Prince Charles personally received from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar who is nicknamed ‘HBJ,’ between 2011 and 2015,” the London Sunday Times … [Read more...] about Prince Charles Accepted $3m in Cash Stuffed Into Bags and Suitcases from Sheikh

Royalist is The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday. After a lower-than-expected profile at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations , Queen Elizabeth has been racing around the country on the royal train, taking part in ancient ceremonies in Edinburgh, inspecting the troops, quietly trying to stop the breakup of the United Kingdom—and even horse riding. It doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to think that the palace is trying to tell us something. The queen may be 96. She may have lost her husband last year. She may have a mind-frazzlingly complex number of recalcitrant and wayward family members to keep tabs on. She may even have had COVID earlier this year. But she is doing fine, thanks. Oh, and she is not going anywhere anytime soon either. Of course, as palace insiders are always at pains to point out (with what sometimes seems like a slightly affected tone of ennui ), the … [Read more...] about Queen Elizabeth, It Appears, Is Back

Welcome to this week’s edition of Royalist , The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday. Charles’ judgment under fresh scrutiny over bags of cash The cartoon image of Prince Charles rubbing his hands with glee while chucking shopping bags stuffed full of banknotes into the back of his wine-powered Aston Martin like something out of the irreverent British comedy The Windsors is on the Royalist’s mind today. The image follows the astonishing revelation that the heir to the throne was personally handed a suitcase containing €1m (just over $1.05m) by a politician representing a rich oil-producing Arab statelet. “It was one of three lots of cash, totaling €3 million ($3.2m), which Prince Charles personally received from Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar who is nicknamed ‘HBJ,’ between 2011 and 2015,” the London Sunday Times … [Read more...] about Prince Charles Accepted $3M in Cash Stuffed Into Bags and Suitcases From Sheik

Royalist is The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday. The row over allegations that Meghan Markle bullied members of staff when she was a working member of the royal family—furiously denied by Meghan as a “smear campaign” at the time—descended into farce Thursday, after Buckingham Palace confirmed rumors that it would not publish a report it commissioned into the matter, not allow those who gave evidence to the report to see it, and not make public any changes to palace HR policy resulting from the report. A source said the palace would not be commenting further but told The Daily Beast: “Recommendations will be taken forward,” adding, “Lessons have been learned.” The palace told The Telegraph they were drawing the veil of secrecy to protect the “confidentiality” of, among others, those who gave evidence in the report, however there was widespread suspicion Thursday that the … [Read more...] about Meghan Markle Bullying Report Buried by Palace Which Is ‘Terrified of Upsetting or Provoking Harry and Meghan’

Royalist is The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday. “Well, Gloria, it seems as though you and I will be taking a trip to D.C. together soon.” With those words, uttered during an “in conversation” piece for Vogue with Gloria Steinem reflecting on the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade , Meghan Markle has once again triggered speculation that she could be contemplating a new act in her life, this time as a full-on political activist. It was perhaps unfortunate timing by Meghan that she chose to do the interview just days before the well known date on which the royal accounts were published, a usually dry event made unusually interesting this year as the palace had reneged on an earlier promise to publish a report into alleged bullying by Meghan when she was a working member of the royal family living in Britain. As welcome as that olive branch from the palace … [Read more...] about President Markle? The Mystery Over Meghan’s Political Future

Prince William has become embroiled in a new privacy row after a video of him shouting angrily at a paparazzi photographer who was filming his family while on a bike ride went viral Monday. In the footage, William , is seen remonstrating with the man about his behavior while his wife Kate Middleton, who remains out of shot, does the same. The video, which Prince William’s office denounced as an invasion of privacy although it was apparently filmed on a public road near the rural royal retreat of Sandringham House, vividly illustrates the pressures the royals face from press intrusion. Although the British press does not buy invasive pictures of the royals and their children, such images are regularly published by non-British websites. William and Harry have both previously accused aggressive photographers chasing their mother in Paris for causing her death. The footage was posted to the YouTube account of Terry Harris whose online bio says he is a drone operator and … [Read more...] about Leaked Video Shows Prince William Flying Into Rage Over Paparazzi Stalker Filming His Kids

Meghan Markle has revealed that Prince Harry was outraged by the June 24 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade , saying “His reaction last week was guttural, like mine.” Markle was speaking in an interview with Vogue magazine, in a conversation with Gloria Steinem and journalist Jessica Yellin. Her comments about her husband’s opinions are likely to attract attention in the U.K., where members of the royal family are supposed to remain inscrutable in their views on political matters, especially when it comes to the affairs of non-British jurisdictions. There has recently been controversy in the U.K. over private comments allegedly made by Prince Charles, who is reported to have described as “ appalling ” a new British policy of deporting some migrants to Rwanda while their cases are working their way through the legal system. Even though Harry, 37, and Meghan, 40, have officially left the ranks of “working royals,” Harry is still sixth in line to the throne, a claim he has … [Read more...] about Meghan Markle Says Prince Harry Had a ‘Guttural’ Reaction to Overturning of Roe v. Wade

Punk is something you can study in school these days. Students across the world earn class credit with essays examining the movement and its legacy. My niece learned about punk in the British equivalent of ninth grade. And I teach punk-related topics like DIY at California Institute of the Arts. So when I watched FX’s “Pistol,” Danny Boyle’s new limited series about the Sex Pistols , I couldn’t help looking for “teachable moments” to bring up in class next year. “Pistol” is essentially a period costume drama based on “Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol,” a memoir by the guitarist Steve Jones , set in 1970s London. Unlike a documentary, a drama must carefully ration its expository moments, avoid anything that feels like a lecture. But if Boyle and the show’s creator, Craig Pearce, wanted to recreate the historical moment rather than just serve up a cosplay commemoration, they needed to convey the sociopolitical context that fired punk’s ire. Here’s where “Pistol” fell short: … [Read more...] about How a TV Series Undersells the Danger of the Sex Pistols

The Royalist has been investigating the royal curtsey row, talking to courtiers and friends of the royal family, and intriguing theories have been emerging that the edict may be a Queenly show of authority regarding Prince Charles’s regal modernisation plans, which were showcased at the Jubilee when the new 'slimmed-down' monarchy of just six individuals appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony. There is general agreement inside palace walls that the leaking of the revised, “Order of Precedence” document, which indicated that Kate Middleton, the future Queen, must curtsey to the ‘blood princesses’ Eugenie and Beatrice if she encounters them without her husband by her side, was unfortunate. The document has shone a light on the increasingly well-camouflaged feudal, snobbish and sexist core of the institution of Royalty. Beyond that, there is a certain level of mystification. Why it was felt necessary to put all this information down in print? Was a point being made? Would a quiet … [Read more...] about What is really behind the curtsey row?