Royal News Ongoing

^*. . . as Crown Princess Leonor"

The Dutch royal family returned their Greek vacation following criticism.

The Dutch PM is acting as human shield, claiming he ok-ed it.

R2 - Did they? Interesting. You know the Dutch RF is one of the three wealthiest, and the House of Orange's jewellery collection, in my opinion, is staggering, far more so than QEII's. It contains far more massive pieces, including the Stuart Tiara and the Sapphire Tiara and pieces like it that our beloved Tiara Troll has brought out attention to on his/her threads.

Queen Margrethe has just cancelled all the traditional New Year's events, including the traditional reception for foreign dignitaries, which means that we will be deprived of more evening glam and glits on the part of Mary and Marie. Boo-hoo!

Kate and Will did another event today and taped a message.

Meghan and Harry made another meaningless public appearance by hosting a Time Magazine "summit" on the digital world, in which they basically, as usual, did absolutely nothing but ensure that they got themselves in front of the public again, admitted they had no expertise in the subject, and mostly complained about how horribly they had been treated as they moaned from their $14 million home with 9 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms.

Compared to the hands-on highlighting work of patronage that the Cambridges are doing, the Harkles are simply "talking" on Zoom to make it look as if they're doing something, when in fact they are doing absolutely nothing that changes anything, but does keep them on the front pages. The have to do this or they'll disappear and they can't afford to disappear.

So we can look forward to endless Zoom "summits" "discussions" "forums" - all of which simply give the Harkles a platform from which they try to persuade the public that they mean something, when, having left behind the only thing that made them mean anything, they essentially mean absolutely nothing.

They haven't changed a thing in the world EXCEPT to upgrade Meghan Markle's life a thousand-fold. That's the only real change this union has brought about.

Meanwhile, back home, the Cambridges go quietly about their work, doing the boring slog-work of actual patronage and talking about their patronages rather then themselves.

I loved Kate's red maxi-coat at Waterloo Station yesterday. Classic cleverly chosen royal ensemble: visibility from a distance, especially now and perfect for the winter. Not too cluttered, like the waistline and the stitching, and the black accessories.

I notice Kate is wearing underneath the same sort of skirt (floaty with pleats, a la Worth 1930s) that Crown Princess Mary of Denmark wore to the opening of the Danish Folketing (Parliament) earlier this month, only Mary's was a very light colour and looked, I thought, too summery and too wedding-guest-ish for the occasion. However, in black and under a coat as Kate is wearing it, it adds a peep of flirty femininity to the more tailored look.

What say ye, DLers? Do we see a fashion trend here, and, if so, who wore it best, Kate or Mary?

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The Dutch royal family hastily returned from Greece a day after heading out there for a family holiday in the sun, after massive criticism.

WIllem and Maxima released a video apologising for their lapse in judgement.

The headline of the piece in Billded Bladet says, roughly, "Heartfelt apology: We make mistakes."

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R12 - He's not so crazy that he didn't pick the most exquisite consort ever - she has to be the most beautiful "royal" on the planet (and has now borne him a male heir, still important in those parts).

A viable heir just makes it easier for him to be 'abdicated' or otherwise removed.

A new "royal" has been born - HRH Princess Geraldine of Bulgaria.

R15 - "Geraldine" - oh, dear, how unfortunate.

All I can think of is Jack Lemmon in "Some Like It Hot" . . . .

I believe the new Albanian princess's grandmother and namesake was American, if memory serves. Someone will correct me here if needed.

R17 - Queen Geraldine of Bulgaria was an Hungarian-born countess before her marriage. However, her mother was American.

Queen Geraldine was quite pretty in her prime.

R19 - Yes, she was. And the text says King Zog saw a photo of her, asked to meet her, and they were engaged within days. I imagine she was even prettier in the flesh - those women with beautiful skin, which she clearly has, always are - and being at least half aristocratically born (do you think they gave her enough names?) it was probably done and dusted within 48 hours.

It's so bizarre - you'd think it was 500 years ago instead of only a century or so.

This jolly baby is Prince Charles of Luxembourg. I've never seen him cry or fuss in any photo.

R21 - The new Luxembourg heir is definitely the Picture Postcard Royal Baby of the year.

A bodyguard for the Thai King has tested positive for Covid so the King goes to the hospital??? WTF?

I wonder if he has an underlying condition?

We don't often see Charlotte Casiraghi's two sons but her younger son Balthazar turned two and we have a photo. Her older son by a different man is named Raphael.

The princely twins of Monaco.

Prince Jacques looks just like his mother. The Princess - not so much and she looks a bit less striking. But it's early days yet. . .

The King of Thailand is facing a democratic revolution in a country where criticism of the monarch is effectively banned.

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The Royals need to put the brakes on this guy.

The Sultan of Brunei's son Prince Abdul Azim dies at 38.

R30 - speculation on what killed him? Surely it wasn't Beaver Fever.

Cambridge Cupcakes delivered to a Norfolk seniors home.

R29 - I doubt the story is true. It's just more shit-stirring. Subsequently, another "palace source" said that Andrew would be out of the public eye until he "cleared his name", which will probably be never as that depends on legal proof and there is none (either way). His public image is irredeemable.

He's 60 years old, no one cares about him, he's over. Returning to the public eye for Andrew will only mean getting to rejoin the family for the Christmas Walk, showing up at Remembrance Day as a former serving Naval officer, and showing up on the balcony of Buck House for the Trooping the Colour. Although in each case there's the risk of activists shouting Rapist Paedo! from the frinfes, if the police and RPOs don't keep them back.

I don't think HM or Charles or the increasingly powerful William will risk that last. No, Andrew is done.

There will be a lot more interest in what happens with Meghan's lawsuit and at the year-end review of the Megxit arrangements.

But no matter how you splice it, Andrew, Harry, and Meghan are effectively gone. Harry just did another pathetically stupid Zoom "interview" in which he said Britain had to take a long, hard look at itself. The country hates him and his wife. None of these three have any future as working royals in Britain. And my bet is on Harry filing for American citizenship next year, after the "review'. He has no future in Britain and he knows it, his wife hates the place, she doesn't want him back in the bosom of his family lest they start exerting some influence over Dimwit.

So that's three senior royals off the payroll, which is in one way is good, and leaves the field to the Cornwalls, Cambridges, and Wessexes doing it all, as they wait for the Queen to do the decent thing and die already, ffs. The pandemic has made the Cambridges look golden to the UK public, they've come out of it with stellar marks, especially Kate, for all the vicious mud Meghan slung at her through second and third parties.

There will be another christening with happy royals dressed in spring colours for Eugenie's baby. Bea will be up the duff in no time, if she isn't already.

There is already positive news out about a vaccine in Britain - the royals will, of course, get preferential treatment in when they get is, and be out and about as soon as possible, spending the capital they earned through exemplary behaviour during the pandemic.

Harry and Meghan will be back in America, Andrew will be out of sight.

The Queen knows she can't afford to disturb the path back to public visibility with anything controversial. It's going to be focus on the Cambridges, and continued story after story after story after story about the Sussexes (if they still ARE the Sussexes) as they haunt the tabloids they despise with news of every fart, belch, and breath they take.

Oh, and Meghan is likely to turn up pregnant, as well. She'll be 40 next August and Archie will be two in May. Thankfully, this time she won't have to hide the godparents, because they'll be Hollywood celebrities.

The former King Albert of Belgium met his illegitimate daughter, the newly titled Princess Delphine. Queen Paola was there too.

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A new black & white photo of Bea and Edo's wedding.

I agree with nearly everything said at r33, except for the part about a new Sussex pregnancy. I doubt there's a second child coming for them, Meghan is one and done with her "golden ticket" to seal her deal. She's getting a bit along in age to conceive again easily, and won't want slow down her ongoing activities and spotlight-grab to have another baby. One is easier to handle than two, plus she has Harry to watch.

Marthe Louise has always been something of a nut job. She was so incredibly pretty as a young woman. But she's crazier than a shithouse rat as they say in some parts of the country.

There was something so incredibly sweet and appealing about Bea's wedding. In its way, it was more fairy-tale than the extravaganzas that preceded it. COVID was probably the best thing to happen to this couple and their wedding. No worries about TV and press, no worries about how to keep the Harkles out, or whether all three Cambridge kids should be in the wedding party, or what to do with Andrew and Sarah . . .

It ended up much better as it was. I bet the couple loved it. The pandemic an ill wind that blew some good for this, as me Mum would have said.

Funny, innit?

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Princess Estelle of Sweden is growing up so quickly.

I saw those pictures, R41. I like Princess Victoria and that was a nice appearance with the king, Victoria and Estelle opening a new bridge.

They then walked across the newly opened bridge with a group of school children trailing them.

Nice appearance.

The Marchioness at r39, aka Lindy Guinness, indeed had a very colorful life. She was connected by birth and/or marriage to many famous and creative figures, including Lucien Freud and Robert Lowell (her BILs). Related to both the Guinness dynasty and the Dukes of Rutland, via her mother, her late art collector husband was also related to actor Eddie Redmayne, distantly.

R42 - Very nice, indeed. Pss. Victoria often dresses Estelle in matching clothes. The Swedish monarchy has faced quite a bit of criticism in the last few years, ending in the King wisely cutting the younger royals and their families off from government support and changing their status.

But Victoria is very well liked - she and Daniel and their attractive children are managing to soothe the troubled waters and steer the monarchy into its next generation. That goes for Frederik and Mary in Denmark, as well, although the DRF hasn't come in for nearly the criticism of the Swedes.

The Queen of Denmark is stepping back from her royal duties due to the pandemic. The Crown Prince and Princess will step up.

An unusual view of Princess Anne's wedding dress (her first to Mark Phillips). This is still my favorite British royal bride dress.

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R45 - It's all done so smoothly in Denmark. Margrethe just turned 80 in April, so the handwriting is perhaps on the wall, although she seems quite vital still and in possession of all her mental buttons.

Here, QEII has stepped back, as well, but her problem is that the real equivalent of Frederik and Mary, the attractive just barely middle-aged Crown Princely Couple with still growing children, is William and Kate, not the next King, Charles and Camilla.

The Wales' continue to fall well behind the Cambridges and the Queen in popularity, according to YouGov's recent poll.

QEII made a terrible mistake not stepping down for Charles at 90. If she lives another five years, his reign will be nothing but an interim footnote, he will be pushing 80, no one will care.

Margrethe has been lucky in the gap between her and her heir, and her sons chose wives very wisely. Even the younger son's divorce was quick, quiet, and without raging scandal. Joachim's second wife took a leaf out of her sister-in-law's extremely successful How To Transition From Commoner To Danish Princess book, and has proved herself competent, dutiful, and supportive of the Danish monarchy.

How envious QEII must be. I suppose after the Abdication crisis in 1936 she had to assure the nation that there would be no repeat.

How was she to know she'd live to be 100 and her son's ability to leave his own mark on his reign obliterated by her obdurate clinging to her role as she neared centenarian status?

R47 - Sound of Soho House crockery shattering against the walls in a large home in Montecito, Santa Barbara, California.

R7 - Why do you care how many meaningless public appearances Meghan & Harry make?

R50 - meaningless to people like you but remembered for years by the people who see or meet them.

"The Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava knew some interesting people in her life."

R39 - Her extremely artistic husband was very interesting.

The King of Bhutan's half sister marries the younger brother of the Queen. Confusing or what?

Very colorful outfits.

R53, What a beautiful couple! Dasho Thinlay Norbu is quite dishy!

Prince Albert of Monaco with blond hair. He wasn't bad looking in his youth.

A video that says "Granny is still The Queen". She who is to be obeyed. LOL.

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New photos of the royal couple of Bhutan and their two sons.

The Queen taught that Saudi man a thing or two.

R12 he doesn’t even reside in Thailand right? He lives in Germany I believe. I understand he doesn’t dare to return home. He has 20 mistresses

R11 it was PR well done to publicly apologise. Rutte was a fool for telling them to go on a holiday amidst the second wave of the pandemic. Apparently Willem and Maxima don’t have much of a brain for thinking they could get away with it.

Hvorfor er artikler på Dansk? R11/OP

The Queen's cousin Lady Elizabeth Shakerley has died.

How is a male monarch to achieve the oft-mentioned “visibility from a distance?” One dark suit (even a bespoke one from Saville Row) looks rather like another at a distance. Perhaps Charles and William could wear special hats with colorful plumage? The British aristos seem to enjoy feathers.

R62 - She's just going to outlive everyone, isn't she? Even Sean Connery!

Robert Jobson who wrote that bio "Charles at 70" (he's the one who included Tiaragate in the book, which no one took out or called out as a lie) is asserting that she plans to step down at 95 next year and give Charles the job.

I'll believe it when I see it. Her birthday is end of April. If she plans to step down, she'd better sort the Harkles out first and not leave it on Charles' shoulders.

r62 that's a blow for TQ, she was close to her cousin and had awarded her the Royal Victorian Order. She was also close friends with Beatrix of the Netherlands, and was a bridesmaid at her 1966 wedding. She was only 79, I wonder if she had been ill.

Her stepfather was Prince George of Denmark, a cousin of both the current Danish Queen, King Harald of Norway and Carl Gustaf of Sweden. She inherited a beautiful diamond scroll tiara from him, The Princess Viggo tiara. I know this isn't the tiara thread but find it fitting to post this here.

It must be a blow when anyone that age loses someone close or even well-known cordial acquaintance. I wonder how it affects the "super-eldery's" will to live. Though QEII has extensive family and youth around her.

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The Queen (in a mask) lays a wreathe at the grave of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey.

The Queen at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony.

It was a socially distanced Remembrance Day ceremony. Here is Camilla and Kate.

Charlotte Casiraghi does not know the meaning of the word struggle, and has done precisely what she wants for her entire life.

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R72 - Agree. Increasingly, she exudes royal dignity and calm.

Anyone else following this awful story of how the BBC and Bashir persuaded Diana to do the Panorama interview that forced the divorce that got her booted out of the safe arms of the BRF and into the arms of Dodi Fayed and his driver and that tunnel in Paris?

A meme for our times.

Charles and Camilla will visit Germany on Sunday.

I don't know if it's just me but the Queen looked more robust at Remembrance Sunday than she has in a while. Maybe the covid break has done her good. She doesn't look nearly as tired as has in the past few years.

I don't remember hearing the Danish-born Duchess of Gloucester speak. Here is a video chat she did for Army Families Federation. She still has a very thick accent.

I had the interesting experience of working as assistant to one of the editors (yes, there are more than one) of the recent HQ release "Finding Freedom". I thought you guys - especially the Crown sympathizers, like r7 - might like to know that while the British Royal Family does occasionally come across rather poorly in the book, there were also definitely bits that, while verified to be true by numerous sources, were in the end kept from the finished draft. This was done mostly at the behest of one of our senior editors, who in addition to being quite old is also conservative.

For instance, it was left out that one of the main reasons Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the U.K. is the noxious stench that fires from QEII's practically decomposing cunt. There is absolutely no way to remove it (the smell) from any room she's entered. This is one reason Miss Markle wanted to use air fresheners in St. George's Chapel at Windsor the day of her wedding. The Prince had warned Markle what it was like to live with this fetid, all-pervading stink but she had no idea it could be so bad. Ultimately, she felt it was best to raise her child away from the toxic reek, which court doctors still do not understand.

Anyway, ask me any questions if you like. My contract with the publisher's up.

Princess Estelle of Sweden, next heir to the throne after her mother, has lost her milk teeth and is growing up. I think she looks a charming and happy kid, although she does seem to have inherited her mother's unfortunate chin.

For those who like to clock the royal rocks, Billed-Bladet has photos up of Mary and Frederik at one of the two big New Year's galas the DRF do each year (pre-COVID 2020). This is one of my favourite of Mary's gowns, the colour rich but muted and beautiful with her dark hair and eyes. And, of course, she's wearing Queen Ingrid's beautiful foliate ruby and diamond tiara. She got the suite as a wedding gift from the Queen to use for her lifetime (tiara, bracelet, necklace, earrings, although it looks as if she's wearing only the tops of the earrings which have long lozenge shaped drops).

Too bad we're not going to get any gala photos this year due to the virus.

Demme, forgot the link:

"nytaarskjole" means New Year's outfit (skjole means outfit)

Wtf is on Frederik’s head?

R80 I've always like Crown Princess Victoria. She seems really down to earth and friendly, and I think she's pretty is an 'outdoorsy' girl kind of way. I think she got that chin from her mother's side of the family though. I will admit that I've always though her husband Prince Daniel is sexy in a very understated bookish way.

Kate did a video chat with Armed Forces families.

Will's video chat.

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Another close friend of the Queen just died aged 90.

My guess is HM will hold on until her Platinum Jubilee in 2022 and then perhaps accept the inevitable and make way for Charles. And she'd better sort out the Harkles before then and not leave it, rather unfairly, on Harry's father's shoulders (which are made of jelly as it is).

A four day holiday for Brits is planned in 2022 to celebrate the Queen's 70th year on the throne.

Sophie Wessex makes cheese and bacon scones.

American actress Grace Kelly (aka Princess Grace of Monaco) would have turned 91 years old today.

Norway's Princess Martha Louise and her shaman. He has been given permission to ask her to marry him by Martha's father, King Harald.

Sorry forgot to post the photos above @R92.

Charles on the front of Country Life. He's also guest editor.

Charles is 72 today. Nice congrats from the BRF's account, and from the Cambridges. Yet to see same from the Harkles, but I'm sure we'll get an announcement from their new PR staff that they congratulated the PoW privately through Zoom including Baby Archie waving to the Granddad he doesn't know and probably never will.

Happy Birthday to Prince Charles! Swipe for photos.

Charles and Camilla arrive in Germany.

Printed masks for Chuck and Cammie.

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Kate marks the end of the Hold Still campaign.

Peter Phillips is 43 years old today. Swipe for photos.

Will sends a message to the people of Falkland Islands.

Kate and another video chat. I'm sure she's sick of chats but what can she do?

Swipe for photos of Charles and Camilla in Berlin.

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10 years ago today, Will and Kate celebrated their engagement. Will actually had some hair back then.

For those who aren't up to speed about the Queen Elizabeth's immediate family, here is a chart to help.

R106 - They definitely look . . . younger. But then, so did I in 2010.

Kate's dress for the occasion (was that Elie Saab?) was easily the most flattering of any of the engagement photo-calls outfits in the BRF right through from Pss. Anne through Diana (OMG that dreadful Cojana suit with the patent leather flats and the big black sports watch next to the huge sapphire engagement ring!), Fergie (the dreadful black coat with the cinched in waist), Sophie (dullsville) and Meghan (the too short white belted coat from under which her dress showed, no hose, and tan suede that didn't go with the coat and looked as if they were falling off - she looked four months pregnant in that out of season belted trench coat, not to mention the Morticia Addams hair).

Kate looked youthful, slender, tiny-waisted, pulled together, and simply dressed. It was by far the best of the Engagement Photocalls in the BRF.

Later on, my actual European favourite was the beautiful dress and shoes Mary Donaldson wore at the photocall for her and Crown Prince Frederik.

The grandchildren of the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg.

R109 - I think Gabriel and Noah are the sons of, er, the erstwhile Princess Tessy?

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The King and Queen of Norway are in isolation after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.

Both Harald and Sonja are 83 years old, and Harald had open heart surgery last year. The press release in italics says that the Royal Pair are symptom free, and that 14 other employees of the royal house are also in quarantine.

Princess Caroline's son Pierre Casiraghi has two cute sons, Stefano and Francesco.