On Monday, King Charles III got another new PM, his fourth in less than four years on the throne. The simplicity of the process is rather refreshing. The old PM goes to Buckingham Palace and resigns. A two-sentence message is issued. The new party leader goes to the palace, where the King asks him if he wants to form a government. Andy Starmer says yes and boom, he’s the new prime minister. A three-sentence message is published.
That’s it.
The process is called “kissing hands” though that old-fashioned custom has been replaced by a firm handshake.
For the record, Queen Elizabeth II had a record 15 British PMs during her 70-year reign. Her son is nearly a quarter of the way there in less than four years:
Liz Truss
Rishi Sunak
Keir Starmer
Andy Burnham
On Burnham’s first day as PM, he vowed to end “rough sleeping” after a visit to The Passage, which is London’s leading homelessness charity. Its patron is Prince William, who is in the middle of his own five-year campaign called Homewards, which helps local programs end homelessness.
Queen Camilla’s official 79th birthday photograph (Photo: Chris Jackson / Getty Images / Buckingham Palace)
Queen Camilla turned 79 on July 17 and the National Literacy Trust gave their book-mad patron the perfect gift: books for others.
To encourage reading among young people, the trust is giving every Year 6 (or Grade 5 in Canada) student a special edition of Impossible Creatures by award-winning author Katherine Rundell this Christmas. The book is the first in her great three-part series.
Oh, and the palace released two recent photos of Queen Camilla taken by Getty’s royal photographer, Chris Jackson (first and second).
Spain’s royal family were in New Jersey to see their national team win the World Cup. And then quickly flew back to Spain so they could welcome the team to the royal palace for the start of a massive celebration.
As for England, which was eliminated in the semi-finals, the King said, “A good time to drown sorrows” while visiting a brewery. And yes, there was beer. Earlier, he and his elder son, Prince William, had issued public commiserations when England was knocked out. William’s was more emotional, starting with, “Gutted.“ while the King’s message was more tempered, which made sense given he had five nations in the World Cup (England, Scotland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia).
During an official visit to South Korea, the Princess shook the hand of a humanoid robot. She looked a little bemused, but was a good sport about it.
I and others think they missed an opportunity – the robot should have dropped into a curtsy. As one does.
Remember when Prince William chatted with Eugene Levy on his series, The Reluctant Traveller? Well, that episode got nominated for a primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program. The conversation between William and the Canadian comedian was one of the most revealing of the prince, as he talked frankly of the impact of Kate’s cancer and his thoughts on change once he becomes monarch.
Two brothers, two exclusive interviews, two strategies, two outcomes
While William himself isn’t nominated, his sister-in-law snagged a daytime Emmy nomination Outstanding Lifestyle Series for With Love, Meghan. She hosted and produced the now-cancelled Netflix series. Sure, the daytime Emmys are considered the poor brother full to the flashy, prestigious primetime Emmys, but their shows – ranging from cooking series to soap operas – are the backbone of many networks on air today.
Now the speculation can officially begin: Will Meghan attend the award show? If she wins a daytime Emmy, she’ll be the second in her family to get such an award. Her father, Thomas Markle, got one as lighting director on General Hospital.
I’m going to note Meghan’s own post on Instagram – “We are nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lifestyle Series!” – didn’t mention it was a daytime not primetime nomination.
The Invictus Games Foundation announced that Daejeon in South Korea will be the host city for the 2029 games. It marks the first time the Invictus Games will be held in Asia.
In a rather unprecedented condemnation, two former Lord Chancellors (the U.K. version of a Justice minister) sharply criticized Prince Harry for his attack on the judge and legal system in his civil court case against the Daily Mail publisher. One branded Harry’s remarks as “over the top, personal, and unacceptable” and warned of the damage at a time of increased threats to judges.
After Harry and the other six plaintiffs lost on all counts, the Duke of Sussex denounced the verdict as a “complete and obvious whitewash.”
Two podcasts in one week offer a new-and-improved image of Prince Harry. First, he indulged in a serious amount of toilet humour on the podcast of former rugby player Joe Marler. Last night, he appeared on After Hours with James Corden on Fox to talk about the World Cup.
He seemed relaxed as he exchanged quips with Corden and others, though he did look uncomfortable when put on the spot to say what England could have done to win its semi-final game against Argentina, he said, “I think it’s a mindset,” adding, “‘We’re 1-nil up against Argentina, and then there was this immediate temptation to fall into defence … I don’t think that was the plan. It just happened. And you can’t, in 75 minutes, however long it was, try to defend a 1-0 lead against a team like that.”
The change in how Harry is presenting himself to the world in these podcasts is quite remarkable. As Tom Sykes wrote “Cheeky Chappie Harry” in his The Royalist newsletter on Substack:
If memory serves — and I have the memoir, the Netflix series, the Oprah sit-down and roughly nine hours of promotional interviews to consult — the cheeky chappie was the one thing Harry told us he never was.
That was the Palace’s invention, remember? Spare is, at its core, 400 pages of a man complaining that the institution cast him as the thick one, the naughty one, the party prince, the lovable ginger idiot — a role assigned to him so William could be the serious one.
He was misrepresented, and, actually, he kept insisting, he was a thinker. A sensitive soul. A seeker. A man of depth and wounds.
Six years of that, and now here he is on Fox, doing the cartoon stuff again, voluntarily, one assumes, with an unconvincing look and an even more unconvincing glass of lager!
Being packaged as a cheeky chappie was an unforgivable institutional cruelty when the Palace did it, now it seems to be a savvy relaunch strategy. Glad we’ve cleared that up!
It’s now been 10 days since Harry, Meghan, and their kids saw the King and Queen for a private visit at Highgrove House. While nothing has leaked about the particulars of the visit itself, plenty of other stuff is coming out.