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Summer v WLM

The proof that Kate’s the perfect British princess that Meghan could never be

Judith Woods

The proof that Kate’s the perfect British princess that Meghan could never be

As the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex release blockbusting sequels on the same day, there can only be one winner

rincess of Wales lets others shine while the Duchess of Sussex craves stardom

Judith Woods

14 August 2025 6:23pm BST



Anyone out there nursing fond memories of Barbenheimer? That was the inspired portmanteau for the cultural phenomenon of 2023, when cinemagoers gained kudos for watching bubblegum movie Barbie the selfsame day as the nuclear weapons endurance test that is Oppenheimer.

I didn’t manage it for sound medical reasons; namely I would have run the very real risk of Revels poisoning. But all credit to those who were rewarded with a thought-provoking examination of a brilliant yet conflicted character and also got to see Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer.

I thought of that highly entertaining mismatch when both the Duchess of Sussex and the Princess of Wales released blockbusting sequels on the very same day this week.

What were the chances? Quite high I suppose, given neither of them are on speaking terms but still, what a moment to be alive!

Surely, the least I could do is have a quick squint at them both. So I did. And, Dear Readers, it was quite the rollercoaster, especially because Kate’s ode to Mother Nature featured a beekeeper and everyone knows that Meghan bagsied all the bees. AwkwardEarlier this year, in the first promo for her Netflix lifestyle show With Love, Meghan we saw the Duchess of Montecito, 44, stocking up on honey from someone else’s garden (don’t ask) with a view to flogging it at £5,000 (or whatever) for a royal – or at least royal-adjacent – jar.

So imagine my surprise that Kate’s only gone and pointedly filmed loads of British bees collecting patriotic pollen in Britain. Uh-oh. I expect Harry’s lawyers are already onto it. That man lives to litigate, bless his huffy heart.

He doesn’t make an appearance in the new With Love trailer, although his missus cheekily blows the gaff on her bozo prince by confiding that he doesn’t like eating lobster. Cue wild laughter. Such a shame the director cut the next scene of him tucking into a swan, but that’s showbiz.ale dresses skipping carefree in the grass’

This paean to cherishing “the bonds of love and friendship” presents such a soft-focus view of Britain, I was expecting the sound of leather against willow. I can only assume old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the mists of the autumn mornings will be in the follow-up. But next time can we have Kate gathering windfalls? Treading grapes? Driving a 16-ton combine harvester? Please?

Yes, a great deal of Kate’s charisma derives from her instinctive ability to let those about her shine, whether they are charity bosses or little children. Facilitating connection and community is the unique power of the House of Windsor at its best. But we need an intervention by some venerable retainer who can kindly, authoritatively reassure her that her calm, collected presence could never be construed as showboating.

By comparison, Meghan is a natural performer who will always be – crave to be – the star. The camera loves her smile but allowing others to have their moment simply isn’t in her skill set. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it is a thing.

This latest foray into film provides further proof she would never have fitted in at The Firm, where team playing is the order of the day. Team playing and not saying nonsensical things like “There are easy ways to show up, lovingly”, while wasting fancy packaging on jammy biscuits so remedial a seven-year-old would roll their eyes.

Her late, great Majesty Elizabeth II once sagely observed “we have to be seen to be believed”, an adage that has seen many a working royal through tedious civic engagements or gruelling overseas tours.

As a working royal, this embodies Kate’s role – subject, of course, to health considerations. She is, after all, our future Queen. Meghan has never enjoyed playing second fiddle, but if she wants to rehabilitate herself, she would do well to take her cue from the Princess of Wales, who unerringly shows that respect is earned, not through TV specials and triteness, but acts of service and thoughtful contributions to national life.As a promo, Meghan’s reel works well in an unapologetic does-what-it-says-on-the-tin sort of way. Yes, I feel quite sad she still can’t seem to summon up any of those bewildered famous acquaintances she invited to her wedding to share in the joy of making cheesy crackers, but I have to hand it to her: self-advertising is her forte.

Kate’s new offering, entitled Summer, on the other hand is far from obvious. In truth, it’s so nuanced, it’s (whisper it) initially hard to see the point, which is really rather lovely – that we should reach out to others and enjoy our beautiful landscape and coastline in the height of summer. “It has never been more important to appreciate the value of one another, and of Mother Nature,” she writes at the end. “Here’s to Summer. C.”

It follows on from Spring, filmed on the Isle of Mull, in which she spoke of the way nature had provided a sanctuary during her cancer journey and how it nourishes, revives and renews the human spirit.

In recent times, the Princess of Wales has become the de facto ambassador of Britain’s countryside and in many ways Summer is the perfect party (un) political broadcast for the Royal family, summing up the quiet yet essential values of continuity and community against a sylvan backdrop that may indeed heal the soul, but doesn’t really exist anymore.

But she doesn’t make an appearance, which frankly is a big mistake. Huge. I have the feeling that she didn’t want to make it about her, which is admirable and indeed on brand.

Now, cards on the table, I could watch bees all day but I lost interest when it came to the picnicking families and little ballerinas in pale dresses and pumps skipping carefree in the grass. Maybe in Sandringham. Out here in broken Britain, they’d get dog muck on their shoes and a telling-off from the illegal immigrants who live in that tree.

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She and Ohanian, a co-founder of Reddit, live on a five-acre farm in South Florida where they grow much of their own food.

'We basically live off the land,' she told Time for its Time 100 issue in April.

The family, with the help of their staff, grow purple sweet potatoes, mangoes, blueberries, and raspberries on the property along with peppers and other crops.

'We get so much honey it’s insane,' Williams she told the publication, revealing she also dehydrates anti-oxidant rich Moringa leaves to make tea.

Williams is good friends with Meghan Markle, who also has her own crop yielding garden at her home in southern California, which she shares with Prince Harry and their children Archie and Lilibet.

'I’m always like, "Girl, what are you doing today?"' the multi-faceted entrepreneur explained, adding, 'So we're trading recipes.'

So just like Oprah, Serena is not flaunting her close friendship with Rachel but they're pretty much BFFs behind the scenes...

So what? There are many farmers doing the same thing as they do. Do they expect well done from us? These people are triggering my socialist side.

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No, you don't get how monumental this is.

We have waited for anyone, literally ANYONE to get the Strathmore out of the vault, there were rumours for YEARS of it being delicate and so fragile it was almost impossible to wear it ever again. But we persisted, we waited...

And also the fact that it has a new frame, the frame is covered in brown velvet which means it's HERS and it's perky and gorgeous as the last time it was seen.. like nobody alive has seen it... until NOW.

What a time to be alive.

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 you just have to go back in time to see how Eugenie has been with Kate. Such a two-faced little madam, I mean, does she really think Prince Andrew is going to get back into the fold?

I don’t think it’s Beatrice as much as it is Eugenie. Eugenie is like her father, pompous and arrogant.

It’s a dreadful situation for poor Kate to be in. It’s a proper little coven isn’t it and they’ve all got one thing in common they all go to Soho house….

Don’t you find it very strange that Eugenie and Beatrice and their respective husbands have never been mentioned in JH’s book spare, or by scabby?????

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Omid says Harry enlisted the help of two mutual friends to help him reconcile with William but Willi paid Harry dust. He said Harry and Meghan sent gifts last December to George, Charlotte and Louis but Willam and Kate didn't even as much as acknowledge with a text message. He said during the Queen's funeral Harry tried many times to reach William, even sending him text messages, but William doesn't respond. Apparently, William has completely cut Harry out of his life.

Yes! As he should.

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I don't know yet if you've seen an anon's publishing research of Omid's book and Emma's explanation based on her own experience in the industry as an author, but if not, here it is! Pretty interesting read.

https://www.tumblr.com/americanbrffan/735373788958605312/im-trying-to-find-the-announcement-of-his-deal?source=share

Thanks!

ETA: gist of Emma’s conclusion:

That explains the discrepancy. Omid sent a different manuscript to the translators. No translation mistake and, imo, it was done on purpose. I imagine he just brunt a lot of bridges with international publishers.

ETA: Emma’s whole post.

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Megs had more outrage that her dad shared a letter that she knowingly wrote that it might be shared than she has for her "friends" sharing omid everything. She isn't going to sue him1!?!?!? Why?

She threw Omid under the bus! I’m so shocked, lol.

It’s so ridiculous. Does she expect us to believe the PALACE leaked this to Omid? I mean, what are the other options? Divine revelation? Oracle of Delphi? Tarot reader?

They can’t even lie credibly anymore. Apparently Omid is sticking by his story that the translators somehow inserted two names by mistake? Does he even know how document translation works?

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By Camila Tominey,

“Just as I have always admired the seamless way the Duchess of Sussex’s truth has sometimes clashed with fact, so too do I have a grudging respect for Omid Scobie.

"Lest we forget, this is a man who spent a decade raking over celebrities’ private lives for US Weekly, only to brazenly tweet in 2021: “Privacy means freedom from *unauthorised* intrusion. It is the right to choose what you share with others and what you don’t. That’s it!

"At the time, such outbursts left journalists like me in disbelief. Wasn’t this the guy whose entire career was built on analysing snatched paparazzi images of the rich and famous? Imagine our incredulity when Scobie launched into repeated attacks on the very royal press pack he followed around like a puppy. I saw with my own eyes how he tried to muscle in on the rota system in a bid to gain access to the very members of the Royal family he now seeks to trash in his second book, Endgame, which hit bookshelves on Tuesday.

"You have to admire the brass neck of the bloke, you really do. I remember one incident on a royal tour when he was literally begging me to tell him the sources of my various royal scoops. And to think he’s now so reluctant to discuss his own! Who on Earth could they be, I wonder?

"Perhaps the most amusing thing about Endgame is how much this fearless journalist gets wrong in his tireless pursuit of Meghan’s truth. “Palace aides were racking their brains to remember the ‘five’ private secretaries who have come and gone from the Duchess of Cambridge’s office (there have been three). And contrary to the claim ‘you’d be unlikely to read about it in any British newspaper’, The Telegraph reported on exactly that staffing issue last week.

"Hey, but why let facts get in the way of a good story? In one passage, I am described as The Telegraph’s Royal Editor – which I’m not and never have been. Referring to a piece I had written about the now infamous dog bowl incident, in which I suggested that it showed how much love William has for his little brother that he felt the need to physically wrestle him to the ground, Scobie comments that I sound like the “excuses of domestic abusers everywhere.”

"Domestic abuse? Is that what we are calling sibling rivalry these days? We are now being asked to believe that it was a “translation error” that the names of two “alleged” royal racists had been left in the now-pulled Dutch copies of Endgame – even though they were completely absent from the English version. And we’re supposed to accept this narrative even after Scobie had bragged on US television that he knew the names of both alleged racists?

"You know, I really thought I’d seen it all when Meghan told Oprah, with a straight face, that the Archbishop of Canterbury had married them three days before their official wedding ceremony; that she’d had her passport confiscated only to jet off on multiple holidays; that Kate had made her cry and not the other way round.

"I thought I’d heard it all when “sources” close to these two multi-millionaires (who were still receiving a £700,000 allowance from the King after Megxit) revealed the couple were so “desperate” they had no choice but to sign deals with Netflix et al – even though we know they were speaking to streaming companies as early as 2018, a whole two years before they stepped down as “working” members of the Royal family.

"I thought I’d heard it all when Scobie, of all people, claimed to be both a champion of privacy and an accountable press, only to publish not one, but two completely unauthorised intrusions into the lives of the Royal family so lacking in balance as to be laughable. We must believe all victims of bullying, insists Scobie (who was comforted by Meghan when he copped the kind of flak we all get, day in and day out on social media), except when they’re accusing the Sussexes of it. You really couldn’t make it up."

Thanks!

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Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Chatto ! Looking back at the nuptials of Pr...

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Submitted:

From today’s Telegraph royal newsletter, “Your Royal Appointment”, by Camilla Tominey, who looks like she’s attempting a bit of clean-up,

By Camilla Tominey, Associate Editor

‘They’re working harder than before, but that is no bad thing for both Queen and country’

In the news business they say a story ‘ain’t old til it’s told’ – even if that means telling it more than once. In November 2018, I wrote a lengthy feature for The Telegraph headlined: “Is the royal sisterhood really at breaking point?” Revealing that tensions had built up between Kate and Meghan in the run up to the Sussexes’ wedding, I noted that two separate sources claimed Kate was left in tears following a bridesmaid dress fitting for Princess Charlotte. “Kate had only just given birth to Prince Louis and was feeling quite emotional,” said one insider. I never found out precisely what the incident was about.  Did we get the answer yesterday? An eye-popping Tatler piece by the royal author Anna Pasternak claimed the row was about whether or not Charlotte should wear tights on the big day. Apparently Kate said she should, in accordance with royal protocol, but Meghan said she shouldn’t. Photographs from the 2018 wedding appear to show the bridesmaids with bare legs, while those from the Cambridges’ wedding in 2011 show every one of the youngest members wearing tights. I’m not sure whether that was the reason for the upset – although having been banned from wearing tights whenever I appear on NBC in the US, I can vouch that Yanks do not seem to share our 10 denier dependency (correct me if I am wrong, American readers!).  Kensington Palace made the rare move of rubbishing the Tatler article. However, it is perhaps noteworthy that they appeared to be casting doubt over the description of Kate feeling “exhausted and trapped by her royal duties” rather than the bridesmaids’ tights story (phew!). Suffice to say I wouldn’t have written it if it wasn’t true.  What I think the palace objects to is the suggestion that Kate regards herself as “working as hard as a top CEO”. As a source close to the Duchess put it: “She doesn’t think that; she knows a lot of people are working much harder than her,” pointing out those putting in the hours in the front line fight against coronavirus. The Cambridges are working harder than before, but that is no bad thing for both Queen and country. The couple had faced criticism in the past for not doing enough, yet now they are stepping up to the plate, their press has never been better. We do tend to prefer our royals to put in the hours. But they are also more relatable now that they have become parents and are willing to share the trials and tribulations of their dual role – exemplified by the pictures of Prince Louis making that rainbow hand print for the NHS.  Does Kate really think the Sussexes have “thrown” the Cambridge children “under a bus” by stepping down as senior royals? I get the impression that the Cambridges are feeling more sad than resentful over Harry and Meghan’s move to the US. The piece suggested: “There goes the school runs,” but there is no need to change the royal diary now the Sussexes are no longer on the scene. Aides have always made sure the school run remains sacrosanct bar emergencies – and long may that continue. It is not only possible for the Cambridges to assume an ever more high profile role while ensuring that their parental responsibilities remain undiminished – it is essential. For they are not just caring for a son and his siblings, but a future king and his supporters.

I still think that what KP was objecting to, however obliquely, are the comments/descriptions of Carole. 

______________________________________________________________________

Thanks for sending this in! It sounds like they were more worried about the whiny tone of the “workload” comments.

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Harry and Meghan: Where Buckingham Palace disagrees with the duke and duchess | News | The Times

Bridesmaids’ dresses

One of the first stories to cast Meghan in a negative light was the claim that before her wedding there was a row over bridesmaids’ dresses in which the Duchess of Cambridge cried. According to Meghan, it was Kate who made her cry.

“She was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised. She brought me flowers and a note, apologising.”

Describing Kate as “a good person”, she added: “I’m not sharing that piece about Kate in any way to be disparaging to her. I think it’s really important for people to understand the truth.”

However, insiders tell a different story. One said the row happened when the bridesmaids’ dresses had to be altered a week before the wedding. Meghan told them when to come, but Kate wanted to come at a different time. She was told it would not be possible, and went round at the time that suited Meghan.

“Meghan was incredibly rude. The duchess cried and left.”

After William intervened to try to calm the situation down, the duchess took flowers to Meghan the next day in an attempt to make peace.

The source said: “Meghan slammed the door in her face.”

Charles

Harry told Oprah Winfrey that in the first few months of 2020 his father cut him off financially.

However the Prince of Wales appears to differ in his recollection of what happened. Charles, who previously bankrolled Harry’s office to the tune of something approaching £2.5 million a year, was said by a source to feel “let down” by Harry’s claim.

A source told the London Evening Standard: “The Prince of Wales went out of his way to make sure his son and daughter-in-law were financially supported.”

Mental health

When she was feeling suicidal, Meghan said she went to one of the most senior people in the household “just to get help”. She said: “I said that ‘I’ve never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere.’ And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution.”

This raises several questions. Why did she not go to a doctor, such as one of the doctors working for the medical household? Why would the palace not want to help, especially given that mental health has been one of the most prominent campaigning areas for Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge? Harry, after all, has spoken on several occasions about his own mental health, and how he has had therapy to cope with feelings about the death of his mother.

And why would an official put the standing of the institution above the mental health of a member of the royal family, given all that Harry — and William and Kate — have said through their Heads Together campaign about the importance of removing the stigma surrounding mental health?

Also, Meghan said she went to human resources to ask for help. Why? Some insiders believe this was odd, given that HR is there to deal with issues concerning staff, not the royal family.

In the interview Harry admitted that he did not tell anyone in his family that Meghan needed help. He said: “I guess I was ashamed of admitting it to them … I didn’t have anyone to turn to.”

Racism

When she was pregnant with Archie, Meghan said there were “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”. There were, she said, “several conversations” about it with Harry, and an unnamed member of his family.

Harry’s account differed slightly from from his wife’s. He only referred to one conversation, and said that it was “right at the beginning”, before they were married.

It is hard to know what the palace position is on this, as they have not commented. But whoever it was may well have their own memory of the conversation.

Oprah Winfrey said that off-camera, Harry ruled out the possibility that it was the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh.

Prince Archie

The Duchess of Sussex has claimed that members of the royal family did not want Archie to become a prince.

This is a complicated area because Archie was never due to be a prince when he was born. Rules introduced by George V in 1917 mean that great-grandchildren of the monarch, other than the elder son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, are not styled HRH and do not get the title of prince or princess.

However when the Queen dies Archie would then be a grandchild of the monarch, and would therefore get his HRH and become a prince.

However, Meghan suggested to Winfrey that there were plans to change this rule. She said: “While I was pregnant they said they wanted to change the convention for Archie.”

No royal sources have confirmed this. One said they were unaware of such conversations.

The Sussex camp believes that it is Prince Charles who intends to introduce this change, rather than the Queen. It is understood that they believe he would introduce it on his accession, as part of his plans for a slimmed-down monarchy.

Charles believes that having fewer working members of the royal family would reduce the burden on the taxpayer and help justify the existence of the institution.

The question of Archie’s title was further complicated by the way the duchess linked the issue with the question of his security.

Several sources have said that his title had nothing to do with security, which was a matter for Scotland Yard and, ultimately, the home secretary.

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The Princess of Wales August 2025 Photo Challenge!

Day 6 - Favourite photo(s) of Catherine with celebrities

Do you know how hard it is to find high quality photos of Catherine with celebrities? Anyway, photos of Catherine with celebrities always makes me happy because they are far more excited to see her than they would be to see another celebrity and yet still less excited than I would be

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Kate and her mother Carole Middleton shopping on Kings Road, London in November 2005

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