Tag: British Royals

Prince Harry set to drop more bombshells about British Royals in in TV interviews

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Days after Prince Harry’s memoir accidentally went on sale early with new allegations of discord and conflict within the British royal family, a series of TV interviews with him will start airing on Sunday with the prospect of yet more damaging attacks on the monarchy.

Harry’s book Spare, which went on sale in Spain on Thursday five days before its official release, chronicles not only hugely personal details, such as how he lost his virginity and took drugs, but also discloses more intimate private instances of family disharmony.

His elder brother, heir to the throne Prince William, knocked him over in a brawl, and both siblings begged their father King Charles to not marry his second wife, Camilla, now the Queen Consort, the book says.

Commentators say it has plunged the monarchy into its biggest crisis since the days of the royal soap opera in the 1990s around the break-up of Charles’ marriage to his late first wife Princess Diana — William and Harry’s mother.

Also read: Prince Harry criticised for terming Taliban killings in Afghanistan as ‘chess pieces’

All this comes just four months after Queen Elizabeth died and Charles ascended to the throne.

”So here’s Charles trying to establish himself as the new king and now Harry’s thrown this hand grenade and it’s all coming kind of crashing around him,” royal biographer Tina Brown said.

Since Harry and Meghan left royal duties and moved to California in 2020, they have railed at their treatment by the royals and the palace institution.

From their interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 to their six-part Netflix documentary series last month and now Harry’s book, the couple’s message has been the same: that the royals and their aides not only failed to protect them from a hostile and sometimes racist press, but actively leaked negative stories about them.

Also read: ‘He knocked me to the floor’, Prince Harry accuses brother William of physical attack in upcoming memoir

On Sunday, Harry’s public thoughts will keep coming, with three more TV interviews due to air. They had been timed for broadcast ahead of the official launch of Harry’s book on Tuesday, and excerpts released ahead of time have shown Harry saying he wanted to give his side of the story.

”I don’t know how staying silent is ever going to make things better,” Harry says in his interview with Britain’s ITV, which will be the first to be shown.

Polls suggest many Britons are becoming bored of the whole royal melodrama, and further revelations are unlikely to shake their views, whether sympathy for Harry and Meghan, or for those they criticise. However Harry’s book was No. 1 on Amazon UK’s bestselling books list on Saturday, available for pre-order ahead of its release.

Also read: Prince Harry says ‘silence is betrayal’ in explosive interview with Anderson Cooper

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Prince Harry says ‘silence is betrayal’ in explosive interview with Anderson Cooper

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, who is awaiting the release of his autobiography ‘Spare’ next week, sat down with Anderson Cooper on the news show 60 Minutes for a “revealing and explosive interview”.

In the promo of the interview that airs on January 8 on CBS, Cooper asks Prince Harry how he has received criticism for publicly stepping back from the institutional role of a royal. Harry responds that he had first intended to be private in stepping back from his public roles, but had to go public in order to address rumours and tabloids.

“Every single time I’ve tried to do it privately, there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife,” Harry told Cooper. “You know, the family motto is ‘never complain, never explain,’ but it’s just a motto.”

Prince Harry tells @andersoncooper he was the target of press leaks after private conversations with members of the Royal Family. https://t.co/0xN8FdapYV pic.twitter.com/FRKfp8AVKp

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) January 2, 2023

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Harry went on to say that “they will feed or have a conversation with the correspondent” and “spoon-feed information” to write stories about Harry and his wife, the former actress Meghan Markle.

“And at the bottom of it, they will say that they’ve reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting,” he added.

Harry added that Buckingham Palace had told him that they couldn’t publish statements to protect him and his wife for the last six years but the institution had put out statements to protect other members of the family. “It becomes– there becomes a point when silence is betrayal,” he said.

The interview comes just a few weeks after the explosive Netflix documentary ‘Harry & Meghan’, which wasn’t received well by the royals. Directed by Liz Garbus, the series had the biggest premiere of any Netflix show.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

What happens when United Kingdom’s monarch passes away

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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While Queen Elizabeth II as monarch of England rules over her subjects — or at least the hearts of her subjects — with a no-nonsense benevolence, in her last hours she will be completely in the hands of her doctor, a gastroenterologist named Professor Huw Thomas, according to The Guardian. He will “look after his patient, control access to her room and consider what information should be made public.”

The Politico cautions that the protocol that will subsequently unfold may seem “banal to the ridiculous” to the world at large — but it will be central to ensuring that the British public is satisfied that their queen has been given the perfect sendoff she deserves.

Here’s what we gathered may happen when Queen Elizabeth II dies:

The queen’s eyes will be closed and Charles will be king. His siblings will kiss his hands.

The queen’s private secretary will contact the prime minister, the freshly-minted Liz Truss. The PM will be the first member of the government to make a statement. Other members of the government cannot utter a word on that before that.

The code ‘London Bridge‘ will be used for the death of UK’s current monarch. Civil servants will say, “London Bridge is down” on secure lines. For George VI’s death, the code was ‘Hyde Park Corner.’

Also read: Doctors ‘concerned’ about Queen Elizabeth II’s health

A statement from Buckingham Palace:https://t.co/2x2oD289nL

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 8, 2022

According to Politico, the PM and her Cabinet will meet the queen’s coffin at St Pancras station and the new King Charles will embark on a tour of the UK in the days before the funeral.

The news will go out to the 15 governments outside the UK where the queen is also the head of state, and the 36 other nations of the Commonwealth, from an an undisclosed location in the capital.

The announcement will go out as a newsflash to the Press Association and the rest of the world’s media simultaneously.

A meticulous script for the minutes, hours and days that follow the eventual death of Queen Elizabeth II — known as the “London Bridge” plan — has been in place for years. Reports of the queen’s health concerns on Thursday stoked new interest in the plan. https://t.co/NpHOiW1rsr

— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 8, 2022

At that very moment footman in mourning clothes will emerge from a door at Buckingham Palace, cross the dull pink gravel and pin a black-edged notice to the gates.

As far as social media goes, the palace website will go a dark shade and turn into a single page showing the same text about her death. All other government websites will sport black colours.

Retweets are explicitly banned unless cleared by the central government head of communications.

Regarding the old school media, newsreaders will wear black suits and black ties and all normal programming will be halted.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Baby yoga? Hypnobirthing? Meghan Markle has myriad of mindful baby choices

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

From baby yoga to cloth diapers, Meghan Markle faces an array of options that embrace her preference for natural and mindful living as she prepares to welcome her royal baby.

Long before she became the Duchess of Sussex on her 2018 marriage to Britain’s Prince Harry, the former US actress shared her love of yoga and meditation in her now-defunct wellness website “The Tig.”

Many women in Markle’s native California have taken to hypnobirthing, a relaxation technique that involves deep breathing and a form of self-hypnosis.

Clinical hypnotherapist and doula, or birth assistant, Alisha Tamburri has been teaching a “relaxed state of consciousness” for over 20 years to celebrity clients including actress Jessica Alba.

“She (Markle) will shut out the world. It won’t even be existing. She’ll be with Harry – Prince Harry – and just the two of them and their precious little baby,” Tamburri told Reuters.

When she is ready to return to yoga, Markle’s baby will be welcome.

At baby yoga classes, mothers incorporate their newborns into their routines, picking them up as additional weights for a squat or side lunge, or kissing them as they swoop down for a sun salutation.

“It would be great for her (Markle) to get back in connection to her body. Also, I’m sure she has a lot of stress on her shoulders compared to the average person, so finding that centre and time with her baby, it would be great,” said Crystal D’Angora, who teaches a class at Zooga Yoga in the Los Angeles area.

Markle will find plenty of natural baby products for the newborn seventh in line for the British throne, from toxin-free teething rings to organic rompers and cloth diapers.

Cloth diapers, which are washed and reused and which sometimes come with a laundry delivery service, are an eco-friendly alternative to the disposable kind.

Renee Powers opened her Earth Baby boutique in Los Angeles five years ago when she discovered her youngest son Tannen was allergic to a chemical in disposable diapers.

“I feel like celebrities are kind of following the trend of green, organic, chemical-free (products),” she says.

Earth Baby sales assistant Tamara Cshetina, who is 30 weeks pregnant with her first child, has been following Markle’s journey and was delighted to find they are expecting their babies around the same time.

“I’m definitely looking at her as an inspiration. She does so much and she inspires me to keep going and saying ‘I can do it’,” said Cshetina.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow