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QEII

bitchy | Lady Anne Glenconner: QEII should have found Prince Charles ‘a suitable wife’
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bitchy | Lady Anne Glenconner: QEII should have found Prince Charles ‘a suitable wife’

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Lady Anne Glenconner was lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, and she was close with many of that generation of royals and aristocrats. Lady Anne married Baron Glenconner, who violently abused her throughout their decades-long marriage, then disinherited her in his will. This explains why Lady Anne has fashioned a late-in-life career for herself as a memoirist, novelist and royal commentator – she simply needs the money. A few years ago, she claimed that John Kerry told her that all Americans “feel very sorry for Prince Harry,” a claim which was later disputed by the Biden-era State Department. Well, Lady Anne’s latest book is Manners and Mischief, and she gets into more personal stories which I guess she left out of her bestselling memoir. Stories about… Princess Diana and the Spencer family. And one judgement about the Windsors. As excerpted by the Mail:

QEII should have worked harder to find Charles a bride: I do slightly feel that the late Queen Elizabeth could have worked harder to try to find Prince Charles a suitable wife. The queens of Greece and Spain used to entertain royal princesses from other European countries in order to find a wife for their sons, but I think because the Queen had fallen in love and had such a successful marriage to Prince Philip, she wasn’t really focused on Prince Charles in the same way.

The grandmothers were happy though: The Queen Mother and Lady Fermoy [Diana’s maternal grandmother] were keen that the marriage to Diana should happen. I have a letter the Queen Mother wrote to my mother expressing her delight at the proposed marriage. Prince Philip was also very much in favour of the union, and, of course, Prince Charles needed to marry a virgin which Diana appeared to be.

Diana’s youth & popularity: She was so young when they married and had very little life experience. And I think when she became so incredibly popular with the public, it was very hard for Prince Charles. I had a certain sympathy for him when he was asked if he was in love with Diana during their engagement interview and he said: ‘Whatever in love means’. I think love is complicated.

Nanny troubles: My sister said that Diana had a rather tenuous grasp on the truth, and I wonder whether it was the result of being brought up in such an unhappy household. Years later, when Diana was pregnant with William and looking for a nanny, Princess Margaret suggested she employ our wonderful nanny Barbara Barnes. Barbara went for the interview but didn’t hear anything back. It fell to me to follow up with Diana’s household and when I called, I was told: ‘Oh, yes she’s got the job,’ though no one had bothered to let Barbara know. Eventually, though, Diana became jealous of how fond William and Harry were of Barbara and she got rid of her.

Diana was still gracious to this awful woman: I was extremely touched by the letter Diana wrote to me after my son Henry died [from Aids, aged 29 in 1990]. She had met him while visiting patients at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. She wrote that she was very struck by Henry’s inner strength and emphasised how he had given her a greater understanding of how to cope with Aids. At a time when most people couldn’t even talk about Aids, Diana’s directness about the illness and appreciation of Henry was very comforting and meant a great deal to me.

[From The Daily Mail]

It’s true that Diana and Charles’s grandmothers were involved in their courtship, and they believed it was a smart match because of Diana’s youth and inexperience, but also because of Diana’s aristocratic background. I don’t think the grandmothers really understood that Diana was so modern and so different from most aristocrats of the era. As for the idea of QEII doing more to introduce Charles to suitable young women… in some sense, Lady Anne is correct, and QEII should have taken more of an interest considering Charles was the heir and the monarchy’s future hinged on his choice of bride. But I’m sure QEII’s perspective was that Prince Philip, the Queen Mum and Lord Mountbatten had it covered.

What’s also fascinating is that Charles, in turn, took a hands-off approach to his sons and their paths towards finding their brides. Charles didn’t do it consciously, he’s just so negligent and self-absorbed, I’m not sure it would have occurred to him that he should have done more to throw eligible, well-heeled aristocratic women in his sons’ paths. It’s also worth noting that those well-heeled aristo girls wanted absolutely nothing to do with William. Those girls and their parents saw the way that family destroyed Diana. Still, you’d think that Charles would have stepped in when the Middletons were making their moves. Alas, he did not.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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bitchy | Jobson: QEII ‘covered security costs’ for Prince Harry & Archie for one year
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bitchy | Jobson: QEII ‘covered security costs’ for Prince Harry & Archie for one year

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Another royalist has written another half-fictional book about the Windsor clan. This time it’s Robert Jobson, and his latest book is The Windsor Legacy. A legacy of abuse, neglect, dishonor, disrespect and trailer-trash antics, if you ask me. The Mail has already started publishing excerpts from the book, and I just thought we should get into it. Going strictly by the first excerpts, Jobson has set it up the bulk of all of the stories are about how the Sussexes are damned if they do, damned if they don’t, and they absolutely never, ever get it right, obviously. Jobson gets most of his leaks, briefings and exclusives from King Charles’s camp – he’s a Charles/Camilla loyalist, if anything. So just understand that this is Charles’s narrative on certain subjects:

Prince Harry called QEII in late 2020: She may have suspected what he wanted to discuss. Before Harry had left Britain in 2020, the Queen and Prince Charles had arranged to cover security costs for him and his son Archie for a whole year. In addition, Harry’s father had offered to assist with household bills and living expenses while the Sussexes settled into their new lives – first in Canada and then in California. But was that enough? Harry seemed to be finding the shift from being a working royal rather harder than he’d expected. Sure enough, he called his grandmother back the following day – though this time not during the sacred hour. And this time she took his call. After hanging up, she sighed and said in front of her staff: ‘More money.’

QEII hated how much money Meghan spent on clothes: One matter that did anger her, though, was Meghan’s taste for expensive designer clothes. She’d looked stunning when, nine months after the royal wedding, she appeared in a custom-made Christian Dior gown during a reception in February 2019 at the British ambassador’s residence in Rabat, Morocco. However, the cost of her wardrobe for the Sussexes’ official tour of Morocco was causing comment back home. Certainly, the estimated £60,000 price tag for the Dior dress drew the Queen’s ire when she read about it in the press. She later let Meghan know that such an expensive outfit was an ill-judged choice.

QEII thought the Sussexit was awful! Privately, Queen Elizabeth described Harry’s behaviour as ‘quite mad’. She made it clear to those close to her that she felt let down by the Sussexes’ departure, which she saw as short-sighted and a missed opportunity. The Queen had warmly welcomed Meghan, viewing her dual heritage, beauty and communication skills as assets to the family. When everything fell apart, she publicly wished the couple well. As time went on, however, she tired of all their dramatics, and ordered that Harry’s phone calls be redirected to his father.

Harry telling Oprah that his father & brother are trapped: William felt totally betrayed. He insisted to friends there was no way he felt trapped, and licensed them to talk to the media. He also famously declared: ‘We are very much not a racist family.’ The two brothers spoke on the phone – and days later, CBS TV host Gayle King revealed that their conversation was ‘not productive’. The leak felt like yet another betrayal.

QEII sent for Philip’s companion: Just over a week after the Oprah interview, Prince Philip was released from hospital. He was lethargic, sluggish and didn’t want to leave his room, which worried the Queen. She sent for his close companion Penny, the Countess Mountbatten, hoping her presence would help him regain his zest for life – and he briefly rallied.

The Sussexes naming their daughter after QEII: A Palace source has a different version of events, which is that the Queen first learned of Lilibet’s name from the morning press, and was so incensed at the affront that she threw the paper to the floor, startling her staff. Later, during one of the Sussexes’ final UK visits before her death, they skipped a planned tea – that daily ritual so precious to the Queen. What’s more, they skipped it without giving her notice. She had requested a special cake. By 5.15 p.m., with no word, she told staff to clear everything away.

QEII’s thoughts on William: Although she loved William and saw much to admire, she told insiders that she feared he might become a ‘celebrity monarch’ rather than a dedicated one. His rigidity, according to a royal source, occasionally frustrated her. A case in point was when the Queen asked him to stand in for her at the official opening of Thames Hospice’s new 29-bed facility by Bray Lake, Berkshire, near Windsor. She had a particular connection with it through a retiring staff member who had looked after the budgerigars at the Royal Aviary, and she didn’t want to let anyone down. But on the day of the ceremony, July 15, 2022, she was feeling particularly frail. William’s schedule might well have accommodated this last-minute duty, but he cried off, citing fatherly duties. This left his grandmother not only disappointed but irritated. She is said to have scoffed: ‘Isn’t that what nannies and policemen are for?’

Charles’s call to Harry last year: The King, who’d broken the news of his cancer to Harry in a phone call, had started treatment straight away. He was undergoing chemotherapy and felt a strong need for peace and quiet. The last thing he needed was any drama – yet, without an invitation, Harry took it upon himself to fly over to see his father. The King had planned to spend the weekend at Sandringham in Norfolk, so he was irritated at being forced to wait in London until his son arrived. Their meeting was brief, around 30 minutes. Wary of letting Harry prolong it, Charles had pre-arranged for the meeting to be interrupted with a warning that it was time for a medical procedure. His son left soon afterwards. In fact, there was no procedure scheduled, and never had been. Instead, the King flew straight to Sandringham on a helicopter that had been standing by for his delayed journey.

[From The Daily Mail]

“The Queen and Prince Charles had arranged to cover security costs for him and his son Archie for a whole year…” Carefully worded AND false. While the original deal was for protection for the Sussexes (Meghan included) for a year, that was withdrawn in March 2020. When Harry called his father and grandmother in 2020, he was trying to get answers about his security, not money. But it’s interesting that even in this horrific, false, pro-Windsor account, they’re making sure that no one would believe that they ever agreed to protect the only woman of color to marry into the family.

What else? More horses-t about Lili’s name and QEII throwing a tantrum, which I still don’t believe. I think the courtiers and Charles and William were the ones throwing tantrums, and QEII was pretty much fine with the name. The part about Charles being pissed at Harry for wanting to see him after a cancer diagnosis is shocking, but not for the reasons Jobson believes. The thing about William refusing to step in for his dying grandmother is wild though – his commitment to being lazy as hell extended that far, where he turned down his frail, dying grandmother when she asked him to work a few hours. Bonkers. These people are horrible.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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Events

The QEII Centre announces new Chief Executive Officer

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Safraj Ismail has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of world-renowned conference, events and exhibition venue The QEII Centre. 

Commencing her role on the 27th of October, Safraj (Saf) joins The QEII Centre from the Gambling Commission. As an accomplished senior leader, her most recent role was as Programme Director overseeing the National Lottery Competition. Saf also has extensive experience leading internal and digital communications teams, with a consumer focus.

Saf joins the leading Westminster-based venue as it announces one of its strongest years on record, with an economic impact of over £170 million and several confirmed multi-year bookings up to 2029.

Saf comments: “I am delighted to be joining the QEII Centre at a time of investment and growth. More importantly, I am delighted to be joining an award-winning team of event professionals. I look forward to exploring new opportunities, strengthening what already works well, and ensuring that we continue to deliver exceptional value and outstanding service to our clients and stakeholders that the QEII is renowned for.”

Andy Hobart, Chair and Senior Sponsor of the QEII Conference Centre Trading Fund said: “We are delighted to welcome Saf to The QEII Centre. Saf is people oriented, able to skilfully nurture collaboration across different departments and brings proven experience of major project delivery and customer focused services.” 

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bitchy | King Charles’ courtiers believe QEII has ‘a lot to answer for’ with the Andrew problem
Celebrity News

bitchy | King Charles’ courtiers believe QEII has ‘a lot to answer for’ with the Andrew problem

by jummy84
written by jummy84

It’s incredibly funny to watch King Charles try to thread this needle with his late mother’s memory: Queen Elizabeth II was the greatest monarch ever and everything she said and did is above reproach… AND the late queen was petty, negligent, short-sighted and she’s to blame for pretty much every problem plaguing Charles. You can’t have it both ways – either QEII’s words are the royal gospel or she made tons of horrible decisions which left the monarchy in terrible shape long-term. Which is it? All of this brings me to Roya Nikkhah’s new piece in the Times, where “insiders” and “sources” are basically complaining about how QEII should have taken care of this Prince Andrew situation during her reign, and why oh why did they leave this issue on the shoulders of Charles the Ditherer? Some highlights:

A stain on the Carolean era: Whichever way the saga of Andrew ends — and the end does not yet appear to be in sight — it has indelibly stained the Carolean era, a reign that has already been buffeted by the King’s cancer, for which he is still receiving weekly treatment. A friend of the monarch said: “He won’t be looking at it through the lens of ‘this is my brother’. He’ll be looking at it through the lens of ‘this is getting in the way of the royal family’s duty to serve the country and distracting from the public work’ — and that’s not where he wants the focus to be.”

The inherited problem: Charles and his aides have been firefighting for weeks, attempting to digest each new, tawdry revelation about Andrew that emerges to do with his links to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein…But there is a growing feeling that too little is being done too late, and the Palace is playing catch-up because of mis-steps committed during the last reign. After his BBC Newsnight interview, Andrew was forced by Queen Elizabeth, with the support of Charles and Prince William, to step back from public life in the vain hope the scandal would fade. In February 2022, when Andrew agreed a multimillion-pound settlement with Giuffre, part-funded by his mother and Charles and admitting no liability, the late Queen enforced further punishment, removing his HRH styling, military titles and patronages. But she could not bring herself to fully strip him of his titles, or suggest that alternative accommodation might be more appropriate in the circumstances. He remained her weak spot, and Charles is now paying the price.

QEII has a lot to answer for!! A source who knows the royal family said: “It seems to me that Queen Elizabeth has quite a lot to answer for. It’s as if she left an unexploded bomb for Charles. The thing about the Queen was that everyone always said she was so dutiful, and she was — but this was a terrible dereliction of duty. She indulged Andrew all the time and always avoided confrontation.”

QEII the ostrich: Another royal source, who knew the late Queen well, said: “It wasn’t just Andrew — it was all the family troubles. She just didn’t want to engage. She was like an ostrich with her head in the sand. But I don’t think any of the family knew the full extent of what would come out.”

The advanced talks with Andrew: Talks between Andrew and courtiers, thought to be led by the King’s principal private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, on the issue of where else he might live — and who would fund a move — are said to be continuing. The prince has so far dug in his heels and shows no imminent signs of moving. This is despite mounting pressure prompted by revelations last week in The Times that he pays the Crown Estate a “peppercorn rent” for the sprawling mansion.

Charles must stop dithering and confront Andrew directly: The source said: “Charles has to say to his face, ‘There’s no choice here, you must now leave Royal Lodge. Whatever the lease says. You say you always put your family and country first. Prove it. This is doing real damage to the monarchy. You’ve got to move.’ I think that would do a lot to assuage public anger.” Another royal source said: “The public are angry at Andrew, angry that he’s still in that house and angry at the disdain in that statement. Something else [beyond the dukedom] has to go.”

What is Camilla doing? Queen Camilla has so far kept a low profile on the matter, choosing to support her husband privately as he navigates the Andrew fallout. The Palace will not say whether Camilla — who, like the Duchess of Edinburgh, is a longstanding campaigner on raising awareness of sexual abuse — has read Giuffre’s book or expressed an interest in its contents, published posthumously. A friend of Camilla’s said: “Knowing her, she probably will. Set against the Queen and the Duchess of Edinburgh’s personal agenda, it is a very difficult backdrop to try and promote the issues they care about when they’ve got someone so close to home caught up in it.”

Endless scandal: Another former courtier says of the endless scandal: “If a story lasts more than nine days, you’re toast. It’s been 15 years now.” A friend of the King said: “The King has one of the best antenna for judging public opinion and he is keeping a very close eye on the mood on this matter. There is a genuine sense that he feels he has taken every step available and they have pulled all the decisive levers they can. If it isn’t enough, because the public outrage is still high, they will look again. But it is not an institution that is prone to knee-jerk reactions.”

[From The Times]

“The King has one of the best antenna for judging public opinion” – no he doesn’t??? LMAO. Charles married Camilla, for God’s sake. Charles doesn’t have a feel for public opinion, but he believes that he can manipulate public opinion to get his desired result. Andrew Lownie – who wrote the book on the Yorks, published this past summer – pointed out that the public is way ahead of the monarchy and the government on the Andrew situation. There’s HUGE public support for formally stripping Andrew of all of his titles and forcing him out of Royal Lodge and launching a criminal inquiry into him. Charles and the Starmer government look out of touch for attempting to slow-walk these half-measure punishments.

As for all of the stuff about blaming QEII… lol. Charles really is his mother’s biggest opp, and always has been. Charles is disrespecting the dead queen! Punishing Andrew is a slap in the dead queen’s face! Sorry, do we only reserve that kind of hyperbole when it’s about the Sussexes? The thing that makes it even funnier is that Charles is actually right, QEII should have punished Andrew during her reign and yes, this was always going to explode during Charles’s reign. But QEII didn’t force Charles to put Andrew front-and-center on the Christmas walk and Easter walks. QEII didn’t force Charles to dither and slow-walk the Andrew situation for three years.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Instar.

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