Welcome to this week’s edition of Bao Hoang, The Daily Beast’s Newsletter for All Things Royal and Royal. Ordered here to get it in your inbox every Sunday.
Lilibet’s birthday party is a royal proxy war
The Daily Beast yesterday’s report that it was “very unlikely” that Queen Elizabeth was due to “attend a rumored first birthday party for her eldest daughter Lilibet at Frogmore Cottage on Saturday,” and it did.
The Sun report that the “comfortable” birthday party for Lilibet, organized by Prince Harry and Meghan MarkleAbsent the actual royals, only children Tindall and Phillips – the grandchildren of Princess Anne – are expected to make an appearance.
Their parents — Zara and Mike Tindall, Peter and August Philips — are not HRH, which makes their attendance completely uncontroversial.
Queen, who is not healthy enough to do most of his own Jubilee celebrations, did not attend. Arriving in Windsor with mobility issues, she wore “comfortable clothes” to watch the race on TV, as Zara later told reporters at the Derby. HM is said to be concentrating her energies in the hope that she can appear on her balcony on Sunday to end the four-day weekend.
William and Kate, meanwhilemade it clear that they were not attending Lilibet’s first birthday party, and neither were their children, by simply appearing in public hundreds of miles away in Cardiff with George and Charlotte on Saturday.
However, online joy was visible, with birthday wishes for Lilibet broadcast from the social media accounts of the Royal Family, Charles and Camilla, and Will and Kate. Privately, it is known that the queen met with the same name for the first time during a private meeting with Harry and his family.
The Sun speak Harry and Meghan “had an informal garden party at Frogmore Cottage, on the royal grounds, with birthday cake, balloons, party games and picnic snacks.”
“It was a good opportunity for the other royal children to meet Lilibet for the first time.”
– Royal source
Anyone who spoke to the newspaper was briefed on the event; and anything else, it serves to show that the Sussexes enjoyed at least one occasion during the last few days of the events of the Platinum Jubilee — a period that, at least visually, seems to have emphasized their isolation from the rest of the world. royals. Did Harry even talk to William? Nobody know. Not a single smile was given to this couple in public.
Sources say Sun: “It’s a lovely job and has everything you’d expect from a kid’s birthday party. But there is no official entertainment. The idea is to make it very comfortable and casual, with people free to go in and out as they please. It was a good opportunity for the other royal children to meet Lilibet for the first time. And since her first birthday is such an important milestone, there has been a lot of discussion before that about what gifts she will be given on that day. One idea that has proven to be very popular is a £75 pink Volkswagen Beetle toy that was discovered in Selfridges. “
Lovely. And great product placement too!
Kate’s kids get to cook for Sunday’s competition
Sunday will see the final event of the Jubilee take place, the Miss Jubilee Competition. This is a procession of floats, musicians, corgi puppets (we’re not kidding) and circus acts through the ceremonial streets of central London.
6,000 performers will line the two-mile route, followed by the 1953 coronation procession. Despite dire warnings of inclement weather, rain has stopped in London for now, and it looks like Organizers may have had better luck than they were in 2012 when a three-hour procession down the Thames in wet and cold conditions resulted in Prince Philip being hospitalized.
Sunday is also community party day in the UK, Charles and Camilla arrived just before noon local time at one such event at a London cricket ground, sitting at a 20ft wide tea table, while Edward and Sophie plan to sit down to a table at The Long Walk in Windsor Great Park, where the royals are trying to “break the world record for longest dinner table by assembling 488 tables,” the Daily mail report.
However, stealing the show are the newly posted images by Kate showing her 3 children baking in Cardiff yesterday.
Question: Why did the palace bother to invite Harry and Meghan?
Amidst all the glitz and glamor and Joy based on Paddington bear of yesterday’s pop concert at the palace, it was hard not to notice Harry and Meghan’s absence. The Daily Beast doesn’t know if they were “NFI” as the old saying goes (Not F ***** g Invited) or had decided on their own not to attend. Lending credit to the second edition of the event was a rumor spreading that they had been invited to the City Hall reception after the St Paul’s Cathedral service on Friday, but chose not to go their own way .
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge watch Paddington Bear and HM the Queen on screen during the Palace Platinum Banquet in front of Buckingham Palace .
Chris Jackson / Getty Images
Are they being invited to these occasions, and choosing not to go. Probably. If you feel unwelcome as the royals seem to be making them, why are you playing nice with the camera?
Instead, Harry and Meghan may have watched the event on TV at their Frogmore Cottage home (or maybe not). Let’s hope they have pizza and beer, and resist the temptation to throw crusts at William and Charles as they deliver their speeches on screen.
Ordered here to get all the latest royal news and gossip with Tom Sykes and Tim Teeman.
“Platty Jub” so far, in case you missed it
Platinum Week weekend ends on Sunday afternoon, and as royal planners review the events so far, they can be reasonably pleased with how things have turned out after all. planning years.
Day 1, Thursday was a huge success. Sunshine, blue skies and a miraculously healthy king appeared not once, not twice, but three times to earn the gratitude of his people. The first two appearances were on a balcony at Buckingham Palace during and after the Trooping the Color ceremony, which celebrates the queen’s official birthday and goes like clockwork.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Louis of Cambridge look out onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Color parade on June 2, 2022 in London, England.
Chris Jackson / Getty Images
The third event, which is said to have triggered the Beacon Lighting ceremonies across the UK, is perhaps a bit dumber; the queen emerged from the Sovereign’s Entrance at Windsor Castle, leaning heavily on a cane, and pressing a button presented in the form of a sphere, lit an arranged array of Christmas lights, we think, like a staff. Somehow, these were later linked to Prince William doing the same thing at Buckingham Palace. A certain amount of magical thinking is required.
The effect was not helped by the fact that many communities in the United Kingdom lit up their beacons long before the queen pressed the button.
Thursday also saw the first day of Operation Conceal Meghan and Harry come into effect. After clarifying the fact that they had been invited to the celebrations and would watch ‘Trooping’ with other members of the royal family in a ceremonial room overlooking the parade ground, Harry and Meghan were very little invited waving to the photographers from the windows. Finally, a few grainy pictures appeared among them that stunned the Tindall children.
Thursday ended with a slight downside; believes the queen has had a rather unpleasant day and will not appear for a Thanksgiving service for her reign at St Paul’s Cathedral the following day. That service is a fascinating visual representation of royal dysfunction as Harry and Meghan are brutally booted out of the royal family’s inner circle, sitting miles away from William, Kate and Charles in the church. Amazingly, the two brothers didn’t even acknowledge each other’s existence.
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall during the Palace Platinum Party in front of Buckingham Palace on June 4, 2022 in London, England.
Chris Jackson – WPA Pool / Getty Images
After the ceremony, Harry and Meghan didn’t attend the reception, despite rumors that they were invited — they’re taking it back to Frogmore Cottage instead. Saturday’s daytime event – the Derby – was dominated by the queen’s continued absence; however, she made a pre-recorded appearance at the Palace Dinner Party thanks to her skit Paddington Bear, which is charming and humorous.
Sophie of England, Countess of Wessex (L), James, Viscount Severn (C) and Lady Louise Windsor (R) of England win seats for the Platinum Banquet at Buckingham Palace on 4 June 2022 as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum year celebrations.
CHRIS JACKSON / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
Again, no sign of Harry and Meghan. Perhaps the last chance to correct the omission will come on Sunday night when, according to Britain’s best-kept secret, there will be another balcony appearance at the end of the Miss Jubilee pageant. If the queen does that, and that doesn’t include Harry and Meghan, it’s hard to know when the family will get a chance to reconcile publicly.
This week in royal history
The first weekend of June is always when Elizabeth celebrates her “official birthday”, the actual date of birth is April 21. Edward VII is the one responsible for all the double-birthday business. this. His birthday was on November 9, but in 1908 he moved the ceremony to summer in the hope of less extreme weather.
Had he been alive Prince Philip would have turned 101 on June 10. He was born on that date, 1921, at Villa Mon Repos, in Corfu, Greece.
Unanswered Question
CHEEZ, SO MUCH. Who is responsible for Harry and Meghan’s lowliness, lowness, lowliness this weekend, and does the palace know that it seems like Californians are being snubbed once again? Why would Harry and Meghan bother with the UK, knowing they would be vacated by fame? Was it for an audience with the queen, knowing that this might be the only time she would meet her wonderful pet-named daughter, Lilibet? Either way, it was assumed that it was a difficult and strange few days for them.
And for the celebrations to serve a necessary dual purpose: a loud tribute to the queen’s 75 years on the throne, while also being an upbeat attempt by the palace to sell new players. in the royal soap opera, the main parts and a little bit, to the public? If so, does it work, or does it merely show that the royal family is a colossal group of fashionistas and dressmakers, which the public will eventually tire of paying the price for?
Is Platinum the four-day party of praise and glee for royal fans, and an excuse to drink, take time off work, let your hair down or hide in a dark corner wishing it would all work out? will pass away, for others?
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