Last week, Prince William, dressed casually, took his eldest son George and daughter Charlotte to a sold-out Taylor Swift concert in London.
They then posed with the superstar and her boyfriend Travis Kelce for selfies sent around the world. Even without Kate and little Louis, it was a cheerful picture of a modern royal family. William had even been a bad dad by dancing to Taylor’s hit Shake It Off.
Travis later revealed on his podcast that William’s aides informed the singer and her boyfriend that there was “no need to bow” to our future King.
Hallelujah, I thought. I am an ardent monarchist, but I would humbly suggest that this should become the rule in the future, and not just for the stars but for every “commoner” who knows a member of the Royal Family.
The arcane tradition of servility to royalty bears no relation to the current monarchy that King Charles tells us he intends to establish, one that reflects a diverse society and treats everyone equally. I have long held this view.
The arcane tradition of groveling before royalty is out of step with today’s monarchy, writes Amanda Platell
Last week, Prince William took his eldest son George and daughter Charlotte to a sold-out Taylor Swift concert in London.
They posed with the superstar and her boyfriend Travis Kelce for selfies
I even told the late Queen about it in the 1990s, when I was among 10 lucky Australians granted an audience in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace.
With the stupid naivety of a thirty-year-old I said: ‘Your Majesty, it is my honor to bow before you, as I have never bowed before anyone before, but I will never do it again, unless it is before you.’
She seemed bewildered, thanking me for supporting the Commonwealth before politely moving on. However, I meant it then and I mean it now. In a world where we are supposedly blind to class privilege, no woman should bow to another, nor should any man bend the knee.
If King Charles really wants to modernize the royal family, he could put aside this pompadour-pulling nonsense and, as Taylor would say, “shake off” the era of deference.
It is baffling that the Australian government has spent $520,000 transporting WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange back to Oz to a hero’s welcome. But then, this is a country that still romanticizes renegade bandit and murderer Ned Kelly.
Mane, the reason I miss the 1980s.
Generation Z, now in their 20s, say the 1980s are the decade they would most like to live in and cite leg warmers as part of their charm.
As someone who lived through that decade, you’re forgetting the most important things: women having big careers for the first time, huge shoulder pads, and most importantly, big, empowering hair, like our idol Farrah Fawcett.
Geez, all that hairspray must have put a hole in the ozone layer forever.
American actress Farrah Fawcett had huge, empowering hair.
English footballer Phil Foden is hailed as a hero for rushing home from the European Championship to be with his partner Rebecca Cooke for the birth of their third child.
It’s a change from when he was sent home in disgrace from the Nations League in Iceland four years ago, kicked out of the England squad for breaking Covid rules by sneaking a model into his hotel while Rebecca was looking after their first child.
Westminster Warning
Five days before the general election, the only decision us desperate lifelong Conservatives must make is what we can do to stop a terrifying Labor supermajority.
As yesterday’s Mail poll showed, one in ten voters – four million of us – are still undecided. I will put my bitter disappointment with Sunak’s government behind me and vote Conservative.
I want a future where the party I worked for and believe in (because I share its values of decency, hard work and low taxes) is not wiped out.
I urge you to do the same. Just hold your nose and vote conservative.
Stripping off again for the Disney+ TV series of Jilly Cooper’s hit sex drama Rivals, Aidan Turner, 41, says he doesn’t think his shirtless scenes will have the same impact as his topless scene in Poldark almost a decade ago.
Au contraire! Any woman with a pounding heart already faints with anticipation.
Aidan Turner, 41, is set to strip off again for the Disney+ TV series based on Jilly Cooper’s best-selling Rivals.
Donate to Debs
Two years after her death from bowel cancer, Deborah James’ family are releasing details of where the staggering £16million she started raising has been spent.
Already £4m has been contributed to developing blood tests for early detection and £5m has gone towards global research studying the causes of cancer.
Deborah’s mother, Heather, says that ‘Bowelbabe’ Debs would be “delighted to know that so much money has been raised” and then, in her next breath, adds “let’s make it £20 million by Christmas.”
A ten pound contribution from all of us to his charity could make that wish come true.
Sean Penn, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of gay rights activist Harvey Milk, says that as a straight actor he wouldn’t be allowed to play a gay character today. Which is a shame, since most of us would never have heard of Harvey Milk if it weren’t for Penn.
Sheen’s praise goes to Burton
Two Richard Burton films — and a television series — are in production to celebrate the centenary of his birth next year, one of them starring Michael Sheen as the fiery, portly Welshman.
Oh, God, a sexless shrimp who looks like he’s been left on the grill too long pretending he can play muscular Mark Antony. Cleopatra wouldn’t have given a kingdom for that little shrimp.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 film Cleopatra
Two hopes for Wimbledon, which starts on Monday: that Andy Murray recovers from an operation to play, giving us a great start. And that the Princess of Wales feels well enough to present trophies on Center Court.
Great British Bake Off co-host Sandi Toksvig spoke for many women when she said she quit the show out of complete boredom.
With no disrespect to those who love baking, she said that watching a meringue dry bored her so much that she thought she was going crazy. After enduring only half of a program, I felt the same way.
Francis Rossi, 75, of Status Quo, says his August bank holiday weekend concert will probably be his last. Perhaps that’s because, unlike his contemporaries The Rolling Stones, who are on the US leg of a world tour, they are no longer playing around the world.
The August date will be in Taunton, following a sold-out show in Wolverhampton.
Experts want ultra-processed foods, such as white bread sold in supermarkets, to feature the same gruesome images that appear on cigarette packets to discourage people from eating unhealthily. I’m not sure how that would work, as there wouldn’t be enough room to fit the fatties’ pictures on the packets.
We breaded the Slovakian meatballs, boys
I’m as dismayed as any English fan by our boys’ performance so far at the Euros, but we have to back our team against Slovakia tomorrow.
Surely with our population of almost 56 million we can beat a country of 5.4 million, famous for not much more than mountains and bacon-covered sheep’s cheese and potato dumplings.