Many of the British Royals Come Out for Easter

[Edited to note: The link in the slideshow to the last time Kate wore this isn’t working, so while we fix that, I’m putting it here. Voila!]

Well! We’ve got a lot of ground to cover today — outfits! News stories! Babies? (In short, not yet). So, a story ran in the Sunday Times today that said the Firm is considering sending Harry and Meghan to live in Botswana, South Africa, Malawi or Lesotho for a few years for various reasons, including that they don’t know what to do with Harry and Meghan that Harry and Meghan also want to do with themselves (especially given how popular they are), but mostly that Harry and Wills allegedly can’t stand each other right now. (I am HUGELY paraphrasing.) The main pull quote on that one is, “The proposal would give the couple the chance to enjoy a break from the divisions that have riven the royal household in recent months while ‘harnessing’ their global appeal for Britain.” The link there goes into a companion piece that also ran today in the Times, which is actually (to me) the juicier one, and the crux of which is essentially: Kate and Meghan don’t particularly get along, but the real problem is that the boys have fallen out entirely and the only person they listen to is the Queen. Harry feels exiled by the move to Frogmore; Wills feels overshadowed. (William does not come out of the piece looking good at all; from a PR perspective, Kensington Palace desperately needs to get new press people and also they need to find who is leaking all this stuff, and take care of that, because even from the most cynical perspective, these kind of stories aren’t gonna help your popularity with the public, kiddo.) Like I said: it’s a lot! I do think it’s possible this is being floated as kind of a test balloon and it will not come to pass — although, interestingly, Buckingham Palace is not denying it. (If I had to bet, in fact, I’d bet that it won’t, but I’m really bad at prognosticating anything anymore, so who the heck even knows.)

Heather and I, like 18 months ago, were saying to each other that the royals were so BORING and nothing dramatic was happening, and this is all an excellent reminder that nothing is forever and also perhaps be careful what you wish for, because whilst this is definitely interesting, the fact that everyone is at loggerheads is — while not ground-breaking in terms of royal gossip — a bummer! (I will say that, of course, all of this should be taken with a grain of salt — one of the old courtiers on Twitter called it “a load of twaddle,” which is a phrase I plan to adopt immediately — but the Sunday Times is, as sources go, pretty legit.) I’d also note that periods of intense negative gossip are nothing new to the royal family. Many of you youngs were not alive for the heyday of the Chaz/Diana/Camilla love triangle — I was young myself, which I know is hard to believe given that I am now a such a withered old crone — but that was A RIDE. Literally we all had to learn of a phone-call where Charles longed to be reincarnated as the tampon of a woman to whom he was not wed. Let us all be grateful that is not currently on our plates.

ON THAT NOTE: Happy Easter, and happy birthday to the Queen! She looks as unruffled as ever. Let’s look at everyone’s outfits. (Interestingly, Harry attended the service this year, and he usually doesn’t come to Easter. I suspect this is a bit of a Let’s Put on a Happy Face gesture — or a Let’s Prove Them Wrong gesture, which lately feels like one and the same.) If nothing else, we’ll always have hats!

We’ll also all always have video: