“Woke Royals”

The Queen has confirmed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not be returning as working members of the Royal Family nearly a year after stepping down, Buckingham Palace said today.

The dramatic announcement was made in a palace statement at midday today, and sees the Sussexes quit for good more than one month before the one-year ‘Megxit’ review was due to be concluded on March 31.

Buckingham Palace referred to the Sussexes as ‘much loved members of the family’ and said it was ‘saddened by their decision’. It also revealed the Queen had ‘written confirming that in stepping away from the work of the Royal Family it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service’.

Surprise! – Support for monarchy, role of governor general falling among Canadians, poll finds

Support for maintaining a constitutional monarchy is in decline and many Canadians would also eliminate the role of the governor general, according to a poll by the Angus Reid Institute. The survey was conducted online Feb. 11-16 among a representative randomized sample of 1,601 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum.

Is it time for Canada to cut the apron strings with the motherland that is Great Britain?

Most of us could go through our daily lives without giving two thoughts to the idea that Canada has ever had anything to do with the United Kingdom, well other than the Queen being on so much of our money.

When the Queen passes there will be an increased momentum to sever ties. The Royal Dysfunctionals have seen to that.

Prince Andrew is mentioned repeatedly in newly unsealed Ghislaine Maxwell court filings, with one lawyer claiming Jeffrey Epstein wanted Virginia Roberts to have sex with the royal.

The Duke of York, 60, is mentioned in evidence given by Andrew Figueroa, the ex-boyfriend of Ms Roberts, who claims she was ordered to have sex with Prince Andrew three times at Epstein and Maxwell’s behest when she was 17. But the royal strenuously denies the allegations.

The court documents also reveal that Maxwell claimed she could not remember a trip to London where Roberts allegedly slept with Prince Andrew.

PRINCE CHARLES has been told he “can’t keep ignoring the elephant in the room” that Prince Andrew and his scandal surrounding Jeffrey Epstein has become for the Royal Family.

The image of Harry and Meghan was perhaps the most telling of the year when it comes to their new relationship with the royals.

He was in a sombre suit with a red poppy and military medals, she in a long black dress. They held hands as they walked through Los Angeles National Cemetery on Remembrance Sunday in November to lay a floral tribute to the fallen.

In what was seen as a flagrant publicity stunt, the couple had chosen to release the pictures after Harry had been refused permission for a wreath to be laid at the Cenotaph on his behalf that day, alongside those of other members of his family.

The first episode of Harry and Meghan’s podcast Archewell Audio introduces a world where chefs don’t cook, they “empower communities through food”; where people don’t do things, they “manifest” them; where people don’t “say”, they “share” and so on. It’s all blandly Californian. Like Goop but without the fun.

This opener explores the importance of “the power of connection” in the past year. Harry and Meghan introduce audio clips of various celebrities, including James Corden, Elton John, George the Poet, Stacey Abrams, Matt Haig, Naomi Osaka and Deepak Chopra, talking about what they’ve learnt in 2020.

A multi-million podcast deal between Britain’s Prince Harry, his wife Meghan, and Spotify may prove to be bad business, with a YouGov poll indicating that 89 per cent of Britons are not interested in what they have to say.

Saying he’s shocked that anyone “takes them seriously”, he slammed Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, for their woke efforts to do good.

“Prince Harry – surely no one takes him seriously?” he told The Matt Morgan Podcast. “He’s just a mad little kid.

“I don’t like do-gooders in general, they f***ing wind me up.”

Prince Andrew’s spokeswoman has refused to comment on a report that he stayed in the New York mansion of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in April 2001, despite the duke denying doing so in his infamous Newsnight interview.

The refusal to repeat the denial comes after the Daily Mail uncovered a fax that said the prince had stayed at a “private address in New York” on 11 April and its sources confirmed this was Epstein’s £60m home in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

This directly contradicts Prince Andrew’s account of his movements that day in his interview with the Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis last year, when he said: “I wasn’t staying there. I may have visited but definitely didn’t, definitely, definitely no, no, no activity.”