Count Binface Targets Buckingham Palace as Edward’s Ex Opens Up and Andrew Faces a Funeral Fight

0:00 Ah Calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Pallas Intrigue and your host, Mark Francis Buckingham Palliser survived war's constitutional crises and generations of royal drama. Now it faces Count Binface for American listeners who have somehow missed one or more of the entertaining traditions in British politics. Count Binface is a satirical political candidate who dresses as an intergalactic warrior with what is essentially a large black trash can over his head. The character is played by comedian John Harvey and Binface has spent years running against some of Britain's biggest political figures. He is currently standing against Nigel Farage in the Clacton by election. His campaigns mixed deliberately ridiculous promises with some fairly pointed political satire. Among his recurring pledges make a ninety nine flake ice cream cost ninety nine pence again, ban loud snacks in theaters, and build at least one affordable house. But Binface also has more serious interest in homelessness. Surplus money from his campaigns has gone to the housing and homelessness charity Shelter and now he's brought the Royal family into it. Appearing on the Independence in the Room podcast, Binface argued that the Royals could help Britain's housing crisis by giving up Buckingham Palace.

1:27 His basic argument is that they had plenty of other places to live, and according to Binface, they don't particularly like Buckingham Palace anyway. The account's current platform includes another royal related proposal, reducing the number of palaces available to the Royal family. So perhaps Buckingham Palace should consider itself warned. Prince Edward's life before Sophie years back in the headlines thanks to a remarkably candid memoir from one of his former girlfriends. West End actress Ruthie Henshall has written about the five year relationship with Edward in a memoir called This Show Girl and the Prince. Henshall, a five time Olivier Award nominee who has appeared in productions including Chicago, Katz and Les Miss Arab, dated Edward years before he married Sophie. Henshall says the relationship began after she met Edward while she was working for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Theater Company. She was twenty and Edward was twenty three, and she does not appear particularly interested in maintaining the traditional royal veil of discretion. According to Closer magazine, that is creating some discomfort for Edward and Sophie. Closest source said Edward had been on edge for months before this book came out. When he finally read it, he was somewhat relieved because it didn't paint him in an alterate negative light, but it did tease an awful lot of other details. The magazine goes considerably further, claiming Sophie is uncomfortable with the attention and that the couple worries other people from Edward's past could decide to tell their own stories.

2:56 If anything, the story is interesting because it collides so sharply with Edward's modern image. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's eventual funeral is becoming a political and financial headache long before it happens. One source familiar with the royal ceremonial costs told Radar Online, if Andrew ultimately receives a large scale royal funeral, the overall operation could probably cost around eleven million dollars once substantial security policing crowd management and ceremonial requirements are considered. That does not mean taxpayers would fund every element, but a major public security operation could leave them with a considerable bill. Another source said Andrew's status makes an enormously controversial People will inevitably ask why millions of dollars of public money should potentially be spent around the funeral of someone who has lost his royal titles and public role, and the bill would sting UK taxpayers. There will also be a huge amount of security costs involved. Andrew's exact plans have not been made public, but Radar says Saint George's Chapel at Windsor has been discussed as one possible venue, with burial potentially at the Royal Burial Grounds at Frogmore.

4:05 The outlet also points out that even a privately funded funeral could still create major public costs if policing, security, crowd control were required. A royal biographer is claiming there may be long standing tension between Sarah Ferguson and Princess Beatrice's husband, Edwaro Mapellimozzi. Andrew Lowney, author of entitled The Rise and Fall of the House of York, told the Deni mail that both Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are increasingly trying to protect their own reputations as controversy continues to surround their parents. He said both husband's families are appalled by the activities of the former Duke and Duchess of York.

4:45 A complication is the latter themselves never approved of Eto, so no love lost there. It comes amid separate speculation that Beatrice and Edo themselves have been experiencing marital problems. Friends of the couple strongly denied those reports to Hello, calling them not true at all. Lowdly adds there has been plenty of scandal over the years, and the daughters have not cut themselves loose, largely because they are cut from the same cloth and very much under the thumb of their mother. Sarah is reportedly dealing with one very ordinary problem after leaving Royal Lodge. She still has stuff there. Reader Online claims the former Duchess of York left behind furniture, clothing, and copies of her books when she moved out of the Windsor property earlier this year. One source said Sarah still has what people are jokingly calling her junk at Royal Lodge. The source added it includes old furniture, clothes and editions of her books. There has even been joking about whether recycling the books would be the most practical solution.

5:44 More palace in just a moment, King Charles has found himself with an unusual exemption from Britain's latest hose pipe restrictions, but only for part of the gardens at Highgrove. The King's Gloucestershire estate falls within an area covered by Thames Water hose pipe ban, which began on July twenty third. The restrictions generally prevent people from using hose pipes, sprinklers and pressure washers. Highgrove, however, isn't simply a private garden. Some of the produce grown there is used commercially in products sold through the estate's shop. That means those areas qualify for an exemption allowing water to be used to protect crops grow and for business purposes. Highgrove produces ingredients used in products including Chutney's marmalades, honey and drinks sold through its shops. That doesn't give Charles free rein with the hose pipe. Decorative areas of the famous gardens remain subject to the restrictions and would need to be watered by other permitted methods, including water in cans. There's potentially a royal exemption at Windsor as well. Prince William and Princess Catherine's home is also within an affected area, but Thames Water allows hose pipes to be used for trees planted within the previous three years. Since the Whales family only recently moved into their current home, any newly planted tree could qualify. A yacht once raced by Prince Philip has returned to winning from nearly seventy years after the Duke of Edinburgh sailed it with a young Prince Charles beside him. Blue Bottle, Prince Philip's twenty nine foot racing yacht,

7:15 has won its Dragon class competition at Cow'sweek on the Isle of White. The boat dominated its class, winning three races and finishing second in another to establish a commanding advantage over the other twenty five Dragon class yachts. Blue Bottle comes with quite a royal history. Yacht was built by Camper and Nicholson's in Gosport and presented to Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip as a wedding gift from members of the Cars Island Sailing Club. Philip became an enthusiastic and accomplished sailor, and Blue Bottle competed extensively in Britain and overseas. In nineteen fifty seven, Philip was photographed at the helm of the Isle of White with eight year old Prince Charles aboard. The yacht even has an Olympic medal on its resume. At the nineteen fifty six Melbourne Olympix, Blue Bottle was sailed by Graham Mann, Ronald Backus and Jonathan Jansen, who won a bronze medal. Blue Bottle was retired from racing in nineteen sixty one and eventually went to the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth for use by cadets. Current skipper Graham Barely said the cadets apparently treated the Royal yacht rather carefully. He said, I'm told that no cadet dare use her for fear of pranging her.

8:24 Blue Bottle later spent years on display at the National Maritime Museum in Fournmouth before being brought to Edinburgh by the Royal Yacht Britanna Trust. There she was reunited with other vessels associated with Prince Philip, including his flying fifteen racing yacht Cowslip. With Philip's approval, the Britannia Trust eventually commissioned a complete restoration of Blue Bottle so she could race again. And there you habit. If you'd like to email us, he addresses the Palace Entry get gmail dot com. If you're on Spotify, leave us a comment. If you're on Apple, hit that button up there that says listen uninterrupted and get the show commercial free of five bucks a month. We really appreciate your support and Mark Francis my thanks to John McDermott. This is Palaceentry. Good turned