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Ah Calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Weekly.
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I am your host, Mark Francis. If you want the
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full versions of these summarized stories, please check out our
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daily podcast, Palace Intrigue wherever you get your podcasts like
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this one. It's been the kind of week where the
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British monarchy stayed largely at home minding its business, while
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the people who left it flew to the other side
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of the world to prove they didn't need it. Results
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were mixed on both counts. Let's get into it. We
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begin as this particular week demands in Australia. Harry and
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Meghan arrived in Melbourne on a commercial Quantus flag from
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Los Angeles business class, Row three seats E and F.
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Fellow passengers described them as friendly and understated. One noted
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they were and we are quoting directly here, super friendly
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around the toilet areas. This is the kind of detail
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that would not appear in Palace press briefing in his
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precisely why we cover the Sussexes. The visit was billed
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as a combination of private business and philanthropic engagements, with
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a leaked planning document confirming it would be privately funded
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and focused on, in the words of the couple's publicists, listening, learning,
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and supporting communities rather than promotion. That framing was tested
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almost immediately when ticket prices for Harry's keynote at the
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inter Edge summit in Melbourne were reduced from around one
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thousand to five hundred dollars ahead of his appearance owing
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to what was described as weak demand. The Duke earned
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approximately thirty six thousand dollars for the speech. For context,
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a corporate speaking engagement in twenty twenty earned him roughly
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seven hundred forty thousand. The direction of travel is noted.
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Megan's Her Best Life retreat and Sydney price between twenty
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seven hundred and thirty two hundred was also reported not
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to have fully sold out, with organizers releasing additional places
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shortly before the arrival. The event, co produced with Jemma
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O'Neill of Her Best Life podcast, was marketed as an intimate,
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luxury experience centered on connection and well being. Megan spent
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approximately two hours there. VIP guests received a group photograph.
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One attendee, who left at seven in the evening, reported
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that Megan and Harry headed straight to a super rugby
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match on the ground, The charitable engagements were, by most accounts,
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genuinely warm. At the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, the
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couple drew what The Telegraph's Victoria Ward described as as
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big a crowd as I have ever seen on such
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an engagement. Patients and families packed the foyer when mother
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said the visit made her family smile for a minute,
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adding we're not getting many smiles at the moment. At
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a woman's shelter, Megan served food, sat down with residents
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and asked the room if anyone else was hungry. At
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the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Harry attended the last
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post ceremony and met Indigenous veterans, telling attendees that courage
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does not end when the uniform comes off. At the
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Bondai Surf Bathers Life Saving Club, the couple met survivors
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of the Bondai attack, heard personal accounts from those present
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that day, and visited the memorial at the pavilion. At
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one point, a volunteer accidentally introduced herself as Harry, to
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which the Duke replied, no, I'm Harry, you're Amy. Word
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had spread that they were in the area and hundreds
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turned up. A man in budgy smugglers darted out in
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front of them to take a photo, then wrapped a
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tattooed reportedly slightly sweaty arm around Harry's shoulder, gave him
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a friendly slap on the back and pulled him into
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a hug. The Daily Male described this as in true
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Ossie style, we are inclined to agree. A separate lighthearted
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moment came at the Sydney Opera House, where an Invictus
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veteran's daughter began dancing, was encouraged by Megan and successfully
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recruited Harry to join in. The couple were also presented
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with personalized thongs, the footwear kind bearing the legends Gray
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Hazard and Gray Mags. Harry's football skills were assessed at
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Witten Oval by a bemused AFL midfielder, who gave him
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six out of ten and suggested he work on getting
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the ball to spin in the right direction. Not everything
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went smoothly. The Mastershif Australian Revelation landed on day two
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of the tour, precisely while Harry was laying a wreath
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at the Australian War Memorial. In camera. The optics were,
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as multiple commenters observed, not ideal. Network ten released a
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promotional image showing Megan alongside the show's judges, and the
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response online was immediate. Reported fees ranged from three hundred
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and eighty thousand dollars, which The Daily Mail disputed entirely,
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to a more modest ten to fifty thousand dollars range
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suggested by a former television executive, who also noted that
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whatever the number, the controversy had probably done the network
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more good than harm. Meghan polarizes people, he said. People
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love her, but a lot of people hate her, which
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means she is far from boring. That is not quite
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the endorsement Archbald Productions would have written for themselves. But
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here we are. The broader question of what the tour
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was actually for dominated coverage throughout the Weak. Deep Crown
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addressed it on his substack with a thought experiment imagine.
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He wrote that it was William and Catherine arriving in Melbourne.
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William Try's AFL gets rated six out of ten, whereas
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the team scarf. Catherine appears on Master Chef as charming,
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laughs at herself, talks about cooking for the children, both
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activities Deep Crown noted would be filed without hesitation as
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institutional gold. That machinery exists, he wrote, it is very
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good at its job. It is simply not available to
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the Sussex's The full piece is linked in the show notes.
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The Daily Mail's Richard Eden suggested the tour is the
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latest phase of something he has been tracking for some time,
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which he called Project Thor, an alleged effort supported by
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unnamed senior politicians and palace figures to gradually rehabilitate the
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Sussex's standing with the British public and the institution. Iden's
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view is that using six children as backdrop for a
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commercial tour is, in his words, extremely dangerous for the monarchy.
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Others in the Australian press were more sympathetic. Nine's Natalie
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Olivery argued the tour had shown just what the royal
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family is missing before or adding that the Master Chef
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timing had undone much of that good will. The assessment
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that settled most accurately on the week's ambiguity came from
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daniela Elsa at news dot com dot Au, who described
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the whole enterprise as a litmus test for where the
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Sussexes can go now that their tell all years are
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behind them, and noted simply they have pluck. Commentator Kinsey
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Chowfo perhaps inadvertently offered the most interesting framing of all
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after suggesting Harry should stop pretending to be a royal.
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She paused and reframed, what a glorious admission of regrets.
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This was Australia's we miss being Royal tour. It truly
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tells us they missed up big time when they left
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the royal family and they desperately miss it. Whether or
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not that reading is correct, it captured something the Week
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made hard to ignore. The closer Harry and Meghan get
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to performing royal duty, the more the absence of the
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institutional machinery around them becomes visible, more palace in just
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a moment. Meanwhile, back in the UK, life continued at
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its own pace. King Charles made an unannounced visit to
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a newsagent and whiskey shop near Bow Murrel to mark
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the business's one hundredth anniversary. He told locals he had
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visited the shop as a child. Residents described hearing sirens
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and being surprised. The King was described as delighted. It
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was his first public outing since Easter, and it was,
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by every available measure, a very nice visit to a
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local shop, and nothing more complicated than that. The bigger
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domestic story this week centered on Andrew Mount Batton Windsor,
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and specifically on whether the royal families approached to him
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sibling visits, cautious phone calls, sympathetic briefings constitutes genuine concern
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or something more strategically convenient. Prince Edward and Sophie reportedly
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visited Andrew at wood Farm over Easter, sharing dinner and
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checking on his mental health. Prince William, in a development
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that surprised many, is said to have called Andrew to
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offer condolences following his loss of titles. Andrew was reportedly
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very touched Kensington Palace to decline to comment. Tom Saykes,
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writing in The Daily Beast, was immediately skeptical of the
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Edward visits story, noting that it landed in both The
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Mail and The Times simultaneously, which he described as a tell.
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He argued this follows a familiar patternum sympathetic palace briefings
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designed to soften public opinion, and warned that every such
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story makes the likelihood of Andrew facing serious consequences. Slightly smaller.
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Royal author Nigel Cawthorne added a different dimension, observing that
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Andrew knows where the bodies are buried and that the
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unanswered question of where the twelve million dollars used to
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settle with Virginia Gjuffrey actually came from continues to hang
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over the family. Hugo Vickers, in his new biography, claims
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Prince Philip referred to Andrew's situation in expletive filled private
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tirades and considered him a loose cannon and a threat
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to the legacy of the crown. Philip apparently called him,
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among other things, gullible and easily led. Sarah Ferguson meanwhile,
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was photogogpu for the first time in months at a
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ski resort in Austria, looking subdued and attempting to keep
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a low profile. Reports suggest she has been moving between Zurich,
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Cork and the Alps during what is described as a
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period of near constant movement, when sources said she is
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desperate and not in a good mental place, with concern
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about potential legal pressure from both sides of the Atlantic.
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In a development that should perhaps surprise no one, she's
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also said to have reached out to Tiger Woods following
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his own recent legal difficulties. Sources close to Woods described
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his inner circle as extremely selective about who gets through
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and suggested they would not welcome any additional complications. That
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appears to be a diplomatic way of saying the answer
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was no. Questions were also raised this week about Princess
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Beatrice's husband, EDUARDA Mapelli Mozzi, with reports that he is
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not expected to inherit his family's eighteenth century Lombardy villa,
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that the property has fallen into disrepair in any case,
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and that speculation about the couple's relationship has resurfaced. Sources
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close to them deny it any difficul couplty, with one
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saying the only distance between them has been physical distance
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because of work. His father, when asked about the marriage,
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said it's not my affair. You should go and talk
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to my son about it. More palace in just a moment.
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Finally and looking ahead, King Charles will deliver a national
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address on Tuesday to mark what would have been Queen
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Elizabeth the Second's one hundredth birthday. A major exhibition of
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her wardrobe and personal collection has opened at the King's
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Gallery at Buckingham Palace, and a new national memorial in
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Saint James Park is nearing completion. Senior royals, including William,
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Catherine and Anne are expected to attend the commemorations. Behind
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the scenes, sources describe the king as feeling the weight
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of the occasion acutely, not only the personal loss, but
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the sense that much has changed since his mother's death,
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and not all of it for the better. And then
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on April twenty seventh, he flies to Washington to address Congress,
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attend a state dinner with Donald Trump, and attempt the
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diplomatic equivalent of, in one columnist's phrase, never getting a
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room full of lasers with no map and a constitutional
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requirement not to touch anything. We'll be covering every step
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and there you have it. You got to email us
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or addresses the Palace Intrigue at gmail dot com. Please
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follow us on Spotify, Apple or the app of your choice,
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and check out Deep Crown on substack. Just google him
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or search for Deep Crown on substack. I'm my Francis
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my thanks to John McDermott. This is Palace Weekly and
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good Times