William and Kate will examine the abdication of Queen Margrethe of Denmark, with the future king noting how the handover to Frederick
For William, eager to scale down his own coronation, the relative simplicity may be appealing.
Meanwhile, Kate is said to be happy that Crown Princess Mary will become queen. She spent a lot of time talking to Mary at Royal Ascot during her 2016 visit.
They exchanged numbers. Will her modest elevation help Kate pick up tips for her own hassle-free coronation?
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Queen Margrethe of Denmark visit the Palace of Christian IX on February 23, 2022 in Copenhagen, Denmark
Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales attend a ceremonial welcome for the President and First Lady of South Korea on November 21, 2023 in London
Meanwhile, is William polishing his custom boots for this year’s Glastonbury? Festival founder Michael Eavis, who believes William will award him his New Year Honors knighthood, said: ‘He has indicated a few times that he wants to come to the festival. So I’ll probably take a few cards with me.’
Kirstie Allsopp, who faced a backlash after calling for a ban on the construction of detached houses because they ‘waste space’, rails against opponents: ‘Yes, I live in Devon in a huge ‘detached’ house, most Jacobean mansions are detached, you idiots. In London I live in an apartment building, so put that in your pipe and smoke it.’ Deep breaths, darling!
Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer, presenters of Location, Location, Location (undated)
Stephen Fry wants a ban on real fur in the King’s Guard bearskin hats, declaring: ‘Tradition is never an excuse for cruelty.’
What about geese, Stephen? According to the late gourmet Clement Freud, the well-fed polymath was enraptured by foie gras. “The excitement was great when I realized that this was not a pate, but a whole liver that melts in your mouth,” he meowed.
A trumpet in your shelly Stephen: your buddy the King has banned foie gras, described by animal rights activists as ‘torture in a can’.
Sir Michael Palin, born almost a decade after his sister, reveals that his late mother always wanted another child despite his father’s reservations. “In the end, she made a decision for him,” Michael says. “She left out a device she would normally use. She said (to me), ‘I remember the night you were conceived. I can even tell you what was on top of the wardrobe’… this was just too much!’
Michael Palin reads a script with his late wife Helen Gibbins in London in February 1968
Enchanted by Mark Gatiss’s portrayal of John Gielgud in The Motive And The Cue at London’s Noel Coward theatre, Maureen Lipman was prevented from going backstage to ‘kneel before the cast’ by a pioneering security woman.
“She demanded my credentials and treated me like a terrorist,” Maureen tells The Spectator. ‘I hear myself saying, “I know how to go through a stage door – I’m a damn Dame!”‘
A new biography by Stanley Kubrick reveals that while making 2001: A Space Odyssey, he had doubts about the voice of the computer HAL 9000. He wanted to use Barbra Streisand and called her an “exciting actress.” Could his favorite murderous HAL have sung The Way We Were when he tried to kill the crew?
A still from the classic 1968 science fiction film ‘2001, A Space Odyssey’