Princess of Belgium Defends Prince Harry Amid 'Terrible' Family Feud
Princess Delphine is stepping up for Prince Harry.
Amid the Duke of Sussex's ongoing fight for security clearance in the United Kingdom—five years after he and wife left the royal family—the Belgium princess expressed her empathy.
'I understand the guy, he's just traumatized,' Princess Delphine explained on the It's Reigning Men podcast July 15. 'He's doing these things and everyone is bullying him, but not thinking about his trauma and I just find it terrible because I feel like he's been kind of left.'
Indeed, the 57-year-old—who was born out of an extramarital affair of King Albert II and spent years fighting for royal recognition until it was granted in 2020—posited that Harry, dad to Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, is still suffering from the 1997 death of his and Prince William's mother .
'She had these children and the death was just horrible,' Delphine continued. 'Especially seeing these two children, left by a really natural, nice, normal motherly woman. So they lost such an important figure and I feel very sorry for Harry because I think that was traumatic for him.'
More from E! Online
Astronomer CEO Andy Byron Put on Leave After Coldplay Concert Video
NFL Star Ryan Russell's Boyfriend Corey O'Brien Shares Steamy Relationship Update
Chris Hemsworth's Mini-Me Twin Sons Steal Spotlight in Rare Red Carpet Appearance
Delphine went so far as to express her belief that Harry's fight for his family's royal security protection is a result of the late princess' death, adding, 'It's to do with what happened to his mother.'
And while Harry lost his latest appeal for security clearance in May, Delphine argued that the legal system was not understanding of the 40-year-old's life experience.
'They say, 'Well he's a grown up now,'' she continued. 'You're never a grown up, you're still the child, even if you're 70 and you still have your parents, you're still the child.'
The Belgium princess admitted that while she does not pay much attention to other royal family news, she has a soft spot for both Harry and William. As she put it, 'I feel very sort of protective of them because I feel like I grew up with them.'
For his part, Harry has also expressed hope that he can end the longstanding feud between himself and his father, King Charles III, but his fight for security clearance has exacerbated the tension.
'He won't speak to me because of this security stuff,' Harry explained during a May interview with the BBC. 'But it would be nice to reconcile.'
While Charles himself has yet to publicly extend his own olive branch, Harry's chief communications officer, Meredith Maines, was photographed July 13 with the king's communications secretary, Tobyn Andrae—signaling a public reconciliation could be brewing.
In the meantime, keep reading for more updates on royal family matters around the world…
Queen Camilla Makes History with New Royal TitleKate Middleton Pulls Out of Royal AscotPrince Harry Loses Appeal to Dismiss Decision in His Security Protection CasePrince Harry and King Charles III Are Not SpeakingKing Charles III Shares Insight Into His Cancer DiagnosisPrince William and Kate Middleton's Family Skips Royal Family's Easter ServiceRoyal Aide Who Accused Meghan Markle Of Bullying Receives a PromotionPrince George Makes His First Public Appearance of 2025Former Bodyguard to Prince Harry and Prince William DiesThe Duke and Duchess of Westminster Expecting Their First BabyLuxembourg's Prince Fredrik Dies at 22Prince Harry Reaches Settlement in U.K. Tabloids LawsuitKate Middleton Is in Remission After Finishing Chemotherapy for CancerMeghan Markle's Longtime Dog Guy DiesPrince William Mourns Death of Former Nanny's StepsonMeghan Markle Rejoins Instagram to Reveal New Netflix Show
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The rise of London Mediterranean, the style defining the capital's hottest restaurants
What is 'London Mediterranean' dining? It's a savvy blend of food from countries along the Mediterranean coast, mostly drawing inspiration from the likes of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy but there are often elements from the likes of Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon too. It is a style that has become immensely popular of late, not just with restaurateurs but diners too. London Med – to shorten it from the off – is ultimately an amalgamation of cuisines. Menus that take flavours from Provence, an ingredient or two from Sifnos, and then add to them spices from Istanbul. And yes, this has happened for centuries. But there appears to have been a recent(ish) influx of restaurants of this style: super modern, inclusive and perhaps clearer about what comes from where. You might argue that some, like Morchella or Toklas, are roundly built on the notion. Others might be hailed as 'modern European', but that seems too broad a brush these days. And then there's the fact that all this happens in the UK, mostly London. As is always the case with food — unless you're in fascist Italy — there are no hard-and-fast rules with London Med. Chefs are just as likely to take ideas from Porto and Paris, but it's an easy term to distinguish and categorise, generally; in any case, all included will at least have a coastline on the sea in question. Here are 10 restaurants that could be defined as being London Mediterranean. Lita Lita was one of the standout restaurant openings in 2024. The food traverses Western Europe, though stops in Italy most of all by way of Sicilian red prawns and cacio e pepe. It might be London Med food in its purest form: the very best ingredients from the continent – UK too – cooked with unwavering skill, flair and expense. Head chef Luke Ahearne parted ways with the restaurant at the beginning of July but his menu and well-drilled team remains. And so, for now, the Fuentes bluefin tuna with corno peppers, coriander and capers is still one of London's best dishes; so too the strozzapreti with duck ragu. 7-9 Paddington Street, W1U 5QH, Perilla (and Morchella) Many in and around the restaurant industry ask why Perilla hasn't ever been awarded a Michelin star. The fact it hasn't been is a damning indictment on the guide. Consider Ben Marks' mussel tartare, which comes fine on top of 'yesterday's bread' and is soaked in the liquor from moules mariniere. Highly inventive and a lot of fun, much the same as the fried cod cheeks with curry sauce arriving with all manner of accoutrement. Here is the move: take half a cod cheek, cover it in a smidge of pickled gooseberry sauce, a little of the tartare and two slivers of sliced cornichon, then add to that a dollop of the curry and a sprinkling of fried capers. Email me if you find a better mouthful this side of Christmas. See also: Morchella, Perilla's sister restaurant. Get the spanikopita and the pork jowl there. 1-3 Green Lanes, N16 9BS, and 86 Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4QY, Dove Dove just about fits in this list despite the fact it's not bound too readily to Mediterranean flavours as the others generally are. Don't order the burger: instead, have octopus gildas, lovely and Spanish-edged, and grilled trout which arrives with black olives and tomatoes. Lucky diners will also find a keen blend of Greece and Italy in the form of whipped fava beans with carosello cucumbers. And then French, as you might expect from chef-patron Jackson Boxer, is uncompromising. The roast chicken with Café de Paris butter is a grand dish to share. 31 Kensington Park Road, W11 2EU, Canal The Standard's restaurant critic David Ellis visited Canal not so long ago, his review of which coined the phrase 'London Mediterranean'. It was an idea I'd long pondered and Dominic Hamdy's latest venture shored it up. To eat? According to Ellis: 'There is a sense of unity throughout the menu that makes a bad order tricky: if you have the plate of pickles — various beetroots, very gently done, the oil and beet juice together like the interior of a lava lamp — you can happily have the cheerful crab doughnut, with its light dough and pink innards. Stracciatella, sitting in a pool of olive oil — liking olive oil is a requirement for liking here — might follow, with its gently blackened turrets of courgette.' 11b Woodfield Road, W9 2BA, Town Not all the dishes at Town qualify as 'London Med'. Remember London's past incarnation as a haven to XO sauce? Actually still alive and well. There are doses of shiso and miso and so on too. No bad thing. Still, Stevie Parle's latest restaurant, this one lavish and built with big money for celebs, draws as much on Europe as its own, home-grown ingredients. There's a mighty saffron risotto, Cornish crab with Neapolitan tomatoes, Scottish scallops in 'nduja butter, and clams from Kent cooked in sherry. These dishes are the definition of high-end modern dining in town. 26-29 Drury Lane, WC2B 5RL, Toklas Mostly Italian, really, but Toklas also brings in elements from elsewhere along the Med, including some Turkish food, which is befitting of London and enjoyable. The ingredients at Toklas are impressive, all sourced carefully, with real care and attention. This but with prices staying affordable: you could dine there, main course and a side or two to share, for less than £50 per head. Those who are able to splash out will do so when they see a good pork tonnato, crab bruschetta and excellently cooked lamb chops with salsa verde. A comforting, happy restaurant on the Strand, a part of the city where the vibes are mostly terrible. 1 Surrey Street, Temple, WC2R 2ND, Sune Where else but London could you, for the timid sum of £25, begin with a pig's head terrine before easing softly into a decent lamb köfte with harissa, labneh and coleslaw? How marvellous a proposition – and not in the way of a random buffet at a Home Counties service station. Sune is solid thanks to the steering of owners Honey Spencer and Charlie Sims, not to mention head chef Michael Robins, formerly of Hackney favourite Pidgin, still much missed. 129A Pritchard's Road, E2 9AP, Quo Vadis I had reservations about this one, but the powers that be pulled rank and, thinking about it, Quo Vadis works well here. It just predates the boom of the last little while by a countless number of years. Not that dishes such as salad nicoise, peach and courgette salad and spiced aubergine with feta and chickpeas have always been on the menu. Anyway, it's Jeremy Lee in the house, bringing fresh flavours before wonderful pies and towers of fruity meringue. Don't need to say much else (other than: please bring back the herb omelettes). 26-29 Dean Street, W1D 3LL, Mountain (and Brat) When Mountain opened, 'Welsh ingredients with a Basque accent' was a line uttered more than once. Tomos Parry is a chef who's been at the forefront of modern dining in London for years, ever since he opened Brat in 2018 and introduced London to the seemingly (but not really) simple practice of grilling turbot. Parry's cooking can be unmatched and at Mountain it's at its peak: spider crab omelettes; scarlet prawns grilled and then covered in lardo blankets. Big steaks to satisfy the quiet few who still operate with monstrous expense accounts. 16-18 Beak Street, W1F 9RD, Tasca Go and order the prawn and pork cachorrinho, a take on a sandwich from Porto, Portugal, which comes flat and grilled with Ossau Iratty (sheep's milk cheese from over there) and piri-piri oil. A phenomenal sandwich, up there with Jose Pizarro's bikini (grilled cheese, jamon and truffle) and – just about – the one at Ibai in the City with boudin noir, carabinero prawns and Tomme de Brebis. Tasca's is worth every bit of the £14 it costs. There is far more than a sandwich to explore, of course. This is a residency from Josh Dalloway and Sinead Murdoch, who are currently in situ at Cav, a wine bar in Bethnal Green from the team behind Oranj and Half Cut Market. 255 Paradise Row, E2 9LE, @
Forbes
14 minutes ago
- Forbes
Vogue Erupts: AI-Generated Models Spark Reader Fury And Industry Panic
A two-page spread in the August edition of Vogue has sparked controversy for using AI models What happens when the world's most respected, self-appointed fashion bible quietly takes a step outside of its traditional aesthetic? On newsstands in early August 2025, Vogue's much‑anticipated August issue serves business as usual; glossy, authoritative, impeccably curated. However, nestled between Anne Hathaway's immaculate image on the cover and editorials covering female leadership in fashion and the representation of women in sports, lies an unassuming two‑page spread for Guess, labelled discreetly 'Produced by Seraphinne Vallora on AI.' At first glance, the campaign's flawless, hyper‑symmetrical blonde model sitting with a cup of coffee in one image, and leaning against a blue wall in another, looks like all of the other photoshopped ads that we see in glossy publications, treading the line between photorealism and impossible beauty standards. But beneath these uber perfect images of an AI-generated model lies a tectonic shift: the dawn of fully synthetic imagery in the pages of fashion's most esteemed publication. AI-Generated Models Versus Photoshopped Imagery The Guess ad, commissioned through Paris‑based creative house Seraphinne Vallora, was created using generative algorithms trained on runway looks, campaign shots and studio lighting setups. The founders of Seraphinne Vallora, Valentina Gonzalez and Andreea Petrescu, told the BBC that they were asked to create the AI model for this campaign by Paul Marciano, co-founder of Guess, via a message on Instagram. By producing the campaign using AI tools, there was no need for a casting director, green room, or a retoucher. In a much shorter space of time than traditional shoots, the AI tools were still used to create a model whose every angle, expression and shadow conformed to an idealised beauty standard; but, until recently, these images were only possible after human teams had crafted them over weeks of back‑and‑forth. Vogue's transparent labelling did little to dull the shockwaves caused by this alternative method of image creation and refinement. Industry insiders and loyal readers alike paused; if AI can manufacture a model this convincingly, what becomes of the humans whose careers, identities and artistry define fashion's legacy? Subscriber Backlash Within hours of the issue's release, social feeds lit up. Long‑time subscribers announced cancellations; digital forums teemed with the disbelief and outrage of readers who felt somehow duped by this method of image creation. Even die‑hard advocates of technological progress found themselves questioning the trade‑off between efficiency and authenticity. In an industry that thrives on storytelling through faces, gestures and moments, however 'curated' or manipulated, Vogue's experiment posed a stark question: can perfectly rendered pixels ever replace the imperfect pulse of 'real' life? This, in turn, raises deeper questions about artistry, ethics and evolution that this unheralded Guess spread has ignited; questions Vogue's glossy pages have never before had to answer so directly. Could this be another case of those in power using AI to introduce automation where it is not wanted? Humans Or Technology First? At its core, the Vogue‑Guess spread forced a fundamental question: when a perfectly posed AI-generated model replaces a living, breathing model, what do we lose? On social media and industry forums, the reaction has been visceral. Models and their advocates have sounded the alarm about livelihoods hanging in the balance. As Dr Jade McSorley, Head of Knowledge Exchange at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, puts it: 'I can't help but wonder who really benefits here. Is this just another way for brands to sell more items? As someone who used to model for e-commerce companies, the personality you bring to images is suddenly diminished alongside the spontaneous, co-creative process we have with the whole creative team (all of whom will be impacted)." That tension, between crafting flawless visuals and preserving human agency, lies at the heart of the debate. Can an algorithm ever capture the lived stories, cultural nuances, and subtle imperfections that give fashion its emotional resonance? Or are we hurtling toward a homogenised ideal that ultimately leaves readers cold? Matthew Drinkwater, Head of Innovation at the Fashion Innovation Agency at London College of Fashion, offers a different take on things: 'The panic over AI-generated models says more about our fear of change than the technology itself. Fashion has never been about preserving the status quo, it thrives on disruption. To suggest that AI 'steals jobs' is as reductive as claiming digital photography killed fashion photography; it didn't, it redefined it. AI models won't erase human talent, they'll challenge us to rethink what creativity, representation, and beauty can look like in the 21st century.' This contrast in views highlights that there is no clear 'correct' answer to this issue, but that there are obvious merits to both approaches of image creation for fashion publications. The wider public appear to need some convincing, but things may possibly be a bit clearer for those sitting in the corner offices of fashion brands and industry publications. The Automated-Authentic Balance In boardrooms and creative studios, the formula is simple: AI tools can cut campaign costs by upwards of 70 percent, in some cases, and shorten lead times from months to days. On one side of this precarious balance sit the CFOs, dazzled by the promise of infinite model permutations and instant asset generation; on the other, sit the readers, especially discerning Gen Z audiences, craving analogue textures, real bodies and the subtle flaws that signal human artistry. Stitching those impulses into a coherent strategy is the industry's great challenge. One person with more than a little expertise on this balance is fashion-tech journalist Maghan McDowell. As a former Innovation Editor at Vogue Business, she has the inside track on the perceptions of these new technologies and their capabilities, from both sides of the equation. When speaking about the Guess ad in the latest issue of Vogue, McDowell told me: 'When I hear about controversies like this, my heart really sinks, because there's always an inevitable conversation about how art that has any impact from AI is inherently bad–and I think that's simply not true. But I do think there are bad ways to use it, especially when it's so new. In this situation, it looks very much like a traditional photo shoot, print ad, and I think the consumer is not there yet. Our eyes are not trained to accept that, our brains are not trained to accept that. I think, especially in these early days, any use of consumer facing AI needs to be disclosed and transparent, not hidden, or not seeming like it's hidden. Yes, there was an AI disclosure, which was very important, but I don't think that most people would would have seen it.' It is also worth noting that this is not Vogue's first foray into AI-generated content. As McDowell explains, 'there have already been editorial photo shoots or editorial projects [using AI-generated content] in various Vogues. I'm thinking of Vogue Singapore, Vogue Italia, Vogue Portugal, who have done legitimate editorial photo shoots that use AI in a way that is more celebrated. And so what we hear about often is when something goes wrong or when something doesn't land with the public. I think that's unfortunate, because we don't talk so much about the more successful uses.' 'It's not lost on me that this was a print issue of Vogue, and it's clear that people still very much do care about print magazines. It is creating influence, and the conversation is an important one, about the use of AI and creativity.' AI-Generated Models: A Greener Future For Fashion Shoots? AI isn't just a cost‑cutting measure; it can be a green tool. Fewer on‑site shoots mean less wardrobe waste, lower travel emissions, and smaller production footprints. On the consumer side, virtual try‑on experiences powered by AI avatars can reduce return rates; studies show as much as a 20 percent drop in e‑commerce returns when shoppers see garments on a model matching their exact measurements. That's a win for wallets and the planet alike. Vogue's foray into AI-generated models is more than a provocative ad buy; it's an inflection point for the entire industry. By confronting the humanity‑algorithm divide, exploring rigorous ethical guardrails, and embracing a hybrid future, brands and media can ensure that technology serves creativity, and not the other way around. In that balance lies the next chapter of fashion storytelling.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jeff Goldblum's Jet2 Holiday TikTok Shows No One Is Safe From The Algorithm
If you haven't heard the 'Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday' sound in the past week or so, we can only assume you're living under a rock. It doesn't matter whether we're scrolling through Instagram Reels or bingeing TikTok: the Jess Glynne-backed voiceover accompanies disastrous holiday video after disastrous holiday video. We close our eyes at night and all we can hear is 'That's £200 for a family of four.' Zoe Lister, Hollyoaks legend and the voice behind the viral voiceover has even been making appearances at clubs and Pride events across the country on account of how popular the ad has become. But just when we thought we'd hit peak Jet2 holiday (a sentence we never thought we'd be saying in 2025), an unlikely contender has entered the ring and taken part in the trend... Jeff Goldblum. In the 13-second video, which has amassed a whopping 4.1 million views since it went live yesterday, the star tells the viewers: 'Nothing beats a Jeff2 holiday – right now you can save £50 per person, thats £200 off for a family of four.' Yup, apparently even Hollywood's biggest stars aren't immune to the TikTok algorithm – but as one commenter points out 'Jeff Goldblum being chronically online y is what keeps me going actually.' It only takes a quick scroll through Jeff's TikTok to see that the actor is no stranger to partaking in a trend – and we're here for it. Related... Millennials Are Just Realising Who The Jet2 Holiday Voice Actor Is, And I Had No Idea If You Have A Teen Daughter, You Need To Talk To Them About The 'Yes You Can' Trend New TikTok Trend Sheds Light On How Men Talk To Women. And The Responses Are Bleak.
