Dua Lipa, a black rhino and a French matador - photos of the weekend
A track marshal waves the checkered flag during the European Endurance qualification of the 11h D Estoril Lamera cup Photograph: Nuno Reisinho/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
Military cadets of the Lviv lyceum celebrate their graduation Photograph: Anastasiia Smolienko/Reuters
Dakota Johnson flashes a cutout of actor Pedro Pascal during the premiere of Materialists Photograph: Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock
A child looks up at the camera as Muslim devotees offer Eid al-Adha prayers Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarians and rangers rush to restrain a sedated female black rhinoceros selected for translocation to the Segera Rhino Sanctuary from the Lake Nakuru national park. Kenya announced the translocation of 21 critically endangered eastern black rhinos from congested conservation areas to the Segera sanctuary where black rhinos were once endemic but died out due to human encroachment and poaching Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images
A participant in a parade during the WorldPride 2025 celebrations. This year Washington DC hosts the annual WorldPride, a global celebration of the LGBTQ+ community Photograph:Members of a private US security company contracted by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - a private US-backed aid group that the UN refuses to work with over neutrality concerns - direct displaced Palestinians as they gather to receive relief supplies at a distribution centre Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images
People gather at Begin Avenue to hold a demonstration demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the return of the Israeli hostages Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
A free diver looks at a lionfish, an invasive type of fish in the Mediterranean, while diving near Lebanon Photograph: Ibrahim Chalhoub/AFP/Getty Images
Service members of the 31st Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces fire a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher towards Russian troops Photograph: Reuters
Riders in Glasgow's East End begin stage four of the women's 2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
French matador Sebastián Castella concentrates during the paseo, prior his bullfight during the Pentecost Feria in southern France Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Dua Lipa performs at the I-Days festival at Ippodromo Snai La Maura Photograph: Sergione Infuso/Corbis/Getty Images for ABA
A black-crowned night heron fishing in the Tigris River drops its catch Photograph: Mehmet Masum Suer/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
A patient swallows live murrel fish coated in herbs to cure asthma Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images
Law enforcement clashes with demonstrators during a protest following federal immigration operations in the Compton neighbourhood. Donald Trump deployed 2,000 troops to handle escalating protests against immigration enforcement raids in the Los Angeles area, a move the state's governor called 'purposefully inflammatory' Photograph: Ringo Chiu/AFP/Getty Images
A man carries an injured protester away from clashes in Compton Photograph: Ethan Swope/AP
A dancer plays with fire on Chao Lao Beach
Photograph: Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
I believe I'm the secret great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria's and John Brown - and I'm going to take a DNA test to prove it
A woman from the US believes she could be the illegitimate great, great grand-daughter of Queen Victoria amid claims the monarch had a relationship with her most-trusted servant John Brown. Angela Webb-Milinkovich, a health worker from Minnesota, thinks she has lineage stemming from the affair which is speculated have taken place following the death of Victoria's husband Prince Albert. Now new research by historian Dr Fern Riddell raises the possibility that John and the Queen secretly got married and even had a daughter together. It has been alleged that while on paper Angela's great grandmother Mary Ann was the only child of John's brother Hugh and his wife Jessie, Victoria could actually have been her mother. Ms Webb-Milinkovich, 47, said her ultimate goal is to gain recognition from King Charles about her family's place in history. And she is now planning to take a DNA test to try and prove her relationship to the English royals. Ms Webb-Milinkovich told The Mirror: 'My main goal is to have the story acknowledged. 'I want their relationship to be recognised and for the royal family to stop saying it didn't happen.' 'I want the vindication essentially for John Brown and just for my lineage, because they were not able to talk about it,' she added. 'It was something that just became that secret that we couldn't really share, but we knew.' Ms Webb-Milinkovich explained that her family has always believed they were descended from the royal line through baby Mary Ann. However, she only realised the extent of the connection when she was contacted by Dr Riddell during the four years of research for her new book 'Victoria's Secret'. The birth of Mary Ann, who is the supposed love child, was registered in 1865, soon after childless Jessie and Hugh emigrated to New Zealand. Dr Riddell has claimed that Victoria could have easily concealed that she was pregnant and had the child sent away to the other side of the world to avoid a scandal. Moreover, it has been documented that in 1874 Victoria arranged for the family to be brought back to Scotland, where they lived on the Balmoral estate. Queen Victoria's close relationship with her manservant John was widely documented in the 1997 movie Mrs Brown – starring Judi Dench and Billy Connolly. It shows the monarch, widowed and scared, beginning to see the handsome Scots ghillie as her protector. For the next 20 years, no one was closer to the Queen. John ran her daily errands and put his life on the line to save her from would-be assassins. He spent hours alone with her every day and in her private house in the Highlands, he had the bedroom next to hers. Then after Victoria's death in 1901, on the orders of her eldest son, Edward VII, the Palace set about erasing John from the record. Victoria's journals were copied, edited, and the originals destroyed. Those who have attempted to bring John and Victoria's story to light have found themselves blocked, dismissed or ridiculed by powerful forces. As recently as 1987, when the family of James Reid, Victoria's doctor, set out to publish his diaries for the first time – revealing what he had witnessed of Victoria's intimate relationship with John – Princess Margaret personally attempted to halt publication. Writing for the Mail earlier this month, Dr Fern said: 'Years of researching – and talking to the Brown family – have led me to conclude that Victoria and John did have an intimate relationship. 'Not only that, but rumours that they secretly married and had a child that was spirited away to be brought up outside the Royal Family may indeed have some foundation. 'Could it be that Mary Ann, whose birth was registered soon after Hugh and Jessie's arrival in New Zealand in 1865, was actually Victoria and John's child, sent to the furthest reach of the empire in secret?,' she added. 'After much detective work, I had tracked down Angela, one of Hugh and Jessie's last surviving relatives, in the USA. 'On our late-night Zoom call, she revealed to me the bombshell story that had been passed down her family. 'If true, it would make Angela the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. 'It may seem outlandish, but I can't discount the possibility – however remarkable – that Victoria had the capacity and ability to disguise a pregnancy in the mid-1860s, give birth, and then keep the baby a secret. 'Without DNA evidence, of course, we'll never know – and given the secrecy that surrounds this story, that is unlikely to be forthcoming from the Royal Family.'
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: How drink doomed Princess's love affair with Richard Burton
Born in a palace, she speaks five languages, has been married three times – once to a former prime minister – numbers Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg among her children and invariably has tea with her cousin, King Charles, whenever she's in England. But it was her love affair with Richard Burton, five decades ago, which propelled Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia to global attention – an episode about which she has remained silent ever since. Until now, that is. Speaking from Belgrade, where she has lived since 2002, Princess Elizabeth tells me that she can now look back on that time with some amusement. But the details, which appear in her memoir, newly published in Serbian, offer a harrowing glimpse of a man obliterating his talent and health with alcohol. The Princess had first set eyes on Burton at the height of his powers, years before they met socially. 'He was playing Hamlet. He sat on the stage, dressed in black,' she tells me, remembering how she had been transfixed – by his 'blue eyes… shining' and by his voice. 'It was mesmerising. Absolutely extraordinary.' That might have been the last she saw of him, had it not been for a dinner given by David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Lord Harlech. Burton and Taylor were among the guests. 'Richard got very drunk and threw up in the champagne bucket,' Elizabeth, who was then married to her second husband, British financier Neil Balfour, recalls. This might have served as a warning. But it did not. The Princess found Burton – the son of a Welsh-speaking miner from Glamorgan – as mesmerising as before. Weeks after his divorce from Taylor, they announced their engagement. But the Princess soon learned that Taylor hadn't bidden farewell to Burton. 'She used to call me Elisheva – the Hebrew version of my name,' recalls Elizabeth. Burton's drinking was infinitely more challenging. 'I had to put him in a clinic in Switzerland. He was so drunk that I thought he was going to die. I called up the ambulance and got them to drug him and drag him off. He was surrounded by a lot of ugly male nurses which didn't please him at all.' He recovered sufficiently to fly to Nice to work on a film. At his insistence, a part for his Princess was written into the script. But it was a hopeless gesture. 'He was drinking all the time. We had to go through fourteen takes for him to get his lines right – which were a matter of five words.' Elizabeth flew back to London, putting an end to their engagement. The film, Jackpot, was never finished. But it seems that, at 89, Elizabeth may star in a film of her own. 'They've written a script [based on my memoir],' explains the Princess, who is now seeking an English publisher – a quest which, I trust, will not be too much of a struggle... Interview by Marcus Scriven Minnie's man has moved to London Good Will Hunting star Minnie Driver and her US filmmaker boyfriend, Addison O'Dea, are closing the gap in their long-distance relationship. The couple, who have been dating for six years, are now living together in London. Minnie, 55, tells me: 'We are pretty much here now. We're here a lot more than we are in the States, and it's working for us.' O'Dea, 46, says: 'It's lovely being with all my English mates.' I left Hollywood due to poisonous #MeToo backlash, says Rose She was influential in changing the landscape of Hollywood by spearheading the #MeToo movement, but it's only now that Rose McGowan has found peace. The US actress, 51, was one of the first women to accuse disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein of rape. 'The way I healed from a lot of very intense things – like people really hating and being programmed to cancel me for whatever reason – was, I just had to leave with love,' reveals McGowan. The Charmed star has spent the past six years doing environmental work in Mexico, where she lives. 'I had to get the poison of resentment out of me,' she says. 'I had to be with things that actually mattered like trees, animals, insects, water, ocean, plants – all of it together.' McGowan was among the panellists speaking onboard the Oosterschelde tall ship in London for the launch of the Jane Goodall Barbie, All Of Me, which is made entirely from recycled ocean plastic. She adds: 'I've been lucky enough to live in the jungle for the last six years... what I do daily there is go on long, long walks on the shores. I will clean it to the best of my ability because it's given me so much.' Karen Millen feels fab after £35k facelift It's just over a year since fashion designer Karen Millen underwent a life-changing £35,000 facelift to reverse the signs of ageing, which she says has now been achieved. She tells me at Backstage Beauty Salon in Chelsea: 'I don't feel like I'm coming up to 64. When I look back on some of my old photographs, I can't believe how bad I looked.' Karen adds: 'I just feel in the best place ever.' Her surgery with Dr Tunc Tiryaki – co-founder of the London Regenerative Institute at luxury hotel the Corinthia – involved three months of healing time. Speaking of her results, Karen says: 'I have a healthy glow and my whole jawline is just smooth, and I receive lots of compliments.' Equestrian Tatiana rides to new role She was once a keen equestrian, but Lady Tatiana Mountbatten is, I hear, stepping away from the saddle. The daughter of the Marquess of Milford Haven reveals she has trained to be a psychotherapist. Lady Tatiana, 35, says her stepbrother James Wentworth-Stanley's suicide in 2006 influenced her decision. 'The lady I had therapy with [after his death] changed everything for me,' she says. 'I remember thinking, one day I want to help people the way she helped me.' Nearly 23 years after being accused – and cleared – of stealing £4.5million of Princess Diana's possessions, Paul Burrell is unveiling his third memoir on September 11. It might almost be enough to unite William and Harry, who greeted the publication of Burrell's first effort, in 2003, with the statement: 'We cannot believe that Paul, entrusted with so much, could abuse his position in such a cold and overt betrayal.' The smart set's talking about Ghislaine's nephew taking a shot at career in politics His aunt may be serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking but that hasn't deterred Ted Maxwell from entering the political fray in east London. Ted is the nephew of Ghislaine Maxwell, one-time lover and associate of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. One of Kevin Maxwell's seven children by his ex-wife, Pandora Warnford-Davis, Ted's website proclaims: 'Ted for Bethnal Green West… standing for our community, not a political party.' His paternal grandfather, Robert Maxwell, was Labour MP for Buckingham before acquiring Mirror newspapers and plundering £440million from the firm's pension fund. Ted's other grandad, John Warnford-Davis, once put up a sign by the family swimming pool. 'We don't swim in your toilet,' it read. 'Please don't pee in our pool.' Broadcaster Emma Barnett, who hosts the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, is waging an equal rights campaign – for fellow tea drinkers. She says: 'I don't drink coffee and never have, but I do know how particular coffee drinkers are allowed to be and I am sounding the bell for tea drinkers to have the same rights.' 'I have become meticulous about how I have my tea,' adds Emma, 40, who specifies: 'Four-minute brew time followed by a dash of full-fat milk.' Very fair. (Very) modern manners Millennials have just been named the UK's most fitness-focused generation, and it appears they aren't content with any old workout. I hear a new wellness movement called 'fittainment' is inspiring some of the country's beau monde to ditch nightclubs and seek out events including 2am spin classes with a live orchestra. The study, which was conducted by YouGov on behalf of lifestyle hospitality brand The Social Hub, found 19 per cent of millennials work from home so they can fit in a workout. In response, the hub has launched a wellness initiative across its hotels, with a sunrise rooftop Pilates session set to take place in Glasgow. Chief membership officer Tasha Young says: 'We see how people's needs are changing: fitness is now non-negotiable and it happens every hour of the day.' Model Elle Macpherson no longer wants to be defined by her looks. 'Being in my 60s has been a transition from being The Body to embodying something far more meaningful – greater purpose,' she says. 'I'm learning how to be of service to a wider world... writing, living with new freedom.' After nearly 40 years of marriage, it's safe to say Simon Le Bon and his wife Yasmin have one of the longest-lasting unions in showbusiness. Yet I hear it isn't all smooth sailing for the pair on the domestic front. Yasmin tells me the Duran Duran singer 'always has audiobooks on and it's so annoying, as he has it on loud in the house'. Luckily the model, who lives with Le Bon in a £5 million London mansion, has 'become really good at blanking it out.' Keep it to yourself, but... A non-monogamous celebrity couple, who've enjoyed an open marriage, have finally called it quits and are planning to announce their divorce in a matter of weeks. I hear other parties are involved. Is Boy George starting to feel remorseful about his ongoing feud with Harry Potter author JK Rowling over trans rights? I ask only as the Culture Club singer, 64, has voiced his regrets about the row. He tells me: 'The whole thing is very immature. I will be honest, some of the things I said were beneath me, and I don't want to be that person.'
Daily Mail
16 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Inside Pedro Pascal's tragic past and family scandal as actor becomes Hollywood's hottest leading man
It's safe to say that Pedro Pascal is Hollywood's most popular leading man right now. From taking over the small screen in The Last of Us and The Mandalorian, to leading box office hits like Gladiator II, Materialists, and The Fantastic Four, Pascal is utterly inescapable right now. Pascal's path to fame and fortune hasn't been easy though, beginning with his childhood in Santiago, Chile. When he was just four months old, his parents were forced to flee Chile so that they could avoid capture under General Augusto Pinochet, who plunged the country into a military dictatorship in 1973. Pascal's mother Veronica, a psychologist, and his father Jose Balmaceda, a fertility doctor, were deemed enemies of the state due to Veronica's distant family ties to socialist Chilean President Salvador Allende, who was overthrown by Pinochet. The family escaped to Denmark before relocating to the United States, but this wasn't the end of their troubles. In 1995, Pascal's father was swept up in a jaw-dropping fertility scandal that caused him to flee the U.S. and head back to Chile. He was later charged with mail fraud and income tax evasion. According to Orange County Register, Balmaceda was caught 'switching frozen embryos of women without their knowledge' at the fertility clinic he helped run with two other men. 'In 1995, the Orange County Register reported that Dr. Ricardo Asch, along with Dr. Balmaceda and Dr. Sergio Stone, had taken women's eggs without their permission and given them to other women who later bore children from those eggs,' the report said. 'At least 15 live births resulted from the improper transfers, and the clinic was shuttered following the egg-theft scandal.' In addition, it said that 'an audit determined that nearly $1 million in clinic income had not been reported' including 'tens of thousands of dollars in cash payments from patients that were allegedly pocketed by doctors.' While Stone was convicted of fraud, both Balmaceda and Asch fled the U.S. before their trials - with Balmaceda, Pedro's mother, and his two siblings moving back to Chile. Asch was later arrested in Mexico, where he had escaped to. According to the New York Times, Balmaceda was able to restart his life in Chile and continued working as one of the country's top fertility doctors. Years later - in 2022 - Balmaceda finally plead guilty to tax fraud and surrendered himself to law enforcement. ABC News dubbed the debacle 'one of the biggest fertility scandals in history'. Despite his father's scandalous past, Pascal and Balmaceda appear to be close, often sharing photos together on social media. Pedro even brought his dad, as well as his sister, transgender actress Lux Pascal, to the Gladiator II premiere in London last year. He has never publicly addressed his dad's fertility scandal, instead choosing to focus on the struggles that his parents overcame by escaping Pinochet's regime in Chile. Speaking about their journey in a SNL monologue, Pascal said, 'They were so brave. And without them, I wouldn't be here in this wonderful country, and I certainly wouldn't be standing here with you all tonight.' Tragically, Pascal's beloved mother Veronica took her own life in 1999. The Last of Us Star has spoken out numerous times about the huge impact she had on him, with him telling People in 2020, 'She was the love of my life.' He continued: 'She was always incredibly supportive, never a stage mom. I always felt like she knew something that I didn't. None of my success would be real if it weren't for her. 'I think about her every day. I don't pray, so I can't say I have a religious practice to feel close to her, but I live for her, even though she's gone. 'Losing the most important person in your life, discovering that something like this is possible and that what you fear most in life can happen, is an unexplainable and permanent moment. There is a before and after her death.' 'The circumstances of my mother's death made it very hard for us to remember her as the person she was,' he also admitted in a 2017 interview with Paula magazine. 'It hurts so much… Sometimes I feel anguished and I try to deal with it in the best possible way, because I know that my mother would not want me to do it any other way.' Following her passing, Pedro decided to take on her maiden name as a tribute to her - officially making his stage name Pedro Pascal. While there's been endless speculation online about Pascal's sexuality and romantic life, the Eddington hunk prefers to keep his relationships private. 'I've had dreams of taking my kids to the movies the way my parents took me,' he once lamented to Vanity Fair. 'So I guess I want a shortcut to an interesting human being, who is my child, who will go see something that I want to see.' However, despite refusing to publicly reveal his romantic partners to the world, Pascal claims that he isn't actually a private person. 'I always feel perplexed when I'm identified in whatever form of media as a "highly private person," because that's the opposite of me,' Pascal explained. He continued: 'I'm very unprivate in my private life. I just know that personal relationships are such a complex thing to navigate even without having this enormous lens on them.' Pascal is currently enjoying the success of his latest film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The Marvel movie launched with a bigger-than-expected opening weekend, raking in an estimated $118 million domestically and another $100 million overseas, for a global debut of around $220 million.
