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Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
How the Queen and Prince Philip tried desperately to change the fate of Charles and Diana's 'sorry story': 'Close friend' to the Royals shares what it was like behind palace doors, and the 'dismayed' reaction to the doomed marriage
Today marks 44 years since Prince Charles and Princess Diana tied the knot at St Paul's Cathedral in what was billed as the 'wedding of the century'. Their union marked a highpoint in the popularity of the Royal Family and was watched by a global audience of 750million across 74 countries A public holiday was declared and 28.4million Brits watched the wedding on TV with a further 600,000 lining the streets of London. But all was not well behind palace doors as whispers of adultery began to surface. Royal biographer Gyles Brandreth, a 'close friend' of Prince Philip – though he later confessed that 'royalty offer you friendliness, not friendship'. This 'friendship' – or 'friendliness' – offered the broadcaster a unique insight into the workings of the royal household. He wrote in his 2021 book, Philip The Final Portrait, that he has heard both sides of the divorce story, having friends who were also good friends with both Diana and Charles. The former Tory MP met Prince Philip through his work with the Playing Field Association, and was often given privileged access to the Queen, to walk and talk with her as she went about her official duties. And when it came to the Queen and her husband's views on their son's relationship, Brandreth wrote: 'Unlike almost everybody else involved in the drama, Philip and Elizabeth could see both sides of the story, and had some sympathy with both sides too. 'They kept their own counsel. They looked on, silent and dismayed. 'They cared about Charles and they cared about Diana. The cared about their grandchildren, especially. And they cared about the Crown and the country, also.' But by the summer of 1992, the Queen agreed that 'something must be done' about their failing relationship, just as the Sunday Times had began to serialise Andrew Morton's book, Diana: Her True Story. Brandreth wrote: 'There are certainly two sides to the sorry story of the marriage of Charles and Diana. 'Charles, according to Diana's camp, was selfish, self-indulgent, thoughtless, unsympathetic, uncaring and cruel. 'He was weak yet wilful, pathetic yet petulant. He behaved like a spoilt child. 'Above all, he was jealous of his wife's popularity with the public. Gyles Brandreth wrote in his 2021 book, Philip The Final Portrait, that he has heard both sides of the divorce story, having friends who were also good friends with both Diana and Charles 'Diana, according to Charles' friends, was a sad case, almost from the start. She was in love with the position, but not the prince. 'She was never close to understanding her man – or trying to. She was self-regarding, self-absorbed, self-obsessed.' The sources for Diana's authorised biography, written by journalist Andrew Morton, were acknowledged to be Diana's friend. But at Buckingham Palace, they suspected that Diana was the source – and they were right. While Diana didn't meet Morton directly, she recorded tapes answering his questions which became the basis of his book. But even when Prince Philip challenged her directly on her input to the book, saying many feared she'd cooperated in some way, she told him that she hadn't. That June, the Queen and Prince Philip sat down with Charles and Diana at Windsor Castle. It was reported that Charles said little, but Diana insisted that the time had come for a trial separation. 'The Queen and Prince Philip were totally as one,' wrote Brandreth. 'They counselled the unhappy couple to search for a compromise, to think less of themselves and more of others, to try to work together to revive their marriage for their own sakes, for the sake of their boys, for the sake of Crown and country.' The Queen proposed a second meeting the following day but Diana failed to turn up, prompting Prince Philip to react. Brandreth noted that 'I try to keep out of these things as much as possible' was the prince's line – unless he thought he had something useful to contribute. He started writing the first in a series of letters to Diana. Brandreth wrote: 'He certainly didn't condone his son's on-going relationship with Camilla – not for a moment – but he did want Diana at least to try to see the situation from Charles's point of view.' Diana was upset by the letters and shared them with her closest girlfriends, Rosa Monckton, then managing director of Tiffany's in London (Diana was godmother to her daughter, Domenica), and Lucia Flecha de Lima, the wife of the Brazilian ambassador. Brandreth had lunch with the women in the aftermath, who noted that they helped craft replies to Prince Philip's letters. The correspondence between Philip and his daughter-in-law continued for more than a year. 'They were good letters,' said Lucia, emphatically, 'He's a good man.' Rosa Monckton agreed. 'Actually, he was pretty wonderful,' she said. 'All he was trying to do was help. And Diana knew that.' But according to the Princess's former butler, Paul Burrell, Diana found many of Philip's letters 'brutal,' and that he'd plainly never understood her. 'To be fair,' acknowledges Burrell, 'Prince Philip did more to save the marriage than Prince Charles.' Diana and Charles separated in 1992, although they continued to carry out their royal duties. Biographer Andrew Morton wrote in his 2011 book, William And Catherine, that shortly before the formal separation announcement, Diana drove to Ludgrove, the prep school in Berkshire where William and Harry were boarders, to break the news to them first. 'The boys' responses are instructive – Harry seemed bewildered and almost indifferent, while his older brother burst into tears.' After 15 years of marriage, Charles and Diana divorced on August 28, 1996. On April 9, 2005, Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles married in a civil ceremony in Windsor, followed by a Church of England Service of Prayer and Dedication at St George's Chapel. The wedding, which was 35 years in the making, was described by the media as a 'fairytale for grown-ups'. This year they, celebrated 20 years of marriage and in recent years, they have navigated the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the King's ill-health. Royal correspondent Michael Cole once described Charles and Camilla as 'bookends' to one another as they 'hold each other up' and are 'very devoted to one another'. It seems that after all, King Charles did get his 'happily ever after'.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘How can I find meaning from the ruins of my life?': the little magazine with a life-changing impact
One morning in February last year, I received an urgent call from the journalist Paul Burston, alerting me to alarming recent social media posts by a mutual friend, the poet and former model Max Wallis. It seemed he had left his London flat in deep distress and was headed to a bridge. Our best guess was the Millennium footbridge by St Paul's Cathedral. Then we heard that Max might have taken refuge inside the cathedral. While I scanned gaggles of tourists in the nave, he was intercepted and removed by ambulance. I was relieved to get a message later that evening that he was safe. We'd met more than a decade before at an event on the South Bank for the Polari prize, set up by Burston to showcase new LGBTQ+ writers. I and the other judges had shortlisted Wallis's collection Modern Love. Though the eventual winner was John McCullough, we stayed in touch, going on regular excursions: to Wilderness festival, to readings, to a rooftop art installation in Shoreditch. And always talking about poetry – writing it, reading it, thinking about it, critiquing it. Now, he tells me about the poetry magazine that emerged from the dark period of addiction that followed his early success. 'I lost 12 years of my life, maybe more,' he says over a video call. 'The magazine came about from me saying: 'I have to do something this year; my brain is on fire and it's running like a hamster wheel.' I wanted to corral the chaos: how can I find meaning from the ruins of my life?' After his breakdown, he retreated home to Lancashire. 'I had moved in with a friend because I messaged my parents before I went into hospital, saying never talk to me ever again. Instead they opened their arms. My parents were just phenomenal.' The first imperative was to become clean and sober. He was diagnosed with ADHD and complex PTSD, and gradually rebuilt his life: the first trip into town, getting on a train, taking a driving lesson. But during this period he also rediscovered his craft, channelling his trauma into a memoir and new poems. 'I was a poet all this time but I'd forgotten, essentially. I'm 35 but I almost feel like I'm 21. I have had to learn everything again. In order to be sober, and to get better from PTSD, you sit with the awful emotions that you feel, and you don't drink or take drugs; you get through the day and move on.' He started submitting to magazines, but since the new work was themed around breakdown and recovery, Wallis thought only a few poems would get published. With energy to spare (at least on the good days), he began to imagine what a space specifically for trauma poetry could look like. If poetry saved his life, perhaps it could help others. The idea of The Aftershock Review was born. A poet friend, Anna Percy, had experience of publishing poetry zines in the lively Manchester scene. 'No disrespect to those,' Wallis says. 'I love zines, but I was thinking bigger, nationwide, book-sized.' Rather than photocopying, he started researching printers. Percy and I joined the magazine as contributing editors and sounding boards, and Wallis put the word out for submissions. Work poured in: from poets who were disabled, disadvantaged, ill, excluded in various ways. The reference anthology was Al Alvarez's electrifying The New Poetry, which launched Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton to an enthralled readership; Bloodaxe's Staying Alive series was also hugely admired. 'It's not a pity project,' Wallis insists, calling it 'literature forged from survival'. Established poets were eager to submit, alongside rising stars and unknown writers. Inua Ellams's 'Fuck' poems meld rage, wit and social commentary; Rhian Elizabeth's Amsterdam states baldly 'girl loses her father, girl loses her mind'; Golnoosh Nour's Burnt Divinities celebrates her heritage: 'the glorious / mixture of glitter and garbage'. The Faber poet and Spectator poetry editor Hugo Williams contributed a sardonic and atypical piece, The Art Scene, which mocks glib responses to trauma in contemporary art. 'Max called me up and we had this instant connection,' Williams says. 'He seemed different from the average literary type. This kind of writing seems to me to be improvised on the spot and kept like that. People of my generation work so hard to make it perfect, and you wish they wouldn't!' Aftershock, he observes, represents a jolt to the mainstream. Contributor Pascale Petit agrees, calling it 'a raft to all of us suffering trauma in troubling times. Poetry this open is necessary, and I don't think any other magazine has dared to address our personal ills so candidly.' Gwyneth Lewis, a former national poet of Wales, points out that for ages raw, confessional poetry was looked down on as 'feminine': 'I'm coming out of a long period of reckoning with lifelong maternal emotional abuse and then chronic illness. I find it deeply encouraging [to realise] that I was in the darkness with so many brilliant poets.' In the few months of its existence, Aftershock has made an impact – with sales over £3,000, and 360,000 views on Instagram. A giant billboard on Manchester's Deansgate is seen by thousands daily, and much more is planned for the Aftershock universe: further issues, poetry pamphlets, outreach, events. Perhaps what's so exciting is that it has tapped into the huge energy and enthusiasm for poetry felt by young writers and readers, who recognise it can be a comfort and release. 'Aftershock has given me everything,' Wallis says. 'It's proof that you can take an awful few years and make them into potentially the most astonishing year. Having not wanted to live at all … what it is to choose life over and over again. It's incredible.' The Aftershock Review issue one (£12.99) is available from In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘How can I find meaning from the ruins of my life?': the little magazine with a life-changing impact
One morning in February last year, I received an urgent call from the journalist Paul Burston, alerting me to alarming recent social media posts by a mutual friend, the poet and former model Max Wallis. It seemed he had left his London flat in deep distress and was headed to a bridge. Our best guess was the Millennium footbridge by St Paul's Cathedral. Then we heard that Max might have taken refuge inside the cathedral. While I scanned gaggles of tourists in the nave, he was intercepted and removed by ambulance. I was relieved to get a message later that evening that he was safe. We'd met more than a decade before at an event on the South Bank for the Polari prize, set up by Burston to showcase new LGBTQ+ writers. I and the other judges had shortlisted Wallis's collection Modern Love. Though the eventual winner was John McCullough, we stayed in touch, going on regular excursions: to Wilderness festival, to readings, to a rooftop art installation in Shoreditch. And always talking about poetry – writing it, reading it, thinking about it, critiquing it. Now, he tells me about the poetry magazine that emerged from the dark period of addiction that followed his early success. 'I lost 12 years of my life, maybe more,' he says over a video call. 'The magazine came about from me saying: 'I have to do something this year; my brain is on fire and it's running like a hamster wheel.' I wanted to corral the chaos: how can I find meaning from the ruins of my life?' After his breakdown, he retreated home to Lancashire. 'I had moved in with a friend because I messaged my parents before I went into hospital, saying never talk to me ever again. Instead they opened their arms. My parents were just phenomenal.' The first imperative was to become clean and sober. He was diagnosed with ADHD and complex PTSD, and gradually rebuilt his life: the first trip into town, getting on a train, taking a driving lesson. But during this period he also rediscovered his craft, channelling his trauma into a memoir and new poems. 'I was a poet all this time but I'd forgotten, essentially. I'm 35 but I almost feel like I'm 21. I have had to learn everything again. In order to be sober, and to get better from PTSD, you sit with the awful emotions that you feel, and you don't drink or take drugs; you get through the day and move on.' He started submitting to magazines, but since the new work was themed around breakdown and recovery, Wallis thought only a few poems would get published. With energy to spare (at least on the good days), he began to imagine what a space specifically for trauma poetry could look like. If poetry saved his life, perhaps it could help others. The idea of The Aftershock Review was born. A poet friend, Anna Percy, had experience of publishing poetry zines in the lively Manchester scene. 'No disrespect to those,' Wallis says. 'I love zines, but I was thinking bigger, nationwide, book-sized.' Rather than photocopying, he started researching printers. Percy and I joined the magazine as contributing editors and sounding boards, and Wallis put the word out for submissions. Work poured in: from poets who were disabled, disadvantaged, ill, excluded in various ways. The reference anthology was Al Alvarez's electrifying The New Poetry, which launched Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton to an enthralled readership; Bloodaxe's Staying Alive series was also hugely admired. 'It's not a pity project,' Wallis insists, calling it 'literature forged from survival'. Established poets were eager to submit, alongside rising stars and unknown writers. Inua Ellams's 'Fuck' poems meld rage, wit and social commentary; Rhian Elizabeth's Amsterdam states baldly 'girl loses her father, girl loses her mind'; Golnoosh Nour's Burnt Divinities celebrates her heritage: 'the glorious / mixture of glitter and garbage'. The Faber poet and Spectator poetry editor Hugo Williams contributed a sardonic and atypical piece, The Art Scene, which mocks glib responses to trauma in contemporary art. 'Max called me up and we had this instant connection,' Williams says. 'He seemed different from the average literary type. This kind of writing seems to me to be improvised on the spot and kept like that. People of my generation work so hard to make it perfect, and you wish they wouldn't!' Aftershock, he observes, represents a jolt to the mainstream. Contributor Pascale Petit agrees, calling it 'a raft to all of us suffering trauma in troubling times. Poetry this open is necessary, and I don't think any other magazine has dared to address our personal ills so candidly.' Gwyneth Lewis, a former national poet of Wales, points out that for ages raw, confessional poetry was looked down on as 'feminine': 'I'm coming out of a long period of reckoning with lifelong maternal emotional abuse and then chronic illness. I find it deeply encouraging [to realise] that I was in the darkness with so many brilliant poets.' In the few months of its existence, Aftershock has made an impact – with sales over £3,000, and 360,000 views on Instagram. A giant billboard on Manchester's Deansgate is seen by thousands daily, and much more is planned for the Aftershock universe: further issues, poetry pamphlets, outreach, events. Perhaps what's so exciting is that it has tapped into the huge energy and enthusiasm for poetry felt by young writers and readers, who recognise it can be a comfort and release. 'Aftershock has given me everything,' Wallis says. 'It's proof that you can take an awful few years and make them into potentially the most astonishing year. Having not wanted to live at all … what it is to choose life over and over again. It's incredible.' The Aftershock Review issue one (£12.99) is available from In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mel B's Wedding Includes a Special Gift From Victoria Beckham
The Gist Victoria Beckham designed Mel B's daughter's dress for the former Spice Girl's wedding. Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice, was the only fellow band member in attendance. Mel B has three daughters in total: Phoenix, Angel, and her absence from former Spice Girl Mel B's wedding, Victoria Beckham still managed to be there in spirit thanks to one very special outfit. The fashion mogul designed a custom slip dress for Mel B's daughter, Phoenix, and the proud daughter wore it to celebrate her mom's big day. Phoenix looked stunning in the slinky light blue gown, which she paired with the most classic of British wedding accessories: a large decorative hat. Mel B's nuptials took place at St Paul's Cathedral in London. While it was previously reported that Beckham would design Mel B's wedding dress, she ultimately went with a custom gown from Evelie Bridal. She and her now-husband Rory McPhee exchanged their vows in a traditional ceremony in front of a small guest list that included Cara Delevingne. As for the other Spice Girls? Only Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice, was able to join. Mel B and McPhee coupled up in 2019 and got engaged in 2022. The duo have actually known each other since childhood, when they were introduced by her cousin. Mel B has been married twice before. 'I believe in love, and clearly the other two marriages turned out to be not love, from their angle,' she told People. 'So I feel like I've really missed out, and now I've got this opportunity to be properly in love with a really good guy who I know loves me for me, who's known me before I was a Spice Girl, why wouldn't I do that?' The singer has two other daughters apart from Phoenix. She shares her eldest with her ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar, her middle child Angel with Eddie Murphy, and her youngest Madison, with her ex-husband Stephen Belafonte. 'I hope I'm raising three confident, strong women on the inside who are appreciative, respectful and supportive of other women," Mel B once said, per People. Read the original article on InStyle
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Katherine Ryan shares behind-the-scenes secrets from Mel B's wedding as she reveals last-minute change to her 'awful' outfit
Katherine Ryan has revealed she was forced to make a last-minute change to her outfit as she attended Mel B 's wedding over the weekend. The comedian joined a slew of stars for the celebration at London's St Paul's Cathedral over the weekend, where the Spice Girl tied the knot for the third time with hairdresser Rory McPhee. Katherine, who is expecting her fourth child with husband Bobby Kootstra, shared insight into her look in the latest episode of her podcast Telling Everybody Everything. The presenter admitted she was 'so touched' to be invited to Mel's big day as a Spice Girls fan, but confessed her look for the occasion was 'awful' after she had to come up with a replacement to her fascinator. She said: 'I looked like s*** at Mel B's wedding, everybody knows it.' Katherine revealed she didn't know how big her baby bump was going to be when she attended Mel's wedding, and so she had to get a 'flowy,' dress. She added: 'It almost looks like bed linen. It's very dreamy.' Confessing she found it 'so difficult' to get ready with her three children around, she added: 'I don't have the thinnest arms for it. I'm too pale for it. It was awful - no offence to the designer!' 'I put my hair down, which was absolutely the wrong way to do it.' Katherine shared, telling listeners she had previously shaved the back of her neck because of her 'low' hairline, meaning she couldn't wear her hair tied back. After learning that the wedding's dress code included hats and fascinators, Katherine said she ordered a 'beautiful' headpiece for the day, but at the last minute, panicked it wasn't the same shade of blue as her dress. Confessing she had to use a flower to make her own headpiece, she said: 'I ended up chopping an orchid from my kitchen and sticking that in my head. "It was giving ugly step-sister. Like I truly s*** the bed on the look.' Katherine went onto joke that she felt like she 'ruined the aesthetic' with her outfit, and said her husband Bobby, who wore a cream suit, 'didn't like his outfit either.' She told listeners: 'I don't think we've ever looked worse ... on like the most important day of someone's life.' However, Katherine then gushed that the day itself was a 'lovely' one, and she was surprised by some of the names that featured on the guestlist. She said: 'Everyone there was like a close personal friend, or family member, or Northern. Y'know someone she really knew. [...] It had a real grassroots like true friendship and family vibe. It was a lovely, lovely wedding.' Mel ensured she pulled out all the stops to ensure her wedding to Rory was a picture perfect day. After saying her vows, the pair threw a huge 'party in the sky' after hiring the Shard in London for the wedding reception. The Spice Girl was joined by her guests for a meal, drinks and dancing at the Shangri-La venue inside the building which boasts 95 floors and promises panoramic views over the capital. There her friends and family danced into the small hours as the 'party of the century' has been promised by the bride and groom. There's more celebrating to come for the happy couple as they're set to host a second wedding in Morocco, which has been described as 'informal and sexy'. The second nuptials will be offer her Spice Girls bandmates a second chance to attend her wedding celebrations after only Emma Bunton attended the big day at St Paul's Cathedral on Saturday.
