Latest news with #palace
Associated Press
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Book Review: 'Royal Gambit' by Daniel O'Malley finds magic in the murder of a royal family member
Author Daniel O'Malley returns to the world of his series he started with 'The Rook' with 'Royal Gambit,' an enjoyable and sometimes unwieldy novel about the supernatural operatives of a paranormal secret service investigating a string of bizarre murders. Gambit centers around the aristocratic Lady Alexandra Mondegreen (Alix) and her investigation into the mysterious murder of her childhood friend, the Prince of Wales. Alix has the unique talent of being able to shatter bones with just a touch of her hand, but she is resented by the other members of the service for the perceived favoritism that comes with her noble title. Her youth was spent as a secret bodyguard to Princess Louise, the woman who now finds herself next in line to the throne. This connection proves useful as the agency's way into investigating who at the palace (or outside of it) could be responsible for the death of the heir apparent and gives Alix a chance to prove her worth as an asset to the agency. O'Malley finds humor in showing how these agents with strange and sometimes absurd powers (one senior official can turn into a stegosaurus at will) adhere to the same bureaucracy and hierarchies as any other government organization. Along with coming to work on time and navigating office politics, there is a chance you will be the victim of a dinosaur stampede or watch your colleague turn into a tree. Alix also emerges as a compelling heroine, driven by her ambition to rise within the ranks of the Checquy and prove herself, yet deeply committed to uncovering the truth behind the tragedy that struck a family she has genuine affection for. A highlight of the book is her sometimes awkward, but humorous journey as a new lady-in-waiting to the princess, having to balance garden lunches with dangerous missions. Although intended as a stand-alone story, O'Malley assumes readers will quickly grasp the complexities of this world and how it operates without much prior knowledge. However, keeping track of the extensive rules and traditions of this secret service and upper-crust English society makes it difficult to keep engaged in the mystery at hand. The book gets bogged down in its mythology and is slow to give us plot developments. Further challenging the pacing of the novel are the constant additions to an over-large cast of characters, all with different supernatural abilities or aristocratic titles. All of these elements lead to a clunky conclusion that too easily ties up loose ends and loses the impact of the tragedy that started the story. The book would have benefited from more clever twists and paranormal action, as opposed to heavy exposition about this super-secret agency and the people who run it. Ultimately, this makes for a fun, elevated beach read for those who enjoy their mystery novels with supernatural leanings and a dry British sense of humor. ___ AP book reviews:
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Inside Delta Goodrem and Matthew Copley's stunning 18th century 'fairytale' wedding venue dubbed a 'miniature Versailles'
Delta Goodrem certainly pulled out all the stops when she walked down the aisle with Matthew Copley in Malta last month. After saying 'I do' at the historic St. Paul's Cathedral in Mdina, the newlyweds moved the festivities to the gorgeous Palazzo Parisio in nearby Naxxar. Previously known as Scicluna Palace, and Palazzo Scicluna, the stunning venue started life as a hunting lodge back in 1733. The 18th-century palace was purchased by the wealthy Maltese banker Marquis Giuseppe Scicluna in 1898, who had it redesigned in all its opulent splendour. The scale of the magnificent building is fully realised upon stepping through the large bronze-studded doors, which reveal high, vaulted ceilings and a sweeping marble staircase. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. It has been described as a 'miniature Versailles' – the iconic former French royal residence that was commissioned by King Louis XIV. It's not hard to see why, either, with its interior decorated with an array of frescoes, statues, columns, and works of art. The palace boasts a dazzling Rococo-style gilded ballroom that is lit with sparkling bronze chandeliers, as well as ornate, gilt-edged mirrors – an homage to Versailles' Hall of Mirrors. Each room is more spectacular than the last, with the palace also boasting an opulent billiard room, an elaborate Pompeii-themed dining room, and a family chapel featuring a 17th-century wooden altar. There is also a music room adjoining the grand ballroom, which features walls lined in pale silk moiré. The Italianate walled gardens are no less spectacular, featuring manicured shrubs and hedges throughout. Cobblestone pathways snake their way through the stunning grounds and lead to an adjoining orangery and grotto. Delta shared a first look at her lavish wedding with Vogue Australia this week. 'June 2025, Husband and Wife. It was more magical than we both could have dreamed,' Delta wrote in an emotional caption on Instagram. 'We said I do under the Maltese skies in a family fairytale wedding brought to life by so many angels surrounding us,' she continued. 'We are holding on to every memory from that moment, the love, the laughter, the happy tears and dancing till the sun came up.' Delta stunned in an off-the-shoulder wedding gown with a racy sweetheart neckline, designed by South Australian fashion designer Paul Vasileff. The French tulle gown featured gorgeous lattice detailing and a two-and-a-half metre train. Delta said she worked with the designer over three months to create a gown that felt, 'super personal and very special.' 'Paul and I connected the second I got engaged, and we started working together immediately,' Delta told Vogue of the couture creation. The gown, which took around 500 hours to make, included nods to the couple's romance, including their wedding date, a pair of swans, and cherubs embroidered into the fabric. Vasileff had also dressed Delta for the 2016 Logie Awards and described working with her as a 'dream collaboration'. Delta and Matthew exchanged vows in the historic St. Paul's Cathedral in Mdina, which was built in the 12th century. She changed into two further dresses during the party so she would be comfortable enough to dance the night away while Conrad Sewell and Vince Pizzinga performed for the A-list guests. Both frocks were designed for the singer by Melbourne-based couture designer Con Ilio, including a party dress covered in hand-beaded pearls and crystals. Delta and Matthew's custom-made, matching gold and diamond wedding bands were created by Melbourne designer Anton Jewellery. The singer told Vogue that she wanted to, 'feel like myself on the day. That was really important to me. The look needed to feel grounded amongst the fairytale.' Delta's makeup was done by Noni Smith, while her hair was styled by Michael Brennan, and the day's stylist was Meggy Smith. Her groom, meanwhile, was dressed in 'head-to-toe' Tom Ford, Delta told Vogue – adding that she did not see Matt the night before their vows to add to the magic. 'Seeing Matt for the first time at the aisle was so memorable, as we had kept the tradition of not seeing each other the night before,' she told the publication. 'Every moment was a fairytale come true. The whole day and the week spent with everyone were beyond our wildest dreams'
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Chaos and ‘Panic' Break Out at the Palace Over Kate Middleton's Health
A royal insider told The Daily Beast there was a 'real sense of panic' at the palace Wednesday, after Kate Middleton dramatically pulled out of a scheduled appearance at the Royal Ascot horse-racing festival at the last minute. The palace has provided no on-the-record explanation for the absence. However, Kate's team sought to play down the idea that the cancellation signaled a downturn in her health, with some media briefed that it was just a question of the princess seeking 'balance' as she continues to recover from cancer. Kate herself clearly said that her plans could be subject to change when she announced she was cancer-free earlier this year, which at least gave a superficial plausibility to the claims that Wednesday's unscheduled cancellation was no big deal. The U.K. media has largely gone along with the palace spin, dutifully reporting that Kate's decision to abandon the legendary Ascot carriage procession was almost routine. In fact, pulling out of such a high-profile event, just over an hour before she was due to appear with the king and queen, is highly unusual. Behind the scenes in the royal household, people are far less sanguine. The Daily Beast can reveal that the announcement left staff behind palace walls 'bewildered and worried' as they tried to figure out what was happening. The situation was made worse by the fact that an official 'carriage list' published at noon by the palace said Kate would be there, only for her to cancel within the hour. One former courtier who retains good links with serving staff said, 'Everyone was wandering around going, 'What is going on?' One minute she was going, and the next she wasn't. This is one of the biggest days of the year in the royal calendar; you don't just miss Ascot on a whim, so there was a real sense of panic. The chaotic nature of the announcement was eerily reminiscent of the dark days of last year. People were bewildered and worried.' The insider added that rumors had briefly swirled around the palace that the future queen had been taken unwell and either needed to see a doctor or had been rushed to the hospital. Kate's office did not respond to The Daily Beast's requests for comment, but a friend of the princess told The Daily Beast: 'My understanding is that Kate was basically exhausted after Trooping the Color on Saturday and Garter Day on Monday and couldn't face it. There are good days and bad days, as she herself has very candidly said. ' Kate's March 2024 announcement that she had cancer came after the catastrophic failure of an attempt to impose a news blackout on Kate's health. The information vacuum meant Kate's whereabouts became the subject of worldwide speculation. This time, at least, palace aides have not tried to simply remain silent in the face of self-evidently unusual events. Discreet briefings were issued to the media saying that while Kate was 'disappointed' not to go, she is seeking 'to find the right balance' when it comes to doing public engagements. However, there was no denying that Prince William looked decidedly somber on arrival at the festival, although he seemed to cheer up later when he was photographed smiling and having a drink. One of the few hints in the U.K. media that there might be more to Kate's non-appearance than meets the eye came in a line in a report in the usually well-informed Daily Telegraph, reading: 'Her appearance, recently so healthy, has belied how difficult things were last year, and how hard the fight to return to normality has been.' Kate finished 'preventative chemotherapy' in September and announced she was in remission in January of this year. She said, in a precedent-busting video: 'There are good days and bad days. I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty.' King Charles has also said that he has cancer, which is understood to be being managed on an ongoing basis with weekly treatment.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Chaos and ‘Panic' Break Out at the Palace Over Kate Middleton's Health
A royal insider told The Daily Beast there was a 'real sense of panic' at the palace Wednesday, after Kate Middleton dramatically pulled out of a scheduled appearance at the Royal Ascot horse-racing festival at the last minute. The palace has provided no on-the-record explanation for the absence. However, Kate's team sought to play down the idea that the cancellation signaled a downturn in her health, with some media briefed that it was just a question of the princess seeking 'balance' as she continues to recover from cancer. Kate herself clearly said that her plans could be subject to change when she announced she was cancer-free earlier this year, which at least gave a superficial plausibility to the claims that Wednesday's unscheduled cancellation was no big deal. The U.K. media has largely gone along with the palace spin, dutifully reporting that Kate's decision to abandon the legendary Ascot carriage procession was almost routine. In fact, pulling out of such a high-profile event, just over an hour before she was due to appear with the king and queen, is highly unusual. Behind the scenes in the royal household, people are far less sanguine. The Daily Beast can reveal that the announcement left staff behind palace walls 'bewildered and worried' as they tried to figure out what was happening. The situation was made worse by the fact that an official 'carriage list' published at noon by the palace said Kate would be there, only for her to cancel within the hour. One former courtier who retains good links with serving staff said, 'Everyone was wandering around going, 'What is going on?' One minute she was going, and the next she wasn't. This is one of the biggest days of the year in the royal calendar; you don't just miss Ascot on a whim, so there was a real sense of panic. The chaotic nature of the announcement was eerily reminiscent of the dark days of last year. People were bewildered and worried.' The insider added that rumors had briefly swirled around the palace that the future queen had been taken unwell and either needed to see a doctor or had been rushed to the hospital. Kate's office did not respond to The Daily Beast's requests for comment, but a friend of the princess told The Daily Beast: 'My understanding is that Kate was basically exhausted after Trooping the Color on Saturday and Garter Day on Monday and couldn't face it. There are good days and bad days, as she herself has very candidly said. ' Kate's March 2024 announcement that she had cancer came after the catastrophic failure of an attempt to impose a news blackout on Kate's health. The information vacuum meant Kate's whereabouts became the subject of worldwide speculation. This time, at least, palace aides have not tried to simply remain silent in the face of self-evidently unusual events. Discreet briefings were issued to the media saying that while Kate was 'disappointed' not to go, she is seeking 'to find the right balance' when it comes to doing public engagements. However, there was no denying that Prince William looked decidedly somber on arrival at the festival, although he seemed to cheer up later when he was photographed smiling and having a drink. One of the few hints in the U.K. media that there might be more to Kate's non-appearance than meets the eye came in a line in a report in the usually well-informed Daily Telegraph, reading: 'Her appearance, recently so healthy, has belied how difficult things were last year, and how hard the fight to return to normality has been.' Kate finished 'preventative chemotherapy' in September and announced she was in remission in January of this year. She said, in a precedent-busting video: 'There are good days and bad days. I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty.' King Charles has also said that he has cancer, which is understood to be being managed on an ongoing basis with weekly treatment.
Forbes
07-05-2025
- Forbes
How A Moroccan Entrepreneur Built A Luxury Hotel Oasis At The Sahara's Edge
The main kasbah and gardens at Sbai Palace João Seabra M'Hamid El Ghizlane is the end of the road. Not in a figurative or literary way. It's simply the end: no more pavement, no more pathway, just the vast shifting seas of Sahara Desert's sands. In this last stop in Morocco's southern Zagora Province, old hand-painted signs still point the way to Timbuktu. It's 50 days away by camel caravan. Now, of course, one can get to Mali a bit faster with a 4x4. But M'Hamid, an oasis town of about 7,500 inhabitants, still retains its end-of-the-road air: backpacker hotels and cafés, a cloud of dust hanging in the air, shops selling handmade rugs and long scarves to fashion into turbans—necessary accoutrements for anyone who wants to venture out into the dunes—and some rudimentary adventure tourism infrastructure. A road sign in M'Hamid El Ghizlane Ann Abel It's the last place you'd expect to find a luxurious palace hotel with gardens draped in bougainvillea, a large swimming pool and guest rooms tricked out with European-style comforts. And yet there one is. Sbai Palace sits on the outskirts of town, in a ruined kasbah that had all but fallen down less than a decade ago. And if the place is unlikely, the story of the visionary who brought it to life is even more so. 'I could have taken this money and made a nice life for myself in Las Vegas,' says Mohamed Sbai. 'I want to leave something from me to my area. If I don't do it, nobody does it.' Mohamed Sbai, who grew up around M'Hamid El Ghizlane in a semi-nomadic family, has been an eager entrepreneur from an early age. In the desert, he took care of his family's camels and sheep until he arrived in the village at age 14 and found some tourists who wanted to pay him to take them out camping with his camels. Interest grew slowly, but it grew, and by age 18, he got himself a government license as an official tour guide. The new palace building at Sbai Palace João Seabra A couple years later, in 1995, he opened a travel agency in M'Hamid, from which he and his team took tourists around Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Mali, and then he added a second office in the bigger desert-tourism hub of Ouarzazate. He was 20 years old and had 15 employees. One of Sbai's early clients was the prolific American meteorite hunter Michael Farmer, who introduced him to the space rock business. The Moroccan was quickly hooked. He began not only hunting the precious stones but creating a supply chain with desert nomads from all over the world, selling the stones they all found, and traveling to important gem shows from Tucson, Arizona, to Japan, India, Chile, Brazil, Australia and Africa. Celebrities and museums bought his wares. By 2018, he'd earned about $1.4 million. A bedroom at Sbai Palace João Seabra 'I could have taken this money and made a nice life for myself in Las Vegas,' he says. Instead, he decided to buy the kasbah, create Sbai Palace, open several other properties, and invest in tourism development in his hometown. 'I like my area. I like my family. I want to leave something from me to my area. If I don't do it, nobody does it.' And if it weren't for tourism, young people would do nothing, or they would leave. Instead, Sbai's projects support 35 families. 'All the workers are from the village. I'm happy to teach and train,' he adds, noting that there's no tourism school anywhere nearby, and that he's often the one demonstrating how a bed is made or a table is set. Tending the campfire on a camel trek João Seabra The palace, which fully opened last year, is a stunner, inspired by the luxury hotels Sbai stayed in while traveling on the international gemstone circuit, but distinctly of its place. While it's tempting to compare it to other desert-frontier hotels such as Dar Ahlam, Sbai Palace is a world of its own: less French restraint, more Moroccan exuberance. It's not as design-forward as some of the country's hotels, but the artisanship is strong. There's stained glass windows in the rooms, oversize black-and-white portraits hanging above the beds, and elaborately carved cedar ceilings. Between the main palace, a second large-ish building, and some newly built cottages around the gardens, it has 40 rooms. But it never feels crowded, with its big dining room (which is supplied in large part with vegetables grown in Sbai's gardens behind the hotel), alcoves beside the pool and various terraces for dining or sunbathing. But it's also not crowded because guests still go out and play in the sand. Preparing for a camel trek João Seabra The hotel has hosted yoga retreats and invited artists to be in residence, but the main focus is the desert adventures that put M'Hamid El Ghizlane on the (edge of) the map in the first place. Guests can cruise around the dunes on ATVs, but most opt to make camel treks. It's more accurate to call them hikes, as the camels are used as pack animals. Most visitors head out for a night or two, but Sbai's team will organize them for two weeks or longer. Local guides lead private excursions across the lunar landscapes of the Sahara's stone plateaus, then set up simple camps beneath acacia trees where they cook tagines or lentil stew over campfires. After lunch and naps, there's time to climb up and slide down the soft dunes, snap the obligatory camel-riding photographs and watch the magnificent sunset, before they cook another meal and hand out sleeping bags. There are no tents—just a brilliant canopy of stars overhead. The new luxury tented camp João Seabra It's a magical experience, but one that's not for everyone. Perhaps that's why a growing number of 'luxury' camps have sprung up in the region. When Sbai Palace was still in its friends and family phase, some guests combined their palace stays with a night in one of those camps—and were disappointed. So in 2023, as Mohamed Sbai was still finishing work on the palace, he decided to set up his own luxury camp as well. This opened four months ago with four large luxury tents with big hotel-style beds and full bathrooms, nine simpler but comfortable tents, a dining tent and an outdoor area. Sbai has plans to plant about a thousand desert palm trees around it, turning it into a proper oasis. For now, the wonder is at night. After dinner, guests lounge on carpets and cushions beside a campfire, listening to young musicians from M'Hamid and nomadic communities, perhaps preparing to launch their own dreams into the world. MORE FROM FORBES Forbes This Luxury Riad In Fez Brings Moroccan Heritage And Artistry To Life By Ann Abel Forbes This Moroccan Boutique Hotel Is Worth A Trip To Fez By Ann Abel Forbes This Glamorous New Marrakech Hotel Doubles As A Contemporary Art Gallery By Ann Abel
