Latest news with #IngridSeward
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First Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- First Post
Harry & Meghan latest update: Duchess of Sussex accused of hypocrisy over ‘money-making' personal social media clips
Meghan Markle is always in news for all wrong reasons. According to reports published in EXPRESS, Royal commentator Ingrid Seward has accused Meghan Markle of hypocrisy over a Father's Day video featuring Prince Harry and their children. In an interview shared on YouTube, the Editor of Majesty magazine said: 'They begged for privacy and now suddenly Meghan is flooding the marketplace with photographs of their children.' Royal commentator Ingrid Seward even mentioned, 'Everything they do online is aimed at them being able to make more money—otherwise why on earth would they do it?' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meghan being a public figure, all the display of personal life on social media has been described as Duchess of Sussex trying too hard for visibility. (With inputs from agencies)
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The Queen was the 'master of the understatement', according to royal expert INGRID SEWARD
Throughout her 70-year reign the Queen was known for her dedication to duty and service - both in times of crisis and celebration. But in private the late monarch was known for her dry sense of humour and well-timed delivery, keeping her cards close to her chest and choosing her words wisely. Ingrid Seward, one of the most respected royal biographers, wrote about the Queen's sense of humour in her book My Mother And I. She said: 'The Queen was a master of the understatement delivered in her best deadpan voice as one of her closest friends, Lady Elizabeth Anson explained to me.' Lady Elizabeth, or Liza as she was known to her friends, was the Queen's cousin and a close confidante. Seward spoke to her about the times the Queen had confided in her, including comments on Meghan Markle 's wedding dress. The Majesty Magazine editor wrote: '"Too white", referring to Meghan's wedding dress meant it was not appropriate for a divorcee getting married in church to look quite so flamboyantly virginal. '"Too grand for us" was a remark she made to Lord Mountbatten as he was relaying the virtues of Marie-Christine's noble lineage before she married Prince Michael of Kent. '"Too in love" was her response to Prince Harry under his future wife's spell and "too presidential" described the former Labour prime minister with whom she never gelled, Tony Blair.' In her Christmas speech in 1991 the Queen said: 'Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly of wisdom.' As Harry wrote in Spare, the Queen was sometimes hard to read and her quick remarks could be misinterpreted. When the Duke approached the Queen during a shooting party at Sandringham to ask if he could marry Meghan, she gave a cryptic reply. Harry wrote that he awkwardly asked: 'I've been told that I have to ask your permission before I can propose'. He alleged the late Queen then replied: 'You have to?' to which Harry replied that is what he had been told. There was apparently a moment of silence before the Queen replied: 'Well then, I suppose I have to say yes.' Harry wrote: 'I didn't get it. Was she being sarcastic? Ironic? Deliberately cryptic? Was she indulging in a bit of wordplay? 'I'd never known Granny to do any wordplay and this would be a surpassingly bizarre moment (not to mention widely inconvenient) for her to start, but maybe she just saw the chance to play off my unfortunate use of the word "have" and couldn't resist.' Throughout her reign the late Queen showed her quick sense of humour. In 2018 during a BBC documentary called Coronation, royal commentator Alastair Bruce focused on a moment when two bishops symbolically lifted the Queen on to a raised platform. 'I can see the Bishop of Bath and Wells is very attentive Ma'am. The role of the two bishops is to take the weight of the crown, but they never have to do that,' he said. 'Really?' she replied. 'I thought they were just there to hold one's clothes and stop one falling over them.' She could also be incredibly self deprecating, once watching a video of herself and calling out to her husband: 'Oh Philip, do look! I've got my Miss Piggy face on.' Gyles Brandreth first met the Queen in 1968, when he was 20. Over the next 50 years he met her many times, both at public and at private events He wrote in Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait that this instinctive and self‑deprecating wit was as important a part of the Queen's personality as the clothes she wore and the smile that lit up her face. And perhaps nothing was more central to that than her ability not just to make a joke, but to take a joke, too. The Daily Mail's Richard Kay wrote that for years, the Queen's ability to say nothing, while speaking volumes, was undoubtedly one of her greatest strengths. When a government minister's mobile phone rang, in contravention of the rules, as she took a meeting of the Privy Council, she said: 'I hope that wasn't someone important.' And on one occasion, exasperated by the behaviour of Prince Andrew, she sighed to her then daughter-in-law, Sarah Ferguson: 'I am so glad you have taken Andrew off our hands, but why on earth did you do it?' Andrew, as reported by Brandreth, had explained the sorry saga of his long relationship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which led to him being stripped of his public roles. 'Intriguing,' was her one word reply. This is another example of the late Queen being the master of the understatement, never saying more than was absolutely necessary. As Richard Kay wrote, this sense of humour was undoubtedly inherited from the Queen Mother. Aged 95, Elizabeth learned that a masked intruder wielding a crossbow was intercepted in the grounds of Windsor Castle, announcing he had come to kill her. And the Queen's quip could have come from her waggish mother: 'Well, that would have put a dampener on Christmas, wouldn't it?' Head coachman Colin Henderson recalls being with the Queen at the Windsor Horse Show when one of her grandchildren came up to her in the Royal Box. The Queen said: 'Did you have a good lunch?' and the child replied: 'Yes, Granny.' To which the Queen said: 'I thought so - you've got it all down your front.' Seward even went as far to suggest that the Queen's sense of humour was the secret to her and Philip's long and happy marriage. 'I think the secret is they laugh together. I think the Queen is the comedian,' she said. Following his antics at many royal events, including the recent VE Day celebration, it seems Prince Louis may be following in his comedian great-grandmother's shoes. At the Buckingham Palace event earlier this year the young royal, aged seven, was seen talking to Prince George. While the pair sat next to each other, Louis was spotted catching a glimpse of his brother gently brushing hair from his face. Seconds later, his younger brother cheekily copied him, swishing his hair to the side while pulling an over-exaggerated facial expression. It is likely the late Queen - who herself loved to imitate others - would have flashed a quick smirk at young Louis's impression of his brother.
The Sun
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Meg is plastering Harry's most intimate moments with kids online – he won't be happy… but she won't care, expert slams
PRINCE Harry would be "uncomfortable" with Meghan posting personal videos of him and their children for Father's Day, an expert has claimed. The heartwarming footage of Archie and Lilibet was posted on Instagram with Jason Mraz's hit 'Have It All' playing in the background. 6 6 6 "The best," she captioned her post. "Happy Father's Day to our favorite guy." The compilation showed photos and videos of Harry laughing, dancing and spending quality time with his children through the years. The Duchess has been more open with posting her children this year, amid her new business ventures. Royal expert Ingrid Seward told The Sun that although the videos are "charming", sharing them on social media is "hypocritical" of the couple who claimed to want privacy. She said: "I think the problem with the video that Megan's put out, which is actually charming, is it's really very hypocritical, because they begged for privacy. They refused to let their children's faces be seen. "In fact, at the beginning, there was just like one or two photographs of their children. "And now suddenly Meghan is flooding the market with photographs of their children, and this goes absolutely against everything they wanted. "Meghan is doing all these things in her anxiety to get publicity for herself, so that she can improve her money-making powers. "I think their whole lives online is a publicity stunt. Everything that they do online is aimed at them being able to make more money. "Otherwise why on earth would they do it? Because, remember, they've spoken about social media and how damaging it can be, especially for young kids, and how worried they are about it. "And then the next thing you know is Megan is posting quite personal, very charming pictures of her husband and the children all over everywhere, through her Instagram account. So it just doesn't make sense." Ingrid added: "I would love to know what Harry thought, but I suspect he might be a little uncomfortable, because Harry isn't really a great self promoter. Unlike his wife, who is." She suggested that the protection of Harry's "royal persona" before he left the Firm suited him because he could "hide behind" it. "I think he would prefer to be a little more circumspect about who saw photographs of him and his family, but I can't imagine that Meghan would have done it without without his knowledge." It comes after Prince William's children wished him a Happy Father's Day in a heartwarming post on social media. The sweet message was posted on the official Instagram account of the Prince and Princess of Wales on behalf of young royals George, Charlotte and Louis. One is a portrait shot showing Wills standing with his arms around Prince George, 11,and Princess Charlotte, 10, while seven-year-old Prince Louis stands in front of him. Another black and white picture shared showed the four lying on the grass laughing in an embrace. The post was captioned: "Happy Father's Day, Papa (before and after!). We love you! G, C & L," accompanied by a love heart. The heartwarming photographs were taken by Josh Shinner earlier this year in Norfolk. Ingrid explained the difference between the two heartwarming posts: "The the Waleses are the future of the monarchy, and they're very aware of that, and I think everything that they do is very carefully thought through. "Because they're deeply concerned about their children and how they bring them up, and I think that these gorgeous photographs, which look very informal, are actually quite staged in a very, very nice way. "It's 'We'll give the public a bit of our children, because they need to see the future of the monarchy. They need to see it, but we're not going to give them too much'." 6 6 6
Daily Mail
10-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The bizarre way King Charles' grandmother found out about his birth from a remote Greek island
King Charles ' grandmother was living on a remote Greek island when the future monarch was born and found out about his birth through a telegram, a royal biographer has revealed. Princess Alice, the mother of the Duke of Edinburgh, was reportedly thrilled when she finally received the news of her grandson's birth. As a member of the Greek Royal Family, Alice had spent the whole of Second World War in Athens but by 1948 she was living on Tinos - a tiny island in the Aegean sea where she had no access to a telephone. According to Ingrid Seward, a royal biographer, she wrote back to Prince Philip immediately after she received the news of the royal birth. In the telegram, she wrote: 'I think of you so much with a sweet baby of your own, of your joy and the interest you will take in all his little doings. 'How fascinating nature is, but how one has to pay for it in the anxious trying hours of confinement.' Alice would remain in Greece for a further 20 years before she returned to the UK in 1967. The princess's life is one of the most remarkable in the history of the Royal Family. A future King Charles III when he was a baby. According to Ingrid Seward, a royal biographer, she wrote back to Prince Philip immediately after she received the news of the royal birth Princess Alice of Battenberg was born Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Mary on February 25, 1885, at Windsor Castle in the presence of her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. She was born congenitally deaf but could speak clearly and lip read in several languages. While at the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, she met and fell in love with Prince Andrew, a younger son of the King of Greece - a year later the couple were wed. Alice married into the Greek Royal Family at a tumultuous time with the family exiled from the country in 1921, the same year Prince Philip was born. By 1930 she was hearing voices and believed she was having intimate relationships with Jesus and other religious figures. She was diagnosed as schizophrenic before being treated by Sigmund Freud at a clinic in Berlin. When Charles' grandmother was released from the the sanatorium in 1932, she drifted between modest German B&Bs before she eventually returned to Athens following the restoration of the Greek monarchy. Alice then found herself stranded in Nazi-occupied Greece throughout the Second World War. Due to her links to Germany, with her cousin serving as German ambassador to Greece until the start of the occupation, the Nazi soldiers wrongly assumed Alice was sympathetic to their cause. Instead when a general asked Alice if there was anything he could do for her, she bravely responded: 'You can take your troops out of my country.' During the war, she was instrumental in aiding the escape from Greece of several Jews. Alice even hid a Jewish family, the Cohen's, on the top floor of her home, just yards away from Gestapo headquarters. When the Gestapo became suspicious and questioned the Princess, she used her deafness as an excuse not to answer their questions and prevented them from entering her property. Following the war, diamonds were used from Alice's tiara so Philip could present a ring to Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen. Alice sold the rest of her jewels to create her own religious order, the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary, in 1949, becoming a nun. She went on to build a convent and orphanage in a poor suburb of Athens. The royal remained in Greece until 1967, when there was a Greek military coup. Alice refused to leave the country until Prince Philip sent a plane and a special request from the Queen to bring her home. She spent the final years of her life living at Buckingham Palace with her son and daughter-in-law before she died in December 1969, aged 84. The last few months of her life were fictionalised in the third season of Netflix's The Crown, played by Jane Lapotaire. The series incorrectly suggested she gave a tell-all interview with the Guardian, covering topics about her mental health condition. Shortly before her death, she wrote a heartbreaking letter to her only son, that read: 'Dearest Philip, Be brave, and remember I will never leave you, and you will always find me when you need me most. All my devoted love, your old Mama.' In 1994, 25 years after Alice's death, her son attended a ceremony in Jerusalem to honour his mother, who is buried in a crypt at Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. In honour of her courage during the war, when she saved her friends, the Cohen family, from certain death, she was given the title of Righteous Among The Nations. Prince Philip said: 'I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She was a person with deep religious faith and she would have considered it to be a totally human action to fellow human beings in distress.'
Daily Mail
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Inside King Charles's rigid upbringing and the trait he inherited from his grandfather, King George VI, according to royal expert
Born heir to the throne, King Charles was taught values such as formality and self-control from an early age. As the late queen's hopes of Charles being raised 'normally' were dashed by the sudden death of King George when her firstborn was just three years old, the young prince's primary care was put in the hands of nannies. Ingrid Seward, 77, the editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, has spent much of her career interviewing and writing about the Royal Family. Her latest book, My Mother and I, provides an inside perspective to the relationship between Charles and the late queen. She wrote that one nanny in particular – Mabel Anderson – had the greatest hand in shaping Charles's character. Although she had no formal training, Mabel was chosen because the queen liked her quiet, unassuming manner. She was even said to have sent King Charles special shampoo for his dandruff at boarding school. 'She was gentle, organised and worked by a strict routine,' wrote Seward. 'She provided both stability and security, and wherever they were in the world, her royal charges knew exactly what was happening in the Buckingham Palace nursery. 'It was unchanging and the same in the 60s, 70s and 80s as it had been in the 50s and Charles carried this routine into his life,' wrote the royal author. Even at the age of 76, Charles sticks to a rigid routine, reportedly starting the day with a Canadian air force exercise plan. His daily workout routine reportedly includes doing headstands in his boxers to help deal with back pain ailments after years of playing polo. Prince Harry wrote in his tell-all book Spare that his father would perform these exercises daily – and that there was always a risk of accidentally walking in on the King - 'in just a pair of boxers, propped against a door or hanging from a bar like a skilled acrobat '. He is also reported to have the same breakfast of muesli every day for breakfast. But rigidity is not always a positive trait. Seward wrote: 'According to behavioural experts, Charles's conduct was partly fashioned by the formality of life in Buckingham Palace and the constant presence of the adults and their expectations of him. Throughout history royals have been expected to be poised and stoic and rise above outbursts of anger. The late King George VI was known for his temper, as is King Charles 'This led him to become solitary and approach friendships with his peers with great caution. 'He was required to be tidy and neatly turned-out at all times, and his over-concern with appearance and things being just right has persisted all his life.' At Gordonstoun it was reported that Charles found no companionship among his schoolmates, but two compassionate young teachers helped him to survive the macho environment and became lifelong friends. It also led to him having a short fuse, which has been well-documented in his adult life. Seward wrote: 'Like his mother, Charles was sensitive to the plight of others, but like his grandfather George VI, he is intolerant of those who fail to offer him what he considers to be proper respect.' Former footman Mark Simpson said of Charles in the 1970s: 'I have heard him when I have been laying up dinner and he has been in his study next door screaming like crazy on the phone. 'Everybody would quake. He would clear his desk in one swipe. You could hear him sometimes in his bedroom. 'You couldn't hear what it was about but it was a huge, high-pitched scream. 'It comes from his grandfather. It was quite scary to witness. But afterwards he would be back to normal and be very polite and say thank you every six minutes. 'The rest of the time he was terribly gentle.' Tom Quinn's book Yes, Ma'am The Secret Life of Royal Servants, which details accounts from royal servants over the years, revealed an insider's perspective on what life was really like inside the royal household. Insiders explained that Charles and Queen Camilla always treat their staff 'well', but that the King is prone to 'little bursts of irritation'. Charles, who is widely known to have a temper and has previously fumed in public over his pens not working, has very particular demands for how tasks are carried out. The monarch was said to have kicked up a fuss if he wasn't given the 'right teacup' and also had opinions on how his toothpaste was placed on his brush. In the book one servant recalled: 'Charles and Camilla do treat their staff well, but you always feel that they would no more fly without an aeroplane than invite you to have tea with them. 'And Charles does have little bursts of irritation with his staff – perhaps he hasn't been given exactly the right teacup, perfectly polished shoes and toothpaste neatly squeezed on to his toothbrush in exactly the way he likes it. The occasional tantrums of King Charles and the bullying tactics of Prince Andrew seem to have been ' inherited in different measures by Prince William and Prince Harry ', Tom Quinn writes. 'They both get irritated very quickly,' said one former member of staff. 'Throughout their lives they have had these things done for them, so they are very picky. It comes naturally to them. 'People who have everything done for them from childhood tend to be rather spoiled and prone to bouts of irritation because they have no idea how much work is involved in washing and ironing, polishing and sewing when they have never done any of it themselves.' Remembering Harry's temperament, one of the Duke of Sussex's former servants said: 'I remember once in his private apartments I'd muddled something – some of his papers on his desk or something. 'He was immediately angry and it was out of proportion to the problem, or at least I thought it was. 'I was surprised at how cross he was about something so trivial, but his other staff had experienced similar incidents. 'We thought it was a bit rich complaining about me being muddled given that Harry was probably the most muddled of all the royals of his generation.' How did George VI come to the throne? George, known as the 'reluctant king', was crowned following his brother Edward VIII's abdication. His coronation was held at Westminster Abbey in May 1937. In the run-up to the ceremony, he enlisted Lionel Logue to help him conquer his stammer after his private secretary introduced him to the Australian. One month after George's coronation, Edward VIII married American socialite divorcee Wallis Simpson at the Château de Candé in Monts, France. Four months into their marriage, the couple went to visit Nazi Germany as Adolf Hitler's guests. Meanwhile King George's popularity soared as a wartime monarch and he became a figure of stability despite previously being marred by his speech impediment as well as a reputation for being unprepared. The boon to his reputation was aided by his decision to remain in London as the bombs of the Blitz rained down on the capital. George died of ill health in 1952, leaving his daughter Elizabeth, 25, to take over as Queen in a spell that has seen her become Britain's longest-reigning monarch. Prince Andrew, however, was said to have far more serious temper tantrums. The book tells how Andrew was 'bossy' and tended to 'act like a classic school bully' with staff - widely assumed to be down to frustrations he would never become king. According to the book, several former servants recalled Andrew - said to be the late queen's favourite son - insisting on removing a staffer due to disliking a mole on the man's face. Throughout history royals have been expected to be poised and stoic and rise above outbursts of anger. King George VI, though known for his stoic and dutiful nature, was also prone to outbursts of temper. He was described as 'highly strung' and a 'worrier,' and his temper could be explosive. In Harry's memoir he claims that his father, Charles, was bad at showing his emotions - alleging that when Charles broke the tragic news that Diana had died he didn't hug his son. 'He wasn't great at showing emotions under normal circumstances, how could he be expected to show them in such a crisis?' Harry wrote. 'He had trouble communicating, trouble listening, trouble being intimate face-to-face. 'On occasion, after a long multi-course dinner, I'd walk upstairs and find a letter on my pillow. 'The letter would say how proud he was of me for something I'd done or accomplished. 'I'd smile, place it under my pillow, but also wonder why he hadn't said this moments ago, while seated directly across from me.' In his recent tell-all interview with the BBC the Duke of Sussex claimed his father is not speaking to him because of his battle over taxpayer-funded police bodyguards. A young William, Harry and Charles are pictured in July 1999 In his recent tell-all interview with the BBC the Duke of Sussex claimed his father is not speaking to him because of his battle over taxpayer-funded police bodyguards. He said there had been 'so many disagreements, differences between me and some of my family', as he admitted he couldn't see a world in which his family would return to the UK. But, amid another devastating broadside reopening wounds with the Royal Family, Harry told the BBC in California that he wants 'reconciliation'. 'He won't speak to me because of this security stuff,' the prince said, adding he didn't know how long the King had left to live. Many royal observes continue to hold on to a hope of a reconciliation. But perhaps distance between the two men, who both seem to have inherited a short temper, is what is needed for the time being.
