Welcome to this week’s edition of to get all the latest royal news and gossip with Tom Sykes and Tim Teeman.
Lady Susan Hussey, Baroness Hussey of North Bradley (lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II) attends a Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey on March 29, 2022 in London, England.
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Race row palace aide to get Coronation invite
Lady Susan Hussey, the royal aide and Prince William’s godmother who demanded where Black charity boss Ngozi Fulani “really” came from, has been invited to King Charles’ coronation—this after she resigned from her post and William himself condemned racism following the incident, saying it “had no place in society.” Hussey later met Fulani at Buckingham Palace and offered her “sincere apologies.”
A source told the Mirror: “Lady Susan received private support from friends during the aftermath of what happened.
“Some politely canvassed the suggestion Lady Susan should be made welcome at the coronation. It was pointed out the many years of service and duty she gave the Queen, to whom she was a loyal confidante. With relations now smoothed over between Buckingham Palace and Ms Fulani, the King is now able to extend an invitation to Lady Susan.”
Will Fulani, founder of Sistah Space, a domestic violence charity for Black women, also be invited?
Honor for former aide who accused Meghan
Jason Knauf, the former royal aide who alleged Meghan Markle had bullied palace staff, has been honored by King Charles in the New Year’s Honors List. Knauf, who was communications chief at Kensington Palace and then chief executive of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Royal Foundation until he left his position in late 2021, was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order in the list of honors.
Jason Knauf, then Communications Secretary to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in November 2018.
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
As first reported by the Times of London in March 2021, in 2018 Knauf had sent an email detailing Meghan’s alleged bullying to Simon Case, the duke’s private secretary. The bullying was so bad that two staff members left, Knauf said. One former staff member told the paper: “I had unpleasant experiences with her. I would definitely say humiliated.” Another source said: “There were a lot of broken people. Young women were broken by their behavior.” The source described one member of staff as “completely destroyed.”
The Sussexes denied the accusations, and said they were the victims of “a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation.”
Knauf also told the Court of Appeal (in a case involving the Mail on Sunday), how Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had “authorized specific co-operation in writing” the biography Finding Freedom, claiming Meghan had given him a series of “background reminders” to pass on to authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand. (Meghan apologized to the court, saying she did not remember giving such authorization.)
Ringing the royal changes
King Charles has tried to make as few changes as possible to royal tradition. However, as the Daily Beast said he would in a report before Christmas, it has now been confirmed that Charles will not, like his mother used to, spend over two months of the winter at Sandringham. Instead, he and Camilla are heading to Scotland, with a source telling the Telegraph, “The King and Queen Consort will move to Birkhall and Balmoral. Birkhall is what they consider to be their marital home.”
This week in royal history
On January 3, 1981, Princess Alice of Albany, Countess of Athlone, the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, died at Kensington Palace.
Unanswered questions
What will Harry say about Charles and William in his memoir—and what will he tell Tom Bradby and Anderson Cooper two days before the book is actually published? Will the honor bestowed upon Jason Knauf further worsen relations between the Palace and the Sussexes?
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