Tom Sykes

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesCall them the FLEAS: Failed Leaders Exploiting America.Much like the third-tier expat British bankers in Hong Kong once known as the FILTH (Failed in London, Try Hong Kong), a steady stream of disgraced British politicians are now beating a path across the Atlantic, reinventing themselves as political seers with the aid of a flattering chyron and a cut-glass British accent.Take, for example, the latest of these arrivals, Liz Truss, the “former British Prime Minister” now flogging her book, Ten Years to Save the West, which she has not always managed to hold the right way up when she appears on TV, to the right-wing blogosphere on an American speaking tour.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesPrince William is planning a return to full time royal duties beginning next week, combining digital ‘WFH’ digital appearances and in-person engagements to maximize “impact” in what sources said would be “a template” and a “dry run” for his future reign.William, who had not been seen or heard from in over three weeks since before his wife Kate Middleton announced she had been diagnosed with cancer, returned to public visibility Wednesday with a social media post paying tribute to a leading female soccer player retiring from England’s national team.It was a carefully calibrated dip of the toe back into public life, and ongoing digital engagement of this kind is understood to be a key plank of his strategy for combining the unexpected intensification of his royal role occasioned by his father’s illness with being a “family man,” bringing a kind of “WFH” approach to the business of royalty as one friend put it.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyKing Charles’ decision to issue a pre-recorded address to the nation at this year’s Maundy Thursday service and attend another service on Easter Day in person is “a clear statement that he is still in charge,” a source has told The Daily Beast.The king, who is under doctor’s orders to avoid large crowds while being treated for cancer, which was discovered when he was being treated for a benign enlarged prostate, will deliver a pre-recorded speech, which sources say will not touch on his recent health travails, to be played on big screens at Worcester Cathedral.Parts of the audio message were revealed late Wednesday, with the king noting how Jesus set an “example of how we should serve and care for each other,” and how “we need and benefit greatly from those who extend the hand of friendship to us, especially in a time of need.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Hollie Adams/ReutersKing Charles was seen in public Tuesday morning for the first time since Princess Kate’s dramatic cancer announcement, as it was announced he will attend an Easter Day church service on Sunday. The king’s determination to be seen in public is in marked contrast to Kate’s decision to retreat from public view and focus on her family while she battles cancer.His decision to attend the Easter Sunday service came as a surprise as the palace had briefed the king would be avoiding public-facing events while being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Hannah McKay/ReutersPrince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle issued a statement expressing their best wishes to his sister-in-law Princess Kate Middleton Friday following her cancer diagnosis, facing a delicate a tightrope walk after the public criticisms Harry made of her in his memoir Spare.In their statement, Harry and Meghan said they hoped Kate and her family were able to heal “privately.”“We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace,” the couple said in a statement. The use of the informal version of her name, rather than a formal version or even her preferred usage Catherine, was notable. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Yui Mok/Pool via ReutersWarring royal brothers Prince Harry and Prince William are to make consecutive appearances at a memorial event for Princess Diana in London on Thursday.However, in a graphic illustration of William’s anger at his brother, Harry will join the event remotely only after William has physically left.Their appearances at the Diana Legacy Award are being carefully choreographed to ensure they will not be in the room at the same time, even virtually, with William giving an in-person speech and Harry joining a video call subsequently with the award winners, according to a report in the London Times.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via GettySamantha Markle’s defamation lawsuit against her half-sister Meghan Markle has been dismissed by a Florida district court judge with prejudice after a failure to produce statements that could support a claim for defamation.It was the third time that Samantha, 59, had tried to bring the case, claiming that Meghan, 42, defamed her when she told Oprah Winfrey, during a bombshell 2021 interview with Prince Harry, that she “grew up as an only child” and didn’t have a significant relationship with Samantha.Samantha complained that Meghan cast her as an opportunist and damaged her reputation and credibility.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyBorn in 1964 into the lap of luxury, and the glaring spotlight of the British royal family, Prince Edward Anthony Richard Louis Mountbatten-Windsor, or, “Sophie’s husband,” as the internet seems to know him better, dreamed as a young man of a life in the theater. All too often, however, Prince Edward, who turns 60 on Sunday, has seemed like the understudy in a play written with someone else in mind.Now, however, on the eve of his seventh decade, with one brother (the king) incapacitated due to cancer, another brother (Prince Andrew) sidelined over alleged sex crimes, and his younger relatives Prince William and Kate Middleton out of the picture as well, there is a feeling, whisper it, that Edward, a spring chicken compared to his 76-year-old brother, might finally be about to get his big break.Edward’s education was conducted, like that of King Charles, at Gordonstoun in Scotland, where it’s said he was popular and was ultimately made head boy. He then went to Cambridge University, where he majored in history.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Chris Jackson/Pool via ReutersConfusion over whether or not Princess Kate Middleton will be attending the royal family’s marquee summer event, Trooping the Colour, has reignited speculation about her health as she convalesces from abdominal surgery.The extraordinary debacle unfolded after Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) published a web link on Tuesday inviting the public to reserve places for the rehearsal ceremony on June 8, saying it would be overseen by Kate.The listing generated excitement (and bookings) after British news websites flagged the event, noting that it was the first public event featuring Kate to be scheduled since she disappeared from public view following abdominal surgery in January.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Chris Jackson / ReutersFriends of Queen Camilla have told The Daily Beast that she is “absolutely shattered and exhausted” by the pressure of dealing with her husband King Charles’ cancer and leading the royal family, after it was revealed Camilla is taking this week off work for a foreign holiday.However, the friend said she had not complained about the expectations placed on her and was “proud to support her husband.”“She is absolutely shattered and exhausted by the turmoil of the past two months,” a friend of Camilla’s told The Daily Beast. “She is 76 years old, and her husband has just been diagnosed with cancer. Anyone would find that a lot to deal with, without the media scrutiny that comes with her position as well.”Read more at The Daily Beast.