Tom Sykes

Tom Sykes

Paul Allen’s Deep Sea Research Vessel Topples Over in High Winds With 50 People on Board

Brendan McDermid/ReutersFifteen people have been hospitalized after a huge research vessel owned by the estate of the late Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen toppled over in strong winds in a Scottish dry dock.Up to 50 people were reportedly on board the RV Petrel, a deep sea research vessel, when the ship keeled over. The Sun, citing the Scottish Ambulance Service, said that a total of 25 people were injured in the event, of which 15 went to hospital.Read more at The Daily Beast.

King Charles’ Visit to France Imperiled by Violent Strikes, Sources Say

Eric Gaillard/ReutersTwo very French attributes—Republicanism and going on strike—look set to combine in chaotic disharmony next week, when striking French workers are expected to disrupt King Charles’ long-planned visit to the country.Buckingham Palace sources told The Daily Beast they were keeping “a close eye on the situation” after millions of non-union and union members downed tools this week. The widespread protests have been triggered by a rise in retirement age forced through by President Emmanuel Macron’s government.Charles is due to arrive in Paris on Sunday for his first official overseas visit since acceding to the throne. The gesture of affection for the ancient enemy, after several years in which relations have been strained by Brexit, appears to have been met with a less than rapturous response by union bosses.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Can Prince Harry’s Netflix Deal Survive Ghoulish Recreation of Diana’s Death on ‘The Crown’?

REUTERS/Andrew KellyPrince Harry is likely to face fresh criticism over his work for Netflix after producers on its tentpole show, The Crown, mocked up a ghoulish, post-crash replica of the car his mother, Princess Diana, was traveling in when she was killed.Pictures of the recreation of the wrecked vehicle emerged in the Daily Mail Monday. They were sneakily snapped on set, at London’s Elstree Studios, the paper said.The images, which show a crushed and disfigured car with its roof cut open and a wheel hanging off at an angle, was taken to Paris and used for filming sequences in which investigators examine the wreckage of the crash.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Queen Camilla’s Royal ‘Victory Lap’ Will Be Sealed by Her Grandkids at Coronation

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/ReutersRoyalist is The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday.The decision to give Camilla Parker Bowles’ grandchildren official roles in the coronation represents a “victory lap” for her and Charles, a friend of hers has told The Daily Beast. The move will cement her family in a powerful and influential position at the heart of the British establishment.However the news that her five grandchildren are to be given a starring role at the coronation, holding a golden canopy over Her Majesty during literally the most sacred part of the ceremony—the anointing of the royal personage with holy oil—came as a surprise to Prince William, who does not have a close relationship with Camilla’s children, journalist Tom Parker Bowles and gallerist Laura Lopes, a friend of his said.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mother Was an Enslaved Russian Who Was Freed by His Father

Karoly Arvai/ReutersLeonardo da Vinci’s mother was stolen from present-day Russia and enslaved, according to new research that will upend Italy’s understanding of its most famous artist.In another extraordinary twist, Italian historian Carlo Vecce has claimed that she was freed from slavery by da Vinci’s father, who was himself a well-known trader of enslaved people.The humble origins of the mother of the great renaissance artist have long been contested by scholars and art historians.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Harry and Meghan Called Charles’ Bluff Over Princess Lilibet—and Won

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Misan Harriman/The Duke and Duchess of SussexRoyalist is The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday.Losing control of the narrative is anathema to royalty. The great ship of state is supposed to sail serenely on despite the weather, not get tossed about on the ocean’s waves.Harry and Meghan know this well. And so, no doubt, they knew exactly how disruptive it would be for the royals when they unilaterally declared Wednesday that their daughter Lilibet was a princess. They causally tucked her new title into a christening announcement delivered to People magazine—as opposed to the more traditional easel outside Buckingham Palace.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Harry and Meghan Unilaterally Declare Their Daughter Lilibet a Princess

Handout/Courtesy of the Duke and Duchess of SussexPrince Harry and Meghan Markle have unilaterally declared their daughter Lilibet to be a princess, despite the fact that the palace has not publicly endorsed the title.Their children are legally entitled to be known as prince and princess based on a rule that the grandchildren of the monarch are thus titled. However, the palace has notably declined to use such titles on its official channels, and the palace has long refused to be drawn on how the Sussex children would be styled. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Palace Accused of Not Making Proper Apology for Aide’s Racist Remarks

May James/ReutersNgozi Fulani, the charity CEO who was repeatedly asked where she was “really from” by a senior lady-in-waiting at a Buckingham Palace reception, said she did not receive a personal apology from the palace after the incident and that abuse has been directed at her since she went public with the claims. She said the palace did not act to try and help stop the abuse but could have done so.Fulani added that the pressure had forced her to step down as chief executive of the charity Sistah Space, which supports women and girls of African heritage facing violence. She said dealing with the fallout from the incident had cost the charity a “fortune.”Her claims, made Wednesday on Britain’s top morning show, Good Morning Britain, were met with unusually firm pushback from Buckingham Palace, which said both public and personal apologies were made to Fulani by the palace and by the lady-in-waiting herself, Susan Hussey, in a face-to-face meeting.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Prince Andrew ‘Furious’ Over Being Banned From Wearing Velvet Costume to the Coronation

Toby Melville/ReutersFresh off his tone-deaf dismay at being forced to move into a tiny, five-bedroom home comes the revelation that Prince Andrew is “furious” over his brother’s decision to “disrespect” him by banning him from wearing the flowing ceremonial velvet robes of the chivalric Order of the Garter at the Coronation.The brewing row, reported by The Mirror, recalls the standoff between Andrew and the royals at the funeral of Prince Philip, when Andrew sought to wear his Vice Admiral uniform, even apparently going to the extent of getting a new one made by his London tailor. He remains a Vice Admiral because of his service in the Royal Navy.Andrew was stripped of his royal roles as the Virginia Giuffre case unfolded, but retained some military associations, and so is, strictly speaking, entitled to wear the military uniform at official events.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Prince Harry Says He Has ‘Lost a Lot’ By Breaking Free

Vimeo / Random HousePrince Harry said he has “lost a lot” in the process of escaping his family, but that it was worth it to “break the cycle” and not pass on the trauma of his own upbringing to his children.He also said that therapy had made him “more distant” from his family and suggested he had tried, and failed, to encourage them to get therapy.In an interview with the psychologist and trauma expert Dr. Gabor Maté, Harry also implied that he was, politically, against the invasion of Afghanistan, despite having said in his book that he regarded it as vengeance for 9/11 and saying that he had killed 25 Afghans in the course of the combat.Read more at The Daily Beast.