Why fixing family rift isn’t Prince Harry’s priority | Royal Insight / Prince Harry: decision to take on tabloids contributed to family ‘rift’

Prince Harry: decision to take on tabloids contributed to family ‘rift’

 

Duke of Sussex tells ITV documentary that legal battles against newspapers ‘central’ to deterioration in relations

 

Caroline Davies

Wed 24 Jul 2024 16.46 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/24/prince-harry-decision-tabloids-contributed-family-rift

 

The Duke of Sussex believes his determination to take on tabloid newspapers in the courts was a “central piece” in the deterioration of relations between him and his family in the UK.

 

Speaking about his legal battles against newspapers over privacy, Prince Harry told an ITV documentary Tabloids on Trial that his decision to fight contributed to the “rift” with the royal family.

 

Asked if his decision destroyed the relationship, Harry says: “Yeah, that’s certainly a central piece to it. But, you know, that’s a hard question to answer because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse from the press.”

 

He continues: “I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done. It would be nice if we, you know, did it as a family. I believe that, again, from a service standpoint and when you are in a public role, that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good. But, you know, I’m doing this for my reasons.”

 

Asked what he thought of the royal family’s decision not to fight in the way he has done, he replies: “I think everything that has played out has shown people what the truth of the matter is. For me, the mission continues, but it has, it has, yes. It’s caused, yeah, as you say, part of a rift.”

 

Harry has long despaired of the royal family’s failure to take on the press, and has previously revealed that his father, King Charles, told him it would be a “suicide mission”.

 

In his memoir, Spare, he wrote of what he saw as the royal family’s connivance with the media through alleged leaking, believing himself to be collateral damage. In the book Harry was withering about his father’s failure to take on the media, writing that “the same shoddy bastards who’d portrayed [Charles] as a clown” were now “tormenting and bullying” him and his wife, Meghan.

 

In December 2023, after he won damages in his hacking case against Mirror Group Newspapers, Harry made clear he felt vindication for his long-running legal battles against sections of the British media. He said in the statement at the time that he had “been told that slaying dragons will get you burned”, adding a defiant: “The mission continues.”

 

Speaking for the first time about the case, he told the documentary: “To go in there and come out and have the judge rule in our favour was obviously huge … a monumental victory.”

 

He also spoke about fears that his mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, may have been an early victim of phone hacking.

 

The duke, who is one of several celebrities appearing in the documentary which airs on ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on Thursday, is also involved in continuing legal actions over privacy against News Group Newspapers and Associated Newspapers.

“This Is The LIFE He’s Chosen” | Prince Harry Blames Tabloid Press For F...

Prince Philip, who was late Queen Elizabeth’s husband, was mentioned in FBI’s top-secret documents that are related to the 1960s Profumo affair.

 

Royal

Prince Philip Named In Sex Scandal With Christine Keeler

Prince Philip part of John Profumo affair that brought government down

By Web Desk

July 21, 2024

https://jang.com.pk/en/16457-prince-philip-named-in-sex-scandal-with-christine-keeler-news

 

Prince Philip, who was late Queen Elizabeth’s husband, was mentioned in FBI’s top-secret documents that are related to the 1960s Profumo affair.

 

According to Mail on Sunday, he was “personally involved” with Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies, who were the heart of a s*x scandal that brought the government down.

 

A memo by former FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, made revelations surrounding this case, which ended John Profumo’s political career because of his intimate relationship with 19-year-old Christine Keeler.

 

Although the democrat had denied these allegations, he was forced to resign after proof from the affair was made public within the next few months.

 

Osteopath Stephen Ward had introduced both Mandy Rice-Davies and Christine Keeler to John Profumo so he could benefit from the “immoral” payments made to them.

 

After being convicted, he died of an overdose three days later.

 

A friend of Stephen Ward’s named Thomas Corbally made confessions about Prince Philip in 1963, saying that he was also “involved with these two girls.”

 

The royal had stayed in touch with the artist, and was even sketched by him in a portrait made at Buckingham Palace.

REMEMBERING November 2017 : The Crown links Prince Philip to the Profumo Affair: Uproar as new series implicates Duke of Edinburgh in one of Britain's most damaging sex scandals The new series of The Crown links the royal to the Profumo Affair in the early 60s .

It is known that Ward, who was a gifted artist, painted a picture of the Prince. Pictured: The drawing

The Crown links Prince Philip to the Profumo Affair: Uproar as new series implicates Duke of Edinburgh in one of Britain's most damaging sex scandals

The new series of The Crown links the royal to the Profumo Affair in the early 60s

In one scene, the Queen confronts him about his relationship with Stephen Ward – the fixer who ‘procured women’ for leading members of the Establishment

Elizabeth is also shown conspiring to keep the details out of the public domain

By CHRIS HASTINGS FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 22:00 GMT, 25 November 2017 | UPDATED: 07:32 GMT, 26 November 2017

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5117101/The-Crown-links-Prince-Philip-Profumo-Affair.html

The new series of The Crown has provoked uproar by implicating Prince Philip in the Profumo Affair which scandalised Britain in the early 1960s.

In one fictitious scene, the Queen confronts her husband about the nature of his relationship with Stephen Ward – the high-society osteopath and fixer who ‘procured women’ for leading members of the Establishment.

Elizabeth – played by Claire Foy – is also shown conspiring to keep details of Philip’s involvement out of the public domain.

The new series of The Crown has provoked uproar by implicating Prince Philip in the Profumo Affair which scandalised Britain in the early 1960s. Pictured: Claire Foy as The Queen      +6

The drama’s decision to implicate Prince Philip in one of Britain’s most damaging sex scandals comes just days after the couple celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.

Historians last night accused the programme – made by American entertainment giant Netflix – of ‘crossing a line’.

The Profumo scandal of 1963 was sparked by the revelation that John Profumo, the then Minister of War, had had an affair with nightclub hostess Christine Keeler while she was also dating the Russian military attache, Yevgeny Ivanov.

Profumo resigned in disgrace and Ward, who had befriended Profumo, Keeler and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies, killed himself before he was sentenced for living off immoral earnings.

It is known that Ward, who was a gifted artist, painted a picture of the Prince. But the new series of The Crown, written by Peter Morgan, goes beyond historic fact in a scene where Philip reacts favourably to Ward’s offer of a weekend away with guests including Keeler and Rice-Davies.

The two men meet in April 1962 when the Prince seeks Ward’s help for neck pain. The pair quickly hit it off when they discover they have a mutual friend in Mike Parker, the Prince’s former Private Secretary who – according to The Crown – led the Prince astray on nights out and Royal visits.

Ward suggests the Prince joins them for a weekend party. Philip is drawn towards a portrait on a mantelpiece. When he asks whose portrait it is, Ward replies: ‘Oh Christine. She’ll be there and Mandy will be there too.’

Philip then replies: ‘Do you know my neck’s feeling better already.’

The episode then leaps forward to 1963 and the breaking scandal in the news. Rumours begin to grow that a ‘mystery man’ photographed with his back to the camera at one of Ward’s parties is Philip. The Queen’s worst fears are compounded when she learns that detectives found a portrait of Philip in Ward’s flat. When the Queen confronts Philip, he insists he never attended any of the parties.

Royal historian Christopher Wilson said the producers of the show were becoming ‘increasingly elastic’ with the truth. He added: ‘I think the show has crossed a line and stepped out of reality into fiction.’

Biographer Margaret Holder said rumours about Philip’s involvement in the scandal persisted to this day. But she said the episode had clearly gone beyond what was a matter of public record.

Christine Keeler was unavailable for comment. But a friend of Keeler said he was unaware that she had ever met Prince Philip.

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

Duke of Edinburgh features in Profumo affair show

Prince Philip's connections to Stephen Ward, who killed himself over the Profumo affair, are to feature in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical.

Duke of Edinburgh features in Profumo affair show

The Duke of Edinburgh may find it hard to ignore the forthcoming show by Andrew Lloyd Webber about the Profumo aAffair

Tim Walker. Edited by Richard Eden7:30AM GMT 02 Feb 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/9843530/Prince-Philip-features-in-Profumo-affair-show.html

The Duke of Edinburgh will, no doubt, overlook a one-woman musical opening on Saturday night, Pat Kirkwood is Angry, which quotes from private letters that he wrote to the late actress.

He will, however, find it harder to ignore the forthcoming West End show by Andrew Lloyd Webber about the Profumo affair.

Mandrake hears that the musical will feature claims about Prince Philip’s connections to Dr Stephen Ward, the society osteopath, who was accused of being a pimp. He killed himself on the last day of his trial on charges of living off the profits of prostitution.

Don Black, the Oscar-winning lyricist, who has written the musical with Lord Lloyd-Webber, claims of Ward’s prosecution: “It was all a put-up job by the Establishment to find a scapegoat and shut him up.

"He had a list of [osteopathy] clients that was like a Who’s Who of fashionable London – everyone from Prince Philip to top showbusiness stars. It was embarrassing for many at the top – he had to be shut up.”

Dr Ward boasted of a 15-year friendship with the Duke, whom he painted at Buckingham Palace in 1961.

The musical, which is due to be read for the first time this month to a select audience of West End figures, will tell the story of the 1963 downfall of John Profumo, who was the secretary of state for war in Harold Macmillan’s Conservative government.

Profumo resigned after admitting that he had lied to Parliament about his role in the scandal, which contributed to the Tories’ election defeat the following year.

Profumo was involved in a sexual relationship with Christine Keeler, a showgirl, who was also sleeping with Yevgeni Ivanov, the senior naval attaché at the Soviet Embassy. They were introduced by Ward.

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam | Official Trailer | Netflix / ‘Greed, power and fame’: inside pop music’s biggest Ponzi scheme

‘Greed, power and fame’: inside pop music’s biggest Ponzi scheme

 

A new Netflix docuseries spotlights Lou Pearlman, the man behind the Backstreet Boys and ‘NSync – and a criminal mastermind

 

Veronica Esposito

Wed 24 Jul 2024 16.02 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/jul/24/dirty-pop-netflix-documentary-lou-pearlman

 

With hundreds of millions of records sold, careers that are still thriving in their fourth decade, and admiration from the likes of Taylor Swift, the boy bands the Backstreet Boys and ‘NSync are absolute pop royalty. They were also the creations of one of America’s biggest criminals. It’s this bizarre duality that Netflix’s new docuseries Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam explores with energy and style.

 

This is the strange, extremely American story of Lou Pearlman, who got the startup money for his boy band empire by crashing his own blimps, and who eventually built a fortune by masterminding what is widely believed to be the longest-running Ponzi scheme in US history. Dirty Pop masterfully captures the many facets of a man who seemed genuinely delighted to be a part of the bands he lovingly put together, even while acting as the casting director of his own reality, putting the con on everyone from his secretary to powerful politicians and bankers.

 

It begins with a daydream – while assisting New Kids on the Block with an airliner lease, Pearlman is reported to have exclaimed, “I’m in the wrong line of business!” once he learned of the staggering revenues generated by the band. From there he went on a talent search, eventually putting together the group that would become the Backstreet Boys. Once that group reached the heights of pop stardom, he very cannily reasoned that someone would eventually create the Pepsi to his Coke, so why not do it himself – thus ‘NSync became his next big project. A dizzying array of others would follow, including the chart-topping bands O-Town and LFO, Hulk Hogan’s daughter Brooke, and the tween idol Aaron Carter.

 

Yet there was a dark side to the success – all but two of Pearlman’s bands and solo acts ended up suing him, all of these lawsuits resulting in either court losses or settlements. Pearlman also eventually faced criminal charges for conspiracy, money laundering and filing false bankruptcy, being sentenced to 25 years in jail, an almost unheard of sentence for white-collar crimes.

 

Dirty Pop’s deep dive into the complicated reality of bands who owed much of their incredible success to the very genuine relationships they developed with Pearlman, yet who eventually came to see him as a Judas, comes together in the voice of Michael Johnson. A drummer in Pearlman boy band Natural, Johnson ends up becoming a close confidant of the conman, only to later revolt as Pearlman’s facade begins to wither away. (Johnson also serves as an executive producer on Dirty Pop.)

 

“He’s one of the most complex characters that I’ve ever heard of,” Johnson said in a video interview. “The person who caused the death of one of his best friends and stole people’s entire life savings, he also lent me his – or whomever’s – private jet to fly to my grandfather’s funeral, and was there for me when my girlfriend broke up with me. Everything about him was genius, but he applied it in really different ways.”

 

Johnson’s tracing of Pearlman’s arc from father figure to betrayer gives the series a very necessary and potent emotional core, the drummer’s heartfelt testimony driving home the human cost of the mogul’s deceit. “I had a front row seat to that weaponization of that greed, power and fame,” he told me, “how Lou was able to exploit everyone’s dreams. The people I started meeting and caring about in 1998, who never recovered from Lou’s crimes. That effect still really weighs on me.”

 

Pearlman’s story has been told before in various forms, and one thing that distinguishes Dirty Pop is the level of archival research that went into the project. The creators of the series have unearthed a treasure trove of “before they were stars” footage that adds a level of fun and 90s nostalgia – this is, after all, as much a story of what the 90s sounded like as it is the tale of a classic American con artist. “Digging through the archives, we had a thrill almost weekly,” said Johnson. “We’d constantly be talking to each other, saying, ‘Oh my God, did you see that!?’”

 

Dirty Pop also successfully tells the story from multiple sides, granting some insight into how a man like Pearlman could operate and what made him tick. This proves fascinating, especially when these worlds often merge. “There’s this moment when Lou and the Backstreet Boys are singing the Commodores’ Easy at the piano,” said Lance Nichols, an executive producer of the show. “It’s like this guy is running a Ponzi scheme and somehow he’s easy like Sunday morning at the piano with these kids. It’s just surreal to me.”

 

One of the most interesting choices of the docuseries is to essentially deepfake Pearlman by using AI technology to put words from his autobiography, Bands, Brands and Billions, into promo footage of him speaking from home office. “He’s absolutely so unencumbered and full of it in his book, we wanted to include it in some way,” David Fine, a director of the show, said. “This idea arose as do so many good ideas as a passing aside. Michael was like, ‘maybe we just deepfake him,’ and something kind of clicked. I was like, ‘well he was a deep fake,’ I mean he faked so many people out. So I think formally the choice is very rooted in character.”

 

These AI-rendered pieces of Pearlman offer a kind of counterpoint throughout the show, giving a side that feels less performative, and more intimately directed at the viewer, than the public-facing persona. “The words in his book show the reality that he was living in, and for us to go back and check in with Lou’s reality throughout the series was very important,” said Johnson. “Here’s this guy who, maybe he’ll lure you to sleep, maybe you’ll come to believe him,” said Johnson. “It’s like, if he offers you a deal, would you take it?”

 

Wary of the ethics of deepfaking Pearlman, the team brought on a consultant from the MIT Open Documentary Lab and tried to make use of the technology in a responsible manner. “As people who do unscripted nonfiction, I think this is a tool that we can use, if it’s done ethically,” said Nichols. “This is probably a question we’re all going to be dealing with for the rest of our lives. This technology … it’s not going back.”

 

Dirty Pop offers some opportunity to reflect on the kinds of people the celebrity culture enables, and makes one wonder if the next Pearlman isn’t already out there choreographing the rise of the next big pop act. One imagines there will be many more chances to tell this story. “This is a very American tale – you don’t hear of Ponzi schemes in that many other places,” said Johnson. “People are able to feed on the rat race of capitalism, and proximity to celebrity and power is one of the easiest ways to manipulate people. Lou had a way of using these people flawlessly. They would have done anything for him because they wanted to feel cool. He made them feel like they were cool.”

 

 Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam is now available on Netflix

Lucy Worsley on Samuel Pepsy's dirty diary entries / Samuel Pepys: diarist, administrator … budding fashionista

Samuel Pepys: diarist, administrator … budding fashionista

New analysis of 17th-century diarist’s French fashion engravings shows he was not only a shrewd political operator but had a keen eye for new trends

 

Nicola Davis Science correspondent

Mon 22 Jul 2024 00.01 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/22/samuel-pepys-diarist-administrator-budding-fashionista

 

He may be best known for his juicy diary, administrative prowess and wandering eye – but new research has highlighted a different side of Samuel Pepys: that of a budding fashionista.

 

A historian from Cambridge University has conducted a fresh analysis of the diarist’s collection of French fashion engravings, arguing they not only show Pepys was keeping up with the scholarly and gentlemanly trend of collecting prints, but reflect a long-term interest in the latest styles of dress, and the link between clothes and social status.

 

“It demonstrates that Pepys had – to put it in very colloquial terms– a finger in a lot of pies,” said Marlo Avidon, whose study has been published in the journal The Seventeenth Century. “[He] was very concerned with appearing a certain way and cultivating this gentlemanly reputation – both in an intellectual capacity but simultaneously as a member of fashionable society.”

 

But Avidon added while these concerns have previously been considered separately, the prints show they are not mutually exclusive.

 

Born in London in 1633, Pepys was the son of a tailor and a washerwoman, who became an MP, secretary to the Admiralty, and president of the Royal Society.

 

But he is perhaps most famous for the diary he kept for almost a decade during the 1660s. As well as offering a first-hand account of a number of momentous events such as the plague and Great Fire of London – during which he buried his wine and parmesan cheese in the garden for safekeeping – it provides fascinating insights into more mundane aspects of daily life.

 

After Pepys’s death, his diary and other papers were bequeathed to his alma mater, Magdalene College, Cambridge. Among them were ballads referencing clothing, and two volumes that contained his collection of French fashion illustrations. Printed between 1670 and 1696 these depicted the latest styles, as modelled by the French elite.

 

While not the first time the prints have been examined, Avidon said her work considers them alongside Pepys’s diary to demonstrate that throughout his life he had a very keen interest in clothing – his own, and that of the people around him.

 

“Even when he stopped writing the diary in 1669, what these prints help us see is that that interest in clothing didn’t necessarily go away, it just manifested in another form,” she said.

 

The diary reveals Pepys could be controlling and overbearing regarding the attire of his wife, Elisabeth, while reflections on his own wardrobe are also carefully noted.

 

Avidon cites one entry of 1663, in which Pepys records a colleague approving of some of his new clothes – including a velvet cloak. As a result Pepys writes he is “resolved to go a little handsomer than I have hitherto”.

 

But not all of his clothes struck the right chord. In 1669 Pepys shelved his new summer suit “because it was too fine with the gold lace at the hands, that I was afeared to be seen in it”. When he did wear it out and about, a colleague criticised the cuffs as being too fancy for Pepys’s position. Pepys subsequently resolved to have the trim removed.

 

Yet, perhaps tellingly, he later bought a print depicting an elite Frenchman bedecked in similar lace cuffs, with ruffles and ribbons.

 

Avidon said Pepys’s diary also reveals his eye for new trends, be it the introduction of periwigs or the emergence of the vest – a precursor to the three-piece suit.

 

The prints not only tie into these interests, Avidon suggested, but provide a lens through which to consider wider social behaviour and cultural attitudes towards French fashion in the late 17th century – including economic concerns regarding textile imports, and moral worries arising from the association of French fashion with vanity and excess.

 

Yet while Pepys criticised Frenchified English fops in his diary – describing one as “an absolute Monsieur” – he also seems to have admired the styles.

 

The prints may even provide a link to Pepys’s later life, with Avidon suggesting the “unsteady, untrained hand” that coloured them could have been that of Mary Skinner, who became Pepys’s housekeeper and mistress after Elisabeth died.

 

Robert Blyth, senior curator of maritime history at the Royal Museums Greenwich, said Pepys had a fascination about the world around him and a desire to be at the forefront of knowledge.

 

“It doesn’t surprise me that this applies to fashion prints as well,” Blyth said, describing Pepys as “a man of the now”.

 

Blyth noted Pepys would not only have seen the latest trends on the streets, but had access to the court of King Charles II where he would have seen high-end fashions.

 

“During the diary, he is a young man. He’s a man about town,” Blyth said. “So he’s continuing this interest in fashion into his middle age.”

REMEMBERING 1974: A Wonderful Time: An Intimate Portrait of the Good Life by Slim Aarons

 

A Wonderful Time: An Intimate Portrait of the Good Life Hardcover – January 1, 1974

by Slim Aarons (Author)

From the front flap of this 190 page book: "'A Wonderful Time' captures magnificently the life of America's elite from coast to coast, in Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Acapulco. Drawing from thousands of pictures taken since World War II on assignments for 'Holiday', 'Town & Country', 'Harper's Bazaar', 'Life'. 'Vogue', 'Travel & Leisure', and other publications, Slim Aarons has put together the best of them - many never published before - with a narrative of his experiences and impressions while photographing American aristocrats on their estates and at play at their favorite resorts. Here are the Cushings of Newport, The Fords of Grosse Pointe, and the Rockefellers of New York; here are the kings and queens of Beverly Hills playing croquet, the Cabots sailing off Boston's North Shore, and Barry Goldwarer on the range in Arizona. Here are the Whitneys entertaining on Long Island, the Armours in their pool in Lake Forest, the Klebergs on their Texas ranch. and the scions of Palm Beach, San Francisco, and New York having a wonderful time." And from the rear cover: "'A Wonderful Time' is a book about Snowmass, Tom Watson, Nonie Phipps, Harold Vanderbilt, CeeZee Guest, Commander Whitehead, Lilly Pulitzer, New Orleans, T.S. Eloit, Jamaica, Minnie Cushing, Washington, Damon Gadd, Mrs. Atwater Kent, the Rockefellers, The King Ranch, Merle Oberon, Sugarbush, Cecil Beaton, Scottsdale, Brenda Frazier, Baltimore, Angie Duke, Palm Beach, Eva Gabor, Acapulco, Burl Ives, the Duchess of Windsor, La Jolla, Peter Widener, Babe Paley, Nassau, Roger Lion Gardiner, Mary Hemingway, Stowe, Mike Phipps, Bailey's Beach, Gloria Guinness, The Exumas, Herb Caen, Romanoff's, Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, Jock Whitney, The Bath and Tennis Club, Mary Martin, Aspen, Truman Capote, Hobe Sound, Cobina Wright, Howard Hughes, The Waldorf, Fleur Cowles, Peter Pulitzer, The Myopia Hunt Club, Dolly Fritz, and a lot of other people having a wonderful time."