Camilla ‘hated the idea of being queen,’ slammed royal protocol:…

Camilla once loathed the idea of being queen — and she had a few choice words for her husband.

The claim was made by royal author Tom Quinn in his new book, “Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants.”

Quinn spoke to hundreds of former and current palace staff members to learn what it’s like to watch over the House of Windsor.

Fox News Digital reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.

A spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital, “We don’t comment on such books.”

“Camilla definitely didn’t want to be queen because she’s intelligent enough to know that once you become queen or a senior member of the royal family, you are constantly under the microscope,” Quinn told Fox News Digital.

“And I think Camilla, right back in the 1970s when she first met Charles, decided, ‘I don’t want to marry.’ Not because she didn’t love him. I think she would’ve liked to marry him.

“But apparently, she said, ‘I’m not going to be able to cope with being queen. I don’t want to be queen because it’s too much focus, too much attention on me.’ She enjoyed being able to have a private life away from the limelight. But Charles refused to give up.”

A member of staff claimed to Quinn that Camilla “hated the idea of being queen.” The unnamed aide claimed that Camilla would regularly say to Charles, “Can’t we get away from all this protocol? It’s all bollocks.” But Charles, who “hates swearing,” would reply, “You’re going to do it [become queen] for me, darling.”

Quinn claimed to Fox News Digital that even after Camilla married Charles in 2005, she was always worried about taking on the title of queen.

After long being recognized as a mistress, the now 77-year-old was eager to enjoy a quieter life without the scrutiny.

“Everything is focused on what you do,” Quinn explained. “You’ve got the press, which, in the U.K., is sometimes very intrusive on the royal family. You’ve got the media in general, you’ve got the world’s press, television — everything is focused on what you do.”

“[But] Charles continued the relationship, as it’s well known, through his marriage to [Princess] Diana,” Quinn shared. “It was only because Charles wouldn’t give up that Camilla is queen. But I also think, as she got older, she realized that she could manage being queen. She could manage the lifestyle that Charles couldn’t escape. And that’s why, in the end, I think they did get together and marry.”

But the king’s children, Prince William and Prince Harry, were said to not be keen on having Camilla as a stepmother, let alone a future queen consort.

Quinn claimed in his book that the brothers “could be cruel about Camilla,” nicknaming her “Lady Macbeth,” “Cruella de Vil” and “The Witch of the West.”

But their pleas for Charles not to marry Camilla fell on deaf ears.

“Many of the staff said to me that Charles’ reliance on Camilla is very much like William’s reliance on [his wife] Kate [Middleton],” Quinn explained. “Charles relies on Camilla for stability and warmth and all the emotional stuff that he didn’t get as a child. And that’s why he couldn’t give her up.

“They did brilliantly to turn Camilla from someone who was widely disliked, even hated, because she was seen as the other woman in Charles’ relationship with Diana. And now, she’s very well-liked, which was a very difficult thing to do. And it speaks volumes about her.”

“In a way, it’s a very romantic story,” Quinn reflected. “They didn’t give up on each other.”

It took years for many in Britain to forgive Charles, the man whose admitted infidelity brought such pain to “the people’s princess” before she died in a Paris car crash in 1997.

But the public mood softened after Charles married Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005, and she became the Duchess of Cornwall.

Although Camilla played a significant role in the breakup of Charles’ first marriage, she eventually won over many Britons due to her down-to-earth style.

She also softened Charles’ hard edges and made him appear more approachable.

In February 2022, Queen Elizabeth II expressed her “sincere wish” that Camilla be known as “Queen Consort” when Charles ascended to the throne. The queen, England’s longest-reigning monarch, died in September of that year at age 96.

Royal aides had suggested that Camilla didn’t want to be called queen and “intended” to be known instead as “Princess Consort,” which would have been a first in British history.

But the careful use of the word ”intend” led to the possibility of change later on.

When Camilla was crowned alongside her husband in 2023, she officially became known as “Queen Camilla.”

Months before the coronation, Harry opened up about his stepmother.

In interviews leading up to the January 2023 publication of his memoir “Spare,” Harry accused Camilla of leaking private conversations to the media to burnish her own reputation. He also accused members of the royal family of getting “into bed with the devil” to gain favorable tabloid coverage, singling out Camilla’s efforts to rehabilitate her image after her longtime affair with his father.

“That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,” he told CBS. “There was open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being queen consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street.”

Writing about his father’s wedding to Camilla, Harry says: “I had complex feelings about gaining a stepparent who, I believed, had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.”

Still, he says he wanted his father to be happy.

“In a funny way, I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy?”

In his book, Harry said that both he and William had previously “begged” their father not to marry Camilla, worried she would become a “wicked stepmother.”

Charles is said to not be taking any of Harry’s phone calls — and for one royal author, it’s easy to see why.

“When Harry branded his stepmother Camilla a ‘villain’ in his book and revealed that both he and William initially begged their father not to marry her, Harry committed what Charles regards as a cardinal sin,” Christopher Andersen, author of “The King,” previously told Fox News Digital.

“No one disses Camilla in royal circles and gets away with it — not even a son of the king,” Andersen warned.

Anderson also noted that Harry’s explosive memoir was a major blow to his father.

“I think Charles could forgive Harry for some of the trouble he’s caused — including bailing on the monarchy… slamming his brother William for bullying behavior and suing for royal protection when visiting the U.K. But Charles is having a hard time forgiving Harry for taking what he sees as gratuitous potshots at his beloved Queen Camilla,” he said.

“This still remains a thorn in the king’s side,” Andersen claimed.

The Searchers to play final show after 68 years at Glastonbury

Liverpool pop group The Searchers will end almost 70 years of touring with a final show at the Glastonbury Festival in June.

The Merseybeats band, formed by Mike Pender and John McNally in 1957, have been playing with line-up changes continuously for 68 years since they became established as contemporaries of The Beatles.

Known as the “longest-running band in pop history”, The Searchers had the first of three UK number ones in 1963 with their version of The Drifters’ hit Sweets For My Sweet.

A Glastonbury debut at 83, can anyone top that? I don’t think life gets any better, does it? John McNally

The Final Farewell Tour will conclude at Glastonbury on June 27, which the band says will be its “last ever show”.

McNally said: “A Glastonbury debut at 83, can anyone top that? I don’t think life gets any better, does it?

“There will be a few nerves, but in a good way, and we’ll be nicely warmed up from our shows in June. We can’t wait to see our fans again for this incredible final farewell.”

The band, from left, Tony Jackson, John McNally, Chris Curtis and Mike Pender in December 1963 (PA)

Bassist and singer Frank Allen, who joined the group in 1964, said: “I have played shows across the world with The Searchers for over 60 years; Glastonbury has always been an ambition that has eluded us – until now.

“The Searchers are finally performing at the greatest music festival of them all.

“What a way to round off a tour and a career. I can’t wait to get up on stage and give our fans one final blast.”

The Searchers also topped the UK charts twice in 1964 with Needles And Pins and Don’t Throw Your Love Away and had other hits in the decade with When You Walk In The Room, Goodbye My Love and Sugar And Spice.

The band with, from front left, musician Shirley Abicair and folk singer Lenore Drewry, and US harmonica player Larry Adler, back left, in 1967 (PA)

In the late 1970s and 1980s, the band was signed to Sire Records, which also represented Talking Heads, The Cure, Madonna and The Ramones – who covered Needles And Pins.

They have sold more than 50 million records and performed around the world while drawing praise from artists such as The Byrds, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen.

Pender, real name Michael Prendergast, left the group in 1985 to pursue a solo career and received an MBE for services to music in 2020.

The Final Farewell Tour runs from June 14 and will end with the band playing the Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury on June 27.

Gal Gadot’s Snow White performance ripped apart by viewers

Early viewers of the Disney live-action remake have criticised Gadot’s vocal performance

Snow White viewers have been sharing their critiques of the film – and have voiced their disapproval of Gal Gadot’s singing voice.

In the new Disney live-action remake, which was released on 21 March, Gadot plays the evil queen opposite Rachel Zegler, who plays the title role.

Gadot gives two singing performances in the film, first with “All Is Fair”, and then in the film’s reprise. However, viewers have been left criticising her singing ability and what they claim to be an unconvincing performance as the villain character.

In a video titled “I watched Snow White So You Didn’t Have To”, YouTube commentator Amala Ekpunobi, who has 2.4 million subscribers, said Gadot looked “so uncomfortable in everything she was doing”, which “came off as robotic and mechanic”.

“The acting left so much to be desired with Gal Gadot,” added Ekpunobi.

Another online reviewer called Grace Randolph said in her viral take on the film that Gadot was “truly awful” in the role, adding: “This could have been a fabulous role with a different actress.”

Other online reviews echo similar sentiments, with one person writing on X/Twitter: “I enjoyed the movie and Rachel but Gal Gadot ruined it truthfully, her acting… her singing was diabolical.”

The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw has said that Gadot and Zegler give the “dullest performances of their lives” in Snow White, while in The Independent’s one-star review of the film, Clarisse Loughrey the “Evil Queen is dripping in sequins and costume jewellery, which would suggest the anticipation of a camp performance, only to receive not a drop of that in return”.

The show’s stars have been subject to fierce criticism ahead of the film’s release amid controversy over casting decisions and changes to the film’s plot.

Zegler, who is of Colombian descent, has faced backlash from right-wing voices who were unhappy about the character being portrayed by a person of colour.

The West Side Story actor seemed to further provoke conservative fans by arguing the plot needed to be updated as, in the original 1937 film, Prince Charming “literally stalks her”.

“It’s no longer 1937,” Zegler said. “She’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love. She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.”

The film has faced further controversy over Disney’s inclusion of the seven CGI dwarfs in the remake.

Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage, who has dwarfism, said in 2022 that he was surprised Disney was so proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White, while “you’re still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there.”

He continued: “It makes no sense to me. You’re progressive in one way, but then you’re still making that f***ing backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together?”

Politics has come into play, also – Zegler has shown support for Palestine while her Israeli-born co-star Gadot has spoken out in solidarity with Israel amid its war in Gaza.

Gadot’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony was disrupted by pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters last week. Gadot acknowledged her home while accepting the honour, saying: “I’m just a girl from a town in Israel. This star will remind me that with hard work and passion and some faith, anything is possible.”

Zegler was also subject to political backlash earlier this year when Donald Trump supporters criticised her reaction to the US president’s re-election. The actor posted to Instagram about the “four years of hatred” he would bring about in America, but later apologised for “contributing to negative discourse”.

Red Nose Day 2025’s best moments from TV mash-ups to Davina McCall’s moving speech

The BBC fundraiser marked the milestone by throwing it back to the 80s, opening with a musical performance from Roachford, T’Pau and Limahl from Kajagoogoo on a stage that was pure 1985.

There was a look back into the Red Nose Day archives, with favourite sketches like Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders’ take on Mamma Mia and James Corden’s pep talk for the England footballers getting another airing. There was also a TV show mash-up, an Oasis spoof and a message from Red Nose Day legend Lenny Henry.

We round up some of the highlights of this year’s show, which raised over £32 million.

Strictly hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly had a tongue in cheek giggle about inclusivity in a sketch that saw the BBC ballroom show hiring “amateurs” as pros. Filmed in mockumentary-style, the skit saw Winkleman explaining that the current pros were “not representative enough of the British public”, with Daly agreeing that they were all “highly athletic”, “super glamorous” and “extremely good at dancing”.

So in a bid to make things more inclusive, they had to add a couple of amateurs to the mix.

Enter comics Russell Kane and Rachel Parris as Johnny and Melissa, who pranced in full of fighting talk to Eye Of The Tiger, before shocking the pros with their ropey dancefloor skills.

There were more laughs when they met judges Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke and Motsi Mabuse, as Melissa introduced herself as the “head pro”. And, in a nod to judge Du Beke’s career path, she teased: “Give me a season or so and I’ll probably do an Anton and level up as judge!”

In what some viewers said was the “highlight” of the show, popular BBC series Not Going Out and Beyond Paradise came together in a brilliant mash-up.

Actor Sally Bretton was the one tying it all together, as in sitcom Not Going Out she is the wife of Lee Mack, and in crime drama Beyond Paradise she’s the girlfriend of Humphrey (Kris Marshall).

All of the characters were in the sketch, along with some others from the programmes. They all rubbed along together as some mysterious things started happening in Cornwall.

The crossover ended up being a madcap and slightly baffling sequence of mistaken identities and general confusion – but viewers loved it. “Not Going Beyond Paradise has so far been the best part of the night,” one person said on X, as another said it was “the highlight”.

Comedian Chabuddy G from sitcom People Just Do Nothing had his work cut out for him when he ‘joined’ the Gladiators.

Hosts Bradley and Barney Walsh thought he was a new contender, but Chabuddy was convinced he was actually the new Gladiator and that his show name could be Girth, Wind and Fire.

Having slipped into his Spandex and a leopard print robe, he sneaked backstage to hang out with the others as if he was one of them and offered Bionic a high five. But when the Gladiator snubbed him with a withering glance, he bragged: “I’ll probably take your bloody arm off knowing my strength.”

However, his smirk disappeared when he ended up on the Duel platform with Bionic. Insisting he needed to pause for a toilet break, he looked up at the Gladiator towering over him and asked the hosts: “I’m not going to have to fight him am I?”

“Bradders you absolute snake mate!” he sniped.

In a shock twist Chabuddy did end up knocking Bionic off the platform, but the show bosses discovered foul play and he was slapped with a Gladiators ban.

Red Nose Day stalwart Lenny Henry made everyone’s night when he appeared in a pre-recorded video to reflect on the years of Comic Relief.

The comedian co-founded the charity and hosted the programme for decades, but fronted his final show last year. Announcing he was stepping down, he told the BBC: “I think it needs new blood, and I’m definitely old blood.”

“I can’t believe Comic Relief is turning the big 40,” he said in the video. “In some ways it feels like 1985 was like, yesterday.”

Read more: Comic Relief

“A lot has changed,” he went on. “A lot of it for the better – me, you, us, we’ve been on quite the journey.”

He told viewers: “I said something in 1993 that I am going to say again because it’s as true today as it ever was. The point is, forget geography, these are your neighbours and this is your doorstep.”

Host Davina McCall broke down in tears as she talked about her brain tumour.

The TV presenter underwent surgery last year after a colloid cyst, a benign tumour, was discovered during a health check.

Addressing viewers, she said: “I had a pretty mad year this year. Doctors found a benign brain tumour by chance and after a lot of deliberating I had it removed and it’s been quite possibly the hardest thing I have ever been through.”

Tearful, the star said the entire experience “made me really think deeply about what life is all about and about what really really matters when things get tough”.

McCall said she needed the “brilliance and the skill” of experts, as well as love and support. “There are so many people who are scared, they are in trouble, they are in danger, so many… and they don’t have the friends or the money or the support that I did,” she said. “I know I was so lucky.”

The star stressed the importance of the fundraiser and how it could turn so many people’s lives around, thanking the “wonderful strangers” who stepped up and supported others.

“I love you guys, we love you,” she said. “You show up for people when they are really up against it.”

Oasis’ feud and reunion tour got the parody treatment in a sketch starring James Buckley as Liam Gallagher and his Inbetweeners co-star Joe Thomas as his brother Noel.

The spoof charted the band’s rise, 2009 row (which was put down to someone treading on a tambourine and saw both stars unleash a volley of expletives) and the 2024 announcement of their comeback tour.

Poking fun at the long waits for tickets, it saw one poor Oasis fan looking dismayed when his computer told him he was about 10 million in the queue. When we revisited him he was number five, but just a skeleton remained in his chair.

There was also a nod to the ticket drama, where prices rose because of dynamic pricing. Piers Morgan had a role as a “Ticket Master”, who told the Gallaghers: “Let me reassure you personally, everyone will be treated completely fairly.”

At the end of the night, the hosts announced that so far over £32 million had been raised.

Channing Tatum shows off 30lb weight-loss in shirtless snap

Channing Tatum has sworn off doing any more acting roles that require him to gain weight.

On Friday the 44-year-old heartthrob — whose new girlfriend is Australian beauty Inka Williams — took to Instagram to share a set of shirtless photos with his 17.4 million followers.

Starting with a present-day snapshot of him wearing nothing but black briefs and showing off his chiseled torso, he wrote in the caption, ‘We back up! lol. 1st photo is today 205 (lbs).’

A second image featured the star appearing noticeably heavier as he took a mirror selfie. He noted, ‘2nd photo 235 for a movie called Josephine.’

He shared a third and final image looking lean and slender, announcing, ‘I won’t be doing any more fat roles, haha. It’s too hard on the body and too hard to take off now.’

The last picture showed the Magic Mike sensation with his dark hair longer than usual and he shared that at the time he weighed ‘172 for a movie [called] Roofman.’

Channing Tatum has sworn off doing any more acting roles that require him to gain weight

On Friday the 44-year-old heartthrob took to Instagram to share a set of shirtless photos with his 17.4 million followers, showing his weight transformation as he dove into different acting roles

Tatum, who shares 11-year-old daughter Everly with ex-wife Jenna Dewan, said he’s glad to have his genetics and a helpful team to help him maintain his fitness.

‘I’m so grateful for my genetics. Grateful for my chef/nutritionist/witch. Grateful for my trainer. I couldn’t make these big swings in my weight without you guys,’ the Hollywood vet wrote.

Read More Zoe Kravitz continues to spark romance rumors with hunky actor months after heartbreaking Channing Tatum split

Gushing comments quickly poured in from fans as they ogled the thirst traps.

Padma Lakshmi was among the admirers, taking to the post to simply write, ‘Wow!’

And film director Katie Burrell added to the thread, ‘Everyone say thank you Channing.’

An IMDb logline for Channing’s upcoming thriller Josephine reads: ‘After witnessing a brutal attack in Golden Gate Park, eight-year-old Josephine is plunged into a maelstrom of fear and paranoia. She acts out with increasing violence, looking for any way to regain control of her own safety.’ The movie does not yet have a release date.

The Blink Twice actor will also star in the upcoming crime drama Roofman, slated for an October 3 release, about the true story of serial robber Jeffrey Manchester.

Channing went public with new girlfriend, 25-year-old Australian model Inka Williams, in early March.

He shared a third and final image looking lean and slender, announcing, ‘I won’t be doing any more fat roles, haha. It’s too hard on the body and too hard to take off now’

Tatum, who shares 11-year-old daughter Everly with ex-wife Jenna Dewan, said he’s glad to have his genetics and a helpful team to help him maintain his fitness

Channing went public with new girlfriend, 25-year-old Australian model Inka Williams, in early March

He was previously engaged to Zoe Kravitz, but the couple called off their engagement in late 2024.

‘I feel like I’m dating the king of England… actually he’s way better,’ Inka recently told the Herald Sun about the new romance.

‘I am very happy,’ she added.

Rumors first swirled about the pair when they were spotted at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel in January.

Camilla ‘hated the idea of being queen,’ slammed royal protocol: book

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Camilla once loathed the idea of being queen — and she had a few choice words for her husband.

The claim was made by royal author Tom Quinn in his new book, “Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants.” Quinn spoke to hundreds of former and current palace staff members to learn what it’s like to watch over the House of Windsor.

Fox News Digital reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. A spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital, “We don’t comment on such books.”

QUEEN CAMILLA’S ATTEMPT TO BREAK ROYAL PROTOCOL ‘POLITELY REFUSED’ BY PRINCESS ANNE

“Camilla definitely didn’t want to be queen because she’s intelligent enough to know that once you become queen, or a senior member of the royal family, you are constantly under the microscope,” Quinn told Fox News Digital.

“And I think Camilla, right back in the 1970s when she first met Charles, decided, ‘I don’t want to marry.’ Not because she didn’t love him. I think she would’ve liked to marry him.

“But apparently, she said, ‘I’m not going to be able to cope with being queen. I don’t want to be queen because it’s too much focus, too much attention on me.’ She enjoyed being able to have a private life away from the limelight. But Charles refused to give up.”

A member of staff claimed to Quinn that Camilla “hated the idea of being queen.” The unnamed aide claimed that Camilla would regularly say to Charles, “Can’t we get away from all this protocol? It’s all bollocks.” But Charles, who “hates swearing,” would reply, “You’re going to do it [become queen] for me, darling.”

Quinn claimed to Fox News Digital that even after Camilla married Charles in 2005, she was always worried about taking on the title of queen. After long being recognized as a mistress, the now 77-year-old was eager to enjoy a quieter life without the scrutiny.

“Everything is focused on what you do,” Quinn explained. “You’ve got the press, which, in the U.K., is sometimes very intrusive on the royal family. You’ve got the media in general, you’ve got the world’s press, television — everything is focused on what you do.”

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“[But] Charles continued the relationship, as it’s well known, through his marriage to [Princess] Diana,” Quinn shared. “It was only because Charles wouldn’t give up that Camilla is queen. But I also think, as she got older, she realized that she could manage being queen. She could manage the lifestyle that Charles couldn’t escape. And that’s why, in the end, I think they did get together and marry.”

But the king’s children, Prince William and Prince Harry, were said to not be keen on having Camilla as a stepmother, let alone a future queen consort. Quinn claimed in his book that the brothers “could be cruel about Camilla,” nicknaming her “Lady Macbeth,” “Cruella de Vil” and “The Witch of the West.”

But their pleas for Charles not to marry Camilla fell on deaf ears.

“Many of the staff said to me that Charles’ reliance on Camilla is very much like William’s reliance on [his wife] Kate [Middleton],” Quinn explained. “Charles relies on Camilla for stability and warmth and all the emotional stuff that he didn’t get as a child. And that’s why he couldn’t give her up.

“They did brilliantly to turn Camilla from someone who was widely disliked, even hated, because she was seen as the other woman in Charles’ relationship with Diana. And now, she’s very well-liked, which was a very difficult thing to do. And it speaks volumes about her.”

“In a way, it’s a very romantic story,” Quinn reflected. “They didn’t give up on each other.”

It took years for many in Britain to forgive Charles, the man whose admitted infidelity brought such pain to “the people’s princess” before she died in a Paris car crash in 1997. But the public mood softened after Charles married Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005, and she became the Duchess of Cornwall.

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Although Camilla played a significant role in the breakup of Charles’ first marriage, she eventually won over many Britons due to her down-to-earth style. She also softened Charles’ hard edges and made him appear more approachable.

In February 2022, Queen Elizabeth II expressed her “sincere wish” that Camilla be known as “Queen Consort” when Charles ascended to the throne. The queen, England’s longest-reigning monarch, died in September of that year at age 96.

Royal aides had suggested that Camilla didn’t want to be called queen and “intended” to be known instead as “Princess Consort,” which would have been a first in British history. But the careful use of the word ”intend” led to the possibility of change later on.

When Camilla was crowned alongside her husband in 2023, she officially became known as “Queen Camilla.”

Months before the coronation, Harry opened up about his stepmother.

In interviews leading up to the January 2023 publication of his memoir “Spare,” Harry accused Camilla of leaking private conversations to the media to burnish her own reputation. He also accused members of the royal family of getting “into bed with the devil” to gain favorable tabloid coverage, singling out Camilla’s efforts to rehabilitate her image after her longtime affair with his father.

WATCH: PRINCE HARRY’S JABS AT QUEEN CAMILLA UNFORGIVABLE FOR KING CHARLES: EXPERT

“That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,” he told CBS. “There was open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being queen consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street.”

Writing about his father’s wedding to Camilla, Harry says: “I had complex feelings about gaining a stepparent who, I believed, had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.”

Still, he says he wanted his father to be happy.

“In a funny way, I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy?”

In his book, Harry said that both he and William had previously “begged” their father not to marry Camilla, worried she would become a “wicked stepmother.”

Charles is said to not be taking any of Harry’s phone calls — and for one royal author, it’s easy to see why.

“When Harry branded his stepmother Camilla a ‘villain’ in his book and revealed that both he and William initially begged their father not to marry her, Harry committed what Charles regards as a cardinal sin,” Christopher Andersen, author of “The King,” previously told Fox News Digital.

“No one disses Camilla in royal circles and gets away with it — not even a son of the king,” Andersen warned.

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Anderson also noted that Harry’s explosive memoir was a major blow to his father.

“I think Charles could forgive Harry for some of the trouble he’s caused — including bailing on the monarchy… slamming his brother William for bullying behavior and suing for royal protection when visiting the U.K. But Charles is having a hard time forgiving Harry for taking what he sees as gratuitous potshots at his beloved Queen Camilla,” he said.

“This still remains a thorn in the king’s side,” Andersen claimed.

Goats, guts and a glorious day: A “Severance” split decision ends some mysteries, sparks others

Spoiler alert: This story contains specific details about the “Severance” second season finale, “Cold Harbor.”

“A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” The Gospel of James, Chapter 1, Verse 8

She’s alive. But who cares? We ask this because it is the question steering Mark Scout. Both of him.

“Severance” can only provide part of an answer since Mark, played by Adam Scott, is two men in one body. Both exist for the same reason: Mark was so shattered by the untimely death of his wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman) that he consented to Lumon Industries’ severance procedure, dividing his consciousness.

The “outie” version of Mark remains despondent yet motivated by a renewed sense of hope. Thanks to a little at-home brain surgery, courtesy of a mysterious ally (Karen Aldridge) who never confirms whether she’s a licensed physician, Mark flashes back and forth between the office and his home. He knows Gemma is still alive and somehow connected to the workplace of his “innie.”

That’s where Mark’s innie half exists unburdened by grief or any memories linked to life and the world beyond the office. He is content to lead Lumon’s Macrodata Refinement department and his shared life. Mostly.

A few doubts nag him, such as: what are he and his team accomplishing by sorting random numbers? Why is his manager, Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman), pressured and controlling?

How can he trust that his co-worker and crush Helly R. (Britt Lower) is who she says she is and not her outie, Lumon heir apparent Helena Eagan? How can he trust anyone?

Britt Lower in “Severance” (Apple TV+)Much about “Cold Harbor,” the Ben Stiller-directed “Severance” second season finale, borrows its biblical undertones from that line about a divided man. Lumon casts Mark as its Messiah, and his work is “mysterious and important,” worthy of a massive and alarming painting in the elevator lobby on the severed floor. It depicts him surrounded by his co-workers, managers and the cult of Kier Eagan’s mythical figures as his hand floats above his keyboard, eyes squeezed shut.

Once he hits the blessed keystroke — Praise Kier! — Lumon’s manager Mr. Drummond (Darri Ólafsson) marks the occasion by readying a baby goat for sacrifice. “Has it verve?” he sternly asks Lorne (Gwendoline Christie), the head of Mammalians Nurturable. “It does,” she answers, devoid of enthusiasm.

“This beast will be entombed with a cherished woman whose spirit it must guide to Kier’s door,” Mr. Drummond says.

Mark isn’t aware of any of this, however. All he’s told is that he must complete Cold Harbor.

As for why, series creator Dan Erickson answers that question and others in this hour and 16-minute episode. Audiences only have so much patience for drawing out the unexplained, however minor. Now we know what that indoor goat farm is for, and why its shepherds stay angry.

This is also the right time to bring the mystery of what really happened to Gemma to a close, since it began with last season’s finale, along with explaining Mark’s inscrutable job.

A few levels down from the severed floor, Gemma is Lumon’s test subject, enduring assorted life scenes and tortures before returning to her baseline self, where she’s asked what she remembers. The answer is always nothing, although some discomfort lingers – a sore mouth from a dental visit, a cramped hand from signing stacks of Christmas cards. None of the women she dresses up to be are natural parts of her. But Cold Harbor is.

Mark’s innie spends his days placing number clusters into digital folders based on feelings sparked by certain groupings, as his ex-manager Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) tells him. Kier’s followers call these the Tempers: Woe, Frolic, Dread and Malice. Assembling each file creates a corresponding personality for Gemma.

The last connects to the bleakest memory outie Mark and his wife share – a miscarriage that followed months of difficulty conceiving. The chilliest, darkest place in the unseen ocean of the soul. This is Cold Harbor, the name of the last room Gemma is set to visit on the testing floor. Mark’s innie has no concrete memory of this but the feelings are part of his physiology nevertheless.

Prior episodes establish this narrative’s runway, setting Mark and his sister Devon (Jen Tullock) en route to meet Ms. Cobel, who sneaks them into a “birthing cabin” in an out-of-the-way Kier compound.

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson in “Severance” (Apple TV+)The cabin works much in the way Lumon’s office does: once Mark S. steps inside, his innie assumes control. Since Devon and Ms. Cobel are unsevered, they can speak with both versions of Mark. With the help of a camcorder, innie and outie Mark converse for the first time, which is when each discovers that, although they share the same body, they want different things.

Erickson and the writers prepared us for this scenario through Mark’s co-worker Dylan G. (Zach Cherry), whose innie met and fell in love with his wife Gretchen (Merritt Wever), angering his low-vibration outie. Because of this, Gretchen told innie Dylan she had to stop seeing him, leading him to tender his resignation. But outie Dylan is too petty to free his innie, so he denies his request. “I guess I like knowing you’re there,” Dylan-at-home wrote.

Of the two Marks in that dark cabin, which is the better man? They pass messages back and forth, with outie Mark explaining that he needs his innie to save his wife, expose Lumon’s crimes and free the severed workers from what he assumes is a nightmare. Outie Mark assumes his innie wants to be reintegrated and free. That way they both get to live with Gemma, he says, while acknowledging his innie’s relationship with Helly as a nice thing for him to have had.

The Bible casts the double-minded man as insecure in his faith, divided between divine direction and worldly distraction. Mark’s quandary is that his two sides disagree on which love is true and worth preserving, and which is the disposable illusion. Thus, what Mark’s outie assumes about Helly incenses his innie, who insists his love for Helly is real. Even if she is an Eagan.

This is where their conversation abruptly ends. Despite Ms. Cobel assuring innie Mark that Lumon will dispose of him and all of his co-workers once Cold Harbor is complete, he threatens to betray everyone if the next thing he sees after stepping outside isn’t the office’s elevator doors opening.

His wish is granted, and what comes after the seamless transition between the cabin’s front door and the severed floor is horrifying. He’s greeted by Helly – who travailed her own haunting encounter with Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry), her outie’s creepy father – and that bone-chilling painting. It’s a real Kubrickian mind screw, only 23 minutes in.

The rest of the episode combines bloody, frantic action; a thriller; an absurd stage play; and “choreography and merriment.”

When Helly and Mark step into their usual workspace, it’s dark, aside from a dimly lit life-size animatronic statue of The Founder, Kier Eagan. It holds a letter congratulating Mark, instructing him to finish the 25th file, Cold Harbor, as Helly. bears witness. “Goodly splendors await upon your victory. Love, Mr. Milchick.”

That’s when they notice their office space holds three desks instead of four, since Irving B. (John Turturro) is on a train to parts unknown, likely saving his life. But Irving left behind instructions to a dark hallway with an elevator at the end — the passage to Gemma. Helly previously intercepted Irving’s note, having taken it from Dylan, and passes it to Mark just prior to him hitting the last key.

Before that, she lets Mark know that Jame Eagan came to see her, and Mark shares what he knows about their work and Gemma. Upon hearing this, Helly urges Mark to fulfill his outie’s plan, to have a chance at living. “But I want to live with you,” he says tearfully.

Michael Siberry in “Severance” (Apple TV+)”But I’m her, Mark,” says Helly, reminding him of immutable realities. So he steels himself and proceeds. As he files, she wistfully lists names of places that linger in her deep memories but have no meaning: Delaware, Europe, Zimbabwe and the Equator.

“The Equator?” Mark asks in response, smiling. “Is that a building?” They lightly banter until the moment of truth.

With one click, the lighting changes and the Alan Parsons Project’s banger “Sirius” (Michael Jordan’s entry theme at the height of the Chicago Bulls’ championship dynasty, a nice touch) blares over the speakers. A few floors below, Gemma dons the outfit she wore the last time she saw her husband and walks into the room, which is all white and empty except for a crib.

Back on the severed floor, Milchick bounds in and launches into a stilted skit with the statue of Kier that ends awkwardly, with the fake Kier taking jabs as Milchick speaks, which he takes personally. The manager insults Kier in kind, who tersely thanks him for the “feedback,” referring to him as “Seth” before shutting down. Milchick’s forced smile returns and he introduces, with a flourish, “Choreography and Merriment.”

On cue, a marching band enters, filling the MDR area with music and raucous dance moves.

Tillman, by the way, is fantastic here – moving and undulating along with the instrumentalists, lacing the music’s joy with the character’s menace. (Stiller loves marching bands, Tillman previously told Salon, and he designed this performance in the style of drumlines from historically black colleges and universities). And the organized chaos is the distraction Helly and Mark need. Helly rushes Milchick, grabs his walkie and dashes into the bathroom. She misdirects him to an empty stall, then slips out behind him and pulls the door shut, using her whole body to prevent him from opening it.

As this transpires, Mark dashes into the hallway and follows Irving B.’s instructions to the black hall. Unfortunately — or fortunately, from Emil the goat and Lorne’s point of view — he interrupts the bloodletting ceremony. He and Drummond tussle and it almost ends with Drummond strangling Mark to death before Lorne joins the fight, eventually overpowering Drummond and pointing the bolt pistol he would have used on the kid at him.

Mark talks her down and takes Drummond hostage, holding the pistol to his throat as they enter the elevator. This was only meant to keep the security goon under control, but when Mark shifts between his innie and outie as the lift descends, he squeezes the trigger, accidently and messily killing the senior manager. But the gore turns out to be useful since entry to the Cold Harbor room requires a blood sample. There, Mark finds Gemma serenely disassembling the crib, and coaxes her to run with him.

Their reunion is painful, beautiful — and weird. Once they shift in the elevator, mid-kiss, from loving husband and wife to Mark S. and Gemma’s severed-floor wellness counselor, Ms. Casey, the moment takes on a surreal quality. This is also the moment of truth — and innie Mark fulfills his task, rushing Ms. Casey to the emergency stairwell per Ms. Cobel’s instructions and making her step out of that persona into that of his wife. Once Gemma is in the stairwell, she calls her husband to open the door and come with her.

But this Mark S. is not the man she married.

Once Helly’s part in distracting Milchick is done, she finds Mark just in time to steer his indecision in her direction. He chooses the girl who is as real as he is — which is to say, not at all.

On the day of the finale’s release, Apple TV+ officially picked up a third season of “Severance.” The finale writes that as a foregone conclusion, though. Milchick is enraged at having been hoodwinked but doesn’t seem to entirely disagree with Helly’s rebellion, aided by Dylan and the Choreography and Merriment players she persuaded by letting them know their lives were on the line. The severed floor’s manager has some explaining to do although, thanks to Mark, he doesn’t have to deal with an abusive superior anymore.

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Helly, meanwhile, may be the focus of Jame Eagan’s new mission. Before Mark’s arrival, the Lumon CEO sneaks up on Helly in the dark and creepily confesses, “I do not love my daughter. I used to see Kier in her, but he left her as she grew . . . I sired others in the shadows. But he wasn’t in them either. Until I saw him again. In you.”

“Why did you come here? What do you want from me?” Helly yells as Jame walks away. And there we have it, the next stage of this mystery.

As always, the blissful artistry of “Severance” is in the details – the completed circle of Mark opening the season with a mad dash through the halls and ending it hand in hand with Helly, jogging to who knows where as Mel Tormé croons a wending carpet of easy listening psychedelia behind them.

That finale closing song selection, “The Windmills of Your Mind,” is spot-on and portentous; its lyrics speak of the dreamy confusion enveloping these two. “Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own/ Down a hollow to a cavern, where the sun has never shone…” If the severed workers’ utility has ended, where can Mark and Helly run to?

Mark’s choice leaves us to marinate on all the possible consequences of that and all the other action. Until that date is set we can only quote what Helly tells Mark S. before he turns on himself and capsizes our expectations.

“See you at the Equator.” Whatever or whenever that might be.

Matt Owens Steps Down As ‘One Piece’ Co-Showrunner To Focus On Mental Health

Matt Owens, the main creative force behind Netflix’s One Piece, is leaving the live-action series, which wrapped production on Season 2 last month.

“The last six years working on the live-action One Piece have been a life-changing journey. A dream come true. It’s also been A LOT,” Owens wrote on Instagram. So I’m stepping off the Going Merry to take a break and focus on myself and my mental health.

Owens has served as executive producer and co-showrunner on both Seasons 1 and 2 and has shaped the creative vision for the acclaimed live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s beloved manga, including its long-term plan for future seasons. Joe Tracz, who joined in Season 2 as executive producer/co-showrunner, remains on the series and will shepherd the upcoming second season through post-production. Owens’ departure, which is effective immediately, is not expected to impact the show’s Season 3 renewal prospects.

The reasons for Owens’ exit are poignant given how the One Piece manga helped him through some dark times decades ago.

“There was a period of time in my early 20s, I had just recently moved to Los Angeles; I was working on trying to get into the film and television business, and I was really depressed at this time,” he told Deadline in 2023. “I just wanted to go to work and go home and not really deal with people or be social or anything like that. So I thought, well, now’s a great time to try and get into One Piece because there are hundreds and hundreds of episodes and I’m not doing anything else.

“I found it at a really dark and low point in my life but I also attribute it with helping me get out of it because One Piece is such a wonderful, positive, inspirational series,” Owens continued. “That’s what really galvanized me to, once I heard that someone was trying to make a live-action, to try and get involved because I owe this series a lot.”

An ambitious endeavor, One Piece combines lengthy, grueling shoots in South Africa and complex, visual effect-heavy post-production.

Season 1 of the action adventure spent 8 weeks in Netflix’s Global Top 10, reaching the Top 10 in 93 countries and debuting at #1 in 46. It also logged a 95% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes from 10,000+ ratings, among the highest ever for a Netflix series.

One Piece, about Monkey D. Luffy who assembles a crew as he sets out to find the legendary fabled treasure, One Piece, and become King of the Pirates, stars Iñaki Godoy as Luffy, Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji.

The series is done in partnership with Shueisha and produced by Tomorrow Studios, an ITV Studios partner, and Netflix. Season 2 executive producers include showrunners Matt Owens & Joe Tracz, Oda, Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements through Tomorrow Studios, Tetsu Fujimura, Chris Symes and Season 1 co-showrunner Steven Maeda.

Two-time heavyweight George Foreman dies at 76 – UPI.com

Foreman, who was known as “Big George,” competed against two other legendary boxers, beating Joe Frazier and later losing to Muhammad Ali in title fights.

He earned fame outside of boxing by being the pitchman for the George Foreman Grill, which has sold 100 million units.

“Our hearts are broken,” the family wrote in an Instagram post. “With profound sorrow, we announce the passing of our beloved George Edward Foreman Sr., who peacefully departed on March 21, 2025, surrounded by loved ones.”

“A devout preacher, a devoted husband, a loving father, and a proud grand and great grandfather, he lived a life marked by unwavering faith, humility, and purpose,” the post continued.

At 19, Foreman won an Olympic heavyweight gold medal in 1968 in Mexico City, defeating Soviet Union’s Jonas Cepulis. The next year, he turned pro and won all 13 fights that year and all 12 fights in 1970.

“A humanitarian, an Olympian, and two-time heavyweight champion of the world, He was deeply respected – a force for good, a man of discipline, conviction, and a protector of his legacy, fighting tirelessly to preserve his good name – for his family,” the post added.

Foreman, at 24, won the heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of the previously undefeated Frazier in 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica. It was known as the Sunshine Showdown.

“I didn’t fear anyone except Joe Frazier,” Foreman said in a 2023 interview with Andscape. “I hoped something would’ve happened to him before I’d ever fight for the title.

“I’ve never told anyone this, but that was the happiest time of my life in boxing because I worked so hard to fulfill my dream and become heavyweight champion. It was the first and last moment I felt that.”

Foreman successfully defended his title against Jose Roman and Ken Norton

In 1975 at 25, he lost an eight-round knockout against Ali in Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. The bout was known as the Rumble in the Jungle.

When We Were Kings documentary, which chronicled the fight, won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature

He became an ordained minister, and he founded the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in 1980 in Hoston. Four years later he founded the nonprofit George Foreman Youth and Community Center in Houston.

Frazier was 42 and Holyfield was 28 in the fight hyped as “The Battle of the Ages” at the Trump Plaza Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.

In 1994, at 45, Foreman defeated Michael Moorer, who was 19 years younger, to earn Moorer’s two heavyweight belts in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nev. In all, Foreman won the unified World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and lineal heavyweight championship titles.

Foreman fought only four more times until he retired in 1997 at 48.

His final record was 76 wins, including 68 via knockouts and only five losses.

Then he became a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor.

Starting in 1994, Foreman was the face of the George Foreman Grill for the home appliance company Salton, Inc., now known as Russell Hobbs Inc. It was called the Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine,

“My attorney came to me and said, ‘George, you’re making other people wealthy, why don’t you make yourself wealthy?’” Foreman told People in 2003. “And he told me about this grill.”

His celebrity life was a far cry from when he was young.

He was born in Marshall, Texas, on Jan. 10, 1949, and grew up poor in Houston’s Fifth Ward with his single mother and six siblings.

In his youth, Foreman bullied other children and “became a mugger and brawler.”

He dropped out of junior high school.

“I have been literally rescued from the gutter. I was out hiding from the police,” Foreman told NBC News in an interview in 2023, the year the biopic Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World was released.

Foreman credited the Job Corps program, started by President Lyndon B. Johnson, with the the change.

“I went into boxing at the age of 17 to lose weight and become a great street fighter,” he told Ringside Report in 2000. “Next thing I know, I was fighting as a Golden Glover. It basically all happened as an accident.”

Foreman’s family

Foreman had 12 children, including five sons all named George Edward Foreman.

“I named all my sons George Edward Foreman so they would always have something in common,” Foreman wrote on his website. “I say to them, ‘If one of us goes up, then we all go up together. And if one goes down, we all go down together!’” Two of his grandsons also share the name.

Foreman was married five times, including his current wife, Mary, whom he married in 1985.

‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Hot Packages Revving Up As Leatherface Lurks Again – The Dish

EXCLUSIVE: Studios and filmmakers are knocking on Verve’s door as the agency is sitting on a bloody good IP that they’re looking to take on the town: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Verve has repped the rights for the Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel created slasher series since 2017.

At a time when horror and franchises are really the only surefire bets at a post Covid and strike impacted box office, the 51-year old horror property about a chainsaw-wielding serial killer still has potential to make a killing.

One of the parties, we hear, showing interest in reviving Texas Chainsaw Massacre is filmmaker/scribe JT Mollner and producer Roy Lee hot off their $3M grossing, 96% certified Rotten Tomatoes cult hit Strange Darling. If Mollner gets a script together, word is that Glen Powell would like to read it, for a possible starring and producing gig. It’s very early days on this; no contracts or attachments as of yet and the Mollner/Powell combo is but one interested party out of many (though we’ve heard that Lionsgate, A24 and others are expressing interest in that version). Also, don’t be shocked if NEON jumps in the fray post their work with Oz Perkins on Longlegs, The Monkey, and upcoming Keeper, they’re looking for their next big horror film.

Said a Verve rep to Deadline, “Verve represents The Texas Chainsaw Massacre estate and is building out a multimedia strategy for the seminal horror franchise.”

“Verve has not officially submitted the property into any filmmakers, producers, or buyers,” the rep continued, “Because this is such a hot and iconic horror property, packages are preemptively being brought to Verve.”

Among horror IP, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the little engine that could. Conceived by Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel, and directed by Hooper, the project was inspired by serial killers like Ed Gein and Elmer Wayne Henley. Hooper shot the feature about killer Leatherface, who uses his chainsaw to go on a cannibalistic killing spree for $140,000 (unadjusted for inflation). Hooper shot the movie in rural Texas countryside with unknown actors in 95 degree plus heat. A very pre-Night Court John Larroquette narrated the movie. The pic’s means of funding is an exhibit A in indie finance with money pieced together by Hooper’s friend Bill Parsley throwing in $60,000. President of the Texas State Bar Joe K. Longley kicked in another $23K. Hooper couldn’t find a distributor until Warren Skaaren, then head of the Texas Film Commission, pointed him in the direction of the Bryanston Distributing Company which took global rights. Bryanston was famous for releasing one of the post profitable top-grossing X-rated movies of all-time, 1972’s Deep Throat which was made for $22K and grossed around $30M-$50M at the box office. Bryanston’s cut of Texas Chainsaw Massacre was big at a $225K flat fee and a reported 35% of profits. After the investors recouped their monies, and attorneys and lawyers, a reported $8,1K was left to divide among 20 cast and crew members. The original 1974 movie would go on to make $31M worldwide. The producers sued Bryanston for failing to pay them their full share of profits. A court judgment ruled that Bryanston pay the filmmakers a half million, but by that time, the distributor had declared bankruptcy.

There would be an ultimate silver lining for Hooper: Steven Spielberg tapped him to direct a horror movie that he co-wrote and produced, Poltergeist, which turned in a massive summer hit in 1982 grossing north of $77M domestic (unadjusted for inflation).

In 1983, New Line Cinema acquired distribution rights. The entire franchise would go on to count nine movies in total grossing north of $252M at the worldwide box office, as well as comics, a novel and two video game adaptations. The franchise was also responsible for launching marquee stars. The 1994 sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, starred a very early days Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger.

New Line launched a prolific 2003 remake directed by German filmmaker Marcus Nispel with Michael Bay producing and pre-Quiet Place Andrew Form and Brad Fuller EPing. It starred Jessica Biel just as she was segueing from 7th Heaven to the big screen and remains the highest grossing installment at $107M. That version was also shot by the original DP of the 1974 film, Daniel Pearl. The last Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie was 2017’s Leatherface which didn’t receive a stateside theatrical release.