The palace papers

Buckingham Palace "knew who they were dealing with" when it came to handling the public appearances of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for Queen Elizabeth II 's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June, according to a prominent royal commentator. Richard Fitzwilliams, a regular commentator on royal affairs, told British political figure Nigel Farage on the GB News network that Harry and Meghan have done "a lot of damage in the United States" to the monarchy but that the institution "has lasted over a thousand years." When told by Farage that there is "worse to come" with the expected publication of Harry's memoir later this year, Fitzwilliams responded by saying, "there is undoubtedly potentially worse to come but what impressed me during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations which you mentioned to begin with, the palace knew who they were dealing with." He went on to give examples of the palace's apparent handling of the Sussexes as they made their first joint public return … [Read more...] about Harry, Meghan jubilee visit: “The palace knew who they were dealing with”

Prince Harry poses a "bigger problem" for the British monarchy than Prince Andrew, whose damage to the royal family has been "ring-fenced" according to author and former editor of Vanity Fair , Tina Brown. Speaking to Bloomberg 's In The City podcast, Brown discussed the condition of the monarchy in the year Britain celebrates Queen Elizabeth II 's Platinum Jubilee , her 70th year on the throne. During the podcast, Brown said that "the monarchy seems more reassuring than ever, but that monarchy is at a frail point because everybody knows this is the last jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and the question of how they will feel British after the queen dies is a big one." The author of The Palace Papers also described Prince Andrew , who made headlines in June over his canceled planned public appearance at the Garter Day ceremony , as having "not enhanced the gravitas of the crown" following his involvement in a sexual assult lawsuit in 2021 . The lawsuit was … [Read more...] about Prince Harry poses “bigger problem” for “frail” monarchy than Prince Andrew

“Why on earth should one remove one’s footwear to enter a museum? Why shouldn’t one take pictures inside a museum? Famous museums the world over don’t have such strange restrictions. It only discourages visitors and museums thrive on footfalls. Museums should welcome people to come and be enchanted and enlightened by what these places showcase and preserve,” says an exasperated Deepthi Sasidharan, talking about museums in Kerala that have such restrictions in place. After having worked with some of the best museums in the world and curating many fascinating ones in India, Deepthi should know what she is talking about. Consultant to the “Expert Committee for the Supreme Court of India, for ongoing documentation of treasures at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram”, Deepthi is also working as a Consultant to the Kerala Government. A native of Thiruvananthapuram, Deepthi, a Fulbright scholar, currently living in Mumbai, is one of the two directors of Delhi-based Eka … [Read more...] about Art of the curator

A grainy black-and-white photograph of people gathered at a dock, recently unearthed from the National Archives in the U.S., created a stir when the History channel claimed that it could present an alternative narrative to the ultimate fate of pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart. While it has now been established that the image is not that of Earhart, the enormous attention that the picture received globally underscores the enduring power of archives. For a nation obsessed with history, the vast Indian archives that tell us about our grand patrimony are given remarkable short shrift. From palm leaf manuscripts to contemporary ephemera, the vaults, stores and shelves of our institutes are richly populated with nuggets from our past. Material culture Not all these institutes across the subcontinent are suffixed with the word ‘archive,’ and this is perhaps one of the reasons why a true understanding of the word eludes the public imagination. We tend to think of ‘archives’ as dusty … [Read more...] about We don’t know how to use our archives