As media interest in the allegations against Prince Andrew intensifies, Buckingham Palace finally took action today by enacting mild disciplinary measures against the accused sexual predator.
According to an announcement issued on Thursday the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth has been stripped of his military titles and charities.
"The Queen Is Dead; Long Live The Queen" is an old and familiar saying.
According to a wild but strangely compelling theory on social media, that may have taken on a new meaning.
As you've likely heard, there's been a great deal of concern over Queen Elizabeth's health in recent weeks.
The sovereign has canceled several engagements and scaled back her public presence to the point where many are concerned that the situation could be more serious than palace officials are letting on.
It's no secret that there's quite a bit of bad blood within the British Royal Family these days.
In fact, relations between the feuding factions have become so contentious that both sides have essentially abandoned their efforts to convince the public that all is well.
Earlier this week, the world learned that Meghan Markle had taped an interview with Ellen DeGeneres.
Today, the conversation aired in its entirety, and there were few surprises.
Obviously the royal marriage that makes the most headlines these days is that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
(Some say the Sussexes' global popularity was the primary reason that they attracted so much enmity in London, but that's a conversation for another time.)
Queen Elizabeth II is 95 years old, and she's been on the throne since 1952.
In other words, she's quite old, and while we hope that she reigns for another 20 years, the reality of the situation is that at the Queen's age, even the most minor of health issues is cause for concern, and palace officials have had a succession plan in place for decades.
Earlier this week, we reported on the controversy regarding Meghan Markle's youngest child, and the fact that baby Lilibet has not yet met Queen Elizabeth.
It makes sense, of course, as Meghan and the Queen live on separate continents, and Covid restrictions continue to make international travel even more complicated than usual.
Back in June, Meghan Markle welcomed her second child, a girl named Lilibet.
The name was taken from a nickname that Prince Philip had often used when referring to his wife, Queen Elizabeth II.
It's almost impossible to believe that Meghan Markle is a day over 29, but the Duchess of Sussex hit the big 4-0 on Wednesday.
Of course, Meghan is one of the most beloved women on the planet, so any anxiety that she might be feeling about crossing the line into middle-age is surely allayed by the loving tributes that have poured in from every corner of the globe.
From the moment that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that they would be stepping down from the roles as senior members of the royal family, fans, critics, and media outlets all over the world have been speculating about the final straw that led to that momentous decision.
Even after the couple told their side of the story in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, rumors about the exact cause of their irreparable rift with Harry's family remained somewhat mysterious.
Here in the US, Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey was a major boon to the popularity of the already-beloved Duchess.
But it seems that overseas, the candid conversation between two queens had a very different effect.
Last week, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 95th birthday.
The occasion was a bittersweet one, of course, as it came just days after the death of Prince Philip, Elizabeth's husband of 73 years.
British tabloids have managed to blame Meghan Markle for Prince Philip's death and everything else that comes to mind.
The hatred for the Duchess of Sussex is not a mystery, but her strongest critics of course deny racism.
Prince Philip, the lifelong companion of Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and the longest-serving consort of any British monarch, passed away on Friday.
He was 99 years old.
Long before it actually aired, Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah was expected to create some major turmoil within the British Royal Family.
But aside from the few insiders who knew exactly what Meghan was planning to reveal, we don't think anyone expected this level of upheaval.
Buckingham Palace is aghast, you guys. It's shocked. It's stunned. It's utterly flabbergasted at this recent news.
It's taken aback by some of the stuff Prince Harry and Meghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey on Sunday night.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry don't give many interviews.
That's one of the best parts about marrying or being born into a royal family -- you get all the spoils of fame without having to do all the annoying self-promotional crap.
Here's something that might come as a surprise to our readers in the UK:
Here in America, Meghan Markle is very highly regarded.
We're not sure if it's a job requirement, or just one of the psychological effects of holding a position of authority over tens of millions of people, but queens are generally tough to please.
That might go double for Queen Elizabeth II, who's been the reigning monarch in her country since the days when Winston Churchill was prime minister, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, and landing on the moon was the stuff of distant dreams.
As we enter a new year, many are voicing hopes that 2021 will be the year in which members of the royal family will be able to set aside the differences that have been tearing them apart for so long.
But so far it looks like the pleas for peace have fallen on deaf ears.
In the nine months since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down from their roles as senior members of the Royal Family, the press has made a big deal of the surprising ways in which the couple has asserted their independence.
In fact, if this were a contest of some sort, we think it's safe to say that the average commoner's take on the situation would be that Harry and Meghan have "won."
When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry stepped down from their roles as senior members of the Royal Family, no one knew what to expect.
After all, nothing like this had ever been attempted in the modern era.
We don't need to tell you that 2020 wasn't an easy year for anyone.
And while we have no special sympathy for the British Royal Family -- after all, they were spared the economic anxiety that characterized the past nine months for so many -- the Queen and her inner circle had their most trying year in recent memory due to a seemingly endless string of PR crises.
