Prince Harry, Prince Andrew royal titles future ‘uncertain’
The British royal family may be rethinking its use of certain titles due to negative associations with current holders.
According to royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams, the titles of Duke of York and Duke of Sussex might be retired for a long time because of Prince Andrew and Prince Harry’s controversies.
Prince Andrew’s friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his subsequent Newsnight interview in 2019 have severely damaged his reputation.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry’s decision to step down as a working royal and relocate to the US with Meghan Markle has led to his estrangement from the royal family.
Fitzwilliams believes that these titles are now linked to individuals with tarnished reputations, posing a risk to the royal family’s image.
“There probably will never be another Duke of York. There probably will never be another Duke of Sussex,” he said.
He also drew parallels with the title of Duke of Windsor, held by King Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson. “There won’t be another Duke of Windsor,” Fitzwilliams predicted.
The commentator highlighted that certain titles have negative connotations, making them unsuitable for future royals. For instance, Prince Harry wasn’t made Duke of Clarence due to the title’s notorious history.
The last Duke of Clarence, Prince Albert Victor, was Queen Victoria’s grandson, whose life was marred by speculation about his mental health and sexuality.
Another Duke of Clarence, George Plantagenet, was known for switching sides during the War of the Roses and was immortalized in Shakespeare’s plays.
Fitzwilliams thinks that Prince Andrew will retain the title of Duke of York for now, as removing it is not “foreseeable” in the near future.
However, he remains uncertain about what might happen in the future. “What happens in another reign and how it’s handled, I don’t know,” he concluded.
10pm, Channel 4 In 1985, the Bamber family – Nevill and June, their daughter Sheila Caffell and her six-year-old twin sons – were found dead at their Essex home. At first, police believed Caffell was responsible for the murders before turning the gun on herself, but suspicion turned to her brother Jeremy Bamber. He was convicted in 1986 on five counts of murder and has been in prison ever since, but has always insisted he is innocent. The grisly, perplexing case of “the farmhouse of death” is scrutinised here by some of those who responded to and reported on the crime. Hollie Richardson
The Great British Sewing Bee
9pm, BBC One Art week should be a breeze for this crafty bunch. But with a place in the quarter-final coming into view, the pressure is on. After making dolls’ dresses and painters’ overalls, the theme for the Made to Measure challenge is pop art – but who will confuse it with impressionism? Oops. HR
The Jury: Murder Trial
9pm, Channel 4 A second series of the social experiment that recreates a real trial for the benefit of a new batch of 12 laypeople. A Liverpool mother says she stabbed her boyfriend in self-defence; as arguments rage, it’s as much a reality show about individuals whose behaviour is altered by the knowledge that they are on camera as it is a comment on the judicial system. Jack Seale
Tommy: The Good. The Bad. The Fury
9pm, BBC Three It can’t be easy having Tyson Fury as a brother – particularly if you are also a boxer. In this glossy series, Tommy Fury looks to establish his own niche, opening the doors to the cameras and discussing doubts, ambitions and family. He also gets into the ring for some gentle sparring with his elder sibling. Phil Harrison
Resident Alien
10pm, Sky Max
Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk) continues the quest to restore his mojo in Resident Alien. Photograph: USA Network/James Dittiger/Bravo
Season four of the daffy sci-fi comedy veers into Doctor Who territory as powerless Harry and D’Arcy don curly wigs and flares to zap back to the 1970s. Can they convince time-travelling frenemy General McCallister to give up an artefact that could restore Harry’s alien mojo? Graeme Virtue
Crime Scene Cleaners
11.05pm, Channel 4 This week on true crime’s answer to Mrs Hinch, a Las Vegas team encounter a corpse so decomposed its outline is etched into the mattress. Meanwhile, in the UK, an evicted tenant in Newcastle has booby-trapped his former home with dirty needles suspended from the ceilings and doorframes. Ellen E Jones
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi), Tuesday, 1.20am, Film4 The director of 2021’s Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, released another, even more affecting film the same year. This one comprises three short stories in which encounters inadvertently lead to emotional revelations: a model realises her best friend has unknowingly fallen for her ex-lover; a former student is asked to “honeytrap” a professor and novelist she admires; two strangers mistake each other for old schoolmates. Bergmanesque dissections of relationships mingle with heartfelt, cathartic confessionals to profound effect. Simon Wardell
Live sport
The Hundred Cricket: Northern Superchargers Women v Manchester Originals Women, 2.45pm, BBC Two From Headingley, Leeds. The men’s teams play at 6pm.
Carabao Cup football: Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds, 7pm, Sky Sports Football All the second-round matches are available on Sky Sports+. On Wednesday, Grimsby v Manchester United is on ITV1 and Sky Sports Football at 7.30pm.
Rachel Platten announces ‘Rachel’s Versions’ inspired by Taylor Swift
Rachel Platten has made a surprising announcement.
The Fight Song hitmaker is following in Taylor Swift’s lead and looking to take ownership of her music.
Taking to Instagram on Monday, Platten announced Fight Song (Rachel’s Version) including her other famous tracks from 2016 album Wildfire.
In the caption, Platten wrote, “I’m proud to announce that on 9/26, I’m releasing a new album with my own, “Rachel’s Versions,” of Fight Song, Stand By You and other songs from my album Wildfire.”
“Fight Song (Rachel’s Version), will also include some live songs and a surprise from the vault,” she went on to write.
Platten also continued, “I had no idea when I wrote these songs in moments of vulnerability that they would go on to change my life. For a decade, they’ve lived out in the world, carrying their own weight. They’ve been parts of your moments of strength, doubt, and connection.”
Adding, “Now, as we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Fight Song, I’ve gone back to some of my originals, not to change them, but to reclaim them.”
“This is about more than just new versions of old songs; the new Rachel’s Versions are infused with the voice I have now, the wisdom I’ve gained, and the undeniable pride of owning my own masters.”
Platten also expressed her gratitude to Taylor Swift, who recorded her iconic Taylor’s Versions of albums, bringing attention to the importance of artists owning their masters, saying, “I’m grateful to @TaylorSwift for bringing this conversation to light and empowering artists to take back control over their work, their stories, and their futures.”
“Thank you to the immensely talented original producer of Wildfire, @JonLevine, for joining me again to re-record these songs.”
“And most importantly, thank you to all of you, who have stood by me over these years. I can’t wait for you to hear them again—this time, fully, completely, and unapologetically mine,” Rachel Platten concluded.
Prince William, Kate take surprise step as neighbours raise safety concerns
Prince William and Kate Middleton have made no compromise when it comes to the safety and well-being of their three children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7.
The Kensington Palace announced earlier this month that the Wales family will be moving out of their Adelaide Cottage and relocating to the eight-bedroom property in Windsor, Forest Lodge.
Following the big news, many concerns were raised as many residents living in the vicinity pointed out that the new home sees a lot more passers-by and general public given that it is close to a famous Christmas tree market.
One of the residents of Cranbourne Hall Residential Park, the nearest neighbourhood to Forest Lodge, told Daily Mail that it’s “a less private spot than their previous home”. He expressed that the royal couple has young children and they “deserve privacy”.
However, the Prince and Princess of Wales were well-aware of the situation before making the big decision and this is reflected in the strict measures they had taken beforehand.
Two families living in the cottages next to Forest Lodge have been asked to vacate and have understood to be offered a different place to live in Windsor. Royal expert dubbed the move to be an unexpected order from the future king and queen for the neighbours.
“Close neighbours have been surprised to be ordered to leave their properties so that no prying eyes can see the Prince and Princess with their children,” royal expert Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News Digital.
It’s understood that there have been no eviction notices issued yet and sources assured to Daily Mail that the tenants have since moved to similar or better housing.
A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against Amazon, targeting its practice of selling digital movies as “purchases” when customers are actually buying limited-time licenses.
The suit, filed in Washington federal court, alleges that Prime Video misleads consumers into believing they own the content, while access can be revoked at any time.
The case highlights a broader issue in the digital media landscape: what consumers buy online is often not permanent ownership but rather a license to view. For example, a director’s cut of Alien on Prime Video could be replaced with a different version, or removed entirely if Amazon loses the licensing rights.
Critics argue this lack of transparency undermines consumer trust.
The lawsuit also references past concerns about digital transactions, including the 2023 California gaming controversy where players lost access to The Crew after Ubisoft shut down servers.
Advocates argue that physical media like DVDs still offer a clear ownership model, bypassing the complexities of licensing agreements.
Amazon’s defense in prior legal challenges has relied on the claim that consumers are aware digital content is licensed, not owned, and that its disclosures, often in fine print, are sufficient.
However, the new lawsuit contends these notices are not prominently displayed and violate California’s 2025 law requiring clear acknowledgment of revocable licenses.
The complaint alleges violations of California’s unfair competition, false advertising, and consumer legal remedies laws, seeking unspecified damages, including disgorgement of profits and punitive compensation.
Consumer rights lawyers assert that the case could reshape how digital media transactions are marketed, potentially compelling companies to be more transparent about the difference between a purchase and a license.
When Jean-Luc Godard’s debut feature, Breathless, exploded on to cinema screens in 1960, it was heralded as an instant classic. However, his directorial career did not start with Breathless, but rather five years earlier with Operation Concrete, a remarkable documentary with an even more poignant backstory.
In 1953, when Godard’s mother, Odile, sent him to work as a labourer on the construction of the Grande Dixence dam in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, it represented a desperate last throw of the dice for her wayward 22-year-old kleptomaniac son.
Godard had returned to Switzerland to avoid being drafted into the Indochina war, but quickly found himself in trouble again. “He had this long period of repeated adolescent bad behaviour that his family had indulged but which eventually got him thrown in jail in Switzerland,” says Prof Ginette Vincendeau, co-editor of The French New Wave.
Uncertain whether he needed to be punished or cured, his father had placed him in a psychiatric clinic. Thanks to his mother’s intervention he was freed to work on something like a military camp in a remote south-west corner of Switzerland, on what would become Europe’s tallest dam.
The potential for a documentary about this epic construction project crystallised as Godard began working his punishing shifts. The highly publicised example of the Hoover dam, which helped lift the US out of the Great Depression, had set in train a wave of similarly monumental postwar projects in Europe. Godard’s film, Operation Concrete, would (as with so much of his later work) give an American story a European flavour.
After a year in purgatory, Godard used family connections to move to an office job, borrow a camera and attract the attention of management. The aim was to make a spectacular promotional film that could also be sold to television. In disgrace, Godard was finally seizing his opportunity. All you needed to make a film was a glacier and the world’s largest gravity dam.
Gives an American story a European flavour … Operation Concrete. Photograph: Gaumont
On the face of it, Operation Concrete belongs to a genre of celebratory industrial cinema, a cinema that sought to fuse technological and aesthetic ambition. “Documentation of a major construction or engineering enterprise is a recurring genre within industrial film,” says Patrick Russell, senior curator of nonfiction at the British Film Institute. “Although mainly peopled by highly talented specialists, industrial film-making has also provided a training ground for film-makers such as Robert Altman, Lindsay Anderson and even Christopher Nolan.”
Conditions were extremely tough. The film relays how construction had to be done against the clock; for most of the year the weather was too cold for the concrete to set. Bursts of building had to be squeezed into short summer months. This elongated process also made for a peculiar project: Operation Concrete would be finished and in circulation six years before the dam was finally completed in 1961.
Operation Concrete is also a film that could only have been made in the early-mid century. Its excited ambience belongs to the world of Unité d’Habitation designed by Le Corbusier – another giant Franco-Swiss figure. This was a time when concrete was still imbued with “good” qualities, when it was celebrated as a material for realising visionary architectural ambitions. There is a stark shift in tone between Operation Concrete and Godard’s portrait of Paris’s dismal concrete suburbs in Two or Three Things I Know About Her in 1967, 12 years later. Operation Concrete belongs to a time before the advent of “the concrete jungle”.
Visually, the film borrows from the kind of propaganda films that Godard watched as a young man in the arthouse cinemas of Lausanne: the works of Eisenstein, Turin, Dziga Vertov. Rather than beginning with a factual frame, Godard’s film shoves its exposition in the middle and then surrounds it with intense and occasionally near-delirious sequences of imagery. There’s no aversion to the poetic taking precedence over the objective.
“We can already see in the film some of what set Godard apart,” says Prof Brian Jacobson, an expert on French industrial film and author of The Cinema of Extractions. “He finds the machines that move and the men taking daring action, and he moves his camera to emphasise shifts in scale, and to inject dynamism into the more mundane parts of the work.”
With hindsight, it’s possible to perceive elements of Godard’s mature style in embryo. As well as jump-cuts, contrapuntalaudio and a cast of proto Jean-Paul Belmondos, Godard seems to conceptualise the construction site as working something like an enormous film shoot.
The cast of ‘proto Jean-Paul Belmondos’ in Operation Concrete. Photograph: Gaumont
But the self-consciousness and the Soviet envy are tempered by Godard’s distinctive voiceover, a disarmingly sincere pean to the fact of the dam’s construction. There is evidence of some reflection here; like a kind of diarist, Godard was recording the different roles he had played in the dam’s construction, from labourer to telephone operator. Perhaps there was also some sort of redemption.
The immediate psychological context that informed the film’s production was even more important. In May 1954, Odile died in a scooter accident. When the call came through to the dam, Godard was reportedly working as an operator on the telephone. Estranged from his family, Godard was banned from the funeral on account of his history of stealing from friends, relatives and former employers. He wrote the outline of Operation Concrete with Jean-Pierre Laubscher, his mother’s much younger lover, then worked at nights and weekends after Odile’s death to complete the film by the end of 1954.
With the money he was paid for this out-of-hours project, Godard was able to quit his job, return to Geneva, and begin working on a new short : A Flirtatious Woman, based on a Maupassant short story. While he would never make another formal documentary, his subsequent works often drew heavily on the traditions of photojournalism, made use of “real people” as actors, and freely sucked source material from the news media into his scripts.
In making a film about the building of a dam, Godard had drawn a line in his life and career. From exile in the mountains, he returned to the city as an independent film-maker. The idea of recuperating in the fresh Swiss air is an old one, but in Valais, Godard really did catch his breath.
The new Netflix limited series Hostage debuted with strong reviews, but viewers don’t seem to have the same opinion of the show.
Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy lead the political thriller, which has been number one on Netflix this weekend after dropping all five episodes on August 21.
Here’s the show’s synopsis: “When the British Prime Minister’s husband is kidnapped and the visiting French President is blackmailed, the two political leaders both face unimaginable choices. Forced into a fierce rivalry where their political futures, and lives, might hang in the balance, can they work together to uncover the plot that threatens them both?”
Suranne Jones, best known for starring in the HBO series Gentleman Jack, leads the new show and also serves as executive producer.
“I’m thrilled to be on Netflix, in something I’m really proud of,” Suranne told Tudum. “It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. We’d talked about projects previously, but for me, it was about finding the right thing. Hostage was perfect — me and [writer Matt Charman] together, backed up by this brilliant, supportive team. I loved it.”
Sophie Turner opens up about ‘profound impact’ of social media
Sophia Turner is lifting the lid on how social media affected her mental health during her early days of fame.
The actress got popular with her role in the Game of Thrones series in 2011, it was the time when social media was hitting users at a fast pace.
Sophie now confessed that her debut role as Sansa Stark in the HBO fantasy series got her spotlight during the rise of social networking sites, and it was destructive to her mental well-being.
“I think social media was just really becoming a big thing after I started on Game Of Thrones,” she told FLAUNT magazine.
“So I got a couple of years of peace and quiet and then I had to adjust,” she noted.
“It had such a profound impact on my mental health, like more than I could tell you, it almost destroyed me on numerous occasions,” Sophie admitted.
This confession came after Sophie recently shutdown mom shaming comments after she went out on a girls’ night out without her kids.
In an Instagram post in which Sophie shared insights of her enjoying the Oasis concert at London’s Wembley Stadium earlier in August, a fan wrote under her post, “Lmfao I think she has forgotten that she has two kids.”
The Game of Thrones star stayed silent and responded, writing, “Ah, I’m so sorry, sometimes, I forget some people can’t think for themselves.”
She sarcastically cleared that she is not the only parent of her kids and has shared custody with their father, “So, get this … There’s this crazy thing called shared custody.”
For the unversed, Sophie is mom to two daughters, Willa and Delphine, whom she shares with ex-husband Joe Jonas.
Brittany Cartwright finds comfort in new love amid divorce drama
Brittany Cartwright and her new beau are going through the same situation as both are in the middle of ending their previous marriages.
After Cartwright revealed to People that she is dating a new man, named Brandon Hanson, a source privy to the outlet shared that both are going through similar situation, separation from their estranged partners.
The Valley star’s “new relationship comes at a time as they both are experiencing similar life changes.”
The tipster noted that Cartwright and Hanson are in the process of getting divorced from their ex-partners.
“Like Brittany, he is going through a divorce, and he and his ex have been separated for the past seven months,” the insider shared.
And their similar experience is also one of the reasons that they are connecting “well.”
“They reconnected well after he had already been separated,” the tattler added.
“The two have found comfort in each other as they’ve been navigating their respective divorces and personal life changes,” the bird chirped.
This came after Hanson’s ex Jasina Stanko called out Cartwright’s new beau on TikTok under posts about the new couple’s “date night.”
She claimed in the comment section that Hanson is her husband and added in another comment, “That man is married.”
One user asked, “U dated him too?,” she replied, “I married him. You know him?”
On August 21, at the End of Summer Soirée in Los Angeles, Cartwright attended the event with Hanson and her friend Kristen Doute told the outlet she has given her seal of approval to Cartwright to date Hanson
“She’s dated people during her single years since her ex-husband [Jax Taylor], and I have not approved of them. They’ve been fine, but not wonderful. This person is very wonderful and very cool. Very family-feeling.”
Meghan Markle changes strategy of her show after ‘unwise start’
Meghan Markle is reportedly adopting a more down-to-earth strategy in the upcoming season of her lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan, according to royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.
The second season, set to premiere on Netflix on August 26, promises to showcase Meghan’s more relatable side.
Fitzwilliams believes that the decision to film both seasons concurrently was “unwise, because you can’t pick up any criticism.”
However, it appears that the editing process has been tweaked in response to the backlash from the first season. “It was only a minute, two minutes that we saw, but the way it was tweaked was obviously a response to criticism,” Fitzwilliams claimed.
The trailer for season two presents a more down-to-earth Meghan, with the Duchess engaging in everyday activities like cooking and chatting with celebrity guests.
The commentator noted that Meghan seemed more responsive to her guests, saying, “The trailer seemed a great deal more down-to-earth. I think she is a bit more responsive (to guests)… Meghan appeared to be receptive to the views of others.”
This shift in approach aims to showcase Meghan’s more relatable side.
The upcoming season features an impressive lineup of celebrity guests, including:
Celebrity Chefs:
David Chang
Samin Nosrat
Christina Tosi
Clare Smyth
Fashion and Beauty Experts:
Tan France
Daniel Martin (makeup artist)
Other Guests:
Chrissy Teigen
Heather Dorak (fitness instructor)
Jamie Kern Lima (entrepreneur)
The second season of With Love, Meghan marks a new chapter in Meghan’s journey as a lifestyle influencer.
With her renewed deal with Netflix, Meghan is betting big on her ability to connect with audiences and showcase her more down-to-earth persona. Will this new approach pay off, or will it fall flat? The world will be watching on August 26.
