The Royalist

The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast
  • 4.0 (131)
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They have glittering palaces, unreal fortunes, medieval crowns, and weird traditions. But what really makes the British royal family tick? Hidden secrets, unreal scandals, bitter feuds, wild rivalries, fantastic fashion… and, of course, corgis. Now Tom Sykes, the royal correspondent whose fearless reporting has delivered scoop after scoop on the Windsors is cracking open all the family’s secrets in an unmissable podcast: The Royalist. Nothing is off limits as Tom and his best-connected experts spill every drop of royal tea. From paranoid princes and disgraced dukes to haunted palaces and diva designers, this is insight into the royals people used to lose their heads to get. Make a royal appointment to join Tom in the throne room for The Royalist, every Wednesday.

  1. 4h ago

    LIVE: Now Meghan Blames William and Catherine For Covering Up HER DAD'S Alleged Crimes

    When the news broke last week that Thomas Markle had been accused of hoarding a stash of child sex abuse material, a certain kind of comment piece went round the, ahem, progressive end of the media almost instantly. The headlines were all variations on the same theme: how long before Meghan’s father allegedly hoarding pedophile material turned out to be "Meghan’s fault?" Not long, was the implication, if the wicked tabloids had anything to do with it. A week on, there is an alternative spin on offer, and it is coming from the Sussexes’ new house magazine, The Telegraph, and what it looks very much like, to my eye, is Meghan’s side trying to lump at least some of the blame for what happened to that letter onto William and Catherine. The same double standard runs through everything. In February 2020 they announced that by giving up public funds they had removed the “supposed ‘public interest’ justification for media intrusion.” In September this year their office issued a media advisory headed “PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX SEPTEMBER PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS,” and their friends briefed that they are public figures, not private citizens. They are whichever suits the day. And so it is with the letter: private when it protects her, public when it convicts the press, and now, apparently, a matter for the wider royal household when the question turns to who sat on it. I find the choice of vehicle fascinating. This is The Telegraph that last week fired around 100 staff as its new owner, Axel Springer (which bought the paper in June for £575 million), announced its intention to turn it into a “global, AI-powered premium media and intelligence business.” I called that a Slopbait factory in a Substack Note last night, and I stand by the coinage (neologisms are what Substack is for). Any tidbit about Harry and Meghan drives traffic, and what we appear to be watching is a paper abandoning basic journalistic principles and taking what it is fed on trust from a team that has been shown, again and again, to be highly manipulative and to say things that are not true when it suits them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    LIVE: Now Meghan Blames William and Catherine For Covering Up HER DAD'S Alleged Crimes

  2. 1d ago

    LIVE: Palace Cover-Up? Met Police Admit Failures Over Thomas Markle Abuse Letter

    First, the Metropolitan Police has referred itself to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, over its handling of the January 2019 letter in which Thomas Markle’s first wife, Roslyn Loveless, accused him of child sex offenses. That is the Met admitting, in its own words, that it got this wrong. Not in a lost-the-paperwork way (although it did lose the paperwork, we’ll come to that). Wrong in two specific decisions that the watchdog is now going to investigate. Second, and this is the one that should be setting off alarms at Buckingham Palace: Richard Eden in the Daily Mail reports today that there is growing concern inside the Palace about what the Met’s review is going to uncover, and that a royal source has told him it is “unthinkable” the Royal Household was not told about that letter at the time. The source’s argument is simple. Harry and Meghan would not have been handed something like this on their own. The police had a duty to inform the Palace, and the source says they will have done so. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    LIVE: Palace Cover-Up? Met Police Admit Failures Over Thomas Markle Abuse Letter

  3. 1d ago

    LIVE: BREAKING King Pays Price For Bringing Harry Back In Devastating New Poll

    Please remember to like and subscribe! Check out my Substack: https://theroyalist.substack.com/ Check out my new book - The Dukes / Dukes of Hazard - here!: United States: https://a.co/d/0gmvpeQz Australia: https://amzn.asia/d/01Y4mpkj UK: https://amzn.eu/d/01mSqQKa And come to the launch party!: Ireland https://luma.com/8mthatr8 NYC https://luma.com/zlval2ce London https://luma.com/kj60msvh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    LIVE: BREAKING King Pays Price For Bringing Harry Back In Devastating New Poll

  4. 2d ago

    LIVE: Lying Then, or Lying Now? Meghan’s Father Scandal Just Blew Up Her Oprah Story

    Either Meghan believed in 2019 that her father was a pedophile, in which case she lied to Oprah about what was really tormenting her, or she didn’t, in which case last week’s statement was pure opportunism. There is no third option. In this video I lay out why the Sussexes’ handling of the Thomas Markle allegations (which he denies, and which are a matter for the courts) has turned whatever sympathy initially flowed Meghan’s way into something close to disgust. The whole story hinges on a letter, allegedly sent to the Metropolitan Police in January 2019 by Thomas Markle’s first wife, Roslyn Loveless, accusing him of traveling to the Philippines for sex with children. A copy, we are told, reached Harry and Meghan via their bodyguards. Meghan now says that letter is the one reason she cut off her father and kept him away from Archie and Lili. Yet the police lost it, had to ask the Sussexes for a copy, and then dated it to 2019 rather than 2018, at which point Meghan’s much-vaunted record keeping fell apart and her spokesman had to correct her. So why did nobody follow up? Meghan had five police officers around her for another year. She allowed friends to tell People magazine, a month after the letter supposedly arrived, that she had written to her father: “I love you. I have one father. Please stop victimizing me through the media.” Harry praised Thomas in Spare. Her lawyers blamed the tabloids for the estrangement. Everybody’s actions suggest neither the Met nor Meghan found the letter credible. And if she did believe it? Then she sat opposite Oprah and blamed her suicidal ideation on racist press coverage and a heartless royal family (the bridesmaids’ dresses, the lip gloss, the sofa) while saying nothing about a father she was convinced was an abuser. That narrative built a global brand. A pedophile father would have destroyed it. Meanwhile Meghan has launched a $550 As Ever “Library basket,” signed up for MasterChef Australia, and let staff brief that she has fled the UK in tears. The public verdict is in, and it is grim. In Spare, Harry raged at William for urging him to take his time getting to know “this girl.” If only he had. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    LIVE: Lying Then, or Lying Now? Meghan’s Father Scandal Just Blew Up Her Oprah Story

  5. 2d ago

    The Thomas Markle Bombshell Meghan Can’t Escape

    The latest allegations surrounding Thomas Markle, Meghan Markle’s estranged father, are raising new questions about one of the royal family’s most publicized family feuds. On this episode of The Royalist, Tom Sykes examines the disputed claims, a letter from 2019, and the complicated circumstances surrounding Meghan’s estrangement from her father. Could this overlooked chapter change how we understand Meghan’s account of the family feud—and the events that shaped her relationship with the royal family? Plus, Tom sits down with Paula Froelich ( @PaulaFroelich  , https://thescoopwithpaulafroelich.substack.com/) to discuss Prince William’s appearance on The Graham Norton Show and why the Prince of Wales made such a strong impression. Follow Tom Sykes on Substack: https://theroyalist.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  6. 3d ago

    LIVE: Bungling British Police LOST Letter Warning Them About Meghan’s Dad

    The Metropolitan Police, the force charged with protecting the royal family, has had to go cap in hand to Meghan Markle and ask whether she still had a copy of a letter it was sent in 2019, because it had lost its own. That letter, according to The Times and The Telegraph, was written by Roslyn Loveless, the late ex-wife of Thomas Markle Sr. and the mother of Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr. In January 2019 it was sent to the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, the specialist Scotland Yard unit that assesses risks to the royals, and it contained serious allegations of child sexual offences against Meghan’s father, along with a warning that he could pose a security risk to Meghan, Prince Harry and Doria Ragland. What did the Met do with it? By its own admission, following a review of its systems and records, it decided simply to hand it on to the Sussexes’ office. No referral to other agencies at home or abroad. And then, it appears, the original went missing. Meghan says she was assured at the time that the allegations were being investigated and was told not to discuss them. She has not spoken to her father since. For seven years she has been portrayed as the daughter who coldly cut off a sick old man; it now appears she was sitting on a police warning she had been instructed to keep to herself. The story has resurfaced because Thomas Markle Jr. says he found child abuse images at his father’s home in the Philippines earlier this year and reported him to Philippine police and the FBI. Philippine authorities have confirmed an investigation, and the FBI’s Tampa office is said to have joined it. Thomas Markle Sr. has not been charged with any offence. In this video I go through what the Met knew, what it did (and did not do), why Meghan is reportedly upset and frustrated, and what this does to the narrative of the Markle family feud that has dominated royal coverage since 2018. The Royalist keeps you up to date on all the latest royal news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    LIVE: Bungling British Police LOST Letter Warning Them About Meghan’s Dad

  7. Oct 23

    LIVE: The Markle Story Just Got Far Darker: What Meghan’s Statement Really Means

    The Thomas Markle story has taken its darkest turn yet. The Sun reports that Meghan’s estranged father is under investigation over claims he kept child sexual abuse images at his former home in the Philippines, allegations he flatly denies (he told the Daily Mail they are “sick lies”). The claim is said to have come from his own son, Thomas Markle Jnr, who alleges he found the material at the house his father left after moving there in 2025 following a series of strokes. Now the Duchess of Sussex has broken her silence, and her statement is extraordinary. Meghan says she is “deeply distressed” by what has emerged, but the real bombshell concerns 2018. According to Meghan, a letter was sent that year to the Metropolitan Police and to Royalty and Specialist Protection (the unit that guards the royal family) containing “troubling and disturbing allegations” against her father. That letter was later shared with her, and she says she was assured the claims were being investigated. It is understood she received it in the summer of 2018, in the months after her wedding to Prince Harry that May. That timeline matters. For eight years Meghan’s refusal to speak to her father, and her decision to keep him away from Archie and Lilibet, has been painted as cold, calculating, even cruel. Today she says there was only ever one reason: to protect her children. In this video I go through exactly what Meghan has said, what Thomas Markle has said in his own defence, and the questions this raises for the police, for royal protection officers, and for the palace. What was known in 2018, who knew it, and what, if anything, was done about it? Thomas Markle is now reportedly in a rehabilitation centre in Florida after having his left leg amputated last year. Meghan wrote to him in December after he said he did not want to die estranged from his daughter. Any hope of reconciliation now looks a very long way off. These remain allegations under investigation, not findings, and Thomas Markle denies them in the strongest terms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    LIVE: The Markle Story Just Got Far Darker: What Meghan’s Statement Really Means

  8. Oct 22

    LIVE: BREAKING- Thomas Markle Under Child Abuse Investigation After His SON Turns Him In

    Emergency live. The Sun reports tonight that Thomas Markle Sr., the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father, is under investigation by police in the Philippines over an alleged hoard of child sex abuse images, and that the person who reported him is his own son. Thomas Markle Jr., Meghan’s half-brother and until this week his father’s carer and most loyal defender, has lodged a sworn statement with specialist child abuse officers in Cebu. The Sun’s Nick Parker was with him as he did it. Thomas Jr. says he found “hundreds, if not thousands” of abuse images and videos in four boxes of his father’s belongings, left behind when Thomas Sr. was flown back to the United States in May after losing his leg. Old phones. Three hard drives. Photography books. Film negatives. He says he reported it to the FBI in July, heard nothing, and went back to the boxes himself. The Sun says a task force has been appointed, the boxes are going for forensic examination, and an FBI agent has asked for the Philippine investigators’ details. The police declined to comment. No charges have been brought. Thomas Sr., now in a Florida nursing home being looked after by Samantha, has not responded. And a source close to Meghan has already told The Sun: “Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018.” That quote needs explaining, because nothing in this story suggests Meghan knew anything about what her brother says he found. Which brings me to the part I think matters most. This whole story rests on the word of one Markle about another. Thomas Jr. has a gun arrest, a drunk-driving arrest, a father who once said he “has a serious problem,” a sister who said “he always drank,” and a YouTube rant from last December in which he encouraged people to throw excrement at Meghan. Thomas Sr. has admitted lying on television. Samantha sued her sister and lost. All three have spent eight years monetizing Meghan. None of that makes the allegation untrue. A sworn statement cannot be deleted in the morning, and if those boxes contain what he says they contain, the forensics will prove it. But tonight, nobody outside the Markle family has looked in them. Full write-up in tomorrow morning’s newsletter. Tell me what you make of it in the comments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    LIVE: BREAKING- Thomas Markle Under Child Abuse Investigation After His SON Turns Him In
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They have glittering palaces, unreal fortunes, medieval crowns, and weird traditions. But what really makes the British royal family tick? Hidden secrets, unreal scandals, bitter feuds, wild rivalries, fantastic fashion… and, of course, corgis. Now Tom Sykes, the royal correspondent whose fearless reporting has delivered scoop after scoop on the Windsors is cracking open all the family’s secrets in an unmissable podcast: The Royalist. Nothing is off limits as Tom and his best-connected experts spill every drop of royal tea. From paranoid princes and disgraced dukes to haunted palaces and diva designers, this is insight into the royals people used to lose their heads to get. Make a royal appointment to join Tom in the throne room for The Royalist, every Wednesday.

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