Royal Family LIVE: Kensington Palace issues brand new Kate Middleton update

Kensington Palace has revealed that the Princess of Wales will be hosting a very special reception later this week.

It has been announced that she will hold an event for the Red Roses at Windsor Castle to celebrate their Rugby World Cup win. Kate is patron of the Rugby Football Union and will be joined by the England women’s rugby team at the historic royal residence on Thursday.

The players and the team’s staff will be given a tour of the castle before joining Kate at the gathering to show off their trophy. The Red Roses beat Canada 33-13 in the World Cup final in September, watched by a record 81,885 people who filled a sold-out Allianz Stadium in Twickenham.

Kate and the Prince of Wales shared their congratulations, hailing the new champions.The players will bring along their World Cup trophy to show Kate and join her for a team photo.

Prince Harry ‘to make MAJOR gesture to King Charles’

Prince Harry is set to extend a major ‘olive branch’ to his father King Charles, it is claimed.

The Duke of Sussex – who has spent only a few minutes alone with his dad since stepping back as a working royal in 2020 – is said to be offering him a special role at the Invictus Games when it returns to the UK next year.

It means the father and son could appear on stage together at the opening ceremony at the NEC in Birmingham next June, marking a significant thawing in their relationship after years of near-silence.

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The King and Prince Harry in 2018 (PA)

Kate sets herself major new goal

The Princess of Wales has set herself a new goal to promote “the power of creativity” to bring families and communities together.

The future queen wants to combine her personal experience recovering from cancer, where she immersed herself in nature to aid her treatment, with her role as patron of arts organisations to inspire people to prioritise their well-being.

Mum-of-three Kate is working with royal aides to create a new programme of public engagements, as well as specific projects for the coming year, which will centre on highlighting the importance of connection and quality human relationships.

Full story here.

The Princess of Wales (Getty Images)

Meghan Markle ‘plans to return to UK with Harry this summer’

Meghan Markle is reportedly set to return to Britain for the first time in four years later this year as she support Prince Harry at the Invictus Games.

The Duchess of Sussex is set to visit one of the events in Birmingham on July 10, if their security is approved, it has been revealed. It would be her first time back since attending Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022.

It comes as Harry is set to hear the result of his taxpayer-funded security review. Ravec is a committee of police, royal, and government experts that is reviewing the Duke of Sussex’s bid for taxpayer-funded armed security.

Full story here.

Meghan Markle is set to return to the UK for the first time in nearly half a decade (Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)

Prince Harry’s ex arrested

A former lover of Prince Harry has been arrested for allegedly leaving a Majorca hotel without paying a bill of nearly £450.

Reality TV star Catherine Ommanney, 53, was held yesterday afternoon on suspicion of fraud after a hotel manager reported her to police in the morning. She was accused of leaving the three star Playas del Rey Hotel in the popular resort of Santa Ponsa near Magaluf without settling a bill totalling more than €500 (£434) for a nine-day stay.

Prince William hires crisis manager as Meghan ‘plans return trip to UK with Harry’

The Prince of Wales has hired a crisis management expert as the royal family navigates Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s fall from grace and its fragile relationship with the Sussexes.

It’s a bold move from the future King, who is putting his trust in the new staffer to help ride the wave of scrutiny the monarchy faces. The new hire is Liza Ravenscroft, who was once described as ‘bulletproof sunshine’ by a previous boss.

She has been recruited from communications company Edelman, where she runs the UK Crisis & Issues team, working “arm in arm with big names facing their toughest times”

Full story here.

Prince William (Getty)

Amanda Seyfried jaw-dropping reaction as she’s ‘robbed’ of Golden Globe win

The Mean Girls actress appeared to grimace after losing out to Rose Byrne for Best Performance by an Actress

A clip of Mean Girls actress Amanda Seyfried has gone viral after cameras caught her in a series of awkward reactions at the Golden Globes.

The actress appeared to grimace and looked visibly disappointed when she lost the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a musical or comedy to Rose Byrne.

The video showed Amanda – who was nominated for The Testament of Ann Lee – pulling a face before forcing a smile and applauding the winner.

Viewers were quick to comment on the star’s reaction on social media, with one commenting that it was “the best thing I’ve seen all night”.

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They wrote: “Amanda Seyfried not paying attention and preemptively clapping because she probably didn’t think she’d win is the best thing I’ve seen all night. I love her.”

Another added “my favorite 2x loser Amanda Seyfried,”, while another chimed in: “Amanda Seyfried has been robbed again.”

It was a disappointing night for Amanda, who also lost to Michelle Williams for Best Actress in a limited series.

Cameras appeared to catch her clapping before the winner was even revealed and mouthing what some viewers believed to be ‘she’s not even here’ when Michelle was announced as the winner.

It was an eventful night in Los Angeles. Owen Cooper, star of Netflix hit Adolescence, made Golden Globes history after securing Best Supporting Male Actor – the youngest winner in the award ceremony’s history.

At a mere 16 years old, Cooper shattered a record that had stood since 2010, when Glee star Chris Colfer won the same accolade at age 20.

Taking to the stage at the 83rd annual Golden Globes bash in Los Angeles, the fresh-faced Brit expressed gratitude to his family, friends and castmates – before delving into his remarkable journey from complete unknown to award-winner.

The teen disclosed he’d never acted in anything prior to landing the role, confessing he pushed himself into what he termed “embarrassing” acting classes – where he was the only boy. But he persevered, took a punt on himself, and on Sundaynight found himself standing on a Hollywood stage clutching one of the industry’s most prestigious awards.

As the enormity of the moment sunk in, Cooper paused mid-speech, his voice wavering with emotion. But instead of an awkward silence, the ballroom burst into applause as the industry rallied behind its newest – and youngest – star.

And it wasn’t a walk in the park. Cooper triumphed over some serious competition, including co-star Ashley Walters for Adolescence, Billy Crudup for The Morning Show, Jason Isaac for The White Lotus, Tramell Tillman for Severance, and Walton Goggins for The White Lotus to bag the trophy.

The British Netflix sensation Adolescence also swept up nominations across the board, with nods for Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty, and Best Television Limited Series.

This victory also makes Cooper the second-youngest male Golden Globe winner ever – outdone only by Ricky Schroder, who clinched the award at just nine years old in 1980.

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Call the Midwife’s Helen George addresses the issue of her ‘missing’ husband

As the series returns for its 15th run on BBC1, some viewers were left wondering what is really going on with her love life

Helen Geroge has addressed concern about her ‘missing’ husband.

In Call the Midwife, viewers have not seen one glimpse of Trixie’s husband Matthew Aylward since March 2024, when the character moved to New York to try and solve his financial woes.

Since then Helen George’s character has jetted between London and the US to see her long-distance husband and her young stepson Jonty. Now some fans are questioning how it will all pan out, with Helen George having been in the BBC1 series since the very start, in 2012, and actor Olly Rix having left more than two years ago.

And there’s no prospect of him returning. As many viewers know, he is now firmly ensconced within Holby General as Casualty’s Dr Flynn Byron. The writer of Call the Midwife, Heidi Thomas, has already cleverly signalled to viewers that they should not expect to see any sign of Matthew during this 15th series.

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“Matthew has to stay in New York until autumn,” Trixie told her nurse pals around the table at Nonnatus House, as she announced she was also free for midwifery dories. “Jonty’s starting pre-prep in Easter, I needed to get him home and settled.”

So that explains why Trixie is happily living in Poplar, where she is delivering babies, getting stuck in to the Women’s Lib movement and also battling for the future of Nonnatus alongside Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter), white Matthew stays firmly on the other side of the Atlantic.

Asked if it felt weird for her play a character with an absent husband, Helen said she was fine with it. “Look, marriages function in lots of ways and we can all think they’re strange from the outside but they function well from within.”

She says that, in her head, Trixie quite likes the arrangement – even though the couple weren’t even in the same place for Christmas. “I think it gives us space that she can come back to Nonnatus and do what she wants because she’s got this double life of being Lady Aylward but also coming back to the heart of her life and doing the thing that she loves the most, which is midwifery.

“She’s able to put on a fancy hat and go to lovely events with Matthew but then also to be cleaning up sick and baby poo.”

But there are some who feel that Matthew’s absence is growing ever harder to explain for the BBC drama, and must – at some point – reach a conclusion in which the couple live together again or split.

In the storyline, from series 13, Matthew had accumulated company debt of more than £250,000, which saw him stripped of his seat on the board and his salary stopped. For a while they managed on Trixie’s nurses wages alone, but then an old schoolfriend offered Matthew an opportunity in New York, to try and build a business out there.

At the time, Helen said that because it was the 1970s, he felt a huge need to be the main breadwinner and it drove a wedge between them. “Because of the time he feels the pressure and the need to take the responsibility for fiscal responsibility on without including her. And she’s such a collective, community-driven person that she wants to be involved. She wants to be involved in the decisions and has a very modern outlook on this idea of a relationship. He’s very much into the notion of the man solves the problem, I will sort this, and that’s hard.” After that they settled on the current arrangement of her travelling back and forth.

Helen’s own love life has been similarly complicated. She was married to fellow actor Oliver Boot in 2011 but they divorced in 2015. She then had a long-term relationship – and two daughters – with her Call the Midwife co-star Jack Ashton (Reverend Tom Hereward) from 2016 until they separated in 2023.

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Now she is a year into a relationship with businessman Dan Innes. Speaking last month she said it was going well, telling a magazine: “It’s a very happy relationship. It’s lovely to be with someone outside the industry. I’m not defined by my job, and I’m really interested in meeting the people he works with.”

JD Sports shares major change it thinks is ‘the future of how people will shop’

The move comes amid the growing use of AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Copilot

JD Sports has announced big changes. It plans to enable shoppers to purchase items directly through AI platforms without needing to exit these apps. It marks the latest move by a prominent retailer in responding to consumers’ growing adoption of AI platforms like ChatGPT and Copilot.

The sportswear retailer’s technology chief told the Press Association that the company views AI as ‘the future of how people will shop’ and JD aims to lead the way with this technology. JD revealed it is collaborating with Commercetools and payments company Stripe to facilitate ‘one-click purchases’ via AI platforms.

The firm said it will roll out the technology in the United States within the coming months. JD then aims to expand this across other territories, but will adapt to varying regulatory frameworks in different countries as governments respond to AI developments.

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Jetan Chowk, JD’s chief technology and transformation officer, said: “We think AI is the future of how people will shop, and we want to stay at the forefront of how they shop.

“What we are currently seeing is that customers are regularly using AI apps to research and discover the products they want to buy. We can see that already and want to ensure we are moving early to meet customers and their needs in that space.”

Mr Chowk noted that they have witnessed a surge in AI adoption, particularly among the chain’s primary customer base of 18 to 24-year-olds. The rollout will initially integrate with Microsoft Copilot before expanding to other major large language models (LLMs).

US customers will have the ability to locate and purchase JD Sports products using the AI platforms for the entire shopping process, including integrated payments.

Regis Schultz, group chief executive of JD Sports Fashion, said: “This strengthens our digital proposition for customers, and keeps us moving in line with the fast-changing retail landscape.

“We see AI as a real opportunity to improve our customers’ experience with JD, as well as making our own operations more efficient, and so I’m really pleased that with this big step forward we are putting our words into action.”

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Did Marlon Brando father Michael Jackson’s son? Bombshell new paternity claims over Blanket

New rumours are swirling over the paternity of Michael Jackson’s youngest son, Blanket, with some suggesting he was fathered by Hollywood icon, Marlon Brando

Hollywood legend, Marlon Brando, may be the father of Michael Jackson’s youngest son, according to explosive new claims.

Mystery has surrounded the paternity of the superstar singer’s three kids, Prince, 28, Paris, 27, and Blanket, 23, for decades, with many claiming Michael was not their biological father.

After the Billie Jean star’s devastating split from Lisa Marie Presley, former nurse, Debbie Rowe offered to have his children. They married in 1996, she became pregnant and then they divorced in 1999 before Michael took full custody of the kids. The Thriller legend’s youngest son, Blanket, now known as Bigi, was later born via an unknown surrogate in 2002. And it’s now been claimed that he was secretly fathered by Godfather star, Brando, through sperm donation.

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Claiming it’s “all kicked off” at the Jackson estate, after it was claimed that Michael was “unable” to father children himself, a source told The Sun: “People have said for years that Michael used sperm donors. And that’s pretty much accepted as a fact these days, despite what the Jackson family might have said publicly in the past.

“But what hasn’t been said until recently is that Marlon Brando was among the people who helped him become a dad because he was unable do it himself. They were both megastars and very close, so they had a lot of trust between them. That’s why it has stayed quiet for so long, but a handful of people close have always known.

“It has all kicked off within the wider Jackson estate quite recently. Everyone is trying to get their heads around it.”

Brando, who is known to have fathered at least 11 children of his own, had complex personal life — and, like Michael, chose to keep his kids away from the spotlight, instead bringing them up on his secluded private island in Tahiti.

The new paternity bombshell surrounded the screen legend is said to stem from sources close to the Jackson family, who claim that Brando, who died in 2004, may have stepped in to help his close pal, Michael.

There’s no denying that the actor bears a striking resemblance to Bigi, who was born via surrogate in February 2002.

Marlon and Michael, who who died of acute propofol intoxication in 2009, were famously close. The actor’s son, Miko, had worked alongside the singer as a bodyguard for many years and also appeared in his 2001 music video for You Rock My World.

He has revealed how much of his father’s later years were spent at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in California with his Smooth Criminal pal.

Thanking Michael for helping his father before he died, he said: “The last time my father left his house to go anywhere, to spend any kind of time, it was with Michael Jackson. Michael was instrumental helping my father through the last few years of his life. For that, I will always be indebted to him.”

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Stephen Graham tells fans to ‘stay tuned’ for Adolescence sequel after Golden Globes wins

Netflix’s Adolescence swept the Golden Globes, with Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty and Owen Cooper all winning and now there could be a second series

Stephen Graham has hinted fans of Adolescence should “stay tuned” for a potential second series.

The Netflix limited series star spoke behind the scenes following the show’s triumphant night at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards, where it scooped four gongs, and offered insight into what he and co-creator Jack Thorne are thinking about the programme’s future.

When quizzed about the likelihood of another series, Stephen told journalists in the Winners’ Room: “I cannot answer that question because it’s somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind and Jack’s mind, and we’ll pull it out in three or four years, so stay tuned.”

The drama featured 16-year-old Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller, a teenager suspected of murder, with Stephen portraying his father Eddie.

During last night’s awards bash, Adolescence clinched Best Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Television Motion Picture, whilst several cast members secured individual honours.

Stephen took home Best Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television, and co-star Erin Doherty – in the role of Briony Ariston – earned Best Supporting Female Actor.

Owen Cooper secured the Best Supporting Male Actor trophy, becoming the youngest ever victor in the supporting TV categories.

This achievement also positioned him as the second youngest male Golden Globe winner in history, just behind Ricky Schroder, who was a mere nine years old when he received the New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture award for his performance in The Champ in 1990.

During his acceptance speech, Owen confessed: “Standing here at the Golden Globe does not feel real, whatsoever. What an incredible journey me and my family have been put through.

“We are forever grateful… I thought, I might be okay, I might be awful, I never know. So, I took a risk, and I went to drama classes. I was the only boy there. It was embarrassing, but I got through it.

“I’m still very much an apprentice. I’m still learning every day, I’m still learning from the people that are sat in front of me, that inspired me. It’s mad what’s going on.”

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Black comedy-thriller film One Battle After Another and Adolescence were the big winners at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards. Adolescence scooped Best Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Television Motion Picture, and stars Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty bagged acting honours, taking Best Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television, Best Supporting Male Actor and Best Supporting Female Actor respectively.

The Studio had a double win, with Seth Rogen named Best Male Actor – Comedy or Musical and the show also taking Best Musical or Comedy Series.