January is dawning very quietly for the Wales family—at least from what we can see. William and Kate (and children) have not been seen since Christmas morning. I had hoped that we’d get pictures of them on New Year’s Eve at church. But of the senior royals, only the King and Queen were at St. Mary Magdalene on December 31st.
Now I am holding out for a house party at Anmer Hall for Kate’s birthday that sees her walk to church this weekend, maybe with members of the Middleton family. How fun would it be if James, Alizee and their little one joined? For all we know, the family is on vacation somewhere tropical, but I suspect they are cocooning at Anmer Hall and enjoying a quiet start to the year.
For the royals generally, January is not off to a great start. On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, various documents from the Guiffre v. Maxwell defamation case in the Southern District of New York we unredacted or unsealed, revealing the identities of some of the John Does in that suit.
As most of you know, I have very limited interest in the Epstein story. I don’t think there will ever be real accountability for the people to whom all these young women were trafficked. I applaud those working to push the ball forward, but for myself, there are a lot of problems in the world, and the Epstein case just isn’t one that has my focus. I am interested in Prince Andrew’s part only in so far as it affects the British royals (and that interview he did—wow, some of the most incredible tv I have ever seen).
That said, a few notes of interest.