Speaker 1: Calorougu Shark Media had low and welcome through Palace intrigue
Speaker 1: and I'm your host Francis. In an interview with sixty
Speaker 1: Minutes Australia, former Royal Aid Jason nolf has offered a
Speaker 1: rare glimpse into the private anguish experienced by Prince William
Speaker 1: following the cancer diagnosis of the Princess of Wales. Mister Nelf,
Speaker 1: who served as Chief Executive of the Royal Foundation for
Speaker 1: the Prince and Princess at Wales until his departure at
Speaker 1: the end of twenty twenty one, and who has also
Speaker 1: worked for Prince Harry and Meghan Mirkel, recalled a particularly
Speaker 1: heartrending telephone conversation with the Prince. He remarked, within a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, if you're Prince William you find out
Speaker 1: that both your wife and your father have cancer, I
Speaker 1: couldn't believe it. It was awful, absolutely awful. It's the
Speaker 1: lowest I've ever seen him. But the problem was that
Speaker 1: all this crazy conspiracy theory sto kicked off in the
Speaker 1: background online. Was she really ill? But they didn't want
Speaker 1: to say yet that she had cancer because they hadn't
Speaker 1: told the children, and they were still working through how
Speaker 1: to tell the children. It's very difficult to have this
Speaker 1: stuff play out in the public eye, but he's chosen
Speaker 1: to keep his thoughts on it private, and I think
Speaker 1: all of us who know him really have to respect
Speaker 1: that we should do the scene. But I will say,
Speaker 1: of course, it's been hard and sad, especially for all
Speaker 1: of us who know both of them. Nauf did not
Speaker 1: shy away from the past bullying complaint. He lodged against
Speaker 1: Megan Markle, allegations that her team has consistently dismissed as
Speaker 1: a calculated smear campaign. Reflecting on that tumultuous period, he remarked,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't change anything. You probably had to take your
Speaker 1: own medicine. Sometimes you can't choose just to take the
Speaker 1: fun stuff in any job, and that applies to the
Speaker 1: Prince and Princess as well as everyone else working for them.
Speaker 1: In later moments, mister Nolfh recounted a memorable faux pass
Speaker 1: surrounding the announcement of Princess Charlotte's birth than twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: Tasked with drafting the official press release, he confessed to
Speaker 1: having dropped the crucial slip of paper containing the details
Speaker 1: an incident, he described with a mixture of humor and exasperation.
Speaker 1: I had this piece of paper to go write this
Speaker 1: press release, and I think I had dropped it somewhere
Speaker 1: on the street, Oh my god, which we managed to
Speaker 1: get through but not announce it. But somewhere on that
Speaker 1: street the entire time was a piece of paper that
Speaker 1: said there had been a little princess born, what time
Speaker 1: and how much she weighed. He added that despite the chaos,
Speaker 1: neither the media nor he ever recovered that missing document,
Speaker 1: in fact that in the end was of little consequence. Further,
Speaker 1: when the topic shifted to Prince William's recent decision to
Speaker 1: sport a beard, Nouff was professionally candid. I love it.
Speaker 1: I think it's great. But I've talked to him about it,
Speaker 1: or tried to talk to him, and he's like, it's here,
Speaker 1: I have a beard. No further conversation, he revealed, adding
Speaker 1: with a twinkle in his eye, if she didn't like it,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be there. I can tell you that the
Speaker 1: subject of the future, Nouf offered his thoughts on the
Speaker 1: kind of King William might become. He shared, the thing
Speaker 1: I have heard from Prince William is You're going to
Speaker 1: do this in your own way. Every generation of the
Speaker 1: royal family has to reinvent the role for the generation
Speaker 1: that they serve. Addressing the bitter rift between William and
Speaker 1: his brother Harry, Nulf described the situation as hard and sad,
Speaker 1: and stressed the need for a discretion when discussing such
Speaker 1: personal matters. Yet he was unequivocal in wishing Harry and
Speaker 1: Meghan the absolute best, reminiscing fondly about working on their
Speaker 1: wedding a magical experience, he says he will always treasure Meghan.
Speaker 1: Markle now finds herself facing a notable setback over her
Speaker 1: freshly minted as Ever brand documents filed at the United
Speaker 1: States Patent and Trademark Office last October by her legal team,
Speaker 1: sought to secure the right to sell an extensive range
Speaker 1: of products, from aprons and clothing to jams and even
Speaker 1: dog biscuits under the as Ever banner. However, The Daily
Speaker 1: Mail reports, in a one hundred and forty five page
Speaker 1: partial rejection issued in July twenty twenty three, the us
Speaker 1: PTO barred her from selling clothing, citing an unfortunate similarity
Speaker 1: to as Ever, a cut price Chinese Fast Fashioned brand
Speaker 1: based in Shenzen that supplies high street retailers such as
Speaker 1: H and M. The USPTO's decision was unambiguous. It stated
Speaker 1: the marks are identical in sound and virtually identical in appearance,
Speaker 1: and are thus confusingly similar for the purposes of determining
Speaker 1: likelihood of confusion. The accompanying paperwork further noted registration of
Speaker 1: the applied for mark is refused because of a likelihood
Speaker 1: of confusion. In response, Megan's legal team failed a revision
Speaker 1: application in January twenty twenty four one that removed any
Speaker 1: mention of clothing and secured approval for her other product lines.
Speaker 1: Yet sud Just wish to venture into the clothing market
Speaker 1: in the future, she will need to select an entirely
Speaker 1: new brand name. A Los Angeles trademark lawyer said last night.
Speaker 1: If she sells clothing under the as Ever brand, she
Speaker 1: risks being sued. Compounding the matter, the Duchess's original choice,
Speaker 1: American Riviera Orchard, had already been rejected by the USPTO
Speaker 1: on the grounds that geographical names are not eligible for
Speaker 1: trademark registration. Food giant Harry and David further objected, arguing
Speaker 1: that the name was too similar to their royal Riviera
Speaker 1: Lion of Pears. Megan shared new Instagram stories from her picturesque,
Speaker 1: eleven million pound Montecito mansion. The video clips, brimmed with
Speaker 1: relaxed charm, show Megan taking a small break from work
Speaker 1: to soak in the weekend amid the tranquil beauty of
Speaker 1: her sprawling garden. The footage offers a series of glimpses
Speaker 1: into life at the Californian retreat. In one clip, Megan
Speaker 1: is seen smiling warmly at the sun, while another captures
Speaker 1: her tending to her garden, water in hand and assisted
Speaker 1: by one of her children. Other moments include shots of
Speaker 1: a serene pond, the first blooms of the season, and
Speaker 1: even a scene of her squeezing fresh fruit to prepare
Speaker 1: a drink at a large outdoor table. Accompanying these serene
Speaker 1: vignettes is her beloved rescue dog, Mamma Mia, adding a
Speaker 1: further note of homely warmth to the scene. Some believe
Speaker 1: one clip appears to pay tribute to the late Princess Diana.
Speaker 1: In the clip, the Duchess of sussext scene ambling through
Speaker 1: the garden of her Montecito mansion, and in one memorable snippet,
Speaker 1: she dons the iconic purple Northwestern jumper, the very same
Speaker 1: piece famously worn by Diana in nineteen ninety six during
Speaker 1: her visit to Northwestern University's Evanston campus. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: Megan attended Northwestern University, so it's possible a sweatshirt is
Speaker 1: justice sweatshirt pellas Indrigaboro back, a controversial new book is
Speaker 1: casting fresh light on the financial affairs of Prince Andrew,
Speaker 1: and it appears that his business dealings could now be
Speaker 1: posing an immediate problem for the Queen's son. In his
Speaker 1: upcoming work, The Lives of the Duke and Duchess of York,
Speaker 1: author Andrew Lowney, who spent four years meticulously investigating the
Speaker 1: Duke's life, claims that the public image of Prince Andrew
Speaker 1: as a solitary figure content with long horse rides and
Speaker 1: leisurely video games at the royal lodges far from the reality.
Speaker 1: Lowney alleges that the Duke has continued his business activities
Speaker 1: with recent trips to the Middle East and Switzerland, all
Speaker 1: while financing and extravagant lifestyle. The Duke's lavish living arrangements
Speaker 1: are well documented, from occupying a thirty two room royal
Speaker 1: lodge to owning a Swiss chalet reportedly worth eighteen million pounds,
Speaker 1: not to mention a collection of luxury watchers, a two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty thousand pound Bentley, and an array of
Speaker 1: range rovers. Lowneye warns the King can only hope there
Speaker 1: are no further scandals to emerge in the press and
Speaker 1: public soon lose interest in his brother. On present evidence
Speaker 1: that is very unlikely. In addition to scrutinizing Prince Andrew's
Speaker 1: financial conduct, Lowney's research delves into the business affairs of
Speaker 1: his ex wife, Sarah, Duchess of Yorkham, their daughters, Princess
Speaker 1: Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. He also reveals that these significant
Speaker 1: challenges faced in his investigation. According to Lowney, researching Andrew
Speaker 1: has been a remarkably difficult process, despite the expectation that
Speaker 1: there should be thousands of publicly available files relating to
Speaker 1: his decade long role as Special Representative, a period during
Speaker 1: which he was a taxpayer funded public servant. Yet freedom
Speaker 1: of information requests to both the Foreign Office and the
Speaker 1: Department of Business and Trade have repeatedly come back empty handed.
Speaker 1: This opacity is compounded by the additional protection afforded to
Speaker 1: the royal family. As a result, even vital documents such
Speaker 1: as wills remain shrouded in secrecy, a matter that has
Speaker 1: previously sparked controversy following Prince Philip's death. As Loudey points out,
Speaker 1: even the contents of Queen Elizabeth will remain unknown, leaving
Speaker 1: questions about what, if anything, the Queen may have bequeathed
Speaker 1: to Prince Andrew. Lowry's book is set for release later
Speaker 1: this year and they you have it plus email us
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Speaker 1: Mind France has mean Thanks to you, John McDermot. This
Speaker 1: is palace injury good terms,