It appears even Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is a member of the Bey Hive. On Sunday, Markle, alongside her husband Prince Harry, attended the London premiere of The Lion King. And it was there that the British royals met their equally regal American counterparts: Beyoncé and Jay Z.
Rebecca English, a royal reporter for The Daily Mail, happened to get a front-row seat to the two couples meeting and exchanging pleasantries after appearing on the red carpet. And, as English humorously pointed out, it appeared as though there was more security for Beyoncé than there was for the royal pair.
“There’s honestly more security around Beyoncé and Jay-Z than there is around the royals,” she wrote in a tweet showing off the first images of Beyoncé, who stars as Nala in The Lion King, as she steps foot on the carpet.
Then, in her next tweet, English wrote, “I’ve got a feeling this is what you might have been waiting to see,” along with a video of the couples shaking hands and hugging.
The meeting, The Daily Mail pointed out, came just a few months after Beyoncé and Jay-Z paid tribute to Markle by posing for a photo in front of a portrait of the duchess during their BRIT Awards acceptance speech.
Although the duchess is still technically on maternity leave, she reportedly attended in a show of support for one of the royal charitable foundations. The Daily Mail reported that with the release of The Lion King, Disney also announced the launch of a new campaign called Protect the Pride, aimed at raising awareness for the dwindling lion population. That campaign will also be supported by the Royal Foundation.
Whether you’ve pre-coordinated outfits with your pals ahead of a girls’ night out photoshoot or staged a precise coffee/pastry/book shot just so, we’ve all gone the distance for the ‘gram at one time or another. But a look at Mariah Carey‘s recent tweets suggest that the singer may come in first place for Doing the Absolute Most for a photo.
On Friday (July 5), Mimi shared a photo from what looks like a Fourth of July celebration with a popcorn machine. Standard fare for a celebrity barbecue (we suppose) or a neighborhood street fair, until you get a look at how she posed with the object.
Instead of standing next to or in front of the popcorn maker, Carey’s squatting down next to it with her phone held high in the air (and in a bodycon dress and heels—which is something of an athletic feat, in my opinion). Apparently, said popcorn maker had optimal lighting for what looks like a FaceTime call: “Finding my light,” she captioned the picture.
It’s maybe the first time someone has used an old-timey snack machine to hit their best angles. I’m not sure I believe there was no other way for Carey to find her light, but her Lambs thought it was a revolutionary move.
Carey’s Fourth of July festivities weren’t all about MacGyver-ing the perfect light. After sharing her popcorn picture, Carey posted three photos in the same red dress—this time, with her children and only the sun to illuminate her photoshoot. “Dem kids agreed to get off the bouncy house for a minute to take a quick pic with mommy on Fourth of July,” she wrote.
Whether you already have a selfie light on your phone or not, you have to commend Carey for getting creative with her lighting options over the holiday weekend.
Halie LeSavage is a contributing writer at Glamour. Follow her @halielesavage.
It’s a big weekend for baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor: The mini royal is going follow tradition and be christened on Saturday, July 6 at Queen Elizabeth’s private chapel in Windsor Castle. We don’t know a lot about the ceremony itself, however: Archie’s parents, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, reportedly want to keep the day private and reserved for an intimate group of friends and family. They’re even going so far as to keep cameras totally away from the event—minus one royal photographer—versus allowing them to photograph arrivals and departures as they did at Archie’s baptism, a decision that’s causing some controversy. And while the total number of invitees will reportedly be around 25 and include truly the nearest and dearest to little family, there’s one very important figure who will be missing from the day’s events: Archie’s great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Of course, the queen has a very valid excuse to be missing Archie’s milestone day: The royal calendars got crossed. According to The Daily Mail, the Queen had booked this weekend long ago so she could escape to Sandringham for a getaway with her husband, Prince Philip (which is kind of adorable). The paper reports that Meghan and Harry made plans for a Friday, July 5 christening with Markle’s mom, Doria Ragland, and the mystery godparents before discovering that Harry’s dad, Prince Charles, already had plans (he was commemorating a half-century of being Prince of Wales in, well, Wales). So, they pushed it to Saturday, July 6 so Charles could come before finding out that the Queen and Prince Philip had had their visit in the diary for awhile. According to the Mail, the Queen decided to “bow out graciously.”
This isn’t the first time the Queen’s skipped a royal baby life event—she had to miss Prince Louis’ baptism last year, too, and a few other christenings. However, according to the Mail, “it is understood that she would have liked to be present for the first big celebration for Harry’s first child.”
Although it doesn’t sound like we’ll be seeing the Queen in whatever adorable family photos are released from the big day, at least we can take comfort in the fact that even royals, with all their assistants, have trouble getting everyone in the family in the same place at the same time.
No doubt about it, Meghan Markle has had a pretty momentous past year(-ish): She married Prince Harry, received a fancy royal title, gave birth to Baby Archie, and now she’s just a couple of months away from celebrating her 38th birthday. To mark it, Queen Elizabeth II herself is reportedly planning a special party in her honor. According to British tabloid The Sun, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have reportedly been invited to the Queen’s Balmoral estate in Scotland for a few days to celebrate her August 4 birthday, complete with afternoon tea. The mini-break will also likely be Archie’s first royal holiday, according to The Sun.
“The Queen and Prince Philip adore the couple and, of course, their new great-grandson Archie, and they have invited them to Balmoral for a few days,” a source told the British tabloid. “It is a testament to Meghan that she has been given this invite. It’s a huge honor.”
The Sun also mentions the royal catering team will make Markle a cake to ring in her birthday and that the Sussex family will be given their own wing in the estate. But there’s a reason why this invite is an extra-big deal.
“It’s no secret Balmoral is Her Majesty’s favorite home, and that’s why this invite is so special and heartfelt,” the source toldThe Sun.
The invite is equally momentous for Markle, who’s still on maternity leave: This will be her first royal holiday to Balmoral. Her last public appearance was at Trooping the Colour earlier this month, where she joined her husband, as well as Prince William, Kate Middleton, and their three children, in London to officially mark the Queen’s 93rd birthday.
Anwar Hussein/WireImages/Getty Images
Of course, plans could change in the next six weeks—but that’s not going to stop us from checking our mailboxes for this royal party invite in the meantime.
Stand up, Sansa Hive—we finally have a Queen. Game of Thrones took its final bow last night, closing out its eight-year run with a final episode that left many fans scratching their heads.
To recap: Daenerys flattened King’s Landing and was inches from taking the Throne, Jon stabbed her, Drogon burned the Iron Throne to the ground, and then a counsel of Westerosi leaders picked the first chosen King of the Seven (now Six) Kingdoms, and they landed on…Bran Stark. Despite that bizarre and underwhelming choice, there was at least one positive development from it: Sansa Stark is now the Queen of the North, something her fans—a.k.a. those of us who have our heads screwed on straight—deserved to see.
HBO
New members of the Sansa Hive aren’t welcome here—I’ve been a Sansa stan for as long as I’ve watched the show, and throughout those years, I’ve endured Game of Thrones “fans” calling Sansa whiny, weak, and spineless. For some reason, the eldest Stark sister was polarizing.
But on last night’s final episode, she proved why everyone should have been stanning this whole time. Case in point: When Tyrion first suggested that the counsel choose a king or queen and her uncle Edmure Tully embarrassed himself by standing up and pontificating about his accolades, Sansa cut him off with a command, “Uncle. Please sit.” It was the only moment in the episode that made me audibly gasp for air.
In that same scene last night, Sansa was the only member of the counsel to vote against Bran, asserting without contest that the North would recede from the Seven Kingdoms and become and independent state once again, with her ruling in Winterfell. That’s not the only savage way she called out her little brother:
Sansa’s rise to power was a slow burn; but once she grabbed it, she held on with an iron grip. Even when Lady Stark was stripped of her name, her autonomy, and everything she knew and loved, she was still—to borrow a phrase Turner herself used to describe Arya—was always “that bitch.” There was the time she bitch-slapped Robin Arryn in the face. Or when she sniped at Septa Mordane in season one with one of her greatest one-liners: “Oh wait, I just realized I don’t care.” She’s the Stark who always reminded us that “the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives,” and speaker of truths such as, “No one can protect me. No one can protect anyone.”
Sansa has been especially good at putting mediocre men in their place and making them feel mortified for even breathing around her. This season she told Tyrion, “I used to think you were the cleverest man alive.” That didn’t even sting half as badly as her takedown of Lord Baelish in season seven: “No need to seize the last word, Lord Baelish. I’ll assume it was something clever.” Sansa and Arya conspiring to kill Littlefinger at the end of last season was probably the most satisfying moment in Game of Thrones history for me—a feeling so blissful, I wish it could have been recreated in last night’s episode. But could anything really feel as rapturous as Sansa being crowned Queen? Answer: Hard no.
To the rest of the Sansa Hive, it’s been a pleasure stanning so ruthlessly alongside you. In my opinion, the Sansa Hive is the most passionate (and therefore the scariest) of all the Game of Thrones fandoms. We’re the scrappy ones, the ones who are always ready to drive our claws through your extensions and drag you by the hair.
I’ll miss our Queen’s severe wintry lewks, her cascading orange braids, and her devastating one-liners that made Ariana Grande look timid. And I want to thank Sophie Turner for bringing her wonderful energy to play Sansa (lest we forget the video of her chugging wine on the jumbotron at Madison Square Garden). Screw Bran—Sansa Stark is the Queen we’ve always deserved. Step on me, ginger legend!
While many of our grandparents are still trying to figure out what social media even means, the queen of England is out here fully on Instagram. That’s right: Queen Elizabeth II—grandmother to Prince William and Prince Harry, and great-grandmother to Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, and soon-to-arrive Baby Sussex—just posted her very first Insta on @theroyalfamily, the crown’s official handle.
This all took place at an an engagement at London’s Science Museum on Thursday, March 7. Someone captured footage of the queen hitting “publish” on her Insta, which she signed “Elizabeth R.” (That’s how she signs all her documents. “R” stands for “regina,” which means queen.)
“Today, as I visit the Science Museum I was interested to discover a letter from the Royal Archives, written in 1843 to my great-great-grandfather Prince Albert,” the queen wrote. “Charles Babbage, credited as the world’s first computer pioneer, designed the ‘Difference Engine,’ of which Prince Albert had the opportunity to see a prototype in July 1843. In the letter, Babbage told Queen Victoria and Prince Albert about his invention the “Analytical Engine” upon which the first computer programmes were created by Ada Lovelace, a daughter of Lord Byron. Today, I had the pleasure of learning about children’s computer coding initiatives and it seems fitting to me that I publish this Instagram post, at the Science Museum which has long championed technology, innovation and inspired the next generation of inventors. Elizabeth R.”
Watch the moment the queen hits publish below:
I have so many questions. Did she ask granddaughter-in-law Meghan Markle for any tips on being an Insta influencer from her time running The Tig? Does she read the comments? (I’m guessing that’s a hard no.) Is Prince Philip a good Insta husband?
But what inquiring minds really want to know is: Does the queen have a finsta?
