A century after Mussolini seized power, Giorgia Meloni looks to steer Italy back
toward nationalism

Melissa Rossi

·Contributor

Mon, September 12, 2022 

Almost exactly 100 years after Benito Mussolini staged his “March on Rome” mass demonstration, during which his National Fascist Party seized power, Italy appears likely to hand control of its government to Giorgia Meloni, another leader of the nationalist right.

Charismatic and driven, the 45-year-old Meloni, a parliamentarian, doesn’t hold a university degree, but as head of Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), a far-right-wing party she formed a decade ago, the single mother has campaigned on a platform based on her belief in the virtues of God, motherhood and patriotism, while decrying immigration and LGBTQ rights. Polls show her and Brothers of Italy poised for victory in a Sept. 25 parliamentary election that will determine Italy’s next prime minister.

While many conservatives cheer her ascent — and the idea of the first woman to rule Italy — her candidacy has simultaneously raised concerns among Italians about racism and the future of abortion in the country as well as Italy’s role in the European Union.

Although she rejects being labeled “far-right” and “neo-fascist” by opponents and has toned down her attacks on the European Union, Meloni appeared at a June rally in support of Spain’s far-right Vox party and delivered remarks that renewed that criticism.

“The secular left and radical Islam are menacing our [European] roots,” she told the crowd, adding that no middle ground was possible.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of Italy’s Fratelli d’Italia party, in Rome on Aug. 24. (Yara Nardi/Reuters)

“Yes to natural families! No to LGBT lobbies! Yes to sexual identity! No to gender ideology!” she yelled, whipping up supporters. “Yes to the universality of the cross, no to Islamist violence! Yes to secure borders, no to mass immigration!”

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who on Thursday was indicted on money laundering and conspiracy charges in New York, helped spur Meloni’s rise since 2018, when Brothers of Italy took a mere 4% of the vote in parliamentary elections — whereas current polls show the party in first place at 25%. Bannon spent much of 2018-19 in Europe attempting to form “the Movement,” an envisioned network of right-wing European populist parties. He not only advised Brothers of Italy and shared the spotlight with Meloni at rallies, but also brought her along on high-profile media interviews. Rome-based Benjamin Harnwell, international editor for Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, told Yahoo News that he recalls Bannon calling Meloni “a rock star” after their first meeting, saying “this woman is going to transform Italy,” though few gave that idea credence at the time.

David Broder, Europe editor of the left-wing journal Jacobin, has been sounding the alarm about Meloni since the government of Mario Draghi collapsed in July, prompting the September election. He foresees her plans to clamp down on immigration as just one problem area. “Meloni says that her party would introduce a naval blockade off of Africa in order to stop migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean,” he told Yahoo News. “This is a recipe for Italian naval vessels to deliberately sink migrant boats, which would kill potentially thousands of people. It’s also illegal under maritime law and EU law. So we can imagine the conflict that would result from that.”

Steve Bannon at his arraignment in New York on Sept. 8. (Steven Hirsch/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

One of Meloni’s most powerful critics is fashion designer and blogger Chiara Ferragni, who has cautioned about restrictions on abortion in Italy if Meloni’s party is elected. In August, Ferragni warned her 27 million Instagram followers that in Italy’s eastern region of Marche, which is governed by Brothers of Italy, abortion has already become “practically impossible.” Abortions there are now prohibited after seven weeks of pregnancy (versus the nine weeks stipulated by law), and the party is not allowing dispersal of abortion pills in clinics. Brothers of Italy is also pushing to allow anti-abortion protesters to enter abortion clinics. That is the kind of “policy that risks becoming national if the right wins the elections,” Ferragni wrote.

Meloni and Brothers of Italy did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Meloni, who has expressed concern over Italy’s low birth rate, has countered that Brothers of Italy will implement “a full and integral application” of a 1978 abortion law that requires that pregnant women be fully counseled on alternatives to terminating a pregnancy.

Broder sees the party’s abortion politics as “heavily linked to the immigration issue.” Meloni, he pointed out, “says that the Italian people are at risk of extinction. And that giving citizenship to the children of immigrants is part of the ethnic substitution of the Italian population.”

Meloni drew more criticism last month after posting a video of an African asylum seeker raping a woman in a small town in broad daylight — a video promptly removed from Twitter. Yet even some who don’t support her say she’s running an impressive “Revive Italy” campaign, one in which she’s famously described herself as “a woman, a mother, a Christian.”

Demonstrators in Rome protest the end of abortion in the United States. (Matteo Nardone/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“She’s intelligent, she has acumen and she has the ability to communicate with the people,” Italian political commentator and co-founder of the Inter Press Service news agency Roberto Savio told Yahoo News. Her working-class background in Rome has endeared her to many, he added. Savio credits Meloni’s jump in popularity to Italy’s rising inflation and high youth unemployment as well as the fact that she is an unknown commodity in a country that has blown through six prime ministers in the past 10 years.

“You have a lot of people voting for Meloni because they say, ‘We tried with other parties, other politicians, and nothing worked. So let us try this one. Maybe she’ll surprise us,’” he said.

Nevertheless, Savio thinks that if she is elected, which looks very likely, Meloni won’t last long thanks to soaring costs of living, the European energy crisis, Italian bureaucracy and her relative lack of hands-on governing experience. “She’s never even been the mayor of a little village,” he pointed out.

Florence-based sociologist and professor Giovanna Campani, co-author of “The Rise of the Far Right in Europe,” shares similar concerns. “In France, the people who go into politics, they have a big academic training. Giorgia Meloni didn’t even go to university.” That works in her favor with some, she added, further burnishing the image that “she comes from the people.” On the other hand, Campani said, “I don’t have the impression that she did the work to really become an accomplished person” in a leadership role. Campani worries that with Italy led by Meloni, who is opposed to gay adoption and favors what she calls “natural motherhood,” life will turn tougher for those in the LGBTQ community and immigrants, for starters.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gives his first international press conference in Budapest on April 6. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images)

Broder predicts that Italy may become more like Hungary under strongman Viktor Orbán, who Meloni considers a role model. “We’re more likely to see an erosion of democratic norms,” he said. He also worries that Meloni’s attitudes about immigration and non-white Europeans will be infectious. “It’s symbolic to have a country’s prime minister openly endorse racist ideas — obviously that’s going to filter through society as well.” He’s also uncomfortable with the fact that her party’s alliance with center-right parties the League (headed by anti-abortion, fervently anti-immigrant Matteo Salvini) and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia could give the right a large enough majority in the upcoming elections to alter Italy’s constitution, which Meloni has expressed she hopes to do.

Even though Meloni herself has softened her former Euroskeptic views and openly supports Ukraine while condemning Russia, Broder said, once in power those commitments will probably weaken. “You can see lots of potential split lines within the [potential] majority already,” he said. The League’s Salvini is already questioning sanctions against Russia, he pointed out, and “a big majority of voters for both Brothers of Italy and the League want to end those sanctions. Ultimately, when what’s perceived to be the consequences of those sanctions, including the blowback against energy in Europe, begins to make itself more harshly felt, then Meloni’s [pro-Ukraine] position is going to become difficult to maintain.”

Thus, the future Meloni government may go the way of the six governments that preceded it. But, Broder cautions, “it could last for years.”

Pope heads to Kazakh interfaith congress, without patriarch


Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. 

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

NICOLE WINFIELD and KOSTYA MANENKOV
Mon, September 12, 2022

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis had hoped his trip to Kazakhstan this week would offer a chance to meet with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church — who has justified the war in Ukraine — and plead for peace. Patriarch Kirill bowed out a few weeks ago, but Francis is going ahead with the trip that is nevertheless being overshadowed by Russia’s seven-month war.

Francis travels to the majority-Muslim former Soviet republic on Tuesday to minister to its tiny Catholic community and participate in a Kazakh-sponsored conference of world religious leaders. The conference had as its original goal to promote interfaith dialogue in the post-pandemic world, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given it a more immediate cause: for faith leaders from around the world to appeal for peace with a united voice.

“It will be an occasion to meet so many religious representatives and to dialogue as brothers, animated by the common desire for peace, the peace for which our world is thirsting,” Francis told thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.

In a way, Kirill’s absence will make life easier for all involved: Kazakhstan won’t have its showcase gathering of Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Shinto and Jewish leaders from 50 countries overshadowed by a headline-grabbing photo op between the pope and the patriarch. Francis won’t have the diplomatic headache of having to explain to Ukraine why he met with an ideological supporter of Russia’s war before Francis even visited Kyiv. And Kirill will avoid the embarrassment of being present when a global congress of imams, rabbis, ministers and a pope issues a final statement largely expected to denounce war.

But for Kazakhstan’s Catholic leaders, Kirill’s absence represents something of a lost opportunity.

“Personally I am pained,” said Bishop Adelio Dell’Oro of the Kazakh diocese of Karaganda. “I think a meeting between them on the sidelines of the congress would have been a notable contribution, notable in this process of peace to clarify what religions can contribute to human coexistence in the world. So I am disappointed, but you have to accept it.”

The interfaith congress is an important triennial event for Kazakhstan, a country that borders Russia to the north, China to the east and is home to some 130 ethnic groups: It’s a showpiece of its foreign policy and a reflection of its own multicultural and multiethnic population that has long been touted as a crossroads between East and West.

“We can say that Kazakhstan is really a place where dialogue is not some formal slogan, but this is a Kazakh brand," said Monsignor Piotr Pytlowany, spokesman for the Kazakh bishops conference. "Kazakhstan wants to share dialogue not only during this congress but also after it, offering the dialogue as one of the possible ways to resolve the various difficulties that the world now faces.”

When St. John Paul II visited in 2001, 10 years after independence, he highlighted Kazakhstan’s diversity while recalling its dark past under Stalinist repression: Entire villages of ethnic Poles were deported en masse from western Ukraine to Kazakhstan beginning in 1936, and the Soviet government deported hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans, Chechens and other accused Nazi collaborators to Kazakhstan during World War II. Many of the deportees’ descendants remained and some of them make up the country’s Catholic community, which only numbers about 125,000 in a country of nearly 19 million.

Kazakh bishops had asked Francis to visit a former Soviet detention camp during his three-day visit, but the 85-year-old pope declined due to his strained knee ligaments, which have forced him to use a wheelchair and cane to get around.

His program has time for private meetings with religious leaders attending the congress. While the Vatican hasn’t released a list, expected participants include Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the seat of Sunni learning in Cairo.

One visitor not currently on his agenda: Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is expected in Kazakhstan on his first foreign trip since the coronavirus pandemic. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said there were no current plans for any meeting and noted that Xi isn’t attending the religious conference. China and the Holy See haven’t had diplomatic relations for over a half-century.

Francis has repeatedly denounced Russia’s war in Ukraine as an unjust “violent aggression,” expressed solidarity with the “martyred” Ukrainian people and sent personal envoys to Ukraine to provide humanitarian and spiritual aid. At the same time, he has refrained from calling out Russia or President Vladimir Putin by name, trying to maintain a path of dialogue with Moscow in keeping with the Vatican’s diplomatic tradition of not taking sides in a conflict.

Kirill has justified Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on spiritual and ideological grounds, calling it a “metaphysical” battle with the West. He has blessed Russian soldiers going into battle and invoked the idea that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.

The Kazakh congress would have provided a neutral location and coincidental excuse for their second-ever meeting, and both Kirill and Francis had originally confirmed their presence. But Kirill pulled out last month. A former Vatican ambassador to Moscow has suggested that grumblings within the Russian Orthodox hierarchy might have factored into Kirill’s decision.

Perhaps they saw the writing on the wall. Just last week, the general assembly of the World Council of Churches, a fellowship of more than 350 churches representing more than a half-billion Christians worldwide, denounced what it called an “illegal and unjustifiable” invasion and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

The Russian Orthodox Church, which is a member of the WCC, refused to vote for the “politicized” declaration and complained about what it called “unprecedented pressure” on members to condemn Moscow and the Russian church.

Kazakhstan, for its part, has had to walk a thin line with the war. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has vowed to respect Western sanctions against Russia while trying to maintain close ties with Moscow, an important economic partner and ally. At the same time Tokayev refused to recognize the Russia-backed separatist “people’s republics” in Ukraine, which Moscow recognized days before invading Ukraine.

While Kazakhstan could have emerged as the mediator if Francis and Kirill had met, “maybe it’s even better that this is not happening because Kazakhstan would have looked like as a country that is getting involved in the Ukraine crisis, and this is the last thing that Kazakhstan wants to do right now,” said Temur Umarov, a Central Asia expert and fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

___

Manenkov reported from Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

Russia's pro-war patriarch conspicuously absent in pope's Kazakh trip


Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill stand together

 after a 2016 meeting in Havana

Mon, September 12, 2022 
By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis leaves on Tuesday for a peace meeting of world religious leaders in Kazakhstan marked by the conspicuous absence of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who supports the war in Ukraine.

Kirill had been expected to attend the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, and Francis had several times said he was willing to talk to him.

Their meeting in Cuba in 2016 was the first between a pope and a Russian Orthodox patriarch since the Great Schism of 1054 divided Christianity into Eastern and Western branches.

But the Russian Church abruptly announced last month that Kirill would skip the meeting in the Kazak capital, Nur-Sultan. It gave no reason.

Some top Vatican officials were relieved that the encounter would not take place because of the bad optics of the pope meeting with a key backer of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, according to a senior Vatican source.

Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican, Andreii Kurash, also told the Vatican that his government would not look positively on a pope-patriarch meeting, preferring that the pope first visit Kyiv, according to the source.

Kirill has given enthusiastic backing to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which the patriarch views as a bulwark against a West he calls decadent.

His stance has caused a rift with the Vatican and unleashed an internal rebellion that has led to the severing of ties by some local Orthodox Churches with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Vatican has been trying to mend strained relations with Ukraine after the pope upset Kyiv last month by referring to Russian ultra-nationalist Darya Dugina, who was killed by a car bomb near Moscow, as an innocent victim of war.

Still, the war in Ukraine is likely to cast a long shadow on the meeting, which is due to be attended by more than 100 delegations from about 50 countries.

Speaking at his Sunday address, Francis called his Kazakhstan trip "a pilgrimage of dialogue and peace" and in the very next line asked for prayers for the Ukrainian people, who he often has said were being "martyred".

The logo of the trip is a dove carrying an olive branch.

There are only about 125,000 Catholics among the 19 million population of the vast Central Asian country, which is a former Soviet Republic. About 70% of the Kazakhs are Muslim and about 26% Orthodox Christians.

Francis, who uses a cane and a wheelchair because of a knee ailment, will say a Mass for the tiny Catholic community.

The religious leaders are due to hold a silent prayer at the start of the meeting on Wednesday and issue a joint statement at the end.

Francis is scheduled to hold private meetings with several religious leaders but the Vatican has not yet announced who they are.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

Pope, opening Kazakh visit, blasts 'senseless' Ukraine war


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Pope Francis, left, meets the Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as he arrives at Our-Sultan's International airport in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. Pope Francis begins a 3-days visit to the majority-Muslim former Soviet republic to minister to its tiny Catholic community and participate in a Kazakh-sponsored conference of world religious leaders. 

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)


NICOLE WINFIELD and KOSTYA MANENKOV
Mon, September 12, 2022 


NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (AP) — Pope Francis begged for an end to Russia’s “senseless and tragic war” in Ukraine as he arrived Tuesday in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan to join faith leaders from around the world in praying for peace.

Francis flew to the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan to meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for an official state visit portion of his three-day trip. On Wednesday and Thursday, he participates in a government-sponsored triennial interfaith meeting, which is gathering more than 100 delegations of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto and other faith groups from 50 countries.

The 85-year-old Francis made the trip despite what appeared to be an aggravation of the strained knee ligaments that have greatly reduced his mobility all year. Francis struggled to walk through the aisle of the aircraft during the 6.5-hour flight from Rome, and he appeared tired and in pain as he limped heavily with his cane, ceding to a wheelchair for most events once in town. Doctors have told him that for the time being, any further travel — to Kyiv, for example — is out of the question.

Speaking upon his arrival to government authorities and diplomats gathered at the Qazaq concert hall, Francis praised Kazakhstan’s commitment to diversity and dialogue and its progress from decades of Stalinist repression, when Kazakhstan was the destination of hundreds of thousands of Soviet deportees.

Francis said the country, which borders Russia to the north and China to the east and is home to some 150 ethnic groups and 80 languages, now has a “fundamental role to play” in helping ease conflicts elsewhere.

Recalling that St. John Paul II visited Kazakhstan just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S., Francis said he was visiting “in the course of the senseless and tragic war that broke out with the invasion of Ukraine.”

“I have come to echo the plea of all those who cry out for peace, which is the essential path to development for our globalized world,” he said.

Directing himself at global superpowers, he said expanding efforts at diplomacy and dialogue were ever more important. “And those who hold greater power in the world have greater responsibility with regard to others, especially those countries most prone to unrest and conflict.”

“Now is the time to stop intensifying rivalries and reinforcing opposing blocs,” he said.

Tokayev didn’t mention Ukraine specifically in his prepared remarks to Francis. But speaking in English, he referred in general terms about humanity being on an “edge of an abyss as geopolitical tensions escalate, global economy suffers, and mushrooming religious and ethnic intolerance becomes the ‘new normal.’”

Kazakhstan has had to walk a thin line with the war. Tokayev has vowed to respect Western sanctions against Russia while trying to maintain close ties with Moscow, an important economic partner and ally. At the same time, Tokayev refused to recognize the Russia-backed separatist “people’s republics” in Ukraine which Moscow recognized days before invading Ukraine.

The most noteworthy aspects of Francis’ visit to Kazakhstan might boil down to the missed opportunities with both Russia and China: Francis was supposed to have met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on the sidelines of the conference. But Patriarch Kirill, who has supported the war in Ukraine, canceled his trip last month.

Francis is also going to be in the Kazakh capital at the same time as Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is making his first foreign trip since early in the coronavirus pandemic.

The Vatican and China haven’t had diplomatic relations for a half century and the timing is somewhat tense, with the two sides finalizing the renewal of a controversial deal over the nominations of Catholic bishops in China.

The Vatican has said there were no current plans for any meeting between Xi and Francis while they were both in Kazakhstan and the Kazakh deputy foreign minister, Roman Vassilenko said he didn’t believe there was time in Xi’s schedule to meet with Francis.

Asked about the possibility en route to Nur-Sultan, Francis said: “I don’t have any news about this. But I am always ready to go to China.”

The interfaith congress, now in its seventh iteration, is a showpiece of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy and a reflection of its own multicultural and multiethnic population that has long been touted as a crossroads between East and West.

When St. John Paul II visited in 2001, 10 years after independence, he highlighted Kazakhstan’s diversity while recalling its dark past under Stalinist repression: Entire villages of ethnic Poles were deported en masse from western Ukraine to Kazakhstan beginning in 1936, and the Soviet government deported hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans, Chechens and other accused Nazi collaborators to Kazakhstan during World War II. Many of the deportees’ descendants remained and some of them make up the country’s Catholic community, which only numbers about 125,000 in a country of nearly 19 million.

Sophia Gatovskaya, a parishioner at Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Cathedral in the capital, said she attended that first papal visit and that it has borne fruits to this day.

“It was actually amazing. And after this visit, we have peace and tolerance in our republic. We have a lot of nationalities in Kazakhstan, and we all live together. And we expect the same from this visit (of Pope Francis) that we will have peace in our republic. And we very much expect that the war in Ukraine will end.”

Pope arrives in Kazakhstan, says 'always ready' for China visit


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Philip Pullella
Tue, September 13, 2022
By Philip Pullella

NUR-SULTAN (Reuters) -Pope Francis said on Tuesday he was willing to go to China at any time but had "no news" to offer over speculation he might meet Chinese President Xi Jinping while both are in Kazakhstan.

Francis arrived in Kazakhstan after a six-hour flight from Rome at the start of a three-day trip to attend a peace meeting of world religious leaders.

Francis, who suffers from a knee ailment, for the first time on his trips used a finger ramp to exit the plane and enter the terminal on a wheelchair.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev greeted the pope briefly at the airport before the pope travelled in a small white car to the gleaming marble presidential palace for a private meeting with the head of state.

Speaking to reporters accompanying him on his flight to the central Asian republic, Francis was asked whether he might meet Xi in its capital Nur-Sultan, where both men will be on Wednesday.

"I don't have any news about that," the pope replied, without elaborating.

Asked if he was ready to go to China, Francis responded: "I am always ready to go to China".

Francis used a cane to walk around the plane greeting reporters as he usually does on such trips. He appeared in pain by the time he returned to his own seat in the front section of the aircraft.

The pope has tried to ease the historically poor relations between the Holy See and China, and told Reuters in an interview in July that he hoped to renew a secret and contested agreement on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in China.

Xi is visiting Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Sept. 14-16 in his first official trip to a foreign nation since China all but shut its borders due to COVID-19. He is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan.

The war in Ukraine is casting a long shadow on the pope's visit to Kazakhstan and the international religious meeting, which is due to be attended by more than 100 delegations from about 50 countries.

In an address to the Kazakh government and the diplomatic corps on Tuesday night, Francis spoke of "the senseless and tragic war that broke out with the invasion of Ukraine".

He also spoke of the need to ease Cold War-style confrontations and rhetoric, saying "Now is the time to stop intensifying rivalries and reinforcing opposing blocs."

Francis will be in Kazakhstan until Thursday for the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, a gathering marked by the conspicuous absence of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who supports the war in Ukraine.

Kirill had been expected to attend the congress, and Francis had several times said he was willing to talk to him.

There are only about 125,000 Catholics among the 19 million population of the vast Central Asian country, which is a former Soviet Republic. About 70% of the Kazakhs are Muslim and about 26% Orthodox Christians.

Francis will say a Mass for the tiny Catholic community on Wednesday afternoon.

(Additional reporting by Olzhas Auyezov in AlmatyEditing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

 Racism On Full Display: British Mourners Give Meghan Markle The Cold Shoulder In Viral Video

Kui Mwai Tue, September 13, 2022     

As Prince Harry mourns the death of his grandmother in the U.K., his wife Meghan Markle is right by his side. She joined him outside Windsor Castle this past weekend to greet members of the public paying tribute to the late Queen. While most were happy to see the Dutchess of Sussex, not everyone was pleased with her presence back across the pond. In a video that has since gone viral, a few mourners are seen giving Markle the cold shoulder as she graciously approached to shake their hands.

The video shows Markle briefly leaving her husband’s side to greet mourners. As she makes her way down the line of people, she comes to one woman who is shown dropping her head, deliberately ignoring Markle. The woman who ignored Markle and one of her friends can be seen on camera giggling after snubbing the Dutchess. Always an example of poise, Markle appeared to shrug and laugh off the incident, swiftly moving on to meet more mourners.

Others also ignored Markle, turning their heads away from her and awkwardly adjusting their hair and clothes to avoid shaking the Dutchess’ hand.

Reactions to the incident have been mixed online. Markle supporters were outraged, commending her class amid the woman’s rude response, while royalists understood where the woman was coming from.

“I don’t know how Meghan Markle has the brass neck to walkabout in London shaking the hands of British people after the mud she has thrown at the Royal Family. I wouldn’t have shaken her hand,” one Twitter user wrote.

“You can go on Oprah. You can write a book You can do a podcast And it was all blown away by the Lady in Blue,” wrote another.

One user wasn’t as impressed with the snubber’s behavior.

“Sad, boorish, rude behavior by this Brit. The King wished them well in his speech, but some Brits (a la Piers Morgan) are just cruel & unforgiving. Disrespectful nobody. Woman goes viral after video captures her brutally snubbing Meghan Markle,” they tweeted. 

And another pointed out that no matter what Markle does, the British press will criticize her.

“BREAKING: The British media have explained they’re extremely angry at Meghan Markle for turning up. They have also confirmed they would’ve been absolutely disgusted if she’d stayed home,” they tweeted.

For some, Markle being snubbed by the British public was uncomfortable to watch.

“The level of discomfort I feel at the video up and down my feed where Meghan Markle is shaking people’s hands and dealing with snickering, rude racists just feels…so weird. I’ve watched more graphic, explicit shit, but a few seconds of that and I was like nope, keep scrolling,” a Twitter user wrote.

 

While all of the British public may not have the warmest feelings for the Dutchess, King Charles III made it clear that it’s all love within the family, CNN reports.

“I want to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continued to build their lives overseas,” he said in his first speech as King, according to CNN. Many are describing it as an “olive branch” moment for the Duke and Dutchess.

As for Markle, she has always sung the praises of the late Queen. She told Oprah Winfrey in 2021 that the Queen “has always been wonderful to me,” Distractify reports.

King Charles Inherits Untold Riches and Passes Off His Own Empire

Jane Bradley and Euan Ward

Tue, September 13, 2022

King Charles III spent years turning his royal estate into a billion-dollar portfolio. (James Hill/The New York Times)

LONDON — King Charles III built his own empire long before he inherited his mother’s.

Charles, who formally acceded to the British throne Saturday, spent half a century turning his royal estate into a billion-dollar portfolio and one of the most lucrative moneymakers in the royal family business.

While his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, largely delegated responsibility for her portfolio, Charles was far more deeply involved in developing the private estate known as the Duchy of Cornwall. Over the past decade, he has assembled a large team of professional managers who increased his portfolio’s value and profits by about 50%.

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Today, the Duchy of Cornwall owns the landmark cricket ground known as The Oval, lush farmland in the south of England, seaside vacation rentals, office space in London and a suburban supermarket depot. (A duchy is a territory traditionally governed by a duke or duchess.) The 130,000-acre real estate portfolio is nearly the size of Chicago and generates millions of dollars a year in rental income.

The conglomerate’s holdings are valued at roughly $1.4 billion, compared with around $949 million in the late queen’s private portfolio. These two estates represent a small fraction of the royal family’s estimated $28 billion fortune. On top of that, the family has personal wealth that remains a closely guarded secret.

As king, Charles will take over his mother’s portfolio and inherit a share of this untold personal fortune. While British citizens normally pay around 40% inheritance tax, Charles gets this tax-free. And he will pass control of his duchy to his elder son, William, to develop further without having to pay corporate taxes.

The growth in the royal family’s coffers and Charles’ personal wealth over the past decade came at a time when Britain faced deep austerity budget cuts. Poverty levels soared, and the use of food banks almost doubled. His lifestyle of palaces and polo has long fueled accusations that he is out of touch with ordinary people. And he has at time been the unwitting symbol of that disconnect — such as when his limo was mobbed by students protesting rising tuition in 2010 or when he perched atop a golden throne in his royal finery this year to pledge help for struggling families.

Today, he ascends to the throne as the country buckles under a cost-of-living crisis that is expected to see poverty get even worse. A more divisive figure than his mother, Charles is likely to give fresh energy to those questioning the relevance of a royal family at a time of public hardship.

Laura Clancy, author of “Running the Family Firm: How the Monarchy Manages Its Image and Our Money,” said Charles transformed the once-sleepy royal accounts.

“The duchy has been steadily commercializing over the past few decades,” Clancy said. “It is run like a commercial business with a CEO and over 150 staff.” What used to be thought of as simply a “landed gentry pile of land” now operates like a corporation, she said.

The Duchy of Cornwall was established in the 14th century as a way to generate income for the heir to the throne and has essentially funded Charles’ private and official expenses. One example of its financial might: The $28 million profit he made from it last year dwarfed his official salary as prince — just over $1.1 million.

Piecing together the royal family’s assets is complicated, but the fortune falls generally into four groups.

First, and most prominent, is the Crown Estate, which oversees the assets of the monarchy through a board of directors. Charles, as king, will serve as its chairman, but he does not have final say over how the business is managed.

The estate, which official accounts value at more than $19 billion, includes shopping malls, busy streets in London’s West End and a growing number of wind farms. The royals are entitled to take only rental income from their official estates and may not profit from any sales, as they do not personally own the assets.

The estate’s profits, valued about $363 million this year, are turned over to the Treasury, which in return gives the royal household a payment called a sovereign grant based on those profits — which must be topped up by the government if it is lower than the previous year. In 2017, the government increased the family’s payment to 25% of the profits to cover the costs of renovating Buckingham Palace.

The latest sovereign grant received by the royals was around $100 million, which the family, including Charles, has used for official royal duties, like visits, payroll and housekeeping. It does not cover the royals’ security costs, which is also paid by the government, but the cost is kept secret.

The next major pot of money is the Duchy of Lancaster. This $949 million portfolio is owned by whomever sits on the throne.

But the value of that trust is dwarfed by the Duchy of Cornwall, the third significant home of royal money, which Charles has long presided over as prince. Generating tens of millions of dollars a year, the duchy has funded his private and official spending, and has bankrolled William, the heir to the throne, and Kate, William’s wife.

It has done so without paying corporation taxes like most businesses in Britain are obliged to and without publishing details about where the estate invests its money.

“When Charles took over at age 21, the duchy was not in a good financial state,” Marlene Koenig, a royal expert and writer, said, citing poor management and a lack of diversification. Charles took a more active role in the portfolio in the 1980s and began hiring experienced managers.

“It was at this time that the duchy became financially aggressive,” she said.

In 2017, leaked financial documents known as the Paradise Papers revealed that Charles’s duchy estate had invested millions in offshore companies, including a Bermuda-registered business run by one of his best friends.

The final pool of money, and the most secretive, is the family’s private fortune. According to the Rich List, the annual catalog of British wealth published in The Sunday Times, the queen had a net worth of about $430 million. That includes her personal assets, such as Balmoral Castle and Sandringham Estate, which she inherited from her father. Much of her personal wealth has been kept private.

Charles has also made financial headlines unrelated to his wealth but tied to the charitable foundation that he chairs and operates in his name. His stewardship of the foundation has been marred by controversy, most recently this spring, when The Sunday Times reported that Charles had accepted 3 million euros (about $3 million) in cash — including money stuffed in shopping bags and a suitcase — from a former Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani.

The money was for his foundation, which finances philanthropic causes around the world. Charles does not benefit financially from such contributions.

“He’s willing to take money from anybody, really, without questioning whether it’s the wise thing to do,” said Norman Baker, a former government minister and author of the book “ … And What Do You Do? What the Royal Family Don’t Want You to Know.”

Baker described Charles as the most progressive, caring member of the royal family. But he said he had also filed a police complaint accusing him of improperly selling honorary titles.

“That’s no way to behave for a royal,” he said, referring to an ongoing scandal over whether Charles had granted knighthood and citizenship to a Saudi business owner in exchange for donations to one of Charles’ charitable ventures.

Charles denied knowing about this, one of his top aides who was implicated stepped down, and authorities began investigating. The king’s representatives did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Charles has also courted controversy with his outspoken views and campaigning. He has lobbied senior government ministers, including Tony Blair, through dozens of letters on issues from the Iraq War to alternative therapies. Though English law does not require it, royal protocol calls for political neutrality.

In his inaugural address Saturday, the king indicated that he planned to step back from his outside endeavors. “It will no longer be possible for me to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I care so deeply,” he said.

Clancy, the author, said the new king, in theory, would be expected to drop his lobbying and business ventures entirely.

“Whether that will pan out is a different question,” she said.

© 2022 The New York Times Company

Staff left 'visibly shaken' as 100 members of King's former household are made redundant


Victoria Ward
Tue, September 13, 2022 

King Charles leaves Edinburgh. It has been revealed that Sir Clive Alderton, his principal private secretary, has written to Clarence House staff about redundancies - Alan Simpson Photography

Around 100 members of staff at the King’s former household have received written notice of redundancies.

Clarence House employees, among them private secretaries, the finance office, the communications team and household staff, received written warning on Monday that household operations had ceased.

Many had worked for the King for decades but a palace spokesman said that job losses were “unavoidable”.

The news was relayed during the service of thanksgiving for the late Queen at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, as many worked around the clock to ensure the complex arrangements of Operation London Bridge unfolded as planned.

The letter, sent by Sir Clive Alderton, the King’s principal private secretary, was said to have left staff “visibly shaken”.

Many are said to have assumed they would be amalgamated into the King’s new household.

One source told the Guardian: “Everybody is absolutely livid, including private secretaries and the senior team. All the staff have been working late every night since Thursday, to be met with this. People were visibly shaken by it.”

The letter, seen by the newspaper, outlined how the King’s work would shift away from personal interests to the official duties of a head of state.
Change of household

It said: “The change in role for our principals will also mean change for our household… The portfolio of work previously undertaken in this household supporting the former Prince of Wales’s personal interests, former activities and household operations will no longer be carried out, and the household… at Clarence House will be closed down.

“It is therefore expected that the need for the posts principally based at Clarence House, whose work supports these areas will no longer be needed.”

Sir Clive acknowledged that the news would be “unsettling”. He said that staff providing “direct, close, personal support and advice” to the new King and Queen Consort would remain in post.

A Clarence House spokesman said: “Following last week’s accession, the operations of the household of the former Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall have ceased and, as required by law, a consultation process has begun.

“Our staff have given long and loyal service and, while some redundancies will be unavoidable, we are working urgently to identify alternative roles for the greatest possible number of staff.”

A palace source insisted that “every effort” had been made to delay such moves until after the Queen’s funeral.

But they said that legal advice taken by the household meant the information had to be shared at the earliest opportunity.

Any staff made redundant are expected to receive “enhanced” redundancy payments. No staff will be affected for at least three months.

It has not yet been announced whether the King will live primarily at Buckingham Palace or elsewhere.

LESE MAJESTE

Protester Who Called Prince Andrew ‘Sick Old Man’ During Edinburgh Procession Is Arrested

Tom Sykes

Mon, September 12, 2022 

PHIL NOBLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

An awed silence that had descended on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile today was shattered when a protester shouted in a clear, loud voice, “Andrew, you’re a sick old man.” Social media footage appeared to show a young man being dragged to the floor by the police. It was subsequently reported that he had been arrested.

The interjection, which shows the potential for controversy and disruption that Andrew's inclusion in public events surrounding his mother’s death might generate, came as all four of the queen’s children, including Prince Andrew, formed a solemn procession behind the queen’s coffin as it was driven in a hearse up Edinburgh’s famous Royal Mile to St. Giles’ Cathedral. Behind the hearse, the King led Andrew, Edward, and Anne who walked on foot, with Anne’s husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence also walking. Queen Camilla and Sophie Wessex followed in cars.

All the siblings wore military uniforms with the exception of Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his military associations when he was fired as a working royal over the sex case that stemmed from his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. Charles has, however, agreed Andrew will be allowed to wear a military uniform when he attends a vigil for his mother later this week; however, he will be in civilian clothes for the funeral itself. People will be able to view the coffin in Scotland for 24 hours from 5 p.m. local time, before it is taken to London tomorrow.

'Sick old man': Prince Andrew heckled by protester during Queen's coffin procession

Emily Cleary
Mon, September 12, 2022 

Prince Andrew was heckled by a protester who shouted 'You're a sick old man' as the Queen's son followed her coffin procession through the streets of Edinburgh.

Scottish mourners came out in their thousands to pay their respects as she left Balmoral for the last time.

The procession, which was broadcast live on the BBC, was largely silent, sombre and respectful with well-wishers gathered beside country roads, bridges and in village and city centres to say their goodbyes.

However, one protester cut through the silence, shouting aggressively as the Duke of York passed before he was pulled away by police. His comments could clearly be heard in the coverage.

A short scuffle appeared to follow before police led the man away as he shouted "disgusting' and "I've done nothing wrong".

A Police Scotland spokesperson told Yahoo News UK: "A 22-year old man was arrested in connection with a breach of the peace on the Royal Mile around 2.50pm on Monday, 12 September 2022."

The heckler, circled in red, appeared to shout 'Andrew, you're a sick old man' at the Prince, before being hauled away by police. (Twitter)

The protester was swiftly pulled away from the procession by police (Twitter/Chris Marshall)

King Charles III was flanked by Princess Ann, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward as the coffin was carried from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh (Getty)

Andrew, the late monarch’s second son, stepped away from public life amid the fallout over his friendship with paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

In January this year, the Queen stripped him of all of his honorary military roles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and he gave up his HRH style.

In March, he paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Virginia Giuffre, although the agreement made no admission of any guilt and Andrew maintains his innocence.

The royal procession followed the hearse carrying the Queen's coffin along the Royal Mile while thousands of well-wishers lined the streets. (Getty)

Police have faced some criticism for cracking down on protesters expressing anti-monarchy sentiments in recent days.

Symon Hill, an anti-monarchy demonstrator, was arrested after shouting at an accession proclamation for the King.

Hill, 45, said he was was walking home from church on Sunday when he came across a public formal reading of the proclamation of the accession for Charles in Carfax, Oxford.

He was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act after shouting “Who elected him?” during the reading. He was later de-arrested after refusing to be interviewed without a lawyer, and driven home by police.

Andrew joined his father and siblings to walk behind the procession of the Queen's coffin through the streets of Edinburgh (Getty Images)

Ruth Smeeth, chief executive of Index on Censorship, said the arrests were “deeply concerning”, adding: “The fundamental right to freedom of expression, including the right to protest, is something to be protected regardless of circumstance."

Jodie Beck, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: “Protest is not a gift from the State, it is a fundamental right. Being able to choose what, how, and when we protest is a vital part of a healthy and functioning democracy."

On Tuesday evening the Queen's coffin will be flown from Edinburgh to London by an RAF plane. It will be accompanied by the late monarch’s only daughter - Anne, the Princess Royal - before being moved to rest at Buckingham Palace’s Bow Room.

The Queen’s state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday, 19 September