It's Good to be Queen

“The Dorothy Zbornak of royal bloggers" - Anon // “She’s annoying but makes a good point” - thecambridgeot5 

[buffyblue]

[duchessofostergotlands]

I can’t believe he’s dead. What a man.

[onheirpodcast]

Prince William recently announced some big changes at the Duchy of Cornwall, the property portfolio which provides his income. This week @duchessofostergotlands and @princesscatherinemiddleton will be taking a look at the parts of the story the press have missed and exploring the other changes William might someday make as King. 

Listen to Episode 175- “William the Change Maker"- on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon!

[duchessofostergotlands]

I need to trademark "William or Wontiam", my fun new game for all the family, before someone snaps it up

[onheirpodcast]

7:30pm on 1st June 2001. The royal family of Nepal gather for a regular family dinner party. By the end of the evening, nine family members would be murdered in an event which sent shockwaves through Nepal. This week, to mark the 25th anniversary, @princesscatherinemiddleton and @duchessofostergotlands are exploring the truth behind the Nepalese royal massacre, from the early warning signs to the lingering conspiracy theories.

Listen to Episode 174- “Guns beat Black Belts"- on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon!

[duchessofostergotlands]

I need to count how many times we said “red flag” in this episode.

[duchessofostergotlands]

Anyone who has followed my romantic adventures will remember the surgeon who treated me like shit. He was privately educated, posh, had a “good” family. The guy I’m hooking up with now is an ex football hooligan who showed me one of his stab wounds today. And yet The Surgeon kept doing something I told him was hurting me and I ended up bleeding for 12 hours and the ex football hooligan saw my facial expression and asked me if he should stop before I even mentioned it. So don’t judge a book by its cover I guess.

[onheirpodcast]

It's time for another Q&A episode! Join @princesscatherinemiddleton and @duchessofostergotlands as we answer some questions from our brilliant listeners, covering everything from why throne rooms fell out of fashion to whether royals are getting more boring.

Listen to Episode 173 - “Greece or nothing (Q&A)"- on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon!

[duchessofostergotlands]

We may not be winning awards but we do hold the honour of the most mentions of King Constantine of Greece by a single podcast

[onheirpodcast]

This week is all about the British royals. @duchessofostergotlands and @princesscatherinemiddleton are starting off with the royal baby news from Princess Eugenie and breaking out our name guesses, before we dive into the weird and wonderful traditions of the State Opening of Parliament. What happens, why does it happen, and is it fit for the modern world?

Listen to Episode 172- “A stick heavy event"- on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon!

[duchessofostergotlands]

Keeping my fingers crossed we finally get a royal baby called Cinderella (it's a family name...)

[duchessofostergotlands]

While the current situation is depressing for my English friends, here are some things to focus on:

As I mentioned earlier, for England it is a council election and not a general election so while it's important, there are things that they cannot do at council level.

While Reform have - as of the time I'm writing - won 1443 council seats in England which is the most of any party, there were over 5000 available which means most councillors elected were from a party other than Reform.

Sharing the number of council seats is misleading because if you win 50 in one area and none in another area but another party wins 25 in two areas the count will just say 50 for both. While Reform won the most councillors, they have actually only won control of 14 councils out of 136 at the time of writing. If they win all the ones remaining that would be 20, meaning that most councils who voted do not have Reform in control

Sky did a thing where they used the council data to predict the outcome of a national election and found that Reform's vote share is lower than it was just a year ago, meaning a drop in popularity.

Finally, the councils being contested today have for the most part not had elections since 2022 when Reform were barely even a thing. This means they are gains, the councils haven't been Reform before. The real test will be whether Reform can hold on to those councils once they actually get to enact their "plans".

[duchessofostergotlands]

This is the first time I’ve actually voted for the Scottish Parliament because I lived in England for years and it’s kind of like Eurovision. They have stage one - classic voting for one representative, first past the post, more predictable - and then they do the regional list where they announce about 7 people all in one go and it’s proportional representation so they’re all over the place and can completely change the game.

[duchessofostergotlands]

1958 // 2020 - David Attenborough meets Prince Charles and Princess Anne and, 62 years later, Charles’s grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis

[duchessofostergotlands]

Happy 100th birthday

[duchessofostergotlands]

Looking on the bright side, this isn’t a general election. People voted for Reform for their councils and so my hope is that they realise - as every other Reform area has quickly seemed to realise - that once you vote them in they’re incompetent and all their promises are fantasies and so maybe this gives enough time to quell support before the next general election.

[duchessofostergotlands]

Just to add, local council elections are still incredibly important. Most of the day to day issues you have - the pot holes not being fixed or your bins not being collected or even bigger things like social care - are a result of local council decisions. But a local councillor can’t pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights so 🤷🏻‍♀️

[duchessofostergotlands]

Looking on the bright side, this isn’t a general election. People voted for Reform for their councils and so my hope is that they realise - as every other Reform area has quickly seemed to realise - that once you vote them in they’re incompetent and all their promises are fantasies and so maybe this gives enough time to quell support before the next general election.

[onheirpodcast]

@duchessofostergotlands and @princesscatherinemiddleton are catching up on recent news we've missed with three "light bites"! We'll be critiquing the planned statues of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, checking in on the big education news from the young royals, and dissecting King Charles's historic speeches during the US State Visit. 

Listen to Episode 171 - “Princess Astronaut!"- on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon!

[duchessofostergotlands]

I’ve been putting considerable time into working out how Ariane could become a pirate too but it always involves a Patty Hearst-esque kidnapping situation and that isn’t as jaunty as I’d like

[duchessofostergotlands]

The best part about working from home is I can watch the Spice World movie whenever I want and not a single person can stop me

[duchessofostergotlands]

Honestly 29 years later there isn’t a single joke they need to change or cameo they need to cut for modern sensibilities. It has no real plot and Victoria Beckham cannot act for shit but it’s surprisingly meta and post-modern and probably the best satire I’ve seen of 90s tabloid/paparazzi culture in the U.K.

[duchessofostergotlands]

The best part about working from home is I can watch the Spice World movie whenever I want and not a single person can stop me

[duchessofostergotlands]

1995 // 2016 // 2026 → Crown Princess Victoria gives a sweet dedication to her father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, in the opening lines of her speeches at her Declaration of Majority and her father’s 70th and 80th birthdays.

[duchessofvastergotland]

1986 // 1996 // 2006 // 2016 // 2026 → Members of the Swedish royal family making balcony appearances for the King's 40th, 50th, 60th, 70th and 80th birthdays.

[duchessofostergotlands]

It’s a shame there aren’t a ton of long time royal watchers around anymore because we would have been having a blast at the fact they called the dog Otto