No. Neither Charles/Camilla nor William/Kate are morganatic marriages. It’s not a morganatic marriage just because you marry a commoner. In particular, if William/Kate were a morganatic marriage, George and Charlotte would have no place in the line of succession.

Charles has been campaigning to have Camilla be Queen for a long time now. You’re quite right that she will be Queen Consort simply by being married to Charles (just as she is HRH Princess of Wales right now, she just chooses not to go by that title). If Charles dies before the Queen, Camilla will be the Dowager…

I do read serious books on this subject (have just ordered Svetlana Alexievich’s The Unwomanly Face of War), I promise. However, for a soapy, romantic (but well researched, for a romance novel) take on the subject, Paullina Simons’ Bronze Horseman novels (Tatiana and Alexander) are worth reading.

I live and work in East London, and have had (Muslim) men refuse to shake my hand on religious grounds. I am totally cool (honestly) with niqabs and abayas and work with several women who wear them, but damn if that handshake refusal doesn’t sting.

There is a sushi chain in London called Wasabi that charges for soy sauce. The sushi is fairly cheap and it’s not terrible (both by London standards, mind) so I do still eat there, but damn if I don’t resent paying 5p or 10p or whatever it is. I am accustomed to no ice and no free refills, but paying for soy sauce is…

I’m old, and foreign, and I feel the same way about JFK’s death and John Lennon’s death. It happened long ago, it was sad, it was about a person I never cared about (I’m sorry) and it is long, long over. I feel sorry for their loved ones, but that’s about it.

The number of people, well-educated, intelligent people, who legitimately believe that the royal establishment tells Kate what to wear and what to do continues to blow my mind. She’s just an idiot; no one is telling her what to do.

Apparently Patinkin could only do these three weeks (he has to start filming Homeland) and they’ve sold almost nothing going forward. Apparently it was a last gasp hope to jump start ticket sales. That said, they handled it incredibly poorly and I can’t see how anything will happen other than the show closing.

I think the fact that she’s Canadian is almost irrelevant. The important thing is that she speaks French (albeit Québécois French). She’s thin, glamorous, doesn’t take herself too seriously and looks bloody great in couture. She’s like Kristin Scott Thomas, Charlotte Rampling and Jane Birkin - a French-speaking…

It’s kind of a poor man’s Before Sunrise, but charming and worth checking out. London looks great in it.

Tobias Menzies is amazing. Total fan girl over here. He usually plays characters who are either thrillingly evil or have a lot of complexity. He’s delightful in a little film called Forget Me Not (v sad, be warned) in which his charm is allowed to shine through a bit.

Federer’s decision to skip Roland Garros is looking pretty good now.

Kate just wore D&G to Wimbledon last week. Good reason to wear more British designers, Catherine.

Also this country just doesn’t work on Sundays. There are many fewer trains (very important in London and the southeast) and shops can only open for 6 hours. There’s a reason why London theatres have their dark day on Sundays and New York theaters have their dark day on Mondays.

He’s funny as all hell. Perfect Scottish deadpan.

I agree that Donald is ridiculous, but Russian bombers are routinely skirting British airspace. I don’t think it’s accurate to say that “the West has never been more secure.” The US, sure.

People in Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and what’s left of Ukraine don’t feel so secure.

Oh my God. Your country kills the most people in state-sanctioned killings (death penalty), along with China, Iran, North Korea and Yemen. A lovely democratic bunch.

Because Ireland has a rate of 0.64 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, as compared to the US’s 4.88? (That’s over 6x the rate). Because Ireland has a Maternal Mortality Ratio of 8 per 100,000 live births as compared to the US’s 14? Because Ireland has a much lower crime rate in general and is a bloody lovely place to…

You’re referring to Savita Halappanavar. In response (in large part) to her death, Ireland passed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_of_Life_During_Pregnancy_Act_2013 I won’t pretend that Ireland’s laws are perfect. But there were 100 people wounded and 14 people…