Category: Princess Diana

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Princess Diana

Royalist: 28 years later, Princess Diana’s death looks more & more like murder

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August 31st marks the 28th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in Paris. This year, there have been fewer articles about Diana and her death, especially compared to previous years’ coverage. Personally, I think the way the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been treated by the monarchy and the British establishment have opened up some old wounds, and made some people rethink what happened to Diana. I still believe there was more to the story with what happened to Harry, Meghan and Doria Ragland in New York in 2023, and I believe Harry when he’s said (repeatedly) that he fears that people want his wife to end up like his mother. The older I get, the more I believe there was a coverup and that Diana’s death was incredibly convenient for the Windsors. Well, Tom Sykes devoted a Substack piece to HIS evolving thoughts on Diana’s death and the alleged coverup. You can read the full piece here. I just wanted to show a few excerpts:

But, 28 years later I want to challenge that wisdom. At the risk of being branded a “Diana Truther” or conspiracy theorist, I believe there is just way too much about the events of that night and its aftermath to fit the accident narrative.

There are great differences of opinion about who ordered the killing. Mohamed Fayed famously blamed Prince Philip, but I side with those who argue that the most credible suspect is a powerful group of insiders in the British security services, who may have disposed of Diana, without consulting or seeking approval from individual royals, believing that Diana was a grave threat to the monarchy and the wider establishment. Don’t forget, she said in her Panorama interview, that she didn’t believe Charles was fit to be king. Imagine if she were the one living in California and giving interviews to Oprah. Can anyone really imagine a Queen Camilla in such a scenario?

I believe that the white Fiat Uno that clipped Diana’s car just before it entered the tunnel was driven by a security operative, and that the collision triggered the car’s airbags, obscuring the driver’s view for a crucial few seconds. Even if the airbags didn’t go off prematurely, as the writer Lady Colin Campbell believes, I suspect that the collision created a chaotic moment of panic that led to the car smashing into the 13th pillar.

The keystone of all this conventional wisdom is that Henri Paul was drunk. Alas, it is an unquestioned fact that one post-mortem test on “his” blood showed a carbon monoxide level of 20.7 per cent. With that amount of carbon monoxide in your blood, you’d hardly be able to stand up, let alone walk normally, or bend down to tie your shoelaces, as CCTV showed Henri Paul did at 11:12 pm as he was preparing to leave the Ritz Hotel. The British police inquiry into Diana’s death ultimately concluded the sample was contaminated. And yet tests on his blood from the same French labs saying he was three times over the drink driving limit were accepted as accurate without question.

Then there is the extraordinary matter of the embalming of Diana’s body. We all remember Charles arriving in Paris and bringing Diana home that miserable Sunday evening. She was pronounced dead at 4 am. Between 2 pm and 4:30 pm, according to Operation Paget, a report carried out by the British police to address and investigate Mohamed Fayed’s claims of conspiracy and cover-up, the blood was drained out of her body, destroyed, and replaced with formaldehyde, fatally compromising all further tissue testing. The Paris authorities said this was because it was very hot and they wanted the body to look presentable for viewing. And yet Dodi Fayed, who died in the car, was not embalmed.

[From The Royalist Substack]

Yeah, I agree – the white Fiat, Henri Paul’s sketchy bloodwork, the embalming. It was all so bizarre. Sykes then references Noel Botham’s book, The Murder of Princess Diana, and the case Botham made. Botham references Diana’s own belief that Charles and the establishment would kill her, likely through a staged car accident. She even wrote down her fears (as did her lawyer). There’s also the matter of Henri Paul’s mysterious deposits in the months before his death. There’s also a rumor that someone replaced Paul’s bloodwork with a sample from a man who died by suicide that same night. There’s also the absence of any CCTV footage from around the tunnel. Granted, CCTV wasn’t as omnipresent in 1997 as it is now, but there were still cameras set out around the tunnel, yet none of them caught sight of Henri Paul’s car or the other cars around it.

Sykes added something else I didn’t know: Diana’s sister Sarah McCorquodale was the one who gathered some of Diana’s most personal belongings from Kensington Palace following Diana’s death. Sarah took custody of Diana’s mahogany box, the box where Diana stored all of her sensitive letters, tapes, videos and evidence of other people’s dirty deeds. Sarah said that she looked inside the box when she took it and found it full. But a short time later, she checked again… and the box was empty. Chilling.

Let me add something else – one of the main arguments made by Charles, at the time and in the years afterwards, is that he never would have wanted Diana taken out because it slowed down his planned rollout of Camilla as his partner/soulmate/wife. But here’s the thing… that rollout was going poorly, because Diana was still the main show. People already despised Camilla for her role in breaking up Diana and Charles’s marriage. Camilla didn’t want to compete with Diana head-to-head either. Diana’s death helped Camilla and Charles in the long run.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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Prince Harry Princess Diana royals

Netflix approached Prince Harry about doing a documentary about his mom?

netflix-approached-prince-harry-about-doing-a-documentary-about-his-mom?

Back in March, the Daily Express broke a strangely-worded story, something about how Netflix was, in a roundabout way, approaching Prince Harry about possibly executive-producing a documentary series about his mother. August 2027 will be the 30th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, and if the 20th and 25th anniversaries were any indication, there will be a lot of books and documentaries released to coincide with the anniversary. In March, I said that the bare bones story was believable, that Harry might want to work with real documentarians to examine his mother’s life now that he’s an adult man in his 40s. But I also remember the interview he gave on the 20th anniversary, where he basically said that it would be the last time he ever did anything like that. Still, people change and he might have changed his mind. Even in Spare, you could see his examination of Diana’s life and legacy, and he was clearly still grappling with the belief that he had been fed a cover story or a lie about her death. Well, the “Netflix documentary” rumor has popped up again.

A Princess Diana documentary is on the long list of potential shows Netflix could produce with Prince Harry and Meghan as part of their “first look” agreement. The idea of the Duke of Sussex being involved in a programme to mark 30 years since his mother’s death has been discussed as the streaming giant enters a new deal with the couple.

Several proposals for shows were raised during renewal talks as the Sussexes’ original £100million, five-year contract runs out this year. The new deal, which was announced this month, gives Netflix first refusal on any of the couple’s suggestions, while covering their Archewell Productions’ overheads including its office and staff costs.

A second series of lifestyle show With Love, Meghan will air from Tuesday on the platform — months after its first received savage reviews. Netflix has also committed to a “holiday special” in December, as well as a short documentary about orphans in Uganda called Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within.

But Harry, 40, is considering a documentary on his mother Diana to coincide with the 30th anniversary of her death, which falls in 2027.

An industry source said: “If Harry wants to do it then Netflix will bite his hand off.”

[From The Sun]

“Bite his hand off” is Brit-speak for “Netflix would be incredibly enthusiastic about it.” It’s interesting that the Sun is saying that a potential Diana documentary was brought up in the contract negotiations. I mean, it’s interesting because the Sun also reported, one month ago, that Netflix wasn’t even going to renew the Sussexes’ contract, now they suddenly have sources about what was said in the negotiations? But whatever – I actually believe that Netflix has approached Harry about doing something like this. It would make perfect sense from Netflix’s perspective. Now, will Harry actually do it? I don’t know. I could see him giving an interview for the anniversary, but I have my doubts about whether he would want to produce a doc or docuseries. Incidentally, for the 25th anniversary, HBO aired a Diana-doc called The Princess, which was EXCELLENT. It was made entirely with archival footage and zero new interviews or commentary.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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Prince Harry Prince William Princess Diana royals

Morton: Princess Diana ‘always’ wanted Harry to support lonely King William

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People Magazine’s cover story this week is all about the late Princess Diana and her sons, and how she would be so disappointed with Prince William and Prince Harry’s estrangement. For years, I’ve found this selective “Ghost Diana would be disappointed in this and this” reporting to be really odd, not to mention macabre. If anyone is really going to spin it out – “what would Diana think about this situation if she were alive today” – then really go whole hog, you know? Talk about how Diana would feel about her ex-husband marrying Camilla, or what Diana would think of the grifter Middletons, or what Diana would think of how Charles has treated their sons and grandchildren.

It does feel like the point of this week’s Ghost Diana stories is to somehow blame Harry for the estrangement, and to act like Harry is the one disappointing his dead mother by refusing to abandon his wife and children to suit his brother. Andrew Morton (Diana’s biographer) told People: “We all remember the days when Harry and William were joshing with one another, and it all seemed set for their relationship and the future — that Harry, as Diana always used to say, would be William’s wingman. It’s a great loss for the monarchy.” Morton also said this (People Mag ran another story):

Princess Diana was adamant that her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, should be there for one another, which makes their estrangement so painful today.

“Diana always used to say she had two boys for a reason — the younger would be there to support the older in the lonely task as future king,” Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton tells PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story.

“There is no doubt Diana would have tried to act as a peacemaker between them,” says Morton, whose latest book, Winston and the Windsors, is out in October. “If she had been around, they would have worked things out in a different way.”

[From People]

Here’s the thing with that: Harry still would have been willing to be his awful brother’s “wingman/support” in general. The problem was that William wanted more than Harry’s wingman support – William wanted Harry to be divorced and broken. You think Diana would have had something to say about THAT? Meanwhile, Parade had another royal exclusive this week, about the possibility that William and Harry could reconnect:

A source is exclusively revealing to Parade why Prince Harry and Prince William might reconnect sooner rather than later amid their years-long feud.

“King Charles really isn’t doing well,” the insider says of King Charles III, who was diagnosed with cancer last year, adding that his health has been “deteriorating more.”

The source adds: “It wouldn’t be surprising if William and Harry reconnected a bit more over this. This could be the thing that pushes it to happen.”

Parade reached out to Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace for comment but did not immediately hear back.

[From Parade]

Odd. The part about Charles not doing well – he’s been super-active in Scotland in the past month, all while his wife is sunning herself on a super-yacht in the Mediterranean. Charles is also doing the VJ Day events today while William and Kate are on vacation, presumably in Norfolk. Now, would William call Harry and say “I don’t think Pa is doing well?” I doubt it.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images. Cover courtesy of People.

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Prince Harry Prince William Princess Diana royals

People: Princess Diana would have wanted her sons to ‘support’ each other!

people:-princess-diana-would-have-wanted-her-sons-to-‘support’-each-other!

The “rift” between Prince Harry and Prince William covers this week’s People Magazine. At first, I wondered why anyone would focus on Harry and William’s estrangement at this moment. But then I remembered that the anniversary of Princess Diana’s death is coming up in a few weeks, and that’s why they’re framing it this way. “Diana would have wanted her sons to make peace,” etc. A lot of people have agendas when it comes to Diana’s memory and the real history of what she actually did and said. In my view, Diana would be deeply disappointed in her eldest son, and she would be disgusted with the way Charles has treated both of their sons and all of their grandchildren. But of course, none of the royal experts will say any of that. Some highlights from this cover story:

William & Harry are more than an ocean apart: “We all remember the days when Harry and William were joshing with one another, and it all seemed set for their relationship and the future — that Harry, as Diana always used to say, would be William’s wingman,” Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “It’s a great loss for the monarchy.”

The rewrite on Harry & William’s “feud”: Their feud exploded into public view in 2020, when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their royal duties. “Things were said that sparked the initial rift, and it’s never healed,” Morton says.

Harry has to apologize to Peggy: While Harry has spoken openly about his hope for reconciliation with his family, insiders say his calls and messages to William have gone unanswered. Says Robert Lacey, author of Battle of Brothers: “The rift is very profound and very long-lasting. It will not be changed, in my opinion, until Harry makes a move and apologizes.” Adds historian Amanda Foreman: “Everyone wants it to happen on their terms, but that’s what makes it impossible.”

Diana’s impact on her sons’ families: Despite the emotional and physical distance between them, William and Harry have each created home lives grounded in a shared commitment to providing their children with a genuinely authentic upbringing — “and that is pure Diana,” says Foreman. Both brothers have also honored their mother by giving their daughters her name as a middle name. They often speak of her to their children, and her photograph is displayed throughout their homes. “The values they are instilling and discussing as families may be their best success,” Foreman adds. “They are both very good role models as parents.”

Harry & Charles will likely meet in September: William’s team, notably, was not involved in these discussions. For the Prince of Wales, priorities lie elsewhere: supporting his wife, who is recovering from cancer treatment, and guiding their young family through pivotal years — with attention to 12-year-old George, his heir.

William is SO indifferent: With his focus clear, sources say, William’s anger has calcified into indifference about the situation, a friend told The Sunday Times in June. Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith sees this as William accepting limits: “He can control what he does in his life, but he has no control over what Harry does,” she tells PEOPLE. Adds historian Robert Lacey: “They both deeply believe that they’re fighting for profound points of principle.”

Harry & William should be supporting one another! “This is the sadness of it — they aren’t supporting each other like they should be,” says a source close to the royal household. “That’s what any mother would want — that they are there for each other.” Adds Morton, whose latest book Winston and the Windsors, is out in October: “Diana always used to say she had two boys for a reason — the younger would be there to support the older in the lonely task as future King. There is no doubt Diana would have tried to act as a peacemaker between them. If she had been around, they would have worked things out in a different way.”

[From People]

The whole “the brothers should support each other/Harry needs to support William” narrative has always been utterly and profoundly bizarre. It’s never based on a notion of brotherly love and support, it’s always based on what William needs, or William’s inadequacies. It also has no modern connection – Charles enjoys Anne’s support, but no one ever said that Charles “needs” Anne or that Charles’s kingship would be hampered if he didn’t have absolute control over his siblings. Over the years, they’ve pretty much admitted that the whole thing has fallen apart without Harry, and that William’s kingship will be crippled by Harry’s absence (or the absence of control over Harry). As for what Diana would have wanted… yeah, as I said, I feel strongly that Diana would have been absolutely furious with the way Charles has treated Harry. THAT is what would upset her the most, that Charles has been such a god awful father and grandfather.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of People Magazine.

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Duchess of Edinburgh Princess Diana

Duchess Sophie didn’t go to Princess Diana’s funeral because they looked alike…??

duchess-sophie-didn’t-go-to-princess-diana’s-funeral-because-they-looked-alike…??

After Princess Diana’s death in 1997, I believe many people just stopped caring about the British monarchy. They either stopped caring about the Windsors permanently, or they just needed a break from the Windsor psychodrama for several years, then their interest was renewed when Diana’s sons became young men. My point is that there was definitely a “Windsor Lost Years” period where few people were paying attention and there was something of a vacuum. Well, Sophie Rhys Jones tried to step into that vacuum. Sophie, who is now the Duchess of Edinburgh, began dating Prince Edward in 1993, and they married in June 1999. The wedding was one of the first big royal events since Diana’s death. Sophie and Edward were an established couple (but not yet engaged) when Diana died, and people have always said that Sophie sort of believed that she could step into Diana’s shoes. As in, Sophie thought she could become a major star and royal celebrity, that she would be the glamorous blonde who replaced Diana as Queen of Hearts. Delusional? Yes. But just how delusional? Well, a new biography is trying to answer that question.

Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh has been a central member of the royal family for years, but she didn’t attend Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997 — and a new book claims to unveil the real reason why. In Sophie: Saving the Royal Family by Sean Smith, the author wrote that Sophie did not go to Princess Diana’s funeral on Sept. 6, 1997, because of the striking resemblance that she and Diana shared.

“She had an obvious and reasonable excuse: a friend at the palace explained, ‘Sophie decided it would be too upsetting for the crowd if she went,’ ” Smith wrote in the biography published on July 17, the Daily Mail reported. ” ‘She’s well aware that she looks like Princess Diana from a distance and made her decision in a caring and thoughtful way. The royal family fully supported.’”

Both the late Princess of Wales and Sophie wore their blonde hair in cropped haircuts, which Sophie, now 60, later grew out into a longer style that she continues to sport today. Diana and Sophie shared similar features with blue eyes and light hair, and the Duchess of Edinburgh reportedly once commented on the likeness.

“I don’t deny that we do look alike. But I couldn’t ever compete with Diana’s image. I’m not Diana,” Sophie told the Daily Mail in the 1990s, according to the Daily Express.

At the time of Diana’s death, the future Duchess of Edinburgh was a public relations professional known by her maiden name, Sophie Rhys-Jones, and was dating Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son, Prince Edward.

[From People]

I laughed reading this – “Sophie decided it would be too upsetting for the crowd if she went…She’s well aware that she looks like Princess Diana from a distance and made her decision in a caring and thoughtful way.” “From a distance” is doing such heavy lifting, LMAO. “The royal family fully supported.” I’m sure they did – they fully supported Sophie, a royal girlfriend, not attending Diana’s funeral because Sophie was clearly bonkers!! I went back and grabbed some photos of Sophie in the ‘90s – the only “resemblance” to Diana is Sophie cutting and dyeing her hair just like Diana. Sophie even wore similar styles and mimicked Diana’s poses! Sophie must have been so disappointed to learn that the public’s interest in Diana didn’t transfer over to the closest blonde. Is this why Camilla can’t stand Sophie? Because Sophie tried to be the new Diana?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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Meghan Sussex Princess Diana royals

Now they’re mad about Duchess Meghan’s rosé coming out on Diana’s birthday

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Next week, the Duchess of Sussex will launch her first-ever As Ever wine, a special Napa Valley rosé. I’m really excited for Meghan, even if I’m not going to buy her wine! I don’t drink anymore, but back in the day, I enjoyed a cheap, light white wine or rose. I’d be willing to bet that Meghan’s wine sells out in record time, and I’d also be willing to bet that if she really goes for a serious wine line, she’ll mint money. That’s what they’re afraid of too – that everything Meghan does is a huge success, and entering the alcohol business is going to take As Ever to the next level. So that’s why they’re choosing to focus on the launch date for Meghan’s As Ever wine: July 1st. Princess Diana’s birthday. Incidentally, that’s also the date of the first time Meghan and Harry spoke (on the phone). Harry wrote about that in Spare – that he felt like Meghan came into his life on Diana’s birthday for a reason. But please, allow the Daily Mail to throw a hissy fit:

Earlier this week, Meghan Markle made the grand announcement she would soon be launching her lifestyle brand’s first ever wine. The Duchess of Sussex, who revealed her love of a tipple on her recent Netflix show, has unveiled her first foray into the market with a Napa Valley rosé wine.

It is sourced from the famous region of California, up the west coast from her Montecito mansion, and has been described as having ‘soft notes of stone fruit, gentle minerality and a lasting finish’. But the piece of information about the wine that piqued the interest of most royal watchers was not the ‘bespoke blend’ of flavours, it was the date they would be hitting shelves.

Described by the brand as ‘launching just in time for summer entertaining’, it will be available to buy on July 1.

However there is just one major problem, as was quickly pointed out by hundreds of people on social media, because that is the day Princess Diana would have turned 64. Royal commentator Victoria Arbiter replied to the post on social media with exasperation by simply writing: ‘July 1st, Diana’s birthday…’.

A slew of royal fans also complained at the timing, with one claiming Meghan was ‘literally dining out on Diana’s memory’, and another said the choice was ‘tacky’. And although the price tag of the wine is yet to be confirmed, another royal watcher claimed: ‘She is using Diana to flog cheap wine.’

‘Nothing if not predictable by now,’ said another, as one chimed in ‘she is incredibly tone-deaf’.

The Sussexes have long shown little respect for the tightly regulated royal calendar and would regularly make news while other members of the family were on engagements – a big royal no-no. Meghan didn’t mention the late royal in her post announcing the wine, but the Duchess has previously spoken about her late mother-in-law, describing her as ‘someone I wish I’d had the chance to know’.

[From The Daily Mail]

I think these “critics” would have a better case if Meghan had referenced Diana in any way, shape or form in the As Ever announcement? While I’m sure Meghan is aware of the significance of July 1st in general, it’s also just… her production timeline for As Ever, and it’s not like every single person associated with the royal family has to sit quietly and never do anything on that date. “The Sussexes have long shown little respect for the tightly regulated royal calendar and would regularly make news while other members of the family were on engagements – a big royal no-no.” So now Diana’s birthday is part of the tightly-regulated royal calendar? For goodness sake. Meanwhile, Diana’s other daughter-in-law just went to Diana’s old dressmaker and had one of Diana’s suits poorly copied so she could wear it to Trooping the Colour. But I guess that’s “respectful” or an “homage.” I bet Diana would be a lot less creeped out by Meghan releasing a wine line on her birthday than Kate’s endlessly disturbing Diana cosplay.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, As Ever’s IG and Netflix.

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Princess Diana’s hairstylist: There’s no replacement for Diana but ‘Kate does a great job’

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Sam McKnight is a famous British hair stylist. He’s done hair for probably thousands of magazine shoots and ad campaigns. His big claim to fame was that he was Princess Diana’s favorite hairstylist in the 1990s, and he was widely credited for getting Diana to ditch the big hair and go for that choppy, shaggy, minimalist style she adopted post-separation. Well, McKnight turned 70 years old and he gave a few interviews about his birthday, his salon and all of the famous women he’s worked with. His comments about Diana and the other royal women got a lot of attention.

Meeting Diana on a shoot with Patrick Demarchelier: “Princess Diana comes bouncing up the stairwell,” says McKnight. “She stuck out her hand with a big smile and said, ‘Hi, I’m Diana’ – both of us melted.” Somehow, during that shoot, Demarchelier convinced the Princess of Wales to sit on the floor. “Patrick’s French accent was very strong, indecipherable. He kept saying, ‘Sit on the floor bébé. Bébé, sit on the floor,’” McKnight demonstrates, fondly mimicking the photographer. She found the whole thing hilarious. “‘He wants me to sit on the floor? [But] I’ve got a ball gown on.’ She was really laughing,” he remembers.

He convinced Diana to stop getting perms: During their early years together, McKnight delicately manoeuvred the Princess away from her fail-safe perm. “I was back and forth between London and New York working – in between she’d often have a sneaky perm,” he says, laughing. Two years in, she adapted to McKnight’s modernity, giving him carte blanche to style her hair as he saw fit, which by the mid-’90s meant a soft and understated look.

He adored Diana: Though McKnight is respectfully tight-lipped about what was said between them, their relationship ran deep. “I loved her,” he emphasises. “She was so funny. She was so funny,” he repeats. “She sent [me] these really filthy birthday cards from this card shop on Kensington High Street.”

There is no replacement for Diana: “There’s never really been a replacement [for her],” he says, quickly correcting himself. “That’s the wrong word. No one has ever fitted into that spot she created, there’s been a void there.”

McKnight remains a faithful supporter of the Royal family. “I think Kate does a great job.” He pauses. “I think Meghan could have done an amazing job too, I really do. And I thought that was sad, you know?”

[From The Telegraph]

The bit about Diana’s perm was news to me, I had no idea she was getting sneaky perms! That’s so funny, but it explains how she got so much volume in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. As for what he says about there being no replacement for Diana… he’s right and people are mad that he’s right. The royals and the press have been chasing that Diana high ever since. They had it briefly with Meghan, but their own racism prevaled over the need to exploit another woman. Meanwhile, I would love to know what professional hair stylists really think about Kate AND her hair. Alas, McKnight wants those honors, so he’s going to keep his mouth shut about another hair stylist’s work.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.