Entertainment
What US celebs can learn from Queen’s viral video
A large number of people are wondering why Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian have deleted their photos with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from their social media accounts.
The photos were taken at the 70th star-studded birthday party of Kris Jenner where many other celebrities were also invited.
While the internet is flooded with all kind of conspiracy theories, it’s been learned that Harry and Meghan were the ones who requested their friends to remove their pictures from social media.
Sources said it was Harry who convinced Meghan to talk to Kris Jenner and her celebrity daughter, Kim Kardashian.
By getting their photos removed, the royal couple have not only set an example for the future events, but have also sent a message to the US celebrities that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will always abide by the rules that govern the British royal family.
For those unaware, the royal family follows very strict rules about physical contact and etiquette in official hearings.
According to these royals, contact must be initiated by the most senior member present.
No guest can informally touch, hug or greet them unless they explicitly allows it.
The right greeting is a short handshake if they offer it.
Hugs, slaps or kisses are considered gestures too personal for protocol context.
Although the rules outlined above are for the official occasions featuring royal family members, there can be more relaxed moments where they can be seen hugging and kissing guests.
While Harry and Meghan may have their own reasons to ask for the removal of their pictures from social media— because they were not by any means at a royal event— their friends will hopefully understand that the kind of distance the couple seek is to maintain institutional respect.
Royal fans are hoping that US celebrities, before they invite the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to a party, watch a video of the infamous moment between the late Queen Elizabeth and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
In the viral clip Chavez is seen trying to greet the Queen, Harry’s grandmother, with a hug during a G20 summit in 2010.
However, the late president was sidestepped by the Queen who kept smiling as he held his arms open, waiting for her to respond.
Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis enjoyed a lovely pre-Christmas day out in Norfolk with their mum, Princess Kate, it has been revealed.
On Tuesday, December 23, the Princess of Wales took Charlotte, 10, and Louis, 7, to watch the Christmas Spectacular at Thursford. However, the eldest Wales child and future heir to the throne, 12-year-old Prince George, was apparently not in attendance, nor was his father, Prince William.
The trio’s attendance was confirmed in an Instagram post made last week by Lloyd Hollett, who appears in this year’s production.
Alongside a photo of the blue-lit stage, he wrote, “What a day… Today we were honoured by the presence of Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales, alongside Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who attended our matinee performance.”
No official photos were released of the royals inside the venue as it was a private family outing instead of a public engagement. The future queen and her children reportedly watched the show from a royal box.
The Christmas Spectacular is a three-hour festive show featuring a mix of singing, dancing, and more. With a high production value and a cast of 130 performers, the show is one of the largest and most beloved Christmas events in Europe.
The event runs annually from November 8 to December 23, which means that Kate, Charlotte, and Louis managed to catch the final show.
By Washington Post book critic Ron Charles
2025 offered a feast of great books. To help build your never-ending reading list, here are five titles we particularly enjoyed over the past 12 months:
Simon & Schuster
Lucas Schaefer’s debut novel, “The Slip” (Simon & Schuster), won this year’s Kirkus Prize for Fiction. The story takes place in and around a boxing gym in Austin, Texas, where two lonely teenagers are eager to remake their identities wherever that might lead them.
This sweaty comic masterpiece tackles our most pressing social debates, and delivers a knockout.
Read an excerpt: “The Slip” by Lucas Schaefer
“The Slip” by Lucas Schaefer (Simon & Schuster), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Sourcebooks Landmark 
Susie Dent’s debut novel, “Guilty by Definition” (Sourcebooks Landmark), introduces a dictionary editor in Oxford who begins receiving strange messages about her sister’s long-ago disappearance.
As she follows these clues, she is led into literary puzzles and unresolved parts of her past. Readers who savor wordplay as much as suspense should look up this clever mystery.
Read an excerpt: “Guilty by Definition” by Susie Dent
“Guilty by Definition” by Susie Dent (Sourcebooks Landmark), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Riverhead Books 
“Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State” (Riverhead Books), by Caleb Gayle, traces the rise of Edward McCabe through Kansas and the Oklahoma Territory as Black migrants pursued land, safety and power in the Jim Crow era.
Confronting hostile politics and violent resistance, McCabe fought for community and self-determination, and Gayle lays out this charged landscape to reveal a crucial but long-obscured chapter in the struggle for freedom.
Read an excerpt: “Black Moses” by Caleb Gayle
“Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State” by Caleb Gayle (Riverhead Books), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
calebgayle.com (Official site)
Knopf 
Karen Russell’s “The Antidote” (Knopf) is a dazzlingly original novel that hovers between fable and history.
This wild tempest of a tale set in Depression-era Nebraska follows a prairie witch and a high school girl swept up into a tumultuous western epic about the tragedies and ambitions of Manifest Destiny.
Read an excerpt: “The Antidote” by Karen Russell
“The Antidote” by Karen Russell (Knopf), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Crown 
Rick Atkinson’s “The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780” (Crown), the second book in his planned trilogy, delivers a chronicle of the American Revolution with irresistible narrative drive.
Moving between battles and diplomacy, he brings Washington, Franklin and their rivals to life while tracing the nation’s fight for independence. The result is an immersive work of history just in time for America’s 250th anniversary.
Read an excerpt: “The Fate of the Day” by Rick Atkinson
“The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 (Volume Two of the Revolution Trilogy)” by Rick Atkinson (Crown), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Historian Rick Atkinson (Official site)
Rick Atkinson on how the U.S. Army was born – and a free nation realized (“Sunday Morning”)
That’s it for the Book Report. It’s been great fun to talk to you about good books over the past year. Here’s to many more in 2026.
I’m Ron Charles. Until next time, read on!
For more info:
For more reading recommendations, check out our library of previous Book Report features from Ron Charles:
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