Yesterday’s palace reception for Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday was only the second time the Princess of Wales has been seen in a month. Kate was tasked with making small talk with lots of seniors, which is actually her one strength (she prefers chatting with seniors as opposed to children). Prince William and Kate also had to pose for photos during the reception, including one dusty portrait of the “working royals” all gathered together. I have no idea what King Charles believed that the portrait would show, but most people were sort of horrified by just how old the “working royals” actually are.
The Telegraph tried to put a dutifully monarchist spin on the working-royal photo, but even they could barely manage it, writing: “From the 43-year-old Prince William to the 90-year-old Duke of Kent, they gathered for a photograph to mark the occasion – a snapshot of the slimmed-down monarchy in its new era. With an average age of 69, each generation worked to its strengths.” YIKES!! It’s even worse because, as many are pointing out, the septuagenarians and octogenarians are regularly outworking the two lazy 40-somethings. Meanwhile, GB News’ spin was that, actually, William, Kate, Sophie and Edward are the new Fab Four. LMAO.
The Prince and Princess of Wales were seen standing with the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh today, potentially marking the new “fab four”.
It was not so long ago that the Royal Family’s future was destined to be carried by the so-called foursome – brothers Prince Harry and William, with their respective partners, Meghan Markle and Catherine. It showed promise: the prospect of two young and energetic couples leading the way in the new age of the British Royal Family. But it wouldn’t be too long until it fell apart.
After a mammoth dispute, Harry migrated to the States, writing his memoir, Spare, and, in September 2020, stepped away from royal duties altogether.
For the king-to-be, he remained diligent alongside his wife while a new partnership formed. This was on show once again today at Buckingham Palace.
Edward, some 16 years younger than his brother King Charles and 19 years older than William, has acted as a pivotal glue in binding the two generations together. Meanwhile, Sophie has forged a strong bond with Catherine, who herself has now become part of the furniture at Buckingham Palace over the years.
Together, they have made up a new, strong foursome that, on the foundations of hard work and dedication, has the potential to live up to the original “fab four” billing. Today was the latest example of such.
PART OF THE FURNITURE?? I realize that’s a common expression, but it’s not a compliment for Kate to be described as, in essence, just there, part of the tapestry, another piece of furniture. Double yikes. As for the New Fab Four… even the emotional-support pollsters didn’t bother to include Sophie in their recent polling. All of her international tours get zero attention. People never know what Edward and Sophie are up to at any given moment because you can’t even pay royal reporters to cover them. But sure, the new Fab Four.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- (left-right) the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales during a reception at Buckingham Palace in London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth. Picture date: Tuesday April 21, 2026.,Image: 1093346300, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jordan Pettitt/Avalon
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- The Prince of Wales during a reception at Buckingham Palace, London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth. Picture date: Tuesday April 21, 2026.,Image: 1093346365, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- The Princess of Wales speaks to 100 year-old John Jervois during a reception at Buckingham Palace in London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth. Picture date: Tuesday April 21, 2026.,Image: 1093347168, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jordan Pettitt/Avalon
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales during a reception at Buckingham Palace, London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth. Picture date: Tuesday April 21, 2026.,Image: 1093347285, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales during a reception at Buckingham Palace, London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth. Picture date: Tuesday April 21, 2026.,Image: 1093347597, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- Members of the British royal family during a reception at Buckingham Palace in London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth Featuring: The Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 21 Apr 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Members of the British royal family during a reception at Buckingham Palace in London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth Featuring: The Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 21 Apr 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Members of the British royal family during a reception at Buckingham Palace in London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth Featuring: The Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 21 Apr 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Members of the British royal family during a reception at Buckingham Palace in London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth Featuring: (Left to right) The Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, the Princess of Wales, the Prince of Wales, King Charles III, Queen Camilla, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Alexandra and the Duchess of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace in London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth Where: London, United Kingdom When: 21 Apr 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Fab must mean something really, really different in Great Britain than it does here in the States.
Lol. English is my second language. It must be something for rizzless I haven’t heard before.
That top photo of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha/ aka Windsors is so depressing. On the upside, the Duchess of Gloucester looked lovely as always.
The duchess is so lovely and elegant. SHE’S the one who’s “never put a foot wrong”. And Alexandra Kent is a very elegant lady too. And you can still see what a beauty she was.
@Dainty Daisy everyone descended from Elizabeth and Phillip are actually Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
Only if you’re in the press apparently.
“Fab four”? No more like the dull and boring and lazy four without an ounce of charisma or kindness between them. They are the Drab Four!!!
You hit the nail on the head.
If they’re the new Fab Four, I’m the Queen of Sheba.
Sorry to keep using this analogy, but there’s so much delusion spouted by the media about these people. It’s not hard to imagine Sophie going back to Bagshot and demanding new dressing rooms with more flattering mirrors all the better to showcase her as part of this new Fab Four. God help us.
They are excruciatingly boring just to look at. And Sophie gives me the ‘I hate my life vibes’ and want to run away with a protection officer. Fab Four LOL
Lord, Sophie needs a stylist. She’s so freaking frumpy.
ITA about the frumpiness. But I kind of appreciate that she doesn’t obsess over her own or someone else’s idea of fashion. Same with Anne–Anne goes with great fabrics in non-era-specific cuts that last for decades. Neither woman seems concerned about her weight. If the alternative is Meghan-like neutrals and coatdresses in every shade of the rainbow, give me frump.
She does, and so does Kate. Since her Meghan-obsessed stylist left, all we’re getting is more coat-dresses and the usual top-embellished too-long bores to compensate for Kate’s non-existent chest.
that dress she’s wearing is awful. she should cut her hair.
If Kate is more comfortable talking to seniors than to children, perhaps her big project should have focused on them rather than the early years.
She’s only more comfortable with seniors because they’re royalists. Kids are honest. Royalists love princess Kate, her ugly but expensive clothes, and her doll wigs. They don’t expect conversation. Easy to please.
The most interesting thing in this photo is Cam and Anne shoulder to shoulder after a lifetime of sleeping with the same man (and maybe still are? Just a thought to spice up this photo).
Wait, what? I have not heard of this – please spill.
Anne dated Andrew Parker Bowles early on. She couldn’t marry him because he’s Catholic but they famously stayed close throughout their marriages. Meanwhile, Cam has always been in love with him and we can speculate they never stopped being conjugal after they were pressured into divorce following tampon-gate. APB is still very much alive and kicking, so anything’s possible. 😉
Andrew Parker Bowles had the option to convert. But did not. The divorce and Andrew and Camilla was caused by Charles telling the world on a tv interview that he was involved with Camilla. The Parker Bowles divorced as a result of Charles naming her.
Just me, but I do suspect Anne remains jealous of Camilla. And, despite everything, I also imagine Camilla would be better company – imagine the horror of sitting next to Anne on a long haul flight!
What is the I Don’t Drink Coffee prince drinking?
A Bloody Mary? No-one else has a drink in their hand that I can see.
Very slim possibility that’s guava juice. But who brings their breakfast beverage to an afternoon reception?
I think I’ve shared this before, but when we were watching QEII’s funeral, my husband saw Edward and said, “damn, William must be taking her death pretty hard, he’s looking rough”. He can’t be the only one to not know who the hell Edward is. As for SoFiesta, I think that nickname says it all. She’s not even part of the furniture. She’s like, the floor under a rug.
Welp, they got their slimmed down monarchy. Best enjoy cuz it’s what they ordered. Pity it still costs the same if not more than a few years ago.
The hospice’s fab four
‘Part of the furniture’ is quite an insult. It means you have been around so long nobody notices you anymore. It also suggests that others consider that you have nothing of value to offer so people will overlook you.
Exactly. Furniture – leant upon, sat upon, moved to where necessary, but often just worn out and faded gilt, often old fashioned, and dusty and ignored, forgotten about .. what a description.
What’s fab about them? And they have been trying this out for 6 years. When I saw this article, I literally thought again?!!
And yeah it’s not great when you have 11 working royals, and seven of them are over 75. Edward and Sophie should probably be winding down the number engagements that they do over the next 10 years, not looking ahead to doing them for another 25.
And the reason behind this is so stupid, because ” slimming” down the working royals still hasn’t gotten you any attention. The heir and his wife are horrifically lazy, and no one cares about this king and queen. Andrew is a non-starter, but Beatrice was clearly until quite recently all in on picking up some of the slack. Harry and Meghan were all in, and even when they stopped, they were still willing to be halfway. If they weren’t so horrible they probably could have gotten Eugenie to do a little bit more.
Now people are calling out the elephant in the room. Which is honestly going to get worse in the next couple of years when some of these people inevitably start to depart the mortal coil. Charles’s 80th birthday photo may only have 6 or 7 people.
It’s certainly gotten attention, just not the kind they want. But I wonder if slimming down the monarchy was just accepting the inevitable.
Given what the BP knew about Andrew, he and his daughters would be out of the question. Given what they knew about William’s rage and jealousy, H&M would never be accepted. And given that everyone is getting older, the heir is both reluctant and unworthy and the monarchy is increasingly seen as irrelevant – what are you to do to save face?
You pretend it was your choice, not Fate’s, to slim down. You invent an villainous rival, an ungrateful son and his evil wife, to paint yourself as a victim and garner whatever sympathy is left in the UK. But the clock keeps ticking…
And I guess William and Kate didn’t care about sticking Edward and Sophie with so many engagements while *their* children were young. Especially when William and Kate didn’t even have any. And edward and Sophie had dealt with infertility, an ectopic pregnancy, a traumatic delivery, Louise’s eye condition and surgeries. I’m sure they would’ve loved extra time with their kids.
Drab Four more like. Sophie and Ed might pick up their workload to make sure they stay in the good graces of the Failing Wails, but no one would notice anyway. All it takes is for Meghan to be spotted getting coffee in Montecito, a whole ocean and continent away, for all of them to be wiped off the front page.
Ooh but what coffee? Is she more a Phil’s or Blue Bottle girl? Or are we talking a latte? But then is it skinny, oat, or almond? Sorry, what was the topic of this thread. I got distracted by Meghan’s theoretical coffee order. 😉
I want to know if she also ordered a pastry….was it sweet or savory? Gluten free or full carb? Fruit or not?
Good one GH.
Or the Feeble Four.
Perfect name for this grouping is gloom and doom. As mentioned not an ounce of authenticity, charisma or empathy among them.
This is actually funny. They should be called the Four Fuddy-duddies or the Fab Frumpies.
Too easy 🤣
Fab = Faded Ass Bitches
Whew, talk about a sinking ship. I know there’s affection for the late Queen with the older set but even that is waning, I just saw an article about her clothing exhibit and the comments were predominately about her aiding and abetting Andrew. The transition from Charles to William is going to be an interesting one.
The tickets are still selling like hot cakes though.
They are not “young couples” anymore. This shows desperation. If Edward or Sophie “displease” Scooter, the Fab Four will break up.
I think the Edinburghs are wary about Scooter. They have to cater to him though.
Really, the only hope for this family is that George, Charlotte, and Louis graduate from college very, very soon. And that they not only buy into the nonsense but also they do it better (working hard, finding causes they’re passionate about, and so on).
For George it’s another 7 years. For the others it’s more. Too bad Willy kicked out the York sisters (pending solid evidence they’re complicit). Meanwhile, we’re doomed to another 10 years of grim, dusty photos and the tabloids trying to manifest the new Fab 4.
oh not this again, lol.
Sorry the fabulous royals are resting after their successful trip to Australia. The leftovers are just….well, drab, as others have said.
“Fab”? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. To borrow from Inigo.
LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!! Fab my butt.
HAHAHAHA!! This is so ridiculous. Do they realize how deranged they look trotting out a bunch of old people who should be at home chilling because the youngest people it the group are also the laziest.
JP Caonabo had a slightly sarcastic take:
“The royal PR machine is thrilled. And you can almost hear newspaper editors clinking their mugs of brandy tea, delighted they get to start writing about some truly fascinating people, instead of churning out endless click-bait about a couple who literally moved continents to get away from the toxicity. If this storyline feels familiar, friends, that’s because it is – the Fail ran with the headline “The ‘Fab Four’ is dead… Long Live ‘The Fab Four!’ How William and Kate, Edward and Sophie are the surprise new power team within the British Royal Family” back in 2023. They didn’t set the world alight then, but I’m sure this time will be different. Really, I’m excited.
I mean, just think of the scintillating headlines they can write about Cath’s coatdresses – they come in a variety of colours! And to give her her due, every so often she does something for herself. Like when she drove herself that one time. And remember when she tied her own hair up?And we’ve all seen how courageous she can be about, er, gingham upholstery.”
Full article here: https://unpacked4.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/meet-the-new-fab-four-how-adorable/
What is with Peg’s back-of-the-head hairline in that photo?????
William is protecting the family jewels, as usual.
Could a body language expert tell us what THAT’s about??
The desperation. Most people don’t know who Sophie and Edward are.
Damn. I laughed out loud at this photo. Seriously, I was chuckling and then it hit me like a wave and I just went giddy and laughed my head off. I mean. I think if the late Queen were still with us, she would be shaking her head, in that brisk, had-a-Scots-nanny sort of way, tut-tutting. She was not a sentimentalist. I have one title for this image: “Going, going, gone.”
The Dusty Crusties.
FAB!? Who are they trying to kid? Well, you can’t fix stupid.