Royal Family

Madame Tussauds don't play, and she's also kinda petty, because Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wax figures are already 86'd from the Royal Family display in London!!!

Just hours after the royal couple shocked the world -- and pissed off all the other royals -- by announcing they were stepping down from their senior duties ... the famed wax museum yanked Harry and Meghan. Their figures previously stood alongside Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Madame Tussauds London tells us Harry and Meghan's wax figures were removed to reflect the upcoming shakeup with the Royals. The museum says, "Alongside the rest of the world we are reacting to the surprising news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be stepping back as senior Royals. From today Meghan and Harry’s figures will no longer appear in our Royal Family set ... to mirror their ‘progressive new role within the Royal institution’."

That last line definitely feels like a jab at Harry and Meg's official announcement.

Happy birthday, Kate Middleton -- and for your gift ... a bright, shiny box of REALLY CRAPPY TIMING!!! Enjoy it.

The Duchess of Cambridge's dour face said it all as she pulled into Kensington Palace Thursday. Yes, it's her 38th birthday, but no one in the royal family's in the mood for cake due to her bro-in-law, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle, deciding to rock the royal boat one day earlier.

According to multiple reports, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Prince William are royally pissed off at Harry and Meg for going public with their plans to pull out of their Senior Royal duties and move, at least part-time, to Canada.

Word is QE2 told Harry to hold off on the announcement, but he defied Grandma ... and now there's talk he and Meghan could face some sort of punishment.

Meanwhile, poor Kate's like ... umm, it's my birth -- oh, never mind.

Hey, at least she looks happy in the official Instagram bday shot. That's something, right?

Fact is, Prince William and Prince Harry were already on the outs -- allegedly because Wills wasn't down with his decision to get married.

Now, William's gotta pull his wife's bday celebration out of Harry's fire?? Good times.

This is huge ... Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are doing something unheard of in the Royal Family -- they're throwing in the towel when it comes to performing senior royal duties and are now determined to become financially independent, and our sources say part of that is moving to Canada.

Harry and Meghan just announced the big change, saying, "After many months of reflection and internal discussion, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen."

They go on ... "We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America ... This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity."

Our sources say the move to North America is actually Canada -- a British Commonwealth nation -- where Meghan has some roots. She filmed "Suits" in Toronto where she rented a house.

As for the nuance of giving up "senior royal duties" ... there is only a small group of royals who, in the absence of the Queen, carry out the duties of the Monarchy. Harry and Meghan will no longer be part of that group.

As we reported, Meghan has had an extremely difficult time adjusting to royal life and the fishbowl she found herself in. She made it clear during a recent interview ... she was not okay and struggling with her new position.

Originally Published -- 10:56 AM PT

The Princess Diana Beanie Babies market's alive and flourishing ... 'cause 2 of them just sold for a whopping $12,000 each.

Our sources say, 2 of the Princess Di crystal-encrusted Beanie Babies edition were up for sale at Nordstrom's in NYC. We're told 2 of Nordie's VIP clients quickly snatched them up. The sale comes just a week after we reported Kylie Jenner also dropped a cool $12k for a similar Beanie Baby.

TMZ broke the story ... Kylie saw the super-rare Ireland Beanie Baby at Justin and Hailey Bieber's Paddle 8 auction. Kylie's new bear and the Princess Di bears are the work of Los Angeles-based artist Dan Life.

What do you get when Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and Prince George all meet up for a Christmas lunch?

The first Royal Family portrait of the new decade, that's what.

The Royals just released the epic photograph of a smiling Queen Elizabeth with Their Royal Highnesses -- Prince Charles, his son Prince William, and his son Prince George -- all gathered together in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace.

The pic -- which features 4 generations of potential Heads of State in the United Kingdom -- was snapped by Ranald Mackechnie.

Of course, there's speculation the Queen wants to bypass Prince Charles for king and crown the Duke ... but those are just rumors. The Prince of Wales will likely get his time at the top.

Another interesting note -- the Royal portrait appears to have been taken the same day as the Queen's Christmas lunch, in which the foursome also made pudding together.

That was the same day Prince William and Kate Middleton rode in separate cars to the event, resulting in more bad optics for the couple and fueling intrigue that there's trouble in their marriage.

Turns out ... it may have just been because Will and George had to go early for the now-famous photo.

The Royals have had a tough year no doubt, but at least some of them tried to put on a happy face for Xmas.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte clutched the hand of parents William and Kate as they made their way to church. They joined grandpa Prince Charles as they entered the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on the Queen's Sandringham estate, about 100 miles from London.

Prince Louis wasn't there ... he's 18 months old and too young for the festivities. Louis hung out with Kate's parents.

Queen Elizabeth may now be the dictionary definition of the phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words," in what seems like a revealing and biting Xmas address to her people.

The Queen always gives a Christmas speech behind a table filled with pics of the royals.  And, there they were -- William, Kate, the kids, Philip .... but wait, something's missing.

There were no pics of Andrew, which you might understand given the stories that have surfaced about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

But then ... there are no pics of Prince Harry, Meghan or baby Archie. It's especially puzzling since this is Archie's first year as a royal or on Earth. As you know, they're spending Xmas in Canada with Meghan's mom, thousands of miles from Buckingham Palace ... and we're guessing that didn't please the Queen.

Prince William and Kate Middleton are doing just fine despite some bad optics making their relationship seem rocky ... at least that's the story our Royal sources are selling.

Sources directly connected to Will and Kate insist there's been no falling out between the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ... this after signs of friction in their marriage.

As you know, Kate seemingly denied William's PDA attempt with a super-awkward shoulder shrug this week on TV, bringing comparisons to Donald Trump getting swatted away by Melania.

The sources insist the whole interaction was taken out of context from the rest of the TV special, and what most folks didn't see was Will and Kate being very affectionate and close-knit.

The bad optics didn't end there, because as we reported ... William and Kate showed up to the Royal Family's Christmas lunch in separate cars.

We're told the couple rode separately because Prince George and William needed to be at Buckingham Palace 30 minutes earlier for a special event -- which sources say will soon be made public, and explain the whole car situation.

The family certainly looks happy in their annual Christmas card. Still ... that's just a moment in time. Remember ... Princess Diana looked happy in her family Xmas card pics, and she was anything but.

Prince William and Kate Middleton are keeping palace intrigue that there's trouble in paradise at peak levels, cause a day after Kate had a Melania Trump moment ... more signs of friction.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived to the Royal Family's Christmas lunch Wednesday at Buckingham Palace in separate cars, and split up the children as well -- Prince George rode with dad, while Charlotte and Louis showed up with mom.

It's bad because this same time last year, the whole family rode together in one vehicle.

That takes into account all three of their kids, including young Louis ... who was just 8 months old at the time. Still, they squeezed his car seat into the back -- and even managed to fit in a nanny to boot. Now, they seemed inclined to divide the squad for some reason.

This, of course, comes right on the heels of Kate seemingly shrugging off's Will's attempt at PDA when he reached over and touched her shoulder -- which looked a lot like Melania refusing to hold hands with DT here in the States. Again ... bad optics.

It was super awkward -- and now, they're really fueling the rumor fire that they're having marriage problems ... a major point of speculation recently, which hasn't been confirmed one way or another.

Funny enough ... Kate and Will left Wednesday's breakfast in the same car -- this after we called around asking what was up. Kensington Palace still hasn't gotten back to us on that ... but if you're putting two and two together, it looks like the message was received.

Kate Middleton was NOT in the mood for some PDA from Prince William ... or so it sure seemed.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge appeared on a BBC special Monday night dubbed "A Berry Royal Christmas" ... where they hosted a slew of volunteers from various organizations who plan to volunteer for the holidays.

Near the end of the episode, Prince William and Kate sit down with a group of volunteers ... and he tries to gently place his hand on Kate's left shoulder, but she wasn't having it. You see her shrug him off. The move's pretty fast ... so don't blink.

You'll also notice Kate never stopped smiling during the whole thing. Her facial expression remained the same ... big smile. Viewers took notice and quickly took to social media. One person tweeted, "She moved with a quickness." Another wrote, "Awkward! Too Awkward!! They should have cut it out!"

Kate's move was reminiscent of Melania Trump slapping President Trump's hand away back in 2017 after they had just landed in Tel Aviv. You'll recall he reached for her hand but Melania quickly put the Prez in a no hand-holding zone.

Prince Andrew's very bad publicity run is getting worse -- he's now being accused of casually dropping the n-word while speaking to a former British government employee.

Rohan Silva -- a UK native of Sri Lankan heritage and former aide to Prime Minister David Cameron -- says he was invited to a meeting at the Palace to discuss policy with the Queen's son, and asked him if the trade department could be doing a better job.

To that question, Silva claims Prince Andrew said ... "Well, if you'll pardon the expression, that really is the n***** in the woodpile."

Silva says the prince's racial epithet left him reeling as he left Buckingham Palace, but he's ashamed to say he didn't do anything about it. He says, "For a long time after, I kicked myself for not confronting the prince on his choice of words -- and it's something I still regret today."

Silva claims this wasn't the first time Prince Andrew used bigoted language either. At another Buckingham Palace meeting a year prior, Silva claims the prince told him ... "What you have got to remember is that you’ll never get anywhere by playing the white man."

The former aide says he was unfamiliar with the phrase at the time, but when he looked it up he realized it implies that dark-skinned people are less trustworthy and don't play by the rules like white people.

Silva's claims come on the heels of another Prince Andrew scandal ... related to his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew's accused of having sex with an underage woman named Virginia Roberts (now Virginia Giuffre), who he met through Epstein at least 3 times from 1999 through 2002.

The Royal family has denied Virginia's allegations, but the prince did himself no favors by making an appearance on "BBC Newsnight" and claiming he couldn't even remember Giuffre ... despite posing in a photo with her in 2001.

Rita Ora's charm knows no bounds ... as Prince William learned face-to-face and firsthand.

Wills and Rita met at a charitable event Wednesday night in London, and instead of just acting like he's enthralled ... we're guessing the Duke of Cambridge was actually thrilled to hang with the singer. He's a royal, but he's still only human.

BTW, William went all out for the event honoring Centrepoint -- an organization that's been aiding homeless youth for 50 years. Peep that green crushed velvet tux he was rocking.

We're sure meeting Rita had nothing to do with his fashion selection. Besides, does anyone believe the future King of England really dresses himself?

He also met 3 members of Duran Duran -- Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Simon Le Bon -- which would've been totally exciting ... had Rita not been in the room.

Meghan Markle's nephew, Thomas Dooley, quickly lost his towel and was butt-ass naked during his rowdy arrest in Hollywood last week ... which we now have on video.

TMZ obtained footage of the arrest from Thursday, which took place right around the corner from the Hollywood Hotel just north of Santa Monica Blvd. As you can see ... it was a noisy affair, as officers attempted to detain Dooley..

We broke the story ... Thomas was arrested and ultimately booked for felony resisting arrest after police say he was spotted cruising up and down the boulevard covered only by a small towel.

Cops say he was also shouting gibberish to himself, and appeared to be under the influence of some substance. We're told he had to be taken down after evading police.

Meghan Markle's nephew was arrested in Hollywood for causing a scene in nothing but a tiny towel.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Thomas Dooley was walking down a street Thursday shouting gibberish ... wearing only a small towel wrapped around his waist. We're told some passersby called cops ... and several units rushed to the scene.

Our sources say when officers approached Thomas, he defiantly began walking away, so they tried to detain him. We're told he was taken to the ground and subdued.

That would be it ... it probably wouldn't amount to much more than a misdemeanor, except for the fact an officer injured his knee during the takedown. That elevated things to felony status, so Dooley was booked for felony resisting arrest.

Prince Harry showed he's got his late mother's moxie -- walking through a landmine field just like she did some 22 years ago.

The Duke of Sussex paid homage to Princess Diana Friday in Angola ... walking through a minefield on day 5 of his royal tour of Africa. He was there to check out the landmine clearing efforts of The HALO Trust ... a charity Princess Di brought a lot of attention to in 1997.

She walked through the exact same minefield back then to bring awareness to the landmine crisis around the globe while calling for an international ban. Two decades later, the area's been transformed from uninhabitable to vibrant ... with colleges, schools and small businesses surrounding it.

Princess Diana spearheaded the Mine Ban Treaty ... a call to eliminate all landmines by 2025. Harry had taken up on the cause well before arriving in Angola to retrace his mother's steps.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are making certain no one can call them the Duke and Duchess of Hypocrisy -- they flew commercial for a grueling trip WITH their 4-month-old baby.

Don't get us wrong ... the royal couple still got the royal treatment Monday morning after landing in Cape Town, South Africa.

A team of security guards and airport staff led them away from their British Airways flight. The fam was looking pretty weary on the tarmac as Meghan cradled baby Archie ... who was rocking a stylish beanie, btw.

The 11-and-a-half hour, nonstop flight from London ain't easy for normal travelers, and when ya add baby Archie to the mix ... ya gotta say Harry's doing his best to flip public opinion.

Meg and Harry caught a rash of crap for jacking up their carbon footprint on a gas-guzzling private jet to visit Elton John in France last month. Although, Harry said afterward sometimes it will be necessary to fly private for the safety of his family, this now the 2nd time he's been spotted on a commercial flight since then.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Archie, are kicking off a 10-day tour of the former British colony.

They're already hitting it off with the locals by dancing with some of their greeters in Cape Town.

Well, perhaps wisely, Harry let Meghan do most of the dancing.