Royal Family

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are winning over Queen Elizabeth -- immediately following the family summit, Her Majesty now says she supports them stepping away from Royal life.

QE2 says both she and the fam are fully supportive of her grandson's power move. That said, she's pretty honest too, and notes she wishes they would've stayed on and remained "full-time working Members of the Royal Family."

Prince William, Prince Harry and Prince Charles all left the meeting at the Queen's Sandringham Estate separately. They were all discussing the future of the Royal Family and how they'd all move forward after Harry and Meg's announcement. Meghan, who's in Canada now, reportedly teleconferenced for the meeting.

Her Majesty says there will be a period of transition while they sort out details on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's departure and finances. Harry made it clear they don't want to rely on public funds and prefer to seek financial independence.

Harry's grandma also confirmed he and Meghan will split their time between Canada and the U.K.

Prince Harry and Prince William are actively squashing a report alleging Prince William's "bullying attitude" -- toward his brother and Meghan Markle -- is what's driving the couple away.

The brothers issued a rare joint statement Monday, saying, "Despite clear denials, a false story ran in a UK newspaper today speculating about the relationship between the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of Cambridge."

The statement continues ... "For brothers who care so deeply about the issues surrounding mental health, the use of inflammatory language in this way is offensive and potentially harmful."

The story suggested they had a falling out because William hasn't been friendly toward Meghan, and came on the eve of Queen Elizabeth's emergency meeting at her Sandringham Estate. QE2 is holding a summit with Prince Charles, Will and Harry to discuss how the family moves forward after Harry and Meghan's bombshell announcement they're stepping down from "senior" royal responsibilities.

BTW, the Queen's family meeting will not include her hubby, Prince Philip, or Kate Middleton. Monday morning, she was driving the kids to school, and he was driven out of Sandringham. He gave up his license after a car accident a year ago.

Harry and Meghan revealed their desire to become financially independent, and split time between the UK and Canada. The plan is off to a promising start ... with Meghan already getting some work in with Disney, and Harry's exec producing gig with Oprah.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were ramping up for their exit from royal life as early as this summer ... when Harry pitched his wife's talents to Disney's CEO ... face-to-face.

Resurfaced video from this past July appears to show PH chatting it up with Bob Iger at the '"Lion King" premiere in London -- during which he seems to say, "You know she does voice-overs?" to a genuinely surprised Iger who responds with, "Oh really? Ah ..."

Iger goes on to say he didn't know that, and Harry follows up by saying Meg is "really interested." Moments later, you hear someone clearly say "We'd love to try." Mind you, this was all being said right next to Meg as she hugged Beyonce and Jay-Z.

As we reported ... Meghan's work with Disney is a done deal -- she reportedly completed her gig with them before the holidays in exchange for a donation to a charity called Elephants Without Borders. The nature of the voice-over and the amount of payment is unclear.

Queen Elizabeth is having a face-to-face with the Royal men of her life to hash out what's next for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ... who wanna be part-timers.

TMZ has confirmed that Her Majesty has summoned Harry, Prince William and their dad, Prince Charles, for what's said to be an unprecedented meeting Monday at her country home of Sandringham, Norfolk to discuss next steps for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

It's the first time the immediate family has gotten together in person since the Sussexes said they were out (ish) and wanted to seek financial independence from across the pond.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's stunning decision to step down as senior members of the Royal Family doesn't just have The Queen reeling ... it's shaken up the betting world.

Those looking for some action following the royal shake-up will find plenty of wagering options thanks to oddsmakers at US-Bookies.com ... but the most notable ones revolve around the Duke and Duchess potentially expanding their family.

As of now, the odds are 1/4 that Meghan will announce she's pregnant with the couple's second child in 2020 ... meaning a $100 bet only profits $25, because it's very likely to happen. The odds were 1/2 before they announced they were bailing on senior Royal duties.

Prince Harry's military buddy says the decision to bolt from the Royal fam was to protect his family ... and it's clear from listening to him  -- the death of Harry's mom loomed large in the decision.

JJ Chalmers appeared on UK's "The One Show" Friday and said Harry's #1 priority is his wife and kid.

It's interesting ... JJ thinks part of Harry's thinking was so little Archie would know when he gets older his pops did right by him.

Queen Elizabeth has a lot on her mind after her grandson Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to bail on the Royal Family ... and the stress is written all over her face.

Her Majesty was spotted driving her Land Rover down some country roads Friday, away from Sandringham in Norfolk, to head to a photo shoot in a field ... and she doesn't look too happy about the current state of affairs.

As we reported ... the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the shocking call this week to step down from their senior duties and split their time between Canada, and it has the Royal Fam in crisis mode.

Prince Charles and William have reportedly ordered their teams to find a "workable solution" to the situation with Harry and Meghan, but unless something changes ... the couple will be living in North America soon and supporting their Queen from afar. The question -- will the Queen play ball with part-timers? And, there's evidence she will not.

The backlash from their decision has already begun -- their wax figures got yanked from the Royal Family display at Madame Tussauds in London.

The shocking news has also had a ripple effect ... on Oprah. She's had to come out and denied reports she advised Harry and Meghan to break free from the Royals and head to North America.

She says the couple doesn't need her help figuring out what's best for them ... but adds that she cares about them and supports their decisions. Oprah famously attended their wedding in May 2018.

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.