Tag archives: royal family

Local Couple Likes Living Here
By Richard Mineards   |   December 17, 2024

Prince Harry and wife Meghan have no plans to return to the U.K. with their children Archie and Lilibet. The Riven Rock resident, 40, opened up about his decision to stay in the U.S. at the annual New York Times DealBook Summit in Manhattan. The Sussexes have called Montecito home for four years after leaving […]

Man Missing in the ‘Mirror’
By Richard Mineards   |   June 20, 2023

Prince Harry and his actress wife Meghan Markle may have enjoyed celebrating their daughter Lilibet’s second birthday at their Riven Rock estate, but the Duke of Sussex’s behavior didn’t cut it with a top British judge. The top legal eagle rebuked Harry’s barrister when King Charles III’s youngest son was “unavailable” on the first day […]

English Abbey Experiences a Crowd
By Richard Mineards   |   May 16, 2023

Wow! What a weekend. The coronation of King Charles III at London’s Westminster Abbey lived up to every expectation with pomp, pageantry, and ceremony watched by hundreds of millions worldwide. From our rarefied enclave, all eyes were undoubtedly on Riven Rock resident Prince Harry, who blasted his family in his bestselling book Spare and a […]

Long Did She Reign
By Richard Mineards   |   September 20, 2022

This is an article I had hoped I wouldn’t be writing for a few years more, the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96, after an extraordinary reign of more than 70 years. I had wished that, given the Scottish Bowes-Lyon genes from the earls of Strathmore, like her mother […]

Simple, Homegrown Meals Fit for a Royal Family
By Claudia Schou   |   May 3, 2022

“We don’t talk about Bruno tonight,” joked El Encanto General Manager Janis Clapoff on a recent warm and breezy evening. She was partially making reference to the Oscar award-winning animated film Encanto, but also referring to the hotel’s Executive Chef Bruno Lopez, who was taking the night off as head chef and serving as sous-chef […]

A Royals Record
By Richard Mineards   |   June 17, 2021

I went to the historic Rockwood Woman’s Club to speak to a record turnout of 80 guests for a Royal Tea. After British-born Janet Bullock, who served finger sandwiches and clotted cream scones on her Royal Crown Derby china, alongside dainty cups of Earl Grey tea, I regaled the club members — many wearing colorful […]

Concerto Cream Rises to the Top
By Richard Mineards   |   June 3, 2021

During a year when the performing arts faced challenges beyond measure, the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony held its Concerto Competition virtually, featuring some of the county’s finest young musicians. Participation allows students to showcase their best efforts and hard work in performances scheduled for next season, with one lucky musician winning the opportunity to perform […]

A Royal Farewell
By Richard Mineards   |   April 29, 2021

As expected, I was much in demand over the weekend for the somber and muted funeral for Prince Philip at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, built in the 14th century by King Edward III. Most of it was spent on Fox News where I sat for three hours at the CBTV studio downtown with New York […]

Does Money Grow on Trees? Asking for a Friend.
By Richard Mineards   |   April 22, 2021

Forbes’ 35th annual “World’s Billionaire List” includes a record-breaking 2,755 billionaires, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos topping it for the fourth consecutive year. This year’s billionaires are worth a combined $13.1 trillion, up $8 trillion from last year. “The very, very rich got very, very richer,” says Forbes chief content officer Randall Lane. Needless to […]

Call it a Comeback
By Richard Mineards   |   April 1, 2021

Montecito artist Allison Armour, whose huge global figures have been collected by former Beatle Ringo Starr and even Russian President Vladimir Putin, is getting back to prominence in Goleta, and I’m delighted to hear it. Eight years ago, Goleta Valley Hospital held a competition for a new art installation outside the complex and Allison’s work […]

The Other Empire Strikes Back
By Jeffrey Stewart   |   April 1, 2021

A little-known American tradition was evident in the backstory of Meghan Markle’s remarkable interview with Oprah Winfrey last Sunday that few recognize today. Unbeknownst to most, there exists a tradition of Black Victorians in America, the sophisticated middle-class African Americans who assimilated the tastes and manners of upper-class life in Britain, especially its aesthetic codes, […]

From Riven Rock to Windsor
By Richard Mineards   |   March 18, 2021

Former TV talk show titan Oprah Winfrey hosted a two-hour, hotly anticipated interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and it was worthy of a royal soap opera! It was certainly an astonishing and incendiary show, with Oprah’s Harpo Productions raking in between $7 and $9 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, and CBS […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   September 3, 2020

And the Award Goes To… I give the award for rude news, anger, political bias against Republican men to Nancy Freeman. No one approves of sexual misbehavior toward a woman. Let us balance the sheet. Ms. Freeman was quick to blame Republican men for sexual bad behavior. Seems to me that Bill Clinton, the Kennedy […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   August 27, 2020

Save Those Trees Walking along upper San Leandro Sunday, just west of the bridge, I noticed that many oak trees that line the road are dying. These are the beautiful trees whose canopy stretched over the road and made for a spectacular tree tunnel. But they won’t be there for long. It looks as if […]

“Tabloid Culture” – A True Oxymoron
By Gwyn Lurie   |   August 20, 2020

For a few decades before and one decade after the Millennium, there was a well-known restaurant in New York named Elaine’s, known as the “it” celebrity hang-out and “the private place where public people go to be private in public.” There was a rigorous selection process to get in (which was conducted by Elaine herself). […]

Gala for Gaviota
By Richard Mineards   |   June 6, 2019

The 23-year-old Gaviota Coast Conservancy went paddling at the El Encanto with its third annual premier benefactors’ reception for 60 supporters of the organization dedicated to preserving the 76 miles of pristine coastline, the longest stretch of undeveloped coastal land remaining in Southern California. The sunset soirée, co-chaired by Joyce Macias and Donna Senaur, also […]

Goat Fest
By Richard Mineards   |   May 9, 2019

Goats were in abundance when the 12-year-old African Women Rising, a northern Uganda charity, held its third Goat Fest with more than 200 guests at a rustic Cold Spring Road estate, raising enough to purchase 300 of the animals. “It’s not so much a fund raiser as a friend raiser, to draw attention to the […]

What a Weekend!
By Richard Mineards   |   May 24, 2018

And I don’t mean just for Prince Harry and his new wife Meghan Markle. Having covered the British Royal Family for more than four decades, I was deluged with interview requests on TV and radio nationwide to bring my 40 years of expertise to the forum. The local ABC affiliate, KEYT-TV, had presciently booked me […]