PRINCESS SRIRASMI NO MORE

To those addicted to Thai lakorns, the still unfolding saga of the former Thai Princess Srirasmi will seem familiar. It's even more riveting than Love Sick The Series. (I'm planning a really long post on this TV series, so watch out for it!)

It wasn't to be a happy birthday for the  Princess, who was born 9 December 1971 to a family of modest means. She graduated from Bangkok Business College at age 22, and entered the service of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn as a “lady-in-waiting”. In 1997, Srirasmi enrolled in Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University and graduated in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in management science. In 2007 she received a Master of Arts degree in Home Economics from Kasetsart University. 

The always polished former Princess in happier times

Today, she is Princess no more, and has adopted a new identity overnight, and from now on she will be officially known as Thanphuying Srirasmi Suwadee. It is reported that she will now return to her hometown of Ratchaburi and devote her time to studying Buddhism. The former princess (the third wife of the Crown Prince) was seen at a government office in Bangkok's Dusit district obtaining her new identification card.
The scandal-plagued Srirasmi's abdication came to light last Friday in a terse statement carried in the Royal Gazette. The announcement said that Princess Srirasmi had requested in writing that she be allowed to relinquish her royal status. No reason was offered for her resigination.
This request had been acknowledged by His Majesty the King and permission has been granted. Additionally, it was officially acknowledged by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Apart from her royal title, she has also resigned her army position. 

Srirasmi has returned all her jewels and been granted 200 million baht to support her new life as a commoner. 

Four Movies and a Flight

On a recent trip, I buckled down with the goal of watching four movies by the time I got home, flying not being one of my favourite things to do. I don't like anything about flying do you? These were the four movies I watched: 
To Rome With Love

He's taken us to London, Barcelona, Paris and now Woody Allen has landed us at yet another luxury-tourist European capital, Rome. It's pretty and escapist and great in that honeyed sunset lighting and picturesque and familiar setting kind of way. In this ensemble/omnibus movie (it's got Judy Davis, who's always so droll!), not all the jokes come off, but on the whole it is engaging, undemanding fun with gags that are one-liners but milked for slightly more than its worth. It's a warm, slight movie, far from the greatness of his earlier ones, but fun nonetheless. I want to highlight that Allen's movies are always nicely styled, and all the actors look prosperous and attractive. I was especially thrilled to see the patrician Flavio Parenti (below), whom I first discovered in I Am Love in this movie playing the activist/lawyer Michelangelo. And Jesse Eisenberg who plays the architecture student is creamy-cute!

Bel Ami

Pat Pat and Kristin Scott Thomas

Can you resist a costumer with Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas? Robert PatPat plays a pale, vampiric Belle Epoque social-climber with greasy hair under his hat and suggestively poufy breeches and seduces both Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas. Of course I had to watch this! Adapted from a novel by Guy de Maupassant, the unsympathetic protagonist, a would-be journalist, Georges Duroy clambers clumsily from a roach-infested garret to the poshest salons of literary Paris. I've never read the book, and the movie doesn't make me want to, as the script seems sketchy and cliched and none of the characters seem particularly sympathetic or indeed interesting. I think the story's point is that Pat Pat  is both foxy and self-deluding, but Pat Pat just comes off as petulant and sulky and in need of a good shampoo. Pat Pat always looks clammy and unwashed and I'm sure Ms Scott Thomas (who seems to be in a separate, better movie) must have fought the urge to bury her nose in a hanky doused with Jicky. There's lots of Pat Pat's white, thickly-fleshy body in this movie if that's what you are into.
No judgements!

Farewell, My Queen

This much lauded period piece about the French Revolution is told from the perspective of a servant to Marie Antoinette in Benoit Jacquot’s rather claustrophobic film. Most of the film is situated in smallish chambers or hallways and seems unfamiliar, a sort of 'fresh take', I suppose, but one does like a bit of grandeur and pomp in period movies, doesn't one? Sidonie Laborde (Lea Seydoux) is the queen’s devoted “reader,” and Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger), who spends most of her time considering patterns for new dresses and dithering over her infatuation with the beautiful Duchess Gabrielle de Polignac (Virginie Ledoyen in too brief an appearance) seems mostly bored out of her wigs. It's not escapist fare and I clutch at the introduction of  a handsome gondolier (Vladimir Consigny), who isn't even necessary to the plot. How sad. This movie could be of special interest to history buffs, who will appreciate the “behind-the-scenes” speculation, but I'm not sure this is all that good an idea for in-flight entertainment. Much has been made of Ms Kruger's portrayal of Marie Antoinette, but I almost want to say I prefer KiKi Dunst's in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. 

Magic Mike 

Could I have missed this?
This is the perfect movie to watch just before you land because it's silly fun, and you can rush through it with your finger on the forward button and still enjoy it entirely. Inspired by Channing Tatum's stint as a male stripper, director Steven Soderbergh's comedy uncovered Alex Pettyfer for me, and that's enough. He's dreamy and a Brit and if you can hug his image all the way to the hotel like a double cashmere coat . Matthew McConaughey is the big daddy stripper, and despite the chocolate bar abs doesn't register as sexy. There's just a hint of erotic energy (unapologetically targetting the reliable gay dollar)- there's ample, if unthreatening, man candy, of course, fit for the mainstream. The script isn't polished or strong on character with no narrative originality or emotion, you don't really care about the girlfirends, and the poverty and drugs never seems real. But you can almost read this movie as a bromance because it seems more about male camaraderie and the buddy element is the emotional core of the movie. If anything, the friendship between Tatum and Pettyfer is the main narrative - it's Brokeback Lite. The Chinese uncle sitting next to me was so riveted by the stripping scenes that he actually leaned over and asked me what I was watching - I told him, pointing to the title in the the menu, and then he turned it on, put on his headphones and studiously ignored me me for the rest of the movie. Well, at least one person enjoyed the flight.

Queens, Big Heads and Humour

If I could speak like Helena Bonham Carter, you won't be able to keep my mouth shut! I'd talk and talk and talk just to hear my own wonderfully posh, cut-glass accent. I want to take elocution classes!!!

Weekend Reading List: On a Plane

I read about La Bella Principessa on the plane in the National Geographic, and it interested me more than anything I've read in a long time. This purported 'lost' drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, in ink and coloured chalks on a sheet of vellum measuring only 330mmx39mm (it was reproduced in actual size in the magazine over a spread, like a centerfold), is a controversial find. Its origins and authenticity continue to be debated over by experts. The drawing is on a sheet of vellum which carbon-14 tests date to between 1440 and 1650, which coincides with the years in which da Vinci was working. The direction of the hatching shows that the artist was left-handed, as was Leonardo. The Renaissance-style garment is said to be accurately rendered, and is purportedly the portrait of Bianca Sforza, the teenage daughter of the Duke of Milan.The Portrait of Isabella d'Este (below), a chalk drawing on paper by Leonardo da Vinci, is the only profile drawn by the master.Reading the story made me think of my painting classes at NAFA. Our teacher Fern made us paint oils of radishes in claypots, which is quite different from sketching a doomed teenage bride in an Italian court I suppose, but still. Rembering those days reminded me of this passage from Brideshead Revisited, one of my favourite scenes:"One day in a cupboard we found a large japanned-tin box of oil-paints still in workable condition.
‘Mummy bought them a year or two ago. Someone told her that you could only appreciate the beauty of the world by trying to paint it. We laughed at her a great deal about it. She couldn’t draw at all, and however bright, the colour were in the tubes, by the time mummy had mixed them up, they came out a kind of khaki. Various dry, muddy smears on the palette confirmed this statement. ‘Cordelia was- always made to wash the brushes. In the end we all protested and made mummy stop.’"
And so Charles Ryder began to paint. I imagined the japanned-tin looked like this.

Princess Charlotte

Princess Charlotte Casiraghi of Monaco in Vogue Paris. The 25-year-old grand daughter of Grace Kelly shows off her fabulous genes on the cover of Vogue Paris's September issue, captured by the inevitable Mario Testino. This is not without precedent: Her mother, Princess Caroline, has been on the cover of Vogue Paris quite a few times.
(Above) Oct 1977, Norman ParkinsonDec/Jan 1983, Andy WarholMarch 1979, Cecil BeatonPrincess Grace Kelly's Vogue cover, December 1971, Richard AvedonVogue UK, March, 1972

The King of Bhutan

King Jigme Singye Wangchuck (born 11 November 1955) was crowned the fourth king of Bhutan at age 28, making him the youngest King in the world.

Venus at the Prow 2

When I blogged about the old BBC series Edward and Mrs Simpson a good two weeks ago, I had no idea that Madonna was making a directorial debut of this very subject. Subsequently, I saw these lush preview pictures (below) in Vanity Fair. It does look promising, even if one rather doubts Madonna doing anything without a very heavy hand!Madonna's at the prow with her directorial debut feature, W.E. The first look pictures of the £18million drama, which stars Andrea Riseborough (too pretty! Wallis is supposed to be a man!) as Wallis Simpson, and the film looks beautiful, and carefully styled. The movie also stars Abbie Cornish and James Fox, and is described as a two-tier romantic drama, looking at both the affair between King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, and the modern relationship between a Russian security guard and a married woman. Madonna said: "W.E. is about the nature of true love, and the sacrifices and compromises that are often made. I've wanted to tell this story for a very long time, and bringing it to life has been a great adventure for me."
It's set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival next month and due for general release in December.The real deal (below).... And CUT!!! This is a rare picture of Madonna without her knees wide open for once - as director on the set.

Elsie de Wolfe

Elsie de Wolfe, aka Lady Mendel, posing in front of Tony Duquette's famous “Elsie de Wolfe Cabinet” which he designed for her in 1941. Isn't it lovely to be so proud of your cabinet that you would pose before it?

Weekend Reading List: Royal Wedding Long Weekend

"Nothing has changed in the royal household since the time of Queen Victoria, and it remains a very old-fashioned house," Burrell warns, in a new interview. Be careful, Kate. Try to draw on the experiences of your late mother-in-law and understand that not everyone in the royal household has your best interests at heart." - Paul BurrellThis long weekend, I'm mostly pottering about and fussing with my plants (they are not looking all that well due to the wilting heat) and reading books inspired by the royal (to-do) wedding of William and Kate. Yes, that wedding. I remember immensely enjoying the vivid gossip provided by Princess Diana's controversial ex butler. Paul Burrell is a former member of the British Royal Household, and was a footman for Queen Elizabeth II when he begain service at the age of 18. I think I must have been one of the first to dash down to Kinokuniya in 2003, to buy Mr Burrell's just-released autobiographical book, A Royal Duty, which revealed frank details about life as a member of the Royal Family staff. It was fascinating, voyeuristic, behind-the-scenes tattle about the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales at home in Highgrove and at Kensington Palace. It was no wonder that the book was an international bestseller because it was a complete tell-all, masquerading as a defense of Diana's morals and an apology for her behaviour. I'm a rabid anglophile and true royalty fanatic so you can imagine how I lapped it all up. This was followed by his 2006 The Way We Were. It became apparent that he was milking his connection with the late Princess for all it was worth: We learn of her tawdry Hollywood affairs, her happiness with Hasnat 'The One' Khan; The stable lad, etc. There was also that bizarre episode that involved the interment of the Princess's best friend's baby in the garden; Her ambiguous rivalry with Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of Pork; And the seedy and tragic story of the affair with Dodi Al Fayed.I made another mad dash down to the shops for Tina Brown's 2007 The Diana Chronicles. It goes through much the same high/low ground as the Burrell books, but with less inane slobbering and much better subtext. It certainly was less sympathetic to Princess Diana (in fact, it was unsympathetic to almost all concerned, and no one, royal or otherwise comes off looking very well). And as ex editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, Talk and The New Yorker, Ms Brown certainly has more credibility, if less access, than Burrell the Besotted Butler. Ms Brown's book also has more bite: She described Dodi Al Fayed vividly as "an Egyptian lounge lizard". You like? I couldn't put it down - even today."Don't be afraid of the Queen. Her Majesty is one of the friendliest, most approachable ladies. The way to her heart is through her corgis, so accompny her on walks often. Make friends with the palace's downstairs. Make friends in low places, because it is the downstairs that makes the upstairs work. It's not the royal family who are the snobs at Buckingham Palace. The real snobs are the people who work on behalf of them." - Paul Burrell

Royal Sick Bag

My fave of all the Kate and Will memorabilia. There's something completely charmless and grim about this coupling.

The Other Kate

Weekend Reading List

I'm all agog at the reports of the Saudi Prince who killed his 'valet' aren't you?
Prince Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir Al Saud (34) allegedly battered and strangled his 'aide' Bandar Abdulaziz (32) during a sexually motivated attack in room 312 they shared in the Landmark Hotel, Marylebone, Central London.
Prince Saud is the grandson of the Saudi Arabia's billionaire King. Mr Bandar is an orphan.
The prince and his valet had been staying together at the hotel since 20 January as part of an "extended holiday". Mr Bandra's body was found with blood on the prince's bed.
I've been clicking and scrolling and reading avidly every tantalising detail of this scandal. This story is certainly more interesting than the movie Reign of the Assasins, which I watched with R yesterday afternoon. We both regretted it. Datin Michelle Yeoh has been trying to re-make Crouching Tiger for two decades, and failing. It's time for her to nahg up those kungfu shoes, methinks.
Apparently Prince Saud and Mr Bandar hung up their clothes in colour-coded order at the hotel. In court, Pablo Silva (31, 6ft 3 in) a Brazilian escort who allegedly performed a sex act upon Prince Saud at the hotel, has emerged to give evidence. Mr Silva, works part time as a male prostitute to fund his maths doctorate and is employed by agents including Escort Guys and Men in The City. Mr Silva said he was called to the Landmark for his services in the early hours of the morning at the beginning of February this year.
Mr Silva said he normally stayed for an hour with his clients, but that the time was cut short.
“I asked him whether he wanted a massage and I think I asked him to remove something which he had on so that I should be able to do the massage. I took off my shirt and my trousers to cause a little more provocation to my client. I did the massage and in a short while I was free to leave.”
Mr Silva was paid in crisp £50 notes, by the man he described as "short, corpulent and not English or European". He could not positively identify the defendant. However, Mr Silva’s telephone number was found written on a piece of paper in the Prince Saud's room.
Mr Bandar was bitten on his cheeks; His blood was discovered on Prince Saud's the underpants. Compromising photos of him partially naked were found on Prince Saud's phone. On the night before he died, the Prince and his valet had ordered champagne and cocktails to the room. They went to bed in the early hours.
Initially, Prince Saud told the police that Bandar died from injuries sustained in a street robbery three weeks earlier. But hotel CCTV showed a "nasty assault" by the prince on Mr Bandar in a lift in previous weeks. In the footage, the servant cowered as he is punched and kicked. A post mortem revealed that Mr Bandar died after "a series of heavy punches or blows to his head"; the abuse of Mr Bandar was not confined to physical beatings. There is clear evidence, over and above the bite marks, that there was a sexual element.
However, Prince Saud denies being gay, although his computer had been used to surf gay massage and escort sites, and the Spartacus International Gay Guide was found in his room. The prince had also ordered at least two gay escorts to his hotel room. The "not gay" Prince Saud

Prince

Andrea Albert Pierre Casiraghi (born 8 June 1984) is the first of three children born to Princess Caroline of Monaco, The Princess of Hanover and her second husband, the late Stefano Casiraghi, an heir to an Italian oil fortune. He is currently second in line to the throne after his mother, meaning that if the currently reigning Prince Albert dies without legitimate children, then Casiraghi is likely to adopt the surname Grimaldi and someday be the Prince of Monaco. His maternal grandparents were Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly. Andrea was six years old when his father died in a boating accident.