News outlets reported Sunday that The Crown Estate, which owns and manages property and land on behalf of the Queen, appears to have bought a £66.5 million ($91 million) property from the family of Azerbaijan’s president in 2018.
The BBC reported that Ilham Aliyev’s family appeared to have made a £31 million ($42 million) profit on the sale of the property to The Crown Estate, citing leaked documents known as the Pandora Papers.
Aliyev became president of Azerbaijan in 2003 following the death of his father Heydar, who’d ruled as president for 10 years. Ilham Aliyev has been accused of corruption, vote-rigging, human rights abuses, and bribery.
A spokesperson for The Crown Estate told Insider that it had conducted checks before purchasing the building.
“At the time we did not establish any reason why the transaction should not proceed,” the spokesperson said. “Given the potential concerns raised, we are looking into the matter.”
The Crown Estate belongs to the UK monarch for the duration of their reign, but is independently managed. It has a portfolio of property and land, and manages the seabed across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It works with the UK government’s economics and finance ministry.
It is not the private property of the monarch, and revenues from it do not belong to the monarch.
Aliyev’s three children – Leyla, Arzu, and Haydar Aliyev – were listed as shareholders of 44 companies registered in the British Virgin Islands between 2006 and 2018, per the leaked documents, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
The children, between them, owned five companies used to buy high-end London properties worth more than $120 million between 2006 and 2009, per the ICIJ report.
The Guardian reported that The Crown Estate bought an eight-story office and retail property in London’s Mayfair for £66.5 million ($91 million) in August 2018 from British Virgin Islands-based company Hiniz Trade & Investment.
Hiniz itself had bought the property for £35.5 million ($48 million) in 2009, The Guardian reported.
The Pandora Papers don’t show where Hiniz’s original funds came from, but they do show that the ownership of the company was transferred from Arzu Aliyeva, the president’s daughter, to Arif Pashayev, her grandfather, who then placed the company into a trust in 2015, The Guardian reported.
The ICIJ released its bombshell Pandora Papers on Sunday. The leaked financial documents detail how current and former world leaders, billionaires, celebrities, and government officials have stashed billions of dollars in secret offshore accounts. Among the consortium’s findings was that South Dakota now rivals offshore tax havens for financial secrecy.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are set to meet Queen Elizabeth II in their first trip to the United Kingdom of Biden’s presidency for the G7 summit, currently taking place in Cornwall, England.
The Bidens will attend a reception and dinner with other G7 leaders several members of the Royal Family including the Queen, Prince Charles, Duchess Camilla of Cornwall, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Princess Kate, in Cornwall on Friday, June 11.
The Queen, who ascended to the throne in 1952 and is currently the world’s longest-reigning monarch, has played a major role in facilitating the US and UK’s “special” diplomatic relationship.
The Queen traveled to Washington, DC for the first time to meet President Harry Truman in 1951 when she was still a princess. She’s met 11 US American presidents total (Biden will be the 12th) at places including Buckingham Palace, the White House, and even a Baltimore Orioles game.
They attended several distinctly British meet-and-greet opportunities, including tea with heir Prince Charles, a banquet at Buckingham Palace, a tour of Westminster Abbey, and a D-Day anniversary ceremony, most of which was alongside royalty.
Here’s what the Queen’s relationships and meetings with US presidents have been like, from Harry Truman to Donald Trump.
When Queen Elizabeth was still a princess in 1951, she traveled to Washington, DC to the first time to meet President Harry Truman, and the two complimented each other’s nations. “Free men everywhere look towards the United States with affection and with hope,” she told Truman.
The queen developed a close friendship with President Dwight Eisenhower, who hosted Her Majesty for her first state visit to the US as queen. They corresponded by letter for years – with the queen even sharing her recipe for grilled scones with Eisenhower.
The queen reportedly felt upstaged and outshined by Jacqueline Kennedy when she and President Kennedy toured France and England in the summer of 1961 The queen hosted them at Buckingham Palace.
Nevertheless, Queen Elizabeth and President Kennedy warmly corresponded until his death in 1963, after which the queen created a physical memorial and a scholarship fund in Kennedy’s honor.
President Richard Nixon met the queen multiple times during his time as vice president and president – and reportedly tried to fix his daughter Tricia up with Prince Charles, the queen’s eldest son.
President Gerald Ford hosted Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip for a state dinner. “If I hadn’t kept mixing up Your Highness and Your Majesty (he’s His Highness, she’s Her Majesty) I’d give myself four stars for the way that visit went off,” First Lady Betty Ford wrote of the dinner in her memoirs.
Outside of the occasion’s formalities, the Fords did have a humorous moment with the queen during the 1976 visit that involved their 24-year-old son, Jack.
Kate Andersen Brower, the author of “First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies,” told CNN that when the Fords brought the queen and Prince Philip to the residence before the visit’s dinner, they ran into Jack, who was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
The queen reassured the first lady about the run-in, saying: “Don’t worry, Betty, I have one of those at home, too.”
President Jimmy Carter committed an infamous faux-pas in kissing the Queen Mother on the lips during his visit to Buckingham Palace to attend a NATO event.
The queen was reportedly very friendly with both Nancy and Ronald Reagan, whose family ranch she visited in 1983.
Brower told CNN the first lady wrote about the queen in her memoir and the two “had a good relationship.”
Reagan wrote that the queen came to the ranch after the president and first lady mentioned it during a visit to Windsor Castle, and the queen wanted to ride horses.
Though the queen made it to the ranch, “the weather was awful, so instead the Reagans left the ranch to go on the royal yacht Britannia,” Brower told CNN.
Despite the change of plans, Reagan wrote: “I spent that evening with the Queen, sitting on a sofa in the large living room, talking about our children like old friends.”
In 1989, the queen granted Reagan honorary knighthood – the highest distinction the United Kingdom awards foreigners – in recognition of Reagan’s assistance to the UK in the Falkland Wars.
George H.W. Bush, a life-long baseball fan, took Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip to a Baltimore Orioles vs. Oakland Athletics game in 1991 – the first time the queen had been to a baseball game.
After President Bush died in December 2018, the queen put out a statement that honored him as “a great friend and ally of the United Kingdom” and a “patriot.” She also sent Prince Charles to represent the Royal Family at his funeral.
“Her Majesty impressed me as someone who but for the circumstance of her birth, might have become a successful politician or diplomat. As it was, she had to be both, without quite seeming to be either,” President Bill Clinton wrote of the queen in his memoir.
In 2007, Queen Elizabeth poked some light-hearted fun at George W. Bush over his mistakenly saying she had to come to celebrate America’s bicentennial in 1776 instead of 1976.
In 2009, President Barack Obama gifted the queen an iPod with historical video footage of her previous visits to the US going back to the 1950s, as well as his 2009 inaugural address and 2008 speech at the Democratic National Convention.
In her memoir “Becoming,” Michelle Obama described accidentally violating royal protocol by putting her arm around the queen as a show of affection and support, but says Her Majesty didn’t seem offended and reciprocated the gesture back.
President Donald Trump was accused of committing several royal faux-pas during his summer 2018 visit to England – including being late to meet the queen at Windsor Castle, walking in front of her, shaking her hand instead of bowing, and turning his back to her.
While the queen has been diplomatically mum on her opinions of Trump, he has praised Her Majesty. “If you think of it, for so many years she has represented her country, she has really never made a mistake. You don’t see, like, anything embarrassing. She is just an incredible woman,” Trump said of the queen before their meeting.
Trump embarked on his second chance to connect with the queen in June 2019, when they opened the three-day state visit to the UK at Buckingham Palace. He joined her to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
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Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry have teamed up to produce a docuseries called “The Me You Can’t See.”
The show focuses on topics related to emotional well-being and mental health.
“The Me You Can’t See” debuts May 21 on Apple TV Plus ($5/month).
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One year after leaving his royal duties behind, Prince Harry is taking on a producer role in a new docuseries called “The Me You Can’t See.” You can stream the show via Apple TV Plus starting May 21.
“The Me You Can’t See” is co-created and executive produced by Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey. The series will explore stories centered around emotional well-being and mental health, according to an Apple TV Plus press release.
Oprah and Prince Harry will steer discussions about mental health with guests from varied backgrounds, including music icon Lady Gaga, NBA players DeMar DeRozan and Langston Galloway, popular chef Rashad Armstead, and more. Emmy nominee Dawn Porter and Academy Award-winner Asif Kapadia serve as directors for the series.
How to watch ‘The Me You Can’t See’ with Oprah and Prince Harry
“The Me You Can’t See” premieres May 21 on Apple TV Plus. It’s unclear if the multi-part series will debut all at once or if episodes will be added weekly.
Apple TV Plus costs $5 a month and new members get a free a seven-day trial. Apple is also offering a promotion that gives anyone who’s recently purchased a new Apple device a free one-year subscription to Apple TV Plus. The deal is only good if you redeem your free subscription within 90 days of your device purchase.
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You can also try out Apple TV Plus as part of an Apple One plan. Apple One is Apple’s bundle of services with Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Arcade, and Apple TV Plus.
Apple One‘s base plan costs $15 a month and includes 50GB of iCloud storage. Other plans include more iCloud storage. For $30 a month, you can get Apple News Plus and Apple Fitness Plus, too.
Any Apple TV Plus plan will let you watch the series alongside other Oprah-centric shows including “The Oprah Conversation,” “Oprah’s Book Club,” and “Oprah Talks COVID-19.”
The favorability of the Duchess of Sussex is seen through a partisan lens in the US, as she fares poorly among voters who backed former President Donald Trump in 2020, according to a new poll from The Economist/YouGov.
Among Trump voters, 62 percent of respondents have an unfavorable view of Meghan Markle, with 46 percent holding a “very unfavorable” view.
Only 25 percent of Trump voters have a favorable view of Markle.
However, she is viewed favorably by a whopping 72 percent of voters who backed President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, with only 14 percent of Biden voters holding an unfavorable view.
Among the general public, Markle is viewed positively by 47 percent of respondents, with 33 percent seeing her unfavorably, and 20 percent of respondents not having an opinion.
The partisan lines are similar for Markle’s husband, Prince Harry.
While 76 percent of Biden voters have a favorable opinion of the Duke of Sussex, only 10 percent of Biden voters view him unfavorably.
Among Trump voters, 38 percent of respondents see Harry in a positive light, while 46 percent registered their disapproval.
The late Princess Diana, Harry’s mother, is seen positively by 66 percent of respondents and her enduring popularity translates across politics – 79 percent of Biden voters see her positively, with 67 percent of Trump voters expressing the same sentiment.
The Royal Family is currently in state of mourning after the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.
The duke passed away on April 9 at the age of 99 and was the longest-serving British consort in history.
Harry flew to the United Kingdom to attend the funeral, while Markle, who is pregnant with the couple’s second child, stayed in the United States as she did not have a clearance to travel.
Markle paid tribute to the duke by providing a custom-made wreath for the funeral service and sending a handwritten note.
The relationship between Markle, Harry, and the Royal Family has been under an intense lens since the blockbuster March interview that the couple conducted with Oprah Winfrey.
The duke reportedly disapproved of the interview, but continued to support the couple.
Buckingham Palace is appointing a third-party law firm to carry out an independent investigation into bullying allegations made against the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, according to The Sunday Times.
The news comes after the Sussex’s sat down with media mogul, Oprah Winfrey, in a bombshell interview that revealed the couple’s strained relationships with the royal family and the ill-treatment they said they were receiving.
Last week, in the lead-up to the interview, sources said the Palace was ‘”prepared to retaliate” with fresh disclosures about the couple’s behavior if the monarchy is attacked.”
Per The Sunday Times report, the Palace plan to appoint an independent law firm to handle the allegations made against Markle and her spouse, Prince Harry, that the couple bullied royal staff. It is a surprising move since the Palace had initially announced that an in-house inquiry would examine the claims.
The Sussex’s communications secretary at the time, Jason Knauf, made complaints against the duchess back in 2018, accusing her of driving two personal assistants out and diminished the confidence of a third. Her behaviour was deemed “unacceptable” by a senior palace aide, London News Time reports.
Meghan denied the allegations.
Palace sources told The Sunday Times: “The actual worst incidences haven’t come out. There are some harrowing stories to tell.”
Responding to the allegations earlier this month, Meghan’s spokesperson said: “The duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma.”
In another portion of the interview, Markle briefly mentioned the yogurt store she worked at in Sherman Oaks, California.
Markle, who announced she was stepping back from the royal family with Harry in January 2020, told Winfrey: “My first job was when I was 13, at a frozen yogurt shop called Humphrey Yogart.”
“I’ve always worked. I’ve always valued independence,” she added.
She didn’t go into any further details in the interview. It’s unclear exactly when Meghan worked at Humphrey Yogart, but she would have been there sometime in 1994.
Markle’s employment at the shop was already known about. According to a report in The Guardian, when Markle was taking the bins out in the parking lot of the yogurt shop, she met her celebrity idol, Yasmine Bleeth, who starred as lifeguard Caroline Holden on “Baywatch.”
Markle blurted out “Oh my God, I loved you in that Soft & Dri commercial,” to which Bleeth answered, “Okay, thank you!,” The Mirror reported in 2017.
Bleeth then asked for her name and shook her hand. Markle said: “That moment with Yasmine is exactly what I base every interaction with fans on,” per the Guardian.
Markle’s former boss Paula Sheftel told the Sunday Mirror that Markle didn’t earn much, but she was well-liked by the shop’s customers.
“She earned minimum wage and was very popular with customers. She had to prove she had an outgoing personality and would work well with staff,” Sheftel told the Mirror.
Markle has come a long way since then. After landing various small roles, including appearing as a suitcase girl on the game show “Deal or No Deal,” the actress got her big break on “Suits.”
Markle married Harry on May 19, 2018 and they had their first child together one year later.