Major Bruce Shand MC, The Duchess of Cornwall’s father, passed away on Sunday, 11th June.

He had been unwell for some time and his family was with him when he died at his home in Dorset.

Major Shand joined the Army as a Second Lieutenant in the 12th Royal Lancers and within a short time of the outbreak of war in 1939, had earned two Military Crosses – Military Cross and Bar.

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People in charge of BBCAmerica programming are grossly misunderstanding the USA. Simply because we have Hollywood in this country doesn’t mean that we want Hollywood in everything we watch.

Now come the commercials on BBC America advertising the celebration of the Queen COMBINED with “The Queen’s Sister”, the film about the life of Princess Margaret.

After seeing this film listed on the BBCA’s website as “Part of BBC AMERICA’s celebration of The Queen’s Birthday”, I had to write. This movie should not be shown during Her Majesty’s happy celebrations. It’s bad enough that the Queen has to deal with her late sister’s life being replayed constantly, now it has to mar a simple acknowledgement of her as monarch.

“The Queen’s Sister” is a movie made only to bring more unnecessary Hollywood drama into our living rooms. The poor Princess was living a shell of a life, devoid of true feeling and love without her father and then without a husband. She WAS trying to find her soul, but she didn’t do it with the intention of the world staring through the keyhole. Princess Margaret had her demons, but she didn’t run to the first newspaper or first journalist that caught her eye, and it is hardly likely she’d cry for the cameras or film a reality show.

“A witty, irreverent romp”, indeed. Even the review is a packaged line.