"Hiding" in plain sight?

Much fulminating in the New York tabloids about a very large "super yacht" parked- if you are at a certain angle- obscuring the Statute of Liberty.
The rather grand Hasna is owned by our very own 'Aussie Home Loans' king John Symond, he of the amazing modern mega-mansion (now sold) that peeks out over the bay at Sydney's ritzy Point Piper. Whispers has been to a couple of shindigs there and while it's a very impressive house we were rather disappointed with the very slow lift that takes you down a couple of floors.
# you can buy the Hasna for a cool $97M.

What has actually been missed by the  assembled US media is that John is married to one rather attractive Amber McDonald and the happy couple seem devoted to each other and have recently been traveling the world having the Lady Liberty dispatched to each destination while the pair travel by John's nice little private jet. A fortnight ago it was parked off Los Angeles.

The Symond mansion

Amber McDonald? Who she you ask (or our American readers do). Why she is the ex-wife of one Patrick Keating as seen here in our exclusive wedding photo when the pair were wed at Sydney's impressive St Mary's Cathedral. The pair separated in 2012 after 10 years of marriage and two children. It wasn't an acrimonious parting- they grew apart like couples so often do and have remained friends as some couples also often do.

 In fact the entire Keating family has remained on fairly good terms with Amber and Symond which includes one- Katherine Keating who was recently thrown into the public eye having been seen off by the father of her very close friends- one Prince Andrew from Jeffrey Epsteins' Manhattan mansion.
Is Katherine on the yacht? Well we aren't telling. You decide for yourself. The fact various Keating family members have holidayed on the Hasna is entirely co-incidental.

Katherine Keating in Manhattan Special

Dom Perignon & Ghislaine Maxwell Invite you to a cocktail reception Celebrating the launch of Ideapod

116 East 65th Street, NYC
Thursday, September 19, 2013

Photo above: Katherine Keating, The President Of Iceland- Olafur Ragnar GríMsson, Dorrit Moussaieff, Ghislaine Maxwell.

It takes the tabloid media awhile to catch up. Katherine Keating, daughter of former Prime Minister Paul Keating has been living in New York now for over 10 years.
Keating apparently visited the home of the late Jeffrey Epstein and managed to get photographed by a paparazzi being farewelled by Prince Andrew.
There is a problem with the reporting here though: Epstein's NY house is regarded as one of the cities more substantial residences and he may well have had numerous guests staying over the years. Keating has been photographed with and is apparently pals with Prince Andrew's daughters, hence, it's not too a leap of logic to suggest she was in fact visiting Andrew seeing that it was he who showed her to the door.


Such hyperventilating like this is a tad over the top when the  Daily Mail / MailOnline  say that she must "answer allegations" why she was there. Allegations? Is it really anyone's business why she visited someone?.
Anyway here is a photo roundup from uber New York social snapper Patrick McMullan who knows everyone who should be known in Manhattan and Los Angeles.

# McMullan was a guest at a Sydney exhibition many moons ago at which other guests included the late Min Keating (Paul Keating's mother and Katherine's Grandmother) and the late Lady Sonia McMahon. The three of them got on famously and dined together later.
All photographs; copyright: Patrick McMullan / PMc

Keating is regular seen at the smarter New York parties..with her younger sister Alexandra Keating

Peter Ikin Accused Gets Bail

ALEXANDRE DESPALLIERES the French husband of the late Australian music identity Peter Ikin has been granted bail in a French court.
As we reported recently a bail application in February was refused but now Despallieres has walked free from Fresnes prison but must report to police each day.

John Reid,Alexandre Despallieres & Peter Ikin

Ikin was the former head of Warner's Music Australia and had re-ignited an affair with Despallieres with the pair marrying in a civil ceremony. Shortly after, Ikin fell to his death down a flight of stairs. Despallieres gained probate on Ikin's $20M estate in a London court and moved into his Chelsea home but that will was successfully overturned by Ikin's family.

 Elton John's former manager, John Reid an old friend of Ikin's hired detectives to investigate the manner of his friend's death and not long after Despallieres's was charged by French police.

 As our picture shows, in former days Reid and Despallieres appeared to be good friends.

Prince Alfred

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# A telephone call reputedly from the new premier Barry O'Farrell's office informs us that Henry James O'Farrell who attempted to assassinate Prince Alfred in 1868 was "not a relation of the premier although Mr O'Farrell remains fiercely proud of his Irish roots".

Asked to comment on Prince Andrew's "appointment" as NSW Governor (our invention) he responded : "I have nothing to say about that ". Strange.

exclusive : HRH Prince Andrew To Be Appointed Governor of NSW

The fun-loving but  troubled British royal HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York is to be appointed Governor of NSW by the new premier Barry O'Farrell, taking up his appointment in November this year when the current incumbent Marie Bashir retires.

The official announcement is expected to be made by HRH The Queen when she visits the country in October for the CHOGM conference. And the O'Farrell family and royal family have been linked by an incident from over 140 years ago (see below).

O'Farrell has always said that Government House, perched high above the Opera House with it's sensational views of Sydney Harbour would be rightfully restored as the Governor's home if he won the election. With his convincing win on Saturday when the Coalition swept into power with 68 seats to Labor's 20, the new premier has a mandate to implement most of his policies.

It's been 15 years since former premier Bob Carr closed the Governor's mansion . Since then it's been available for everything-weddings, parties , barmitzvahs and so on. The Coalition has always claimed it was a scandal and the Monarchist's League has been outraged that NSW Governors would live in their own homes rather than the official residence.

Although ex-convict architect Francis Greenaway was originally commissioned to design Government House it was eventually built by English architect  Edward Blore and finished in 1890.

 Blore working in the romantic Gothic style, produced a mock castle which matched the crenellations of the existing nearby Greenway stables. The new building immediately became the talk of the town and helped establish the romantic Regency style in residential architecture which became popular in the colony over the next twenty years.

Prince Andrew, a man used to luxury and who has been the butt of numerous scandalous tales in the British media over his association with the New York millionaire Jeffrey Epstein should feel right at home in his new abode. It has style and plenty of space and beautiful gardens for entertaining on a large scale. With maids, butlers and 2 Royal Equerries plus his own staff and several official limousines he will want for nothing.

There are 28 rooms and the large reception area is a richly decorated two-storey hall with a musicians gallery. Government House also reputedly introduced the first modern water closet to Australia. The porte-coche was added in 1873, and the two front rooms extended about 1900. Although there had been earlier proposals (c.1900) to move the vestigial Governor into more modest premises, it was not until 1996 that this finally occurred under the premiership of Carr.

Numerous Royals have stayed there in the past including The Queen and Prince Phillip and Prince Charles and Diana when they were together and Pope Benedict slept there for 2 nights in 2008.



Jane & Sarah

It's been long rumoured amongst royal circles in the UK that Andrew would have to packed off somewhere sensible to re-create his crumbling public image. A spell as Governor of NSW for the normal 4 year appointment would seem the ideal solution.

And he should feel right at home. Sister-in-law Jane Ferguson lives a short drive away in Bondi and ex-wife Fergie is a regular visitor.

There are plenty of nightclubs and attractions for the Andrew's fun loving daughters should they visit and if Andy wants a casual drink there's always the Lord Dudley pub in Woolahra, a favourite of Prince Harry.

Andrew's appointment follows in a tradition of packing off Royals to the colonies for further education and royal duties.



a depiction of the attempted assassination: National Gallery



The

1867 visit of Queen Victoria's son Prince Alfred to Australia was the first by a member of the British Royal family and was tumultuous, to say the least.

It produced an outpouring of national exaltation and then of national shame following an assassination attempt on the Prince.

 On 12 March 1868 an  ancestor of the new premier-Henry James O'Farrell shot the Prince in the back at a public function in Clontarf, Sydney. O'Farrell was immediately arrested, and was convicted and hanged on 21 April that same year.