New Zealand Woman’s Weekly Issue 50, 2022

Who caught our eye this week A lot of her work involves meeting businesspeople and shaking hands with dignitaries. So Sophie, Countess of Wessex, must have welcomed the opportunity to do something a little different when she got to visit London Zoo last week. A day after sporting a tiara, diamonds and a ball gown at a state banquet for the president of South Africa, Sophie donned more comfortable clothing to open the new Monkey Valley exhibit at the famed zoo. Accompanied by children who receive medical support for a variety of conditions, Sophie, 57, delivered Christmas treats, including kῡmara snacks, to ring-tail lemurs, sloths, colobus monkeys and golden lion tamarins. She also visited the recently restored Snowdon Aviary, designed by the late Earl of Snowdon, husband of the Queen’s sister Princess Margaret. The…

This week, we continue our Christmas celebrations! The team was lucky enough to visit Santa’s Enchanted Forest at Queen Street’s Smith & Caughey’s the day before it opened to the public, so we could glam up our stars and chat with them about the festive season. It was the first time I’d been there and it was like stepping into another world of magic. With fairy lights, trees and rooms that were a trip down memory lane, it was incredibly special and we all felt so grateful for the experience. As you’ll read from page six, 2022 has been very different for each of our cover stars – gorgeous Melissa Stokes has had one of her best years yet, while Jack Tame can’t wait to say goodbye to the year…

As she reflects on the year that was, for the first time in a long time Melissa Stokes can confidently say this was one of her best years yet. “We all couldn’t wait to say goodbye to 2020 and 2021, but this year, I’m not wishing it away,” the mum-of-two tells. “I will celebrate 2022 on its way out.” Now with the holidays in sight, Melissa is looking forward to topping off a wonderful year with her family. And having sons Hugo, 10, and Freddie, eight, in the house, the Christmas excitement has already started. While she’s always loved the holiday, having her boys has only made the season more special. “Before we had kids, it was just another day, but having the boys makes it such a joyous occasion. Chaotic and messy,…

When actress Blythe Danner lost her director husband Bruce Paltrow to oral cancer 20 years ago, she never dreamed that one day she would have to face the same disease that killed him. But in 2018, that’s exactly what happened. The Meet the Parents star, 79, recently revealed she feels “lucky to be alive” after a long battle with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of cancer that commonly forms in the salivary glands. “Everyone is touched by cancer in some way, but it’s unusual for a couple to have the same cancer,” Blythe shares. The star – mother to Hollywood superstar Gwyneth Paltrow, 50, and director Jake Paltrow, 47 – says she was working in London four years ago when, “I started feeling very woozy and I was forgetting everything. Then I felt…

She was stoic and steadfast right until the end. But now a source close to the royal family says in the last months of her life, the Queen was secretly battling a particularly painful form of cancer. Author Gyles Brandreth, who was a good friend of Prince Philip, claims in a new biography that the Queen had myeloma, a form of bone-marrow cancer. He says the disease would explain her tiredness and weight loss, and those “mobility issues” the palace said she was suffering from in the last year or so of her life. “The most common symptom of myeloma is bone pain, especially in the pelvis and lower back, and multiple myeloma is a disease that often affects the elderly.” Her cause of death was officially given as “old age”, but that’s…

It’s a tradition that dates back centuries. But Camilla, Queen Consort has decided to scrap the position of ladies-in-waiting and instead enlist the help of a group of “companions” to help make her job a little easier. Her decision to get rid of the positions is an indication of how Camilla, 75, and her husband the King, 74, are modernising the monarchy, says a palace insider. Ladies-in-waiting have been part of the royal court for many centuries, acting as advisors and secretaries, as well as aides. The late Queen Elizabeth relied on hers to help with tasks like looking after her wardrobe, writing letters on her behalf and taking care of items she was gifted. But a lot of those duties can be done by palace staff and the position will change under…