Names and faces
■ Jeopardy! champion and professional sports gambler James Holzhauer didn’t have as much success in his first appearance at two World Series of Poker events in Las Vegas. Tournament spokesman
Seth Palansky said Tuesday that Holzhauer and Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton played about five hours Monday before finishing out of the money in a tag-team tournament. That was Holzhauer’s second event of the day. Earlier, the 32-time Jeopardy! winner finished short of the prize pool in 454th place among some 1,800 entrants in a No-Limit Hold’em tournament. Holzhauer, who won more than $2.4 million on the TV game show, had planned to donate half of any poker winnings to a Las Vegas nonprofit for homeless high school students.
■ The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s home was renovated with $3.05 million of taxpayers’ money, royal accounts revealed Tuesday. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan’s residence near Windsor Castle, called Frogmore Cottage, underwent major work to turn five properties back into a single home for the couple and their baby son Archie. Fixtures, fittings and furnishings at the Victorian-era structure were paid for by the royal couple. The figures were part of the release of the royal family’s accounts, which showed that the British taxpayers spent $85.2 million on the monarchy during 2018-19, a 41% increase from the previous financial year. “The property had not been the subject of work for some years and had already been earmarked for renovation in line with our responsibility to maintain the condition of the occupied royal palaces estate,” said Michael Stevens, the keeper of the Privy Purse, who is responsible for the monarchy’s accounts. “The building was returned to a single residence and outdated infrastructure was replaced to guarantee the long-term future of the property,” he said. Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic questioned why so much money was spent on the renovations. The total Sovereign Grant, which funds Queen Elizabeth II and her household’s official expenses, was $104.4 million. That figure includes $19.3 million set aside for future phases of the palace renovation.