Ephraim Hardcastle
SECRET papers released last week reveal the Queen asked in 1964 what was to be done about her Surveyor of Pictures, Sir Anthony Blunt. He was rewarded with the plum palace job after gaining royal favour when George VI sent him on a secret mission to Germany in 1945 to recover documentation linking the Duke of Windsor with Hitler. In 1952, the new Queen honoured him with the CVO [Commander of Victorian Empire] followed by a knighthood. Even after his public exposure by Margaret Thatcher in 1979 – and the removal of his knighthood – Blunt enjoyed access to the Palace to give guided tours to friends. He was referred to as Fred, his middle name. WHEN disgraced Bishop Peter Ball’s crimes were first exposed in 1993 the great and the good sent around 2,000 letters to the CPS supporting him. It was originally reported one such letter was written by a member of the Royal Family. Prince Charles, the obvious candidate, always denied writing it. Might it have been Princess Diana? Two of the men most prominent in trying to patch up the couple’s marriage were Peter Ball and Jimmy Savile. Diana thought highly of the former and detested the latter. THE 2015 Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain, 33, pictured, says on ITV’s Loose Women: ‘I work in an industry that is heavily dominated by male, middleclass, middle-aged men, and there’s no space for a 5ft brown girl who wears a headscarf.’ Really? No other Bake Off winner has enjoyed greater exposure. DISGRACED Kids Company leader Camila Batmanghelidjh, 55, told a Channel 5 debate: ‘Kids Company, when it was running, was very effective in supporting the whole family, but unfortunately it was politically dismantled.’ When an audience member attempted to take issue with this, host Alastair Stewart snapped: ‘Let’s not go there please.’ Why not? The charity collapsed with millions unaccounted for and a police investigation followed. Batmanghelidjh was forced to resign, as was chair of the trustees, BBC bigwig Alan Yentob. Why was Stewart on all fours? THE Duke of York and his family are busily cementing their role in the Royal Family, despite Charles’s desire to cut down its serving members drastically. This month Andrew was at Wimbledon, the Open Golf, received the Chinese ambassador, had Chinese officials to tea at Buckingham Palace and a briefing at the MoD. Even his ex-wife, Sarah, is acting like a royal duchess, popping up in Greece in the aftermath of the fires and pledging: ‘We are here to help.’ DISCUSSING his close relationship with Conservative West Midlands mayor and former John Lewis boss Andy Street, 55, during a BBC interview, bisexual Tory backbencher Michael Fabricant, 68, is asked if they consider themselves ‘partners’. ‘He wouldn’t!’, Fabricant responds, before tellingly adding: ‘I would say “life partners” is the word I’d use. He’ll now kill me if he hears this programme!’ The course of true love never did run smooth.