Ephraim Hardcastle

THERESA May’s victory in the confidence vote might have been a relief to her No 10 predecessor, David Cameron. If she’d lost, publishers would have wanted a quick book from her to capitalise on the Brexit rumpus that has been her undoing. It might have eclipsed Cameron’s own, unfinished autobiography. So he might want to get a move on, just in case Mrs May’s circumstances change. WHILE a dress worn by Princess Diana, found in a secondhand shop, has just been sold at auction for £155,000, women in the Royal Family usually donate their clothes to friends or employees. If clothes are sent to a charity shop, labels that might identify the owner are removed. The Queen’s countless splendid hats, I am assured, are never parted with. THE Duchess of Sussex, pictured, had a meeting this week with the artistic director of the Royal National Theatre, Rufus Norris, who is keen to drop the ‘royal’ epithet. The on-trend duchess is an ideal figure to replace the Queen as patron of the RNT if it ever reverts to being the NT, suggests my source. FOREIGN Office minister Sir Alan Duncan refers to Labour’s generously built foreign affairs spokesman Emily Thornberry as ‘the right hon gentleman’. Miss Thornberry – in private life Lady Nugee – dropped her voice to its finest basso profundo and roared: ‘I’m not a gentleman. I have never been a gentleman.’ Some say the same of gossipy Sir Alan. THE new generation of royals promote public work that focuses on anti-bullying, mental health and the environment, but my source in the cloisters wonders: ‘Who’ll take on Safe Haven For Donkeys In The Holy Land when its current patron, Princess Alexandra [82 on Christmas Day] decides to retire?’ WHILE playing Vote Leave campaign director Dominic Cummings in upcoming film Brexit: The Uncivil War, actor Benedict Cumberbatch says he’s ‘very wary of coming across as being wordy or preachy’. Really? His ventings on international issues once prompted broadcaster Michael Buerk to observe: ‘There’s only so much of the Benedict worldview you can take.’ THE Duke of Edinburgh’s old friend, Sacha, Duchess of Abercorn, who has died aged 72, told his biographer Gyles Brandreth: ‘He needs a playmate, someone to share his intellectual pursuits.’ She said the Queen’s father, George VI, told his daughter: ‘Remember, he’s a sailor. They come in on the tide.’ PRINCE Charles and Camilla’s one-day visit to Cork in June was considered a success. Unfortunately there’s now a row after it emerged £5,400 was spent polishing 260 door handles in City Hall prior to their arrival. Catriona Twomey, a local campaigner for the homeless, says: ‘It’s not as if Charles and Camilla were going around trying all the doors.’