Ephraim Hardcastle
THE convention that top royals do not steal each other’s thunder was clearly breached on Wednesday when William and Kate’s hand-holding in rain-sodden Blackpool was overshadowed in the media by Meghan Markle’s unscheduled appearance beside Harry at a Wembley youth conference. Harry went off piste, leading Meghan from her seat to the stage where she stood with her arms around him as he spoke. With Harry and Meghan setting up their own household, run by staff in their own image, prepare for more spur-of-the-moment Cambridge-Sussex flashbulb moments.
FORMER Labour foreign secretary David Miliband refuses to answer ITV interrogator Robert Peston’s question: ‘Is Jeremy Corbyn fit for office?’ This prompts memories of previous Downing Street enforcer Damian McBride’s observation that David’s approach to rebellion was ‘that of a reluctant bather in Skegness, who’d run straight back to his towel, and not try again for at least six months’.
JENNA Coleman, 32, pictured, acclaimed for her portrayal of Queen Victoria, tells Harper’s Bazaar magazine that during a TV interview in the old queen’s Kensington Palace bedchamber she had ‘a funny turn’ and had to lie down with her legs above her head to recover. She blamed Victoria’s disapproving spirit urging her to be gone. Perhaps Victoria has had enough of screen reincarnations.
BORIS Johnson’s bland successor as Henley MP, John Howell, has startled voters by writing to the local newspaper complaining about a constituent sending him 50 rude emails. It’s the kind of shoot-from-the-hip response you might expect from Boris, not worthy-but-dull Howell, whose 11-year Parliamentary career has been as action-packed as you would expect from a former tax inspector and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
JOHN Mortimer’s actress daughter Emily and her sister Rosie have written a screenplay reviving his most famous creation, Rumpole, a decade after his death. Despite supporting Labour, Sir John sent Emily to posh private St Paul’s Girls’ School. When accused of being a champagne socialist (he drank plenty), he cheerfully replied: ‘It’s a condition everyone should aspire to.’
BIRDS Of A Feather star Lesley Joseph, meeting Pope Francis while filming a BBC2 documentary about a celebrity pilgrimage to Rome, mewls: ‘I’m an actress, I’m 72!’ With a twinkle in his eye, Francis, who is ten years her senior, replies: ‘You don’t seem to be 72!’ What’s the Latin for ‘Should have gone to Specsavers?’
JOHN McEnroe, 60, will be back on No1 Court at Wimbledon in May, where, as a 1981 tennis wunderkind, he unleashed his most famous verbal assault on an umpire. He’s attending the unveiling of its £71million retractable roof. Tickets to the event cost £110. To quote reformed brat McEnroe: ‘You cannot be serious!’