Ephraim Hardcastle

WILLIAM and Kate have been enjoying private curry evenings at Kensington Palace. they chomp in a first-floor room with flock wallpaper reminiscent of their chicken tikka masala student outings at St Andrews. the look is completed with an Indian rug bought by Kate during a shopping trip to henleyon-thames, Oxfordshire. the duchess has a particular weakness for curry. She liked the takeaways made by the Shingadia family – owners of the Spar shop in Upper Bucklebury, Berkshire, near her childhood home – so much that they were invited to her wedding. More naan, ma’am. DOES Boris Johnson’s political success still rankle with Oxford contemporary Nick Robinson? The BBC man, tipped for Downing Street when both contested the Oxford Union, writes a bitter recollection in The Spectator wondering if Boris will succeed as PM. Referring to his fellow graduate, he writes: ‘We should take pride in our achievements, such as the banking crisis, the loss of faith in politics, the era of Fake News.’ Get over it, Nick. BORIS will need all his skills to navigate the world stage, but the prestige of his school should give him an edge as illustrated by a newly unearthed letter from Dwight D eisenhower. Invited to address the eton Political Society in 1944, he replied that ‘owing to pressure of work’ he had to decline. Seventeen days later, as Supreme Allied Commander, he launched the D-Day invasion. ‘I hope that when this war has been won, you will renew your invitation,’ he wrote. HOPES for future TV adventures of Poldark, starring Eleanor Tomlinson, pictured as Demelza, seem to have been dashed by co-star Aidan Turner. He’s plundered the set after shooting the final series, saying: ‘I took the kitchen table and benches. My house is being renovated, and they’ll go beautifully in the new kitchen. The producers were fine about it. I didn’t tell the other actors, though!’ Demelza! Even before she’s packed her pyjamas theresa May gets a verbal farewell kicking from David Cameron’s spinner Craig Oliver on BBC Newsnight. ‘Anybody who knew her when she was working in the home Office knew that she was one of the most uncompromising and unclubbable ministers around,’ he says. ‘her aides would give punishment beatings to anybody who crossed her.’ I’m sure theresa speaks very highly of you, Sir Craig! LORD Grade offers an intriguing insight into the Queen’s TV habits, saying: ‘She loved The Golden Shot [a game show hosted by Bob Monkhouse] with Bernie the Bolt. She’d watch it on Sundays at Windsor, when a trolley would be wheeled in with a TV and an indoor aerial.’ Andrew Neil’s retriever Molly seems to have a career after last night’s appearance on the finale of BBC’s this Week. her master says she will be writing her memoirs, confirming: ‘exactly. the Molly Years!’