Ephraim Hardcastle
WHERE does Meghan and Harry’s departure leave baby Archie in the Royal pecking order? He is the son of a royal duke, entitled to be summoned from his playpen as Lord Archie or the Earl of Dumbarton. On the accession of King Charles he automatically becomes HRH Prince Archie of Sussex. He may be seventh in line to the throne but he is likely, initially, to rise up the order, meaning he might need the King’s permission to marry. Dismantling tradition involves more than a British Airways flight to Vancouver.
THE Queen will not be taking part in any ostentatious Brexit Day celebrations next week, having delivered an early negative headshake to tentative Downing Street proposals to stage a freedom fireworks display and laser light show at Buckingham Palace. HM pointed out that she has to be seen to be above politics. When Boris roisters in Whitehall she will be at Windsor, where not even the most modest of Catherine wheels will be ignited to mark the historic occasion.
DAME Mary Beard, pictured, joins 11 women drawing a naked man for BBC 2’s Shock of the Nude in which she remarks of one woman’s efforts: ‘His genitals ought to be here but they are under his arm!’ How would Mary’s sisterhood react if Melvyn Bragg donned an artist’s beret and shared some laddish remarks about a nude lass undergoing a similar ordeal?
BBC comedy controller Shane Allen mourns Python Terry Jones as ‘an absolute Titan of British comedy’, who was ‘one of the founding fathers of the most influential and pioneering comedy ensembles of all time’. Something completely different from Allen’s 2018 description of the ‘six white Oxbridge blokes’ who would never get their own sketch show on the BBC today?
FELLOW Python Michael Palin was a regular visitor to Terry’s bedside, prompting John Cleese to joke: ‘It’s hard for Terry to communicate properly… so when Michael, his oldest and greatest friend, comes around, Michael does 99 per cent of the talking. So that’s Terry’s very own private hell.’
PROMOTING his multi- racial David Copperfield, Armando Iannucci takes issue with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes’s defence of all-white casts in historical adaptations. ‘This is a work of fiction... as is Downton Abbey,’ he says. ‘I can make it any way I like. If Julian Fellowes doesn’t like the idea, he doesn’t have to come and watch the film.’ Seconds out round two!
WHY was new North Norfolk Tory MP Duncan Baker limping in the House of Commons? ‘My feet hurt a lot,’ he admits, explaining that he was wearing his late stepfather’s shoes as a tribute. ‘It’s incredibly sad that he hasn’t got to see me become an MP,’ he adds.