Hardcastle
ANOTHER setback for Andrew as the King makes Edward a Knight of the Thistle, breaking the tradition of the late Queen’s younger sons receiving high honours in tandem. In 2006 they were both made Knights of the Garter, and in 2011 became Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO). Now Edward, taking a much more central role in the shrinking Royal Family, gets more gongs, whilst Andrew isn’t even allowed to wear the ones he has.
PRINCESS Anne’s plume may have obscured Harry’s view of the coronation but the Duchess of Gloucester wasn’t going to miss the action at Monday’s Commonwealth Day service. Plonked behind the 6ft 3in Prince William in Westminster Abbey, the diminutive duchess waited until a hymn started to swap seats with her husband, securing a clear view between Edward and Sophie.
SINGER Charlotte Church reveals her disillusionment at meeting her Frasier hero Kelsey Grammer, pictured, after singing at President Bush’s 2001 inauguration. ‘I grew up watching Frasier at my nanna’s,’ she recalls. ‘She would give me a bit of Strongbow and I was about ten and we would watch Frasier. He was telling me about his young girlfriend having diarrhoea and couldn’t come to the inauguration. He said it in the most caustic, horrible way. I was like: “Frasier? No.” He was a f****** douchebag.’
CONFIRMING the go-ahead for a film about his late barrister father Michael successfully defending The Rolling Stones after their 1967 drugs bust, Nigel Havers remembers ogling Mick Jagger’s thengirlfriend Marianne Faithfull at a victory party. ‘I was 15 and Marianne was so beautiful,’ he recalls. ‘I was sitting on the floor talking to her and she crossed her legs and she had no knickers on. It was the most wonderful moment for a boy!’ Has Nigel, 72, ever made a full recovery?
RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary recalls his college days when an unknown Bono busked in St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. ‘We’re both bull****ters,’ he says. ‘He is a bull****ter about politics, economics and debt relief. I bull**** about lots of things.’ Apart from your racehorses Michael!
YEARS ago, Rob Lowe, about to present an Emmy to Alec Baldwin, got a call from chum Charlie Sheen, also shortlisted, who said: ‘The odds of me winning are one in 59 or whatever. I’m gonna put $5million down in Vegas. Read my name and we’ll split the money.’ When Rob told him the name in the envelope, Charlie added: ‘I’ll cause a scene coming up and you eat it!’
SINGING gynaecologist Hank Wangford, paying tribute to festival tycoon Vince Power, dead at 76, reprises his favourite country and western anthem sung at Vince’s Mean Fiddler venue: ‘Walk Out the Door Backwards So I’ll Think you’re Coming In.’ Rest easy Vince.