Alexei must be joking
It was John Swinney’s birthday yesterday but Lib Dem Beatrice Wishart wasn’t in a gifting mood, saying: “Anyone who has watched Scottish education in the past five years will have concluded that John Swinney and the SNP are part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
Comedy gold as Alex Salmond took aim at broadcasters.
He said: “It is long past time for BBC Scotland and STV to mend their ways and to stop distorting the democratic process in Scotland.” It’s the way Alexei tells them, as they say on the Ukraine border.
Sophie to take on more responsibility with the Royal Family.
The Countess, whose mother Mary died in 2005, has a packed schedule representing the monarchy at home and abroad.
It includes work with children’s hospices and the United Nations.
Our source said: “Sophie takes her role within the family incredibly seriously but is tremendous fun, which is probably why the Queen and her get on so well.”
It has emerged there are plans to ensure the monarch is accompanied by a member of the family at future public engagements and that her daughter-inlaw Sophie is among those being lined up to be at her side.
During the pandemic – when the Queen has almost exclusively been living at Windsor Castle – Sophie, Edward and their children, Lady Louise, 17, and James, Viscount Severn, 13, have been regular visitors from their home at nearby Bagshot Park, Surrey.
In her widowhood, the Queen is expected to continue to spend most of her time at the castle.
It means she will use
Buckingham Palace as more of an office than her home.
The Queen is due to make a full return to public life and duties.
Sources said she will fulfil as many commitments as possible once the two weeks of official mourning end on April 22 – the day after her 95th birthday.
She is scheduled to attend the state opening of Parliament at Westminster on May 11.
Meanwhile, Prince William and Prince Harry are unlikely to be able to meet before they come face to face at Philip’s funeral.
Due to Covid restrictions,
Harry is isolating – at royal residence Frogmore Cottage in Windsor – after flying in from his home in the US.
Sources say the brothers have not patched things up after their rift, which would not have been helped by Harry slating his family during a TV interview with Oprah Winfrey last month.
Police say a range of security measures are in place for the ceremonial funeral at St George’s Chapel in the castle grounds on Saturday at 3pm.
Covid rules mean only 30 people can attend.