Ephraim Hardcastle

ForMAL approval for Harry and Meghan’s marriage still hasn’t been given because the Queen is taking her time with the necessary Privy Council meeting. She waited until February 2011 – four months after William and kate announced their engagement – to call the Privy Council together and say: ‘My Lords, I declare my consent to a contract of matrimony between my most dearly beloved grandson William Arthur Philip Louis Wales and Catherine Elizabeth Middleton.’ on that basis, Harry and Meghan’s union won’t get the royal thumbs up until March. THE Caribbean island of St Barts, where a quarter of homes remain wrecked after the devastation of Hurricane Irma in September, is expecting Sir Paul McCartney and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for new year festivities. Many hotels won’t open till March, but, says a local restaurateur of the annual wealthy influx: ‘It’s heart-warming to see everyone pulling together.’ One celebrity regular, France’s ‘Elvis’, Johnny Hallyday, will also return but won’t take part in the festivities. He will be buried on the island where he spent the past ten winters with his family. AS A BBC2 newsnight presenter for the past 24 years, kirsty Wark, pictured, projects great seriousness. So why is she appearing on a celebrity edition of ITV1’s quiz The Chase, hosted by Bradley Walsh, famous for the oftenspectacular ignorance of its competitors? Miss Wark, 62, appears, on december 24 alongside Coronation Street actress Patti Clare, comedian Matt richardson and former 70s teenybop idol Jimmy osmond. Maybe as a ‘wee hen’ in dumfries, kirsty danced to Jimmy’s 1972 no 1 hit, Long Haired Lover From Liverpool? WITH tickets for US musical Hamilton fetching up to £6,000 – it opens in London later this month – creator Lin-Manuel Miranda credits Dame Helen Mirren, 72, for endorsing the West End run. Fearing Britons would be offended by the portrayal of King George as a jumped up fop, he asked Mirren, who played the Queen in the 1994 film The Madness Of King George, if it would cause upset. She replied: ‘Nahhh! We love it when you take the p***.’ dAME Joan Collins, 84, says a lot of people ‘don’t get’ her 2015 damehood, adding: ‘I think people understand “sir” – as in, Sir Michael Caine and Sir Sean Connery. A lot of people don’t get that dame is the female equivalent of sir.’ But perhaps a life peerage wouldn’t suit dame Joan any better. Then any ‘people’ addressing her would have to decide between either Baroness Collins or Lady Collins. NOW praised for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in a new film, Darkest Hour, London-born film star Gary Oldman, 59, shared Winnie’s thirst – until giving up 20 years ago. When drinking alone in a hotel room, he’d pretend to be hosting a party. He said: ‘I’d order a bottle of wine, vodka and tonics and beer for all these imaginary people at this fake party, sign for it and proceed to drink it all.’ Email: peter.mckay@dailymail.co.uk