Ephraim Hardcastle
CANCELLING garden parties and investitures will save the Queen £2million on her hospitality bill. But should Buckingham Palace be unable to open to the public this summer, HM will lose £12million in ticket receipts. The royal abacus shows a net loss of £10million due to Covid-19.
ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury Justin Welby would not be unduly upset if Covid-19 triggers cancellation of July’s Lambeth Conference, say Church sources. The once-a-decade international gathering now descends into acrimonious factional debates about sexuality and is marred by boycotts. The archbishop has managed to deflect so far, even postponing the conference that had been due to take place in 2018. Should July’s pow-wow fall victim to the virus, Justin will be executing imaginary cartwheels in the corridors of Lambeth Palace.
PRINCESS Beatrice had to face reality with her fiancé’s Italian relatives in lockdown. Sadly, she yearned for a procession up The Mall for her wedding in May, but it now looks like the nuptials may be postponed – particularly as the Queen will not be attending on medical advice. Groom Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi’s family hail from Bergamo in Lombardy – the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. Beatrice had been greatly looking forward to a procession from St James’s Palace along The Mall festooned with flags put up for the full dress rehearsal of Trooping the Colour.
PREACHY U2 frontman Bono, 59, releases a new song for coronavirus-hit Italy entitled Let Your Love Be Known. It prompts nononsense presenter Andrew Neil to inquire: ‘Haven’t the good people of Italy already suffered enough?’
NO Lidl or Aldi for Seumas Milne, who was shopping at Waitrose in Notting Hill at the weekend. Was Jeremy Corbyn’s Rasputinish communications director seeking tinned tuna and toilet paper? No. Quail eggs!
WHILE former Home Secretary Amber Rudd takes to Twitter to complain there are ‘no senior women in the “war cabinet”’, journalist daughter Flora, pictured, has a different view, noting the presence of dashing Tory MP Dr Luke Evans, 37. Flora, daughter of late columnist AA Gill, fruitily tweets: ‘Erm...hello doctor! If this guy had been an MP when mum was in parliament, I might have actually visited her from time to time.’
AS if having to cancel her book launch because of Covid-19 wasn’t a big enough dent in the bumper of her Rolls-Royce career, Rachel Johnson has suffered another setback. Sky News is cancelling The Pledge, explaining the £1,200-a-spout talking shop with Rachel, Greg Dyke and Express columnist Nick Ferrari will not be returning after Easter as planned. Is this enforced self-isolation?
FORMER Gordon Brown adviser Michael Dugher wonders about domestic isolation: ‘I don’t know which will rise the fastest – the birth rate or the divorce rate?’ Counters Labour’s Lucy Powell: ‘I’m only here because of the three-day week!’ Email: john.mcentee@dailymail.co.uk