Ephraim Hardcastle
THE Queen’s decision to commence receiving new ambassadors by video suggests a reluctance to address the fractured system of delegation, the Counsellors of State. No new counsellors have been appointed to replace the retired Philip and the suspended Andrew and Harry. Charles and William are the only two remaining members who can stand in for the monarch. But if the duo, acting together, received new ambassadors as well as judges, bishops and senior military personnel it might merely draw attention to the fact that more than half the council no longer functions. The Queen, after much discussion, has avoided that by receiving ambassadors virtually rather than delegating the job to her son and grandson.
PRINCE Philip’s mother Princess Alice is honoured by royal historian Dr Anna Whitlock in a Channel 5 documentary this week highlighting her sheltering of Jews in occupied Athens during the Second World War. Recalling her Buckingham Palace residency until her death in 1969, Dr Whitlock says: ‘She liked to smoke Woodbines so courtiers would know that she was coming before they saw her by the smell and the smoke of her cigarettes. And she would move around in her nun’s habit. So a very odd spectacle by all accounts.’
NEARLY half a century after her babysitter plied her with sugary treats banned by mum, Emma Forbes, pictured, points the finger at the childminder... Sir Elton John. Recalling her parents Bryan Forbes and Nanette Newman’s friendship with Elton, Emma, 55, says: ‘Elton said, “What would you really like to eat?” I said, “That lollipop.” And he said, “How many do you think you would like?” And I said, “six”. So any future food issues I might have I can totally understand.’
ATTENDING the Masterpieces exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery, Kathy Lette canters out to film a video of heavy smoke coming from the back of Buckingham Palace, breathlessly adding a commentary: ‘I think they might be burning Lady Di’s diaries they’ve found hidden under the bed. Prince Philip’s memoir? Airmiles Andy’s expenses?’ Don’t call ITN’s News at Ten, Kathy. They’ll call you.
DIARIST Harold Nicolson, en route to Windsor to research a biography of George V, astonished a French reporter when he explained that he was writing about ‘Georges Cinq’ . ‘What a strange person,’ exclaimed the Gaul, ‘with that almost nymphomaniac passion for men.’ Only later did Nicolson realise the Frenchman thought he meant Chopin’s lover, the writer who called herself ‘George Sand’.
SIR Roy Strong detested the late Sir Terence Conran ‘with relish’, according to designer Stephen Bayley, who inadvertently explains an entry in Roy’s latest diaries, Types and Shadows. Roy describes a ‘quite small’ guest at a Wellington Arch party who persisted in smiling and winking at him. ‘I couldn’t think who it was,’ he writes. ‘He came up, covered me with kisses. I introduced him to someone as Wayne Sleep. Oh dear, it was Jasper Conran.’