Hardcastle Ephraim
IS the Duchess of Kent tempted to tear up her membership of Yorkshire County Cricket Club – embroiled in allegations of racism? Born at Hovingham Hall in the North Riding, she has had a long association with the club, becoming its first female patron in 1966. Her father, Sir William Worsley, captained the county in the 1920s and later served as president until his death in 1973. Since 2002, when she gave up most of her royal duties and decided not to use her HRH title, the duchess has taught music under the name of Katharine Kent but retains her links to the club. A source says that to see Yorkshire cricket in such a mess will upset her deeply.
WOMEN bishops attending Synod stamp their croziers at Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, complaining of his failure to appoint lady clerics to leapfrog over more senior men to achieve parity between the sexes. With Christine Hardman, Bishop of Newcastle, becoming the first woman bishop to retire, their ranks are reduced to just six out of 42 diocesan bishops. None at all were appointed last year, although three men were promoted to senior roles including a new Archbishop of York. So far this year just one woman has been given a senior role, Guli Francis-Dehqani being made Bishop of Chelmsford. It seems the stained-glass ceiling is hard to shatter even during a decade of positive discrimination.
PRINCE edward, the Queen’s stand-in at Tuesday’s opening of the Church of england Synod, was greeted with a baffled silence when he told a joke about a temporary replacement preacher being compared to a piece of cardboard covering a broken window, concluding: ‘He wasn’t just a piece of cardboard but a real pane/pain.’ Justin Welby must put an arm around eddie and gently explain why the Queen never tells gags to clergymen.
DAYS before Caroline Nokes’s claim that Stanley Johnson smacked her bottom, she appeared as a guest on Rachel Johnson’s podcast Difficult Women, revealing she used to jokingly refer to herself as ‘Chief Cameron Cutie’. What odds is Paddy Power offering that Stanley’s daughter, pictured, will never have Nokes on again?
HOLLYWOOD wealth fails to dampen memories of childhood poverty for Succession star Brian Cox, who recalls his teenage son Torin pointing to a £30 steak on a restaurant menu. ‘i might direct him towards something that’s less ostentatious,’ says Dundee-born Cox. ‘He’ll say, “Dad, you can afford it”. i say, “Yes i can, but that’s not the point”. There were long periods when we had nothing... i’ll admit that’s made me a little canny with money. When you’ve been through real poverty, the sword is always hanging over you. it retreats into the background, but it never completely disappears.’
THE Queen quietly continues to break all royal records with her platinum jubilee 2022 seeing her overtake Johann II of Liechtenstein (died 1929) and Rama IX of Thailand (2016) to become the second longest-reigning monarch in history. Just Louis XIV, the Sun King, would then be in her sights. She will take over his number one spot in 2024.