Princesses’ dreams hit by Queen’s charity snub
THE hopes of Princess Beatrice and her sister Eugenie to be treated as ‘major’ royals have been dealt another blow after they were overlooked in a shuffle of the Queen’s charity roles.
Late last year the Queen gave up 25 of her charity patronages to reduce her workload in her 91st year – and set about reallocating roles to other family members. But Prince Andrew’s daughters missed out.
Andrew, who inherited three patronages from his mother, will no doubt be unimpressed that his daughters have been snubbed.
He has been fighting for years to secure them fulltime working royal status but his efforts have been rebuffed by Buckingham Palace, with Prince Charles reportedly encouraging the side-lining of his nieces to slim down the Monarchy.
Andrew has denied that he is locked in a battle with Charles, even releasing a letter on social media to make it clear – although that missive has since been deleted. Beatrice, 28, is already patron of nine charities but has been unemployed since July last year. She is said to be working on developing a business app, but nothing has so far come of it. However she has been raising charity funds through sports challenges with friends in the Branson family.
Luckily for Beatrice, I hear her doting father has now handed her a consolation prize – one of his charities, the English National Ballet, the patronage of which he inherited from Princess Diana.
Eugenie, 26, works at an art auction house and is patron of several charities, including the late Mark Shand’s Elephant Family.
Although the sisters were left empty-handed by the Queen’s reshuffle, other royals picked up soughtafter charities.
The Duchess of Cambridge has taken on charities including Action For Children, and the Duke of Cambridge the Royal African Society and two others. Prince Edward has the Edinburgh Festival while Prince Harry takes on two more charities and the Princess Royal three.
JUST to make things worse for Beatrice, she endured her first single Valentine’s Day for a decade last week. The good news is she did get flowers from an admirer. Bad news is that ex-boyfriend Dave Clark is more loved up than ever. He recently took a trip to new love Lynn Anderson’s parents’ home in Virginia, where he got on merrily with the pretty New York-based advertising executive’s doting mother Shelley. Word is he will marry Lynn, 31, leaving poor Beatrice devastated. DAVID BECKHAM’S friendship with socialite Poppy Delevingne is all thanks to Guy Ritchie, I’m told. The director introduced them at a shooting weekend on his Wiltshire estate and gave them parts in his new film King Arthur. Few knew model Poppy, 30, and David, 41 – who are, of course, both married – had become friends until they were seen together falling out of a nightclub in LA this month. HEATHER KERZNER, left, ex-wife of hotel billionaire Sol Kerzner, told me of her Valentine’s Day proposal from PR man James Henderson when I called to congratulate her last week. ‘James took me to dinner at Scott’s and gave me a Valentine’s present, but when he pushed it across the table I realised it was an engagement ring.’ She then put me on speakerphone so James, CEO of Bell Pottinger, could add: ‘I bought it at Boodles.’ They will host a two-part wedding, with a Thursday Thanksgiving dinner followed by a party on Saturday, organised by Tom Freud, nephew of fellow PR guru Matthew. THEY fly all the way across the Atlantic to enjoy its luxurious and exclusive ambience.
But soon US-based regulars of Mayfair club 5 Hertford Street – including Bella Hadid, Alexa Chung and a selection of rock stars and supermodels – will be able to get their fix much closer to home.
I can reveal that the plush club’s owner Robin Birley is attempting to raise £100million to open a New York branch.
It will be the coolest club move to the Big Apple since Soho House opened there in 2003. And it will be seen as a direct challenge by Birley to his London nightclub nemesis Richard Caring, owner of Annabel’s and a major shareholder in the Soho House empire.