Pick of the week’s Gossip

The cost of Princess Eugenie’s forthcoming wedding to Jack Brooksbank has been widely criticised: the security bill – which will be met by taxpayers – is expected to be as much as £2m now that Eugenie (who carries out no royal duties) is insisting on a carriage procession through Windsor like her cousin Prince Harry. But Sarah Ferguson, her mother, is delighted with plans for the event, to which 1,200 members of the public are being invited. “Jack and Eugenie are very contemporary, very inclusive,” she said. “They are all about love and they want this wedding to be about that – to really absorb the love they have for each other with everybody else.” Kirstie Alley refused to take a psychological test before appearing on Celebrity Big Brother because psychology is regarded as an “unproven science” by her religion, Scientology. Under the terms of her contract, the actress will not discuss her beliefs, and there can be no mention on the show of Tom Cruise, Scientology’s most famous adherent, and holder of its highest award, the Freedom Medal of Valor. According to an insider, “Kirstie was insistent that there is no chance of Tom being ridiculed.”

Madonna has been criticised for giving a tenminute speech about Aretha Franklin at the MTV Video Music Awards, and devoting nine minutes of it to herself. The star told a rambling anecdote about how, at the start of her career, she sang (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman at a crucial audition. “And the rest is history,” she concluded.