Ephraim Hardcastle
The BBC salary furore triggers a squeak of anxiety among royal bean counters. Until then chancellor George Osborne replaced the Civil List with the Sovereign Grant in 2011 it was known what royals got – edward £141,000 a year, Princess Alexandra £225,000 and Prince Andrew £249,000. Now it is impossible to discover how much Charles gives to William, kate and harry from his Duchy of Cornwall income. The Sovereign Grant rolled all the allowances into one lump sum. The Queen doesn’t have to say who gets what. But will she now be forced to be more transparent?
TV COVERAGE of the Proms is turning into an anti-Brexit nightmare for the BBC. Pro-EU Russian pianist Igor Levit pointedly played Beethoven’s Ode to Joy as his encore. Conductor Daniel Barenboim, to acclaim, publicly called for a rejection of nationalism and the triumph of globalism. The Beeb can’t prevent these anti-Leave rants. But surely Jacob Rees-Mogg should be persuaded to restore the balance, clearing his throat and warbling Land of Hope and Glory on the last night ?
Asked by the New Statesman whether there are ‘too many Old etonians in politics?’, ex-eton Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames, 69, responds: ‘I simply couldn’t give a monkey’s about where people went to school.’ Is he sure? When David Cameron (ex-eton) became Tory leader in 2005, snooty Soames smugly announced the ‘natural order’ had been restored.
FORMER uber-agent Jon Roseman – he looked after the late Jill Dando, pictured, Claudia Winkleman and Emily Maitlis – says of the BBC pay furore: ‘I really don’t think that the likes of Chris Evans, Gary Lineker and Claudia Winkleman are worth anything like what they are paid. The question the BBC has to ask is: “Where would these people go if they didn’t give in to their agents’ demands?” How indispensable are these people? In my view not at all.’ Discuss.
Best remembered for presiding over the 1997 funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, Dr Wesley Carr, dean of Westminster, who has died aged 75, raised clerical eyebrows when he sold Abbey chairs from the service for £3,000 each. Worse, he unilaterally donated the schoolboy choristers’ fees for singing without bothering to consult their parents.
WHY the surprise at Princess Eugenie getting into Newcastle University because she’s the Queen’s granddaughter? Her uncle Charles squeezed into Trinity College, Cambridge despite his paltry two Alevels (history B, French C). Even luckier was Prince Edward with a C and two Ds. Anne and Andrew, perhaps wisely, didn’t bother with the dreaming spires.
John Major’s dad Tom, a circus performer, died aged 82 in 1962. But not before his son accidentally smashed his beloved gold stopwatch at the Oval timing english batsman Peter May’s on-drive to hit the boundary. he recalls in The Spectator: ‘When I went home to confess my sin, my father, gazing forlornly at the innards of his watch, said very slowly: “Tell me about this Peter May.”’ Most paters would have given Johnny a good thrashing.