Ephraim Hardcastle
PRINCE Edward’s 55th birthday present of a Scottish title, the Earldom of Forfar, begs the question, why didn’t the Queen make his sister, the Princess Royal, Countess of Forfar instead? Anne is the only senior royal without a Scottish title. Thirty years ago, in an effort to boost royal links to Scotland, she was charged with supporting all things Caledonian. She has done so assiduously, particularly as Patron of the Scottish Rugby Union. She has been to all five Six Nations matches and will be at Twickenham on Saturday. England’s patron, Harry, has turned out for a solitary game – one more than Wales’s patron, William. And Anne always clears her throat to sing a faultless Flower Of Scotland.
APROPOS of Edward. His new earldom means he joins his brothers and nephews with Scottish titles. North of the border brothers Charles and Andrew transform into the Duke of Rothesay and Earl of Inverness respectively, while William becomes Earl of Strathearn and Harry becomes Earl of Dumbarton. But why did the Queen bother? Edward is set to get the most impressive of Scottish royal family titles – the Dukedom of Edinburgh – in due course. And then both Wessex and Forfar will be forgotten.
PRINCE Charles provided the biggest chortle below stairs last week after declaring he would no longer use tea bags. The very thought of HRH being served a teabag brew from either bone china or fine silver teapots was greeted with amusement. A selection of looseleaf teas, principally provided by Fortnum & Mason, is stored in airtight containers for the royal refreshment. Charles’s bespoke caddy is a teabag-free zone.
ASKED by Sarah Sands, editor of Radio 4’s Today programme, if she still found the practices of the House of Commons strange, Mhairi Black, 24, pictured, SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, recalled that just after her election in 2015 she heard Nicholas Soames literally barking at a female colleague during a discussion about the treatment of women. ‘She has not forgotten this,’ observed Sands. Who could?
HAS writing about Wallis Simpson gone to royal author Anna Pasternak’s head? Launching her book on Edward VIII’s lover at Hatchards, London’s oldest bookshop, she wore one of Wallis’s silk scarves as well as a duplicate of her emerald and diamond engagement ring, both gifts from wealthy husband Andrew Wallas. She explains: ‘Andrew went to an auction house to bid for a tooth pickholder Edward bought for Wallis, but when the bidding got to £12,000 he rather brilliantly decided to buy me this instead. It’s my Wallis ring!’
BOND producer Barbara Broccoli hosts a 100th birthday lunch today in west London for acclaimed Hollywood reporter Donald Zec, who famously remarked after one of Zsa Zsa Gabor’s nine marriages collapsed within weeks: ‘Who said it wouldn’t last?’