Ephraim Hardcastle
THE rift between the Cambridge and Sussex households is underlined by Prince Harry’s solo appearance on Tuesday at a meeting of the brothers’ Royal Foundation. He was there to discuss conservation and sustainability, subjects close to William’s heart. Although set up by the boys and their wives, they have not attended a foundation event together in the past six months. It further fuels speculation that the increasingly distant Harry and Meghan will set up their own charitable body. Harry should keep on good terms with William. After all, when their dad becomes king, Harry and Meghan’s household will be funded by William as Prince of Wales.
HOW will Meghan describe herself on the imminent birth certificate? After the happy event she and Harry have 42 days to contact their local Register Office. As it is a public document, she may ponder before filling in the ‘rank or profession’ section. Following the example of Kate Middleton, she might describe herself as a ‘Princess of the United Kingdom’, although she is not actually a citizen of it. Best to opt for Camilla’s strategy. After her civil wedding to Charles, she left it diplomatically blank.
WOULDN’T the Duchess of York, pictured, be a perfect fit for the vacant £37,500 senior editor job at the Royal Collection Trust? Fergie has the credentials with her well-researched Travels With Queen Victoria (1993) and a 1991 history of Osborne House. If she asked nicely, she might even get a reference from her former mother-in-law.
DAME Joan Collins’s daughter Tara Newley, unimpressed with the vast sums donated to Notre Dame by the rich, tweets: ‘One would hope that they give to charities who support the poor and the homeless. One can’t help but wonder if they think they are buying absolution.’
A NEWLY discovered letter to Dr Strangelove director Stanley Kubrick from his screenwriter Terry Southern describes how Mick Jagger’s then wife Bianca was caught in flagrante at his London home with Love Story star Ryan O’Neal, adding: ‘Stan, I would be less than candid if I failed to mention how I walked into the room to find them going at it like a pair of maddened warthogs.’ La vita e grandiose!
CHER, 72, describes President Trump as an ‘ignorant thug’ and a ‘lizard brain’. Fair comment perhaps, but what happened to the wrinkle-free warbler’s 2016 promise to leave the United States if Donald became president?
LYCRIST Barry Mason, mourning songwriter Les Reed, recalls boasting to a man at a hotel urinal whistling The Last Waltz that he had written the Engelbert Humperdinck hit and being told: ‘I thought Les Reed wrote it.’ ‘Yes, but I wrote the lyrics.’ Came the reply: ‘I wasn’t whistling the lyrics.’