Ephraim Hardcastle
MIGhT the Marquess of Bristol have his aristocratic fingers singed over the titles-for-cash scandal engulfing Prince Charles? Bristol appointed Dmitry Leus, who was once found guilty of money laundering in Russia before the conviction was overturned, as deputy steward of the Liberty of St Edmund, a fig-leaf honour in his gift, but which – according to Bristol’s own website – performs no useful function. Let’s hope he did it out of the goodness of his heart.
PRINCE Andrew’s unrelenting court misery delays further his mother’s wish to award him the Order of Merit. Courtiers suggest HM wished to grant the personal honour when her favourite son turned 60 last year. She made Prince Philip a member in 1968 and Charles, to mark her golden jubilee, in 2002. Perhaps Anne might be honoured for the Platinum Jubilee next year?
ChARITY boss Julia Weston, who has dropped Winston from the former Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, distancing it from the Second World War PM, could be in danger of prompting a high-speed grave rotation from her grandfather, Major Gerald Weston. An officer in the Middlesex Regiment, he performed heroics in Belgium in 1940 – receiving the Chevalier of the Order of Leopold II with palm and the Croix de Guerre.
THE Duchess of York, pictured, has come to terms with being well nourished after perusing a 2014 snap, explaining: ‘Seeing the picture now, and realising how great I looked, made me think, “Stop beating yourself up, Sarah. Why do you want to be a size 8?” The truth is, I’m happy as a 12. Who was I trying to be perfect for?’ Er, Andrew?
RIChARD Briggs, the driving force behind the erection of the curious Queen Mother gates at hyde Park Corner as well as the modernising of the park’s Rotten Row as a popular riding venue, has died unexpectedly after apparently recovering from Covid. his socialite wife Basia, friend of Princess Michael and former mistress of Oxford rowing coach the late Daniel Topolski, is devastated. ‘I can’t describe the pain,’ she tells a friend. ‘It had been such a long marriage, surviving all troubles, that I feel half a person now.’
PROMOTING his new film Cry Macho, Clint Eastwood, 91, delights in throwing a Rawhide-style punch. ‘It might not be as good as I’ve thrown in the past but it was fun to do it,’ he says, revealing that he rode a horse for the first time in 30 years. ‘The wrangler was worried. She was saying, “Be careful, be careful now”. She was scared I’d end up on my rear end.’
ULRIKA Jonsson remains bereft of any nostalgia for her stint as a breakfast TV weather presenter. Despite a threemonth tutorial at the London Weather Centre, she was stung by ribbing about the accuracy of her forecasting. ‘People used to shout, “Oi, Ulrika. What is the weather like?” I used to reply, “have you
got an effing window? Look out of it”.’