Ephraim Hardcastle
NICOLA Sturgeon reaffirms that Charles will be King of Scotland if her dream of independence is achieved. But isn’t she overlooking a greenfly in the ointment? She has a majority at Holyrood only because of a deal with the staunchly republican Scottish Greens. Co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater refused to attend the proclamation of the new King. When Charles visited the parliament on Monday to receive its condolences, Harvie was just as belligerent: ‘But in truth the tide of progress cannot be halted.’ Harvie has the chance to whisper sedition in Sturgeon’s ear. Could the throne end up as a bargaining chip?
DAME Joan Collins, pictured, describing her ‘utter devastation’ at the death of the Queen, recalls the Queen Mother disclosing at a premiere that the entire Royal Family watched her every week in the soap opera Dynasty. ‘“And do you hate me, ma’am?” I enquired. “Oh no, we all LOVE you,” she replied. I do hope her daughter did too.’
BRIGADIER Andrew Parker Bowles debunks suggestions that the Queen cared more for animals than people. He recalls their conversation after the IRA Hyde Park bomb in 1982: ‘I probably banged on rather too much about the seven dead horses and not enough about the four dead soldiers. “Remember you can buy more horses,” she said. “But you can’t buy young soldiers.”’
RECALLING his divorce from Camilla, Andrew tells The Spectator about the Queen’s present to them of Danny, an ugly and bad-tempered corgi, saying: ‘In 1995, Her Majesty was heard to remark that the worst aspect of the Parker Bowles divorce was that she had got Danny back.’
AWARE that Poet Laureate Ted Hughes was grievously ill when he accepted his Order of Merit at Buckingham Palace in 1998, HM invited his wife Carol to join him. ‘The conversation that ensued seemed for the most part a strange monologue from Ted, allowing little space for the Queen to participate or respond,’ recalls Carol. ‘But she listened intently and courteously throughout. Her sensitivity to his situation was very apparent, and for that I will be forever grateful. Ted died 12 days later.’
NOT to be outdone by his royal in-laws in the medal-wearing stakes at the Queen’s funeral procession, Mike Tindall sported three ribboned gongs on his breast pocket – his MBE as well as his Queen’s Diamond and Platinum Jubilee awards. Where was his 2003 Rugby World Cup winner’s gold medal?
SITTING after dinner with the Queen, Charles Moore recalls her disclosure that husband Philip was reading the second volume of his mammoth Margaret Thatcher biography. ‘“I gather there’s more to come,” she said. I said, “Ma’am I’m frightfully sorry, but I’m afraid there will be a third volume.” “Oh don’t worry,” said the Queen. “I shan’t read it.”’