Ephraim Hardcastle
KING Charles may have saved Liz Truss from an awkward confrontation when she returns from New York. After his mother acceded to the throne she wanted to remain at Clarence House rather than move to Buckingham Palace. She was browbeaten by prime minister Winston Churchill to move to what he described as the monarch’s official residence. Charles seems willing to move. But if he doesn’t, what are the Paddy Power odds on Liz ordering him to do so?
CORONETS aloft for Crown Jeweller Mark Appleby, who anchored safely – atop the Queen’s coffin – the Imperial State Crown, the 1661 Sceptre with the world’s largest diamond, the Cullinan I, and the gemencrusted Orb for the unsprung journey from Westminster to Wellington Arch. The Orb and Sceptre appeared to be screwed to the oak casket. Mark’s sigh of relief removing the priceless cargo at Windsor should have been audible.
ARRIVING for the funeral, the identity of a female figure in black baffled Australia’s Channel Nine commentators. ‘This is a significant motorcade, ’said one. ‘I would suggest this might be royalty. Maybe a minor royal. I can’t identify her at this point.’ Step forward Liz Truss!
TRUNDLED out to help Huw Edwards with the Windsor coverage, how does former Question Time host David Dimbleby rate his successor Fiona Bruce, pictured? ‘I haven’t watched any of it,’ he answers diplomatically. ‘I would be shouting, “Ask THIS, ask THAT!” at the screen. You don’t want to go backwards.’
CHANNEL 5 newscaster Dan Walker fails to endear himself to ITN colleagues (who make his broadcasts) by sending a suckup tweet to the BBC’s Huw Edwards. ‘This fella has played a blinder,’ he gushes. ‘Well played Huw Edwards. Exceptional stuff.’ Desperate Dan wasn’t needed for 5’s cartoon coverage yesterday...
KING Felipe of Spain declined to share a coach with his disgraced father Juan Carlos en route to King Charles’s pre-funeral Buckingham Palace reception. Instead, Irish President Michael D Higgins, endearingly described by the Washington Post as a ‘leprechaun talking in riddles and verse’ got the short straw. The reason? He speaks fluent Spanish.
CHARLES Moore points out that under the unwritten constitution, the late Queen, though Supreme Governor of the Church of England, became a member of the Church of Scotland whenever she crossed the border. By dying at Balmoral she technically died a Presbyterian, he claims. Discuss.
JOE Biden never got a note from HM like her one to his presidential predecessor Dwight Eisenhower. ‘I never sent you the recipe of the drop scones which I promised you at Balmoral. I now hasten to do so, and I do hope you will find them successful.’