Ephraim Hardcastle
THE King’s decision to allow Andrew to attend the Coronation in his Order of the Garter robes is in danger of backfiring. The disgraced duke, refused permission to wear military uniform at his mother’s funeral, is now lobbying for a more public role at next month’s Garter Day events. Last year he wasn’t allowed to take part in the public garter procession to St George’s Chapel. Now his case is that the public has been reminded that he is a member of the oldest order of chivalry, so trying to hide him away no longer makes sense. No good deed goes unpunished, Charles!
CHARLES is continuing his mother’s tradition of distributing the Coronation Medal to the wider royal family with Harry and Meghan expected to receive theirs imminently. But even before the medals are dispatched, one prospective recipient has offered his for sale online for £750. As the memento includes an image of Queen Camilla, will Harry be tempted to follow suit?
PRINCESS Anne’s current Canadian trip just three weeks after Prince Edward’s return irks the King who wants to reduce duplication among his smaller band of working royals. He was similarly annoyed when Sophie Edinburgh started a uS trip last December, the day after William and Kate’s ended. HM wants to introduce a centralised system so the ‘royal stardust is spread more evenly’. Good luck with his wilful sister Anne!
I T V’S Schofield/ Willoughby soap opera prompts former BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin, pictured, to reflect on the men she has shared airtime with, telling Radio 4: ‘Earlier in my career there were some very tricky relationships... it’s absolutely blunt and brutal. It’s a fight for airtime.’ Surely not a dig at pushy former BBC man Jon Sopel, Louise’s longtime co- presenter on the BBC News channel?
THE late Fiona, Lady Montagu’s obsession with Elvis – even her spaniels had capes and jewelled collars – evokes memories of the late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire’s Presley devotion. Debo was a frequent visitor to his Tennessee home Graceland and even had an Elvis telephone in the downstairs loo at Chatsworth. And she graciously granted telephone press interviews only on his birthday.
RECENTLY let-down-in-love Vanessa Feltz has been shedding the pounds to get her formidable infrastructure beach-ready. ‘I’ve been on the infamous “broken heart diet” which works spectacularly well,’ she sighs. ‘I shall take my flaws and wobbly bits, and splay out on a towel with the best of them – and have the time of my life.’ Atta girl!
ELTON John’s spouse David Furnish recalls the star donning a jumbo Louis XIV wig with a galleon on top complete with cannons that fired talc for his fiftieth birthday party. En route to the venue in a car, David had to hold the wig in place. ‘It was so heavy it kept tilting forward and tilting back, and every time the car would move his wig would be moving around.’ Puts into perspective King Charles’s discomfiture wearing the 5lb St Edward’s Crown at the Coronation.