Ephraim Hardcastle
PRINCE Charles has rebuked the BBC for referring to him and Camilla as the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall rather than the correct Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in radio reports from their Canadian jaunt. Charles is only ever called the Duke of Cornwall when in his duchy. A Clarence House source whispers that there might not have been any objection if the Beeb had referred to them, correctly, as the Prince and Princess of Wales. Courtiers are reluctant to start using the Wales title for Camilla, even though she will become queen consort. Letting the BBC take the lead would have suited Charles and Camilla despite the inevitable Krakatoa-like response from Harry.
DESPITE sniffing the blooms at the Chelsea Flower Show, tenth in line to the throne Princess Beatrice was omitted from yesterday’s Court Circular which listed The Queen, the Wessexes, Gloucesters, Kents and Princess Alexandra. Why so? If Andrew (ninth in line still) had attended then Beatrice would have been recorded next to him. Without her sidelined dad she doesn’t merit attention.
ANDREW attended Chelsea in happier times when he took a fancy to garden designer Chris Beardshaw’s prize tomato plants. Alas, lacking sufficient real fruit, Chris secretly attached imitation tomatoes to the plants in contravention of official rules. Ignoring the ‘do not touch’ rule, Andrew helped himself to a red imposter and was poised to take a bite when, to Beardshaw’s relief, he abruptly changed his mind, pocketed the rogue tomato and stalked off.
TV PRESENTER Angela Scanlon, pictured, has been obliged to take an unscheduled career break because of the cancellation of scheduled filming of her BBC2 shows Your Home Made Perfect and Your Garden Made Perfect. The reason? The global shortage of building materials. She says: ‘I was due to be filming in June and July and I don’t know, shortage of wood, something to do with supply, everything has been pushed out.’ Angela, 38, then explains: ‘I’m going to take two months off. I’m not going to go anywhere. I’m going to chill.’
DOES Vanessa Redgrave, 85, regret giving away most of her pension to causes from Chechens to Palestinians? Currently attracting laudatory reviews in My Fair Lady in the West End, the Oscar-winning star admits that if she hadn’t given so much of her money away she could have retired years ago. And explaining why she’s playing matriarch Mrs Higgins, she wails: ‘I have to earn money.’
APPEARING in his newly-released Netflix special, Ricky Gervais provokes the wrath of trans activists after daring to joke: ‘Oh, women… not all women, I mean the oldfashioned ones. The old-fashioned women, the ones with wombs. Those f ****** dinosaurs. I love the new women. They’re great, aren’t they? The new ones we’ve been seeing lately. The ones with beards and c**ks. They’re as good as gold, I love them.’ Batten down the hatches, Mr G!