Duke in abundance but May in vanishing act
Considering he has announced his withdrawal from public life, the Duke of Edinburgh shows no signs of easing gently into retirement. The 95-yearold,has a full week of engagements, beginning today, when he will attend the president’s dinner at the Chartered Management Institute. Philip is patron of the CMI.
Tomorrow, he and the Queen will host a garden party. On Wednesday, he will join guests at The Cormorant Club’s 70th anniversary reception. On Thursday he will attend a dinner marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of Pakistan. He is patron of the Pakistan Society. On Friday, it looks like he might have a rare day off... Los Angeles, when the estate of the late Jackie Collins will go under the hammer.
The British-born author, who sold more than 500m novels in more than 40 countries in her four decades-long career as a writer died of breast cancer aged 77 in September 2015. Jewellery, fine art and sculpture and cars are due to be sold at
sale at Bonhams in LA. Meanwhile, today will see the a pair of boxing gloves worn by Muhammad Ali in the 1975 world heavyweight championship bout against Joe Bugner also be put up for auction, at Sotheby’s, London.
And as if that wasn’t enough, on Wednesday Hilda Ogden’s curlers, pinny and headscarf are to be sold in Southport. Many of actress Jean Alexander’s possessions will be up for sale, including the outfit she wore as long-running soap opera
battleaxe Hilda.
The Cannes Film Festival will begin on Wednesday and run until May 28. Expect the usual hyperbole, pomp and ceremony from the event, which this year has already garnered headlines after organisers got into a spat with streaming service Netflix over some of the entries to its competition.
On Thursday this week, ITV will host the General Election 2017 Leaders’ Debate... except it will not feature either Tory PM Theresa May or Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, both of whom have snubbed the event. Prime Minister Mrs May has been called a ‘chicken’ by some for not taking part, while Mr Corbyn says he also prefers to carry out his campaign by meeting people face to face.
Towards the end of the week, we can all look forward to some light relief in the form of Pippa Middleton’s wedding to James Matthews. She will marry the brother of star Spencer Matthews.
She came to prominence during the marriage of her sister, The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, after wearing a figure-hugging dress while acting as her bridesmaid. Whether there will be any horses and carriages remains to be seen...
We can also expect to hear some jingoistic sabre-rattling from the UK this weekend as it is the anniversary of the HMS Ardent being attacked by Argentine aircraft during the Falklands War (1982). Some 22 lives were lost in the air strikes which resulted in the sinking of the frigate the following day.
Plain cigarette packaging law comes into force this week. From Sunday it will be illegal to sell packets that do not conform to the restrictions on all logos and the increased size of health warnings.