No question: Coronation fever is in the air.
No, not at one particular £11million Spanish Revival-style mansion in Montecito, California, which some have reportedly boasted nine bedrooms and 19 bathrooms – and which its spokesman said recently received an email from Buckingham Palace and advised Harry and Meghan to save the date for Saturday June 6th.
I’m referring instead to the tensions that arise in smaller apartments — one or two mansions, as well as simple mansions — that lack the gym, bar, five-car garage, and other amenities of Harry and Meghan’s residence.
These homes — some of them in need of almost constant repairs — are the homes of those who are, or have long considered themselves, good friends of King Charles and Camilla, but have so far been denied the precious email.
“Some of them are angry, especially those who have made quite a bit of their royal friendships over the years,” an amused Grande tells me. “They find the waiting tormenting. And for some it will end in humiliation.” It really is.
These homes — some of them in need of almost constant repairs — are the homes of those who are, or have long considered themselves, good friends of King Charles and Camilla, but have so far been denied the precious email
No fewer than 5,000 were crammed into Westminster Abbey – almost with crow bars – for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953.
“Scaffolding was specially erected so that row after row had to be more or less stacked,” recalls a historian of the state events at the abbey.
“But that kind of Heath-Robinson arrangement is simply not possible today for health and safety reasons.”
As a result, no more than 2,000 will be able to attend this time. Some are aware of this and have, I am told, tried to highlight their links to charities, which are likely to be favored with a handful of invites.
After all, Camilla is a patron of over 100 such organizations, from Macmillan Cancer Support and Marie Curie to the National Literacy Trust.
But such tricks, of course, do not guarantee an invitation that will only be sent out in the mail after potential guests have received – and confirmed – the valuable, preliminary email.
I was told by a royal source that the emails will be sent out in batches – at regular intervals. “It’s a practical arrangement,” I’m assured.
Mine must be in this lot. . .
No fewer than 5,000 were crammed into Westminster Abbey – almost with crow bars – for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953
Wood! Why Queen Consort Camilla has an ax to sharpen
As King Charles evicts Prince Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage, Windsor, his wife Camilla, clears the deadwood from their own backyard.
I understand the Queen Consort’s head gardener, Paul Jellyman, has requested permission to carry out extensive work on nine giant trees at Raymill House, the Grade I listed property they kept as a country retreat after they married the future king in 2005 had married.
Jellyman had to get permission from Wiltshire Council as the trees are in a conservation area.
She wants to fell two alders and do extensive work on three ash trees and four other trees.
Apprentice star Alan Sugar seems determined to show that Gary Lineker isn’t the only big BBC name stirring up controversy with his social media posts.
Apprentice star Alan Sugar seems determined to show that Gary Lineker isn’t the only big BBC name stirring up controversy with his social media posts
In this week’s edition of his program, participants took on the challenge of creating dog food.
And in reference to one pet’s reaction, Lord Sugar noted on Twitter, “I think the dog looked a little sad, like he’s going to appear in North Korean MasterChef.”
The reference to East Asian tastes in dog meat isn’t the first time the tycoon has joked about a racial stereotype.
In 2018, he was forced to apologize after sharing a snap of the Senegalese soccer team, with an overlaid image of a towel in front of them laden with sunglasses and handbags for sale.
He commented: “I recognize some of these guys from the beach in Marbella. Multitasking, resourceful guys.’
Fashion designer Rupert Lycett Green, one of the three men who inspired Jilly Cooper’s Caddish character Rupert Campbell-Black, has revealed there’s still plenty of life in the old dog.
The 84-year-old has revealed he recently completed the Cresta Run, 71 years after hurtling down the daunting St Moritz course for the first time.
“Riding the Cresta means sliding down an icy toboggan run at more than 110 km/h and lying on your stomach with your face only a few centimeters from the ice,” he says. “I’m still addicted.” It would certainly have amused his late father-in-law, honorary poet Sir John Betjeman.
quote of the week
What Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel told Emily Maitlis as she turned down an invitation from the network to a party at the home of late matinee idol Hugh Grant.
Nothing in moderation for Bake Off Dame Prue
Prue Leith’s colleagues laughed at her claim that they had to order a coat of arms as a sign of their new status.
Prue Leith’s colleagues laughed at her claim that they had to order a coat of arms as a sign of their new status
“When you become a lady you must have a motto, your coat of arms,” the Great British Bake Off judge explained on Radio 4.
‘Mine is ‘Nothing in moderation’.’
Leith, 83, was honored as a lady in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List in 2021.
However, a colleague tells me: “The idea that you should order a coat of arms is hilarious.
“You only get one if you go to the College of Arms and pay them thousands of pounds for the privilege.”
A spokesman for the college confirms: “A lady’s dignity would automatically entitle that person to apply for a coat of arms for themselves, but there is no compulsion on that person to do so.” I hope she has a delicious cake on her comb.
Here’s a picket I’d like to see
These days, Emily Ratajkowski (pictured) believes they need to form a union to protect their rights
Linda Evangelista once memorably remarked about her fellow supermodels, “We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day.”
Today, Emily Ratajkowski believes they need to form a union to protect their rights.
The London-born model and actress, 31, laments: “There is no union for models, so there are these young women who are often foreign and have no families and they have no sense of business or anything. They are totally exploited.”
Ratajkowski, who is estranged from her husband, film producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, adds: “I felt like a mess in my twenties.
“I think I came across as confident, but really a big part of me was a little bit like a ragdoll.
“I see that now with girls in their 20s and I’m like, ‘F***, how do I teach you to stand up for yourself?’ ‘
Expect a few more riders to fall at the Oasby Horse Trials in Lincolnshire this weekend.
Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone Beverage Business is sponsoring the event.
“Should things not go to plan this weekend and you drop out or drop out, I’ll offer you a free case of beer, cider or vodka to drown your sorrows,” says the 62-year-old Grand Tour host, who will be providing the drinks manufactures ingredients to grow on his farm in Diddly Squat in the Cotswolds.
Neighbors smash Rusedski’s yoga plan
He won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award after scoring 30 wins with Britain’s Davis Cup team, but former British tennis No. 1 Greg Rusedski has lost a battle on the home front.
Ex-Wimbledon star Greg Rusedski (right), 49, and his wife Lucy (left), an NHS therapist, wanted to run bed and breakfast residential workshops for up to 12 guests at their farmhouse in West Sussex
I can reveal that he has been forced to admit defeat in his three-year battle to transform his £2million country house into a yoga and wellness retreat.
The 49-year-old ex-Wimbledon star and his wife Lucy, an NHS therapist, wanted to run bed and breakfast accommodation workshops for up to 12 guests at their farmhouse in West Sussex.
They were seeking approval for a “repurposing” of their listed 18th-century home, and officials should rule the proposed development “in,” not “out.”
But the local planning authority then produced a legal opinion, with lawyers brought in to argue that the proposed use was as a hotel or guest house and not mixed-use housing.
Nearly half a dozen residents and the local council protested, saying access to Rusedski’s home was “completely unsuitable” for commercial use because it sits on a single lane shared with six other properties.
Her doomed budget has been feared to have cost Britain £65bn. Liz Truss still managed to grace a Brit Awards giveaway.
The former Prime Minister recorded receiving hospitality worth £1,320 at last month’s pop music jamboree at the O2 Arena in London.
The gift was donated by UK Music, whose chief executive is former Tory special adviser Jamie Njoku-Goodwin.
Truss is a huge Taylor Swift fan, but sadly, the American superstar didn’t perform at this year’s ceremony. Haters will hate . . .
(Very) modern manners
Lord Waldegrave, who I reported this week is stepping down as Eton’s Provost next year, has no intention of slowing the pace of change, which he has overseen with Headmaster Simon ‘Trendy Hendy’ Henderson.
Last week, Waldegrave welcomed the Eton Dragonflies – a club for gay Old Etonians – who were joined to dinner by “several of the staff and a couple of older boys”.
Eton describes it as a “great success”. Some alumni express doubts.
“It’s pure Trendy Hendy,” one tells me, recalling the OE writing in The Mail on Sunday that being gay is no big deal [until] We became a protected community. . . During my senior year, a kid four years younger than me would run around calling us all “fags.”