EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Friends together with Queen Camilla’s son Tom Parker Bowles pay tribute as Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman’s grandson dies abruptly aged 49

His grandfather, Sir John Betjeman, earned a place in public affection unequalled by any other Poet Laureate since Alfred, Lord Tennyson, while his mother – Betjeman’s daughter Candida – dazzled a generation of men in her youth and had become an adored friend of many, King Charles among them, by the time she succumbed to cancer at the age of 71 in 2014.

But David Lycett Green, Candida’s elder son, made his own uniquely intense mark on all he encountered, including Queen Camilla’s son, Tom Parker Bowles, and her nephew, Sir Ben Elliot, who are now coming to terms with his sudden death at the age of just 49.

Whereas Candida co-authored a book with the King about the royal garden at Highgrove, Dave – as Lycett Green was known – opted for a less conventional path, summarised by his younger brother John in an online tribute as ‘friend of the homeless, proud tramp, kind, generous, brave, courageous, humble, honest’.

Dave followed his father, Rupert Lycett Green, to Eton. But unlike Rupert, who invigorated men’s fashion with his 1960s shop Blades – described by society snapper Sir Cecil Beaton as ‘a marvellous combination of Carnaby Street Pizazz and Savile Row’ – Dave favoured ‘white gloves, shell suit, fresh Nike’, sometimes supplementing the effect with top hat and cane. 

A book, In Search of the English Eccentric, recorded his fixation with magic and freemasonry – and his playful self-description as ‘the Lord of Kensington’.

‘He likes to get up at six, put on white gloves and dance outside Tube stations in front of City workers on their way to work,’ recorded a review. 

‘Or he makes pretend drug deals on a toy mobile phone painted gold. His aim is to entertain bankers and so have a positive effect on the world economy.’

Dave’s father, Rupert, was cited by author Jilly Cooper as one of the three men who inspired the dashing character Rupert Campbell-Black in her best-selling ‘bonkbuster’ novels including Rivals, which is currently the subject of hit TV drama.

Rupert Lycett green accompanied Texan model Jerry Hall to Royal Ascot this summer. 

Sir Ben Elliot, an Eton contemporary, describes him as ‘an enlightened soul’, adding: ‘Very lucky to have been his friend’, while Parker Bowles says: ‘What a man he was. A true original. Rave on forever.’

The Duke of Wellington’s absence 

The splendid Apsley House – the Duke of Wellington’s home, also known as Number 1 London – was an irresistible setting for a party to celebrate the launch of London Lost Interiors, the new book by Steven Brindle. 

But as the author explained how he’d laboured for 12 years to bring it to completion, one figure was conspicuously absent – the writer of the book’s foreword… the Duke himself.

This was no case of casual desertion. Far from it: the Duke, 79, was waiting to speak in the House of Lords debate on the fate of hereditary peers – now being axed with a fervour arguably unmatched since Waterloo. 

Bono’s girl rocks out on red carpet 

Eve Hewson has said her stylist, Karla Welch, dresses her ‘a little bit more like a pop star than an actress’, and she looked ready to burst into song at the premiere of the second series of Bad Sisters.

The Irish actress, 33, plays the youngest sister, Becka, in the dark comedy on AppleTV+. She wore a semi-sheer top with cut-out details and a tulle skirt by Simone Rocha on the red carpet in New York.

Eve, who is the daughter of U2 rock star Bono and his wife Ali Hewson, says she loves fashion ‘but I like to feel like ‘me’ ‘.

Amy Winehouse’s mother and the Princess of Yugoslavia

They make an unlikely duo, but when Amy Winehouse’s mother, Janis, and Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia met at a West End reception for Healing The Wounded Child, they soon bonded – over tempestuous times with ex-husbands. 

‘We hit it off comparing notes about their behaviour,’ says the Princess, 64. Retired pharmacist Janis, 70, was married to Mitch Winehouse, a former cabbie, while Katarina’s late husband was barrister Sir Desmond de Silva. 

‘He was a great man, but we had rows. However successful, we all know married life isn’t always easy. Janis said she knew what I meant and we had a good laugh about it.’ 

Annabel is strictly a glam mum now!  

Competing on Strictly Come Dancing helped Annabel Croft cope with her grief after the death of her husband, Mel Coleman, last year aged 60.

Now, thanks to her daughters Amber, 28, and Lily, 25, Annabel admits she has a more ‘glamorous’ approach to her fashion choices, in keeping with the BBC show, too.

‘It took for my two daughters to push me into a different direction and start being adventurous with what I wore, and to start being confident,’ says the tennis star-turned-TV presenter.

Annabel, 58, adds: ‘They taught me not to be so scared about what I wear because I was out of my comfort zone. I’m obsessed with fashion now. I would like [them] to think that their mum is glamorous.’

Billy Night’s brain fog on stage 

Bill Nighy once scolded younger actors for thinking it’s ‘fashionable’ not to learn their lines, and he has been equally hard on himself for suffering brain fog on stage.

‘It was traumatic because it had never happened before, and one of my private boasts was that I had never forgotten my lines in 1,000 years of acting,’ the Love Actually star, 74, says.

‘It was the result of complacency, and I really suffered because there was no precedent. That anxiety didn’t leave me for some time.’