EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: How Ronnie Corbett’s devoted widow left £2million fortune to their daughters and grandchildren – after giving up West End profession for her household

Born in Lambeth, south London, she became a West End star, viewed as Britain’s answer to Hollywood sex-bomb Jane Russell.

But when she married a diminutive comedian in 1966, Anne Hart ‘gave it all up’, explaining years later: ‘For me, Ronnie and our children came before the fame game. They still do.’

Anne, widow of the inimitable Ronnie Corbett, never regretted her decision, nor altered her creed of ‘family first’.

In her will, now published almost exactly a year after her death aged 90, she ensured that her £2million estate would benefit her two daughters, Sophie and Emma, her four grandchildren and her sister, and wrote off a £790,000 loan which had helped Sophie buy a house in Hove, Sussex – a home for the next generation.

Launch party

Historian Lady Antonia Fraser – still glowing and glamorous, though wheelchair-bound – joined former Chancellor Lord (Norman) Lamont and interior designer Nicky Haslam and a slew of Churchills at Christie’s London headquarters for the launch party for Clarissa: Muse To Power, Hugo Vickers’s biography of Clarissa Eden.

Vickers explained that, though Clarissa was officially the daughter of Sir Winston Churchill’s younger brother, Jack, that was not, in fact, the case.

 Nor, added Vickers, had Jack Churchill been the son of Winston’s father, Lord Randolph Churchill.

Will, I wonder, any aristocratic family tree remain intact after revision by DNA testing?

Call for change

West End star Beverley Knight says music industry bigwigs scoffed when she called TV talent contests a ‘monstrosity’.

And now she says the tragic death of her fellow singer Liam Payne, who shot to fame on The X-Factor, should lead to a sea-change in the way young stars are treated.

‘I got shouted down in the early days for saying I wanted more care for young minds who are rapidly thrust into the public sphere,’ she tells me.

 ‘It’s so hard to cope. Coming from theatre and looking at how chaperones work, I’d love to see more of that in the music industry.’

Knight – who, like Payne, is from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands – won the Outstanding Commitment to Diversity at the European Diversity Awards last week. She adds: ‘Wolverhamptoners are united in their care and concern for that family.’

Outspoken model 

Once voted the world’s sexiest woman, model Caprice Bourret was an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump in the US presidential election. 

And she’s sick of the criticism she receives from other women.

‘It really upsets me,’ the Californian-born entrepreneur, 53, tells me at the London launch party for Peacock’s new festive range in which she models their lingerie and nightwear collection.

 ‘I’m such a girl’s girl, and I’m not having that. Every woman out there, don’t let any woman tell you what you should think.’

She adds: ‘Don’t try and censor me. Don’t try and knock me down because I don’t feel the same way that you feel. 

‘I don’t do that, especially women hating on other women.’

 Elton’s show

Sir Elton John has dressed up as the Statue of Liberty and performed in a Donald Duck costume. But his most outre entrance could be to come.

I can disclose that there are outrageous plans afoot for his arrival next month for the first night of The Devil Wears Prada, a West End musical featuring songs by Sir Elton.

Producer Jamie Wilson confirms: ‘I am trying to get Camden council to close Oxford Street so we can have Elton arrive in a big f***-off Prada shoe being pulled by eight reindeer. Real reindeer. That is the ‘A plan’.’

What could possibly go wrong?

 Fit for a queen

The Marquess of Salisbury’s seat, Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, brought splendour to Bridgerton. 

But there was a need for fresh locations for the spin-off, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, which took the action to Charlotte’s German birthplace.

Producers opted to use Ditton Manor in Berkshire. Now, the ‘events venue’, ten minutes’ drive from Heathrow, is on the market for £6 million. 

Perfect for a plane-spotting Bridgerton fan…

 Baroness steps down

When Baroness Chalker was persuaded to join the board of Sentebale, it was seen as a sign of Prince Harry’s ambitions for the charity, which helps vulnerable children in Lesotho.

Now, however, I can disclose that the peer, who, as Lynda Chalker, was the overseas development minister for eight years under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, has resigned after 18 years.

It’s the latest blow for the Duke of Sussex’s organisation, which lost advertising king Johnny Hornby last year.

 He stood down after 11 years as a trustee, five of which he spent as chairman.

Last weekend, The Mail on Sunday disclosed that Andrew Tucker, whom Harry affectionately calls ‘Tucks’, had stepped down from his senior position at Sentebale after almost a decade. 

A spokesman for Lady Chalker says: ‘Although she resigns from her formal role, her commitment to the charity and the Duke of Sussex remains unwavering.’

‘Hero’ brother rescues Lady Alice after she comes a cropper

She is one of society’s most devoted party-goers, but Lady Alice Manners is undergoing a period of enforced rest.

I hear that the Duke of Rutland’s 29-year-old daughter, a keen equestrian, has been involved in an accident which has left her with a broken clavicle and badly bruised leg.

‘My collarbone has found a new place to sit for a little bit, at least until I brave the physio to hopefully put it back,’ says the model and fashion stylist, whose ancestral home is Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire.

She declines to provide details of the incident but says she’s grateful to her brother Hugo, 21, for coming to her rescue. ‘This guy is my hero,’ Lady Alice says.

‘He stayed with me [in hospital] and got me home.’