EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: The night time a spurned Princess Margaret wreaked her revenge

She generally woke at 9am, luxuriated in bed two hours longer, took a 60-minute bath – and properly initiated her day with a vodka ‘pick-me-up’ at 12.30pm, followed by a four-course lunch.

But Princess Margaret didn’t expect to limit her indulgences to the pleasures of the table, as swashbuckling financier John Bentley – father of Lord [Zac] Goldsmith’s first wife, Sheherazade Bentley – discloses.

It was while the young Bentley – 6ft 4in, good-looking and enjoying immense success in the City – was stepping out with the Marquess of Reading’s glamorous daughter, Lady Jacquie Rufus Isaacs, that he caught Margaret’s eye.

The princess – referred to by her husband, Lord Snowdon, as ‘Margot’ – was aware that Snowdon ‘fancied Jacquie as he did little to conceal his attraction to her’.

The royals periodically invited the younger couple to go riding with them at their ‘modest’ house in Sussex where Bentley found himself under continuous scrutiny. The princess, he writes in his addictive memoir, Mr Internet TV: The Ego And The Id, published in December, ‘would make personal comments on my appearance, disliking it if I had not shaved my weekend beard stubble or complimenting me if I had’.

In due course, ‘Margot’ popped the question. ‘She proposed that I should visit her sans Jacquie,’ remembers Bentley, 86, who tells me from his home in France that he found her ‘imperiously amusing’.

But he resisted the invitation. ‘She was trouble with a capital T, and I was not about to play her games,’ he reflects, besides which, ‘she was barely 5ft tall. Would it be poor etiquette to withdraw without permission?’

If Bentley thought that ‘Margot’ had forgotten him, he was disabused years later at a summer ball at Blenheim Palace. ‘We had been invited by Jamie Blandford, the young heir to the Duke of Marlborough,’ writes Bentley, adding that, after a dance, he and his then girlfriend sat down at a table.

The only other occupants were a couple sitting opposite – ‘Princess Margaret and her new young lover, Roddy Llewellyn.’

Minutes later, Bentley was tapped on the shoulder and was told by Marlborough’s secretary that he had to leave.

‘On the way out, I passed the duke and asked him why. ‘At the request of the only person here I cannot refuse,’ he answered apologetically.’

Margaret found consolation elsewhere, of course, relishing the company not only of Llewellyn but also of London gangster John Bindon, next to whom she was snapped while taking her pleasures in Mustique.

‘Enjoy Cocaine’ read the slogan on Bindon’s T-shirt on that occasion.

Uh-Oh! Sounds like another Harbour ex has an axe to grind… 

Lily Allen’s hit album West End Girl, chronicling the collapse of her marriage to Stranger Things star David Harbour, seems to have inspired another of his exes to channel their pain through music.

Actress and singer Alison Sudol, 41, who dated Harbour, 50, for a year before he struck up a romance with Lily, 40, in 2019, is in the studio this week recording an album about her ‘anger and frustration’ at those who have left her feeling ‘heartbroken and wronged’.

The Fantastic Beasts star, who is engaged to Welsh actor Tom Cullen, 40, the father of her two children, admits she’s ‘losing my mind’ ahead of the ‘really big and vulnerable creative endeavour’.

She says on social media: ‘I’ve never felt very comfortable with anger or frustration or calling people out on things. I felt more comfortable being sad, heartbroken, longing, lonely, wronged. Less comfortable being powerful, standing up for what I believe in. And I’m getting ready to do that.’

Last November, Alison opened up about the ‘devastating emotional collapse’ she suffered following her split from Harbour, revealing that she was ‘confused, adrift and mentally unravelled’ during the final days of their relationship.

Jane’s love really is a lifesaver

Celebrating her 75th birthday in the coming days, love-struck actress Jane Seymour reveals she recently witnessed her boyfriend John Zambetti save a man’s life.

Having romanced the American musician and casualty doctor since 2023, the four-times divorced Bond girl reveals Zambetti had just finished a show in Los Angeles with his band, The Malibooz, when he witnessed one audience member collapse.

‘It was a heart issue… this guy just toppled over. He [Zambetti] suddenly went, “Excuse me!” and turned into this amazing doctor. He saved his life.’ Proudly announcing that she’s now guitarist Zambetti’s musical muse, Jane also enthuses: ‘He’s written the most amazing songs, inspired by me. He’s got a whole new album…’

Diplomatic Dave pours oil on troubled pool waters

Time for David Cameron to dust off the budgie-smugglers and take the plunge.

That’s not a suggestion as to how Call-Me-Dave might celebrate Valentine’s Day next Saturday but a reference to the former prime minister’s most recent triumph.

He has, I can disclose, finally secured permission to install a 46ft pool at his Cotswolds country retreat. It was back in 2020 that Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton first made a bid for a pool – only to be thwarted by neighbours who cited the Human Rights Act, which stipulates that a person ‘has the right to peaceful enjoyment’ of their home and other land. Dave ultimately crawled his way to victory by shifting the site of the pool closer to his own house.

Taron Egerton went from petty criminal to superspy as Eggsy in the Kingsman films, and his fortune is increasing dramatically in real life, too. 

The Welsh actor, 36, made a staggering £3.7million profit last year at the business he uses to channel his earnings, Jean Pound Ltd, newly published accounts disclose.

His thriller, Carry-On, in which he played a US Homeland Security officer blackmailed by terrorists, was released on Netflix in 2024. 

He later starred in Apple TV+ series Smoke. Egerton, who played Elton John in Rocketman, takes money seriously, explaining: ‘I wanted to make money, not just for me, but for people who are important to me.’

I spy Wills on a hush-hush MI6 mission 

Mention of its brace of moats and its 60 different sections of roof might suggest the lair of a dodgy billionaire – the last place that Prince William ought to be dropping in on.

But MI6’S London HQ, to which he paid a discreet visit on Thursday, also has a warren of subterranean rooms and corridors – plus acres of triple-glazed windows above.

Perfect for a candid exchange with its first female boss, Blaise Metreweli, anointed as ‘C’ in June, a year after the prince last popped in.

Let’s hope the pair did meet. After all, Metreweli, 48, knows better than anyone how to keep calm and carry on, however dark the deeds perpetrated by another member of the family: her grandfather, Constantine Dobrowolski, was a Nazi spy known as ‘The Butcher’, as the Mail revealed last year.

Some old friends ‘don’t fit’ for Lisa

She may count Friends star Jennifer Aniston among her closest chums, but Lisa Snowdon won’t always be there for you.

The television presenter has revealed that she’s been ghosting old pals.

‘I’ve done the proving and the performing,’ declares Lisa, 54. ‘Now, I’m happy with a roast dinner, Netflix and quiet. I’ve also learned to let go.

‘I’ve cut down my circle. It’s sad, but sometimes friendships just don’t fit any more.’

The broadcaster, who has been engaged to entrepreneur George Smart for seven years, says she enjoys her own company. ‘When George says he’s going out, I’m like, “Lovely”. My pyjamas will be on by 7pm.

‘I love that peace. I’m so comfortable in my own company now.’

Has Tonia’s girl found a man to mum’s taste?

Described as ‘the face of Greek food’, TV presenter Tonia Buxton puts on a stern expression when it comes to her daughters’ personal lives.

‘I’m never nice to their boyfriends,’ she once told me, explaining: ‘It’s a matriarchal Greek thing,’

So I’m intrigued to learn what she makes of the new beau of her daughter Antigoni, 29. He’s Angelo Georgiadis, 30. ‘They met in New York,’ a pal tells me.

Tonia, 58, should at least be pleased with what he does for a living. Last month, Angelo launched Greek-themed fast-food restaurant, Gyro City, in Manhattan.

(Very) modern manners

Sir Stephen Fry is dead angry about one particular word.

‘People saying “pass” instead of die – that really p***es me off,’ thunders The Celebrity Traitors star.

‘People die, they don’t pass. “Oh, he passed”… what, his driving test? What the f*** are you talking about? Oh, he died. He is dead.’

Fry, 68, adds: ‘It’s not because I want to shock people with the word “dead”, I want to stop people being afraid of the word.

‘I hate euphemisms. I hate little twee things that avoid the truth of a thing, and try and dress it up and put a lace doily over it.’