Amid the hullabaloo of the Sussexes’ surprise return to Britain and Charles clarifying that Harry and Megs remain ‘private citizens’, one individual has been quietly and resolutely supporting the King throughout these family travails.
Yes, that stalwart is Queen Camilla. Say what you like about her, and over the years I have – particularly when I was firmly on Team Diana – but the fact is that she has emerged as an unshakable rock for the King and therefore, surprisingly, for the monarchy.
Without Camilla by his side, Charles could have not coped with his cancer treatment at the same time as his gruelling work schedule. The King carried out 164 engagements in the past 12 months, often cramming several into one day – all while juggling his treatment.
When in public, she has deftly batted off questions about his health in true Camilla style, with a cheery wave, a broad smile and a throaty laugh. She’ll insist ‘he is doing fine’ while complaining affectionately that ‘he won’t slow down and won’t do what he’s told’ – that he’s ‘unstoppable’.
It’s clear that she understands him as well as anyone, and there must be days when the 79-year-old mother of two and grandmother of five wishes she could just kick off her shoes and put her feet up.
Yet that’s not the life she has chosen and she has shown formidable strength in accepting and adapting to her public position.
What an exquisite irony that a woman once vilified for jeopardising the monarchy as Prince Charles’s mistress is turning out to be its saviour now he is King.
King Charles and Queen Camilla wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the coronation at Westminster Abbey
Sydney smashes it
Appearing nude with a tennis racket and ball in a one-minute video for the sports betting app Novig, Sydney Sweeney gets 700,000 hits on Insta and six million on X within minutes, and one viewer comments: ‘Selling gambling by selling sex. Society has crumbled before our eyes!’
Speak for yourself, love – my eyes watered in admiration. If Sydney can earn millions from gullible (mostly) men for a gambling app being utterly beautiful in her birthday suit, good luck to her.
Sydney Sweeney poses nude in new campaign for Novig, a sports betting app
Advance publicity insists The Great British Bake Off’s longest-serving judge Paul Hollywood and new superstar Nigella Lawson enjoy a solid friendship. But a promo shot of her leaning obligingly – while wincing – into his arm, as he manspreads his legs and rests his hand on his crotch, sends a different message. Nor can he be overjoyed, after having co-hosted with grandee grannies Prue Leith and Mary Berry, to have the hot Nigella stealing his limelight. Is it unkind to suggest that Paul is the only one in this line-up with a soggy bottom?
Bronwen’s a predator
Surprising that after teacher Bronwen James was convicted of sexual offences against a 16- year-old male pupil, having previously pleaded guilty to sexual activity with two schoolgirls aged 13 and 14, the judge mildly concluded he had to ‘consider the risk she poses to young children’ and ‘clearly she is not going to teach again’.
Crikey, the woman is a serial sexual abuser and will always be a risk – so why not call her what she is, as you would a man who committed such crimes: a predatory paedophile?
We’ll all miss the magic of Monty
Monty Don is to step down as the host of BBC Gardeners’ World after more than 20 years
Sad news for millions of us Monty Don fans worldwide as he departs Gardeners’ World after 23 years – it’s like losing a best friend.
We wept when his golden retriever Nell died, rejoiced when ten-week-old puppy Ned arrived – and we’ll never forget Monty’s famous sign off: ‘For now, bye-bye.’
No doubt the PC Beeb will replace him with some excruciatingly metropolitan influencer teaching us how to grow organic veggies in window boxes and about the importance of trailing pothos – one of Gen Z’s faves – for ‘emotional support’. But we all know Friday nights will never be the same again.
A survey reveals riders on e-bikes are 41 per cent more likely to suffer a head or neck injury than those on pedal bikes – but where’s the study examining injuries suffered by the poor pedestrians e-bike lunatics knock down?
Princess Diana wears a black pleated chiffon dress with floating side panel, by Christina Stamboulian, during a party at the Serpentine Gallery in London
The ‘revenge dress’ Princess Diana wore on the night Charles admitted his adultery on TV is to be auctioned by Sotheby’s at a starting price of £220,000, although insiders believe it might go for five times that.
Yet doesn’t it show the concept of a revenge dress doesn’t work, as Diana still ended up alone and adrift, dying too young in a Parisian tunnel with ne’er-do-well Dodi Fayed?
As many divorcees may attest, a joy-filled and busy life after the split – that’s the best revenge.
If you’re searching for something on TV that will make you laugh and cry, may I suggest the third and final series of Colin From Accounts on the BBC. It’s about a border terrier who brings a man and a woman together after they ran him over and injured him. Part romcom, part dogcom, it has one of the most satisfying ends to any series ever.
How striking the similarity is between a teenage Prince George on his first day at Eton and his father Prince William in 1995 – tall, slim, the same cheeky smile, the same crop of hair. Here’s hoping the Waleses’ sons both inherit that thick hair gene from mum Princess Kate’s side of the family – and don’t go bald like Dad.
Jack’s the lad to play Bond
Slow Horses actor Jack Lowden is a front-runner to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond. Good news, given that Lowden demonstrates in the hit TV series that he has a range of emotions, that he doesn’t purse his lips in a grimace and that he has a self-deprecating sense of humour. Craig’s perpetually pouting, macho Bond left me unshaken and unstirred.
Westminster wars
- Another car-crash week for Andy as his new ‘unlimited overnight visitor levy’, the holiday tax, is slammed as a ‘hammer blow’ for the flagging tourist industry, putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk. It was even lambasted by The Guardian on its front page – not a good look for the PM.
- After Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband accused Israel of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and announced sanctions, Hamas and Iran praised Ed for bringing ‘the end of Israel’ a step closer. Makes you proud to be British.
A year after Ozzy Osbourne died, daughter Kelly says she is still and ‘will always be 50 per cent sad’, drawing strength from Billy Bob Thornton’s words after such a loss: ‘You will always be 50 per cent happy and 50 per cent sad.’ My dad died seven years ago so I wish I could offer sage words of comfort, but when I lost him it left a chasm as deep and wide as the Pacific Ocean, an abyss only relieved by a lifetime of loving, happy memories which never fade. Perhaps it was easier for me because I grew up in a normal household, as opposed to parading my personal life on reality TV.